Digital Amy
Digital Amy's Journalism Tech Tip 47: iPad Tools for Journalists Part 2
Here is this week's tip - enjoy!
Digits ($0.99)
PageCapture ($1.99)
DocsToGo ($9.99)
Screen Capture (neat technique to use on the iPad)
Last week my tip focused on some basic applications for journalists and journalism educators to use on the iPad. This week I will focus on some applications for the advanced user of the iPad. As journalists and journalism educators, working with math can be a hard task - especially if it entails doing percentage differences, ranks, rates, etc. for a news story. Surprisingly, the iPad does not have calculator - imagine that! However, there is an app called Digits that is a calculator that can do basic and advanced calculations on the tablet. The great thing about it though is that it has a virtual calculator tape (like a physical calculator would have). It will track the calculations you make, allow you to add comments next to calculations, flag a figure, and best of all - email the calculator tape to show all the calculations you make. When working on a news story that entails some math, it makes doing the calculations on the fly via the iPad much easier!
DocsToGo is an application that allows the user to work with MS Office documents from the tablet - such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. It's easy to import and save documents as well as email the file. The application is expensive at $9.99, but if you are working with these kind of documents often, it's a helpful application to have without having to deal with the hassle of converting file formats from one device to another.
Finally, there are two tips about capturing images on your iPad. Of course there is no camera on the current iPad (maybe in the future). If you need to take a screen shot of something on your iPad such as using an application or zooming in on a particular piece of content -- to take the screen shot you can hold down the Home button and the Power button at the same time - it will automatically take a screen shot and save the image in your Photos area. However, if you need to take a screen capture of a full website page, not just what is viewable in your iPad screen, PageCapture is a handy application. It takes the screen capture of the full web page and you can email it or put in your Photos area of your iPad. These are just a few tips journalists and journalism educators may find helpful for using the iPad when working on a news story, grading students' work or teaching journalism students what applications to use to help in their newsgathering work.
Digital Amy's Journalism Tech Tip 46: iPad Tools for Journalists
Here is this week's tip - enjoy!
iAnnotate PDF ($9.99, expensive)
The tablet. The tablet is having an impact on the journalism industry today in many ways. This is apparent by the number of articles written about it daily in the press. My tech tip is not going to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the tablet in terms of news presentation, revenue models for the industry or its impact on changing reading habits. My tip focuses on some of the practical apps that are out there for journalists and journalism educators to use daily.
When it comes to storyboarding ideas for a news story, Popplet Lite is a good (and free) app that is simple to install and easy to use in creating a mind map as an idea is developed. If you are looking to take notes while using the iPad, SoundPaper is a good app for note taking and it records audio at the same time. If you are sitting in a meeting and want to capture the discussion as you take your notes, the app does a good job of picking up the audio far away and nearby. When your note taking is all done, you can email the file and audio, make it a pdf and share it on another computer using a unique URL. When it comes to editing text, iAnnotate PDF (expensive at $9.99) is an app that takes pdfs and makes them editable for marking up. For journalists who want to review and edit their story or for a journalism instructor grading students' work, this is a nice tool that easily allows for marking up the text, including strikethroughs, adding comments, and highlighting. The file can then be emailed or stored for a later time. These are just a few handy apps out there right now for the iPad. Next week's tech tip - more iPad app suggestions for the advanced user. Stay tuned!
Digital Amy's Journalism Tech Tip 45: Helpful HTML5 Resources
Digital Amy's Journalism Tech Tip 44: Summer Readings
Here is this week's tip - enjoy!
Cognitive Surplus, Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age by Clay Shirky
The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr
The Digital Journalist's Handbook by Mark S. Luckie
It's been quite a while since I have been able to post my tech tips because I was away for several weeks attending an international conference but I am happy to be back! Every summer I try to make a concerted effort to catch up on reading, especially books. My favorite books to read cover the topics of journalism, technology and anything having to do with digital life and media. Here are a few that I am now reading. Enjoy this brief list of summer readings - stay tuned for more from the digital amy library!
About Me
Amy Schmitz Weiss is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at San Diego State University. Schmitz Weiss has a PhD in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. She was a co-founder of her college's online newspaper and has worked at Chicago Tribune Online and Indianapolis Star News Online, where she produced and wrote news packages. Schmitz Weiss has also worked in business development, marketing analysis, and account management for several Chicago Internet media firms. Her research interests include online journalism, media sociology, news production, multimedia journalism, and international communication. She has an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and B.A. in Journalism and Spanish from Butler University. Explore the website to learn more about Digital Amy!
(En Español) Amy Schmitz Weiss es un profesor asistente en la Escuela de Periodismo y Estudios de Medios en la Universidad del Estado, San Diego. Schmitz Weiss tiene un doctorado en periodismo desde la Universidad de Texas en Austin. Fue coordinadora del periódico en línea de su universidad, y trabajó para el Chicago Tribune Online e Indianápolis Star News Online, donde produjo paquetes multimedia de noticias para la Web. Schmitz Weiss también ha trabajado en desarrollo de negocios, análisis de mercado y manejo empresarial de negocios de Internet en Chicago. Sus intereses de investigación incluyen periodismo en línea, sociología de la prensa, producción de noticias, periodismo multimedia, y comunicación internacional. Tiene un Master en periodismo de la Universidad de Texas en Austin y un B.A. en periodismo y español de la Universidad Butler.