Lens, New York Times's photojournalism blog

The New York Times unveiled its great-looking new blog, Lens. The light-gray text of the captions is rather small and doesn’t contrast well against the background. But the photos are the focus here, and they are excellent, particularly this lovely set of black-and-whites by Fred R. Conrad.

BriTunes. Yes, BriTunes

It’s no joke. NBC’s Brian Williams, looking rather avuncular in his charcoal sweater, interviews Deer Tick in the inaugural episode of BriTunes.

Williams asks the mostly scruffy, flannel-shirted (and rather itchy-looking) band members about the wonders of iTunes, calls them “great” and even has to chastise the lead singer about a glib remark. In all, a very uncomfortable three and a half minutes of Web video.

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From PolitiFact to Pulitzer

Matt Waite, news technologist for the St. Petersburg Times, is also the man behind the Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact. In a post on his personal website, Waite explains how his mantra of  “demos, not memos” has helped guide him as a designer.

In other words, “show, don’t tell.”

Waite offers three reasons why this philosophy has worked for him:

1. Ideas are cheap and plentiful, execution is hard (thus, a demo stands out from the “blizzard of ideas”)
2. Meetings suck (they should be about the demos, and less about the ideas)
3. Requirements documents suck (they ensure that the software will never be any better than the document)

Learn digital media in 10 weeks

Arizona State University’s Cronkite School New Media Academy is offering training for adults who want to learn how to build multimedia-rich websites:

Participants will learn how to design and develop a Web site, how to effectively present and edit photos for the Web, how to use social networking tools, how to create Web-based graphics, how to do podcasting and audio slideshows, and how to edit and use video on the Web.

The weekly summer program begins May 30 and concludes Aug. 8, and costs $2,000 for the full 10 days of training.

Mindy McAdams' "Reporter's Guide to Multimedia Proficiency"

If you’re a journalist serious about being an indispensable part of your newsroom, and aren’t particularly tech savvy, you owe it to yourself to read Mindy McAdams’ ongoing series, “Reporter’s Guide to Multimedia Proficiency.”

In the 12th part of the series, McAdams offers advice on how to shoot video. At the bottom of her post, she has links to the previous entries, which cover podcasts, blogging, Soundslides, taking photos, and editing audio.

G20 summit is a social media event

Live blogs, interactive maps, Audioboos, Twitterfall — the G20 Summit is London has been a hotbed of journalists showing off their social media skills.

Journalists taking one for the team

Alas, these two journalists took markedly different routes to unemployment. Dave Reynolds, sports anchor, was laid off by WFLA on Monday:

“I already have some prospects, and I hope to find work soon,” he said. “I realize that I was not the only person laid off and these are difficult times for the news media. I’m just focusing on providing for my family.”

Reynolds and his wife, Holly, have a 4-year-old son.

In contrast, Nicole Wong also gave up her job — to save someone else’s:

She writes, “I was hoping I’d get to be the one who breaks the news to you that I’ve volunteered to be laid off from the Boston Globe in order to save the job of a reporter who has less seniority than me and who has greater needs to stay in the Boston area due to family commitments and other obligations. But who am I kidding? This is a newsroom!

You’re one in a million, Nicole.

Tuneage helps you discover new music

In Mashable’s “18 of the best music Tumblelogs,” the one that peaked my interest is Tuneage, which provides music from new bands and recommendations in blog form.

What can journalists map in Tampa Bay?

The Houston Chronicle has an nice interactive map that allows users to submit areas where Texas wildflowers are blooming. Think of all the things news sites could ask users to map in Tampa Bay — Traffic jams. Beach parking. Hipster sightings (yes, I’m looking at you, SoHo Starbucks). What else?

And are there any Twitter-friendly apps that could update a map in real-time?

A new tool for audio journalists

Audioboo is a service that allows users to upload sound files, including news updates. Would love to hear back from my radio journalist friends out there on the usefulness of this application.