This compilation of the top 100 tools of 2009 for learning published by social learning consultant Jane Hart could just as well apply to journalism. The darling of the year, Twitter, came top.  Other valuable tools in the top 10 are Delicious, YouTube, Google Reader, Google Docs, WordPress, Slideshare, Google Search, Audacity and Firefox. I, for one, find all of these pretty indispensable. Are they part of your classroom or

With the launch of YouTube Direct, YouTube is positioning itself as a key intermediary between the media and the public. YouTube Direct is described as “a new tool that allows media organizations to request, review and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from YouTube users.” Or as Mashable put it, “YouTube is letting anyone launch their own iReport-type site.” Several news organisations are already using the service: ABC News, the Huffington Post,

Like countless others, I watched at least some of the webcast on YouTube of the U2 concert at the Rose Bowl. It made me think of the only time I have seen U2 play live, more than 20 years ago at the Milton Keynes Bowl in Britain. Back then, to reach a global audience of millions would have required the collaboration of national TV networks.  Today, all you need is

Anti-Facebook song to the tune of Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire, by Rebelvirals. (Via Richard Brennan’s Newjiffy)

Image via WikipediaNBC has a strange idea of broadcast journalism for the 21st century. It has joined the New York Film Academyto launch a programme to “train the next generation of journalists who will be prepared to navigate the evolving landscape of digital journalism”. The aim is to meet “the pressing demand for skilled, can-do digital journalists on network television, cable, and the Internet”. These are noble intentions, but the

Could the stickiness of social sites such as Digg, Facebook or YouTube be explained by the notion that they function as hidden games? The Read/WriteWeb blog points to an ebook by C. Weng on this very idea. In The Web: Hidden Games, available for free on Lulu, Weng argues that: Officially, they are social networks, news aggregators, etc. and not designed as game sites like Second Life is. However, these