a bit of this about that (via amzam)

var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-3386386-3']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Amanda Zamora (@amzam) is senior engagement editor at ProPublica. Previously, she led The Washington Post's online election coverage as national digital editor.

[amzam]

latest @spotfiy discovery seems fitting for this (relatively) warm, rainy eve of christmas eve. The California Honeydrops:

[amzam]

Deadline tunes... Take me back to Texas, living room w/ blue carpet, record player going, spinning a little kid with big, big dreams!

[amzam]

Anup’s wild, wonderful Nepal wedding part III.

[amzam]

And that’s all she wrote. 

[amzam]

Good morning, Kathmandu. 

[amzam]

Anup’s wild and wonderful nepal wedding, part II

[amzam]

Anup’s wild and wonderful Nepal wedding! part I

[amzam]

A few notes from the crowdsourcing workshop I led at Hacks Hackers Buenos Aires. 

[natbrut]

Reina Gattuso on Paying Writers

(1) ProPublica

I care a lot about equity in journalism, both as an ethical good in and of itself, and because diversity and good labor conditions within the field allows for a more accurate, more complex news. (Also as a young, queer female writer who wants a job with health insurance — bitch better have my money.) Besides consistently producing important, ethically-driven investigative content, ProPublica — unlike many progressive news organizations — has the sadly rare and deeply beautiful distinction of paying its just-starting-out reporters an actual decent wage, to which I say: Thank fucking God. ProPublica has also recently been super accountable about its own racial and gender issues and the way these demographics reflect broader trends, and begun some lovely diversity initiatives. Most impressive is the fellowship program for student journalists of color, who get sweet semesterly stipends to write for their college papers. Get it, Propublica.

-Reina Gattuso

Learn more about Nat. Brut!

[amzam]

Thanks, Reina!

[amzam]

We live in this kind of global, virtual Attentionville city of a billion people. And these 50 technology designers who go to work every day have become the inadvertent urban planners of that city. And they make these choices and it's almost like they're deciding how wide the sidewalks are and whether there's blinker signals or traffic signals at lights when they make those decisions about the default settings of notifications or the layout of apps on your homes creen or how things scroll.

This was a great listen: @tristanharris on the power technology designers have in setting the terms of our attention. Note to Self http://bit.ly/1MUzSxo

[bronxdoc-blog]

July 23rd, 2015 Bronx Documentary Center

A panel discussion: “The Future of Media,” with Bill Keller/Marshall Project, Lydia Polgreen/NY Times, Miriam Elder/Buzzfeed and Amanda Zamorra/ProPublica. The event was moderated by Julie Winokur of Talking Eyes media.

Mike Kamber and Janne Junttila/BDC

[amzam]

Awesome exhibit and a great discussion. 

[satsuki-lovegood-deactivated201]

Surgery Risks: Why Choosing the Right Surgeon Matters

A ProPublica analysis of nearly 17,000 surgeons finds stark differences in complications rates for some of the most routine elective procedures.

If any of my followers haven’t seen this, it’s a great study by ProPublica of doctors and which ones are best. I checked some of the doctor’s I’ve been too and it’s surprising how much things vary within a hospital. 

Knowledge is power!

[onaissues]

We really relied on partners in the early days of ProPublica to find an audience for our work and now through social media we’re able to build an audience with readers and not be as reliant on traditional news partners. That has been really powerful for us.

ProPublica’s Amanda Zamora: For best engagement results, create communities | IJNet (via onaissues)

[onaissues]

You have to write the headline on the story that’s there. You can’t, sort of, write the headline on the story you wish were there.

Kyle Massey shares headline pointers with ProPublica. 

Read more: Headline Writing With an NYT Guru - ProPublica

(via onaissues)

[nprstorytelling]

[amzam]

yup.

[thewholebeat-blog]

News as a conversation

Hello everybody. Today’s post has nothing to do with music or festivals, but instead, a personal experience. Yesterday I participated in my first Reddit AMA, Ask Me Anything, and it was amazing. As an aspiring journalist, I’ve always wanted to see news as a conversation. Writing news is the conversation starter, but most journalists stop talking after they’ve posted what they needed to say. People leave comments on articles, asking questions and wanting to know more and usually don’t receive an answer.

Fortunately, yesterday’s AMA was conducted by reporters from ProPublica, the New Orleans Advocate and Sports Illustrated, who openly answered questions about their article on NFL star and convicted rapist, Darren Sharper. 

News, more specifically investigative journalism, gets people talking. It was refreshing to ask these journalist questions and actually get answers. All of their responses were thoughtful and actually answered the question. Here are some screenshots from the conversation and click here to see the entire AMA.

They replied to my question, yay!

[amzam]

Um. Lionel Richie remade all his hits with half of Nashville. And it's pretty awesome.