Citizen media websites, such as YouTube, Netscape and Digg,
are a goldmine for story ideas. These sites allow users to submit stories,
videos or pictures. Users rate them, or the stories get ranked by how often they're viewed. For example, Digg.com
has users "digg" (if they like) or "bury" (if they don't) a submission.
The submissions with the most "diggs" appear on a popular stories page.
There are so many of these sites, however, that wading
through them would be time-consuming. Popurls.com offers a solution. The site tracks top headlines and
hits from a dozen such web sites as well as from several more conventional
sources, like Google News and Wired.
Some of these headlines can be localized. Digg's "10 Unexpected Uses of the Ipod"
lists downloadable programs like TipKalc, which calculates tips and totals and can
divide a check up to five different ways.
The story also mentions students using the device to record lectures, create
electronic flashcards, learn foreign languages and cheat on tests. How are students in your school using their
ipods? What are some of the most popular
downloads? What are teachers doing about
these recently publicized cheating methods?
In a recent Morning Meeting
item, Poynter's Al Tompkins wrote that he finds many story ideas on Stateline.org, the Casey Journalism
Center newsletter, IRE.org hot tips, ResourceShelf, DocuTicker, Digg and
Slashdot.
So start digging online for ideas, and
tell us what you find.
