Friday squibs

A few notes on interest:

• Creating a student journalism website on a tight budget. Alfred Hermida, who is literally down the road at the University of British Columbia, details how the uni’s newspaper website (see comments for explanation) was put online using WordPress as the CMS. Makes me wonder if I really need to spend my Christmas break learning, and then porting our student newspaper site to, Drupal.
• Mapping the storm. A very nice map package with writing, photos and video (although I couldn’t get the player to load) by the folks at the Oregonian as they covered the storms that ravaged Washington and Oregon earlier this week. Something to learn from.
• The decline of factory journalism. The model that has served journalism so well for so long won’t go away, Steve Yelvington writes, but the newsroom factories are finding themselves increasingly surrounded by new models and new disruptors.
• Google Chart API Released. Google continues to disrupt the art department, this time by generating basic charts for online use.
• Disturbing revenue outlook for local TV sites. This comes the same week as projections that newspaper revenues are in trouble in 2008. Long-form video, local search and directories are the villains, Cory Bergman reports. I encourage you to read the full post: there’s a lot of interest there, and not just to the TV folk.