Author: Nancy Hanus

Nancy Hanus is a journalist, digital strategist and educator. She formerly was director of digital strategy and audience development at Crain's Detroit Business and Crain's Cleveland Business; regional editor at Patch.com; and director of new media at The Detroit News.

Here’s a summary of my social media and aggregation accounts

I’ve been posting online and aggregating for a long time, so I do have quite a few “aggregation sources” and other links about myself. The one place where you can find me is my own website, NancyHanus.com. 

But my Twitter Feed (@nhanus) and my Instagram account have also been around for more than 10 years. I use YouTube and Vimeo to upload video, and SoundCloud for audio, although must of the things I’ve uploaded have been on publication sites, so what you’ll find on my personal profiles are videos of my family (mostly my daughter doing gymnastics!)

One YouTube channel you might find interesting, though, is this one called JournalismVideo, which I created for my MSU journalism classes and study abroad trips in 2010-2011. I had actually forgotten all about it until I dug it up for this blog. If any of you want to upload a video for this class on this site, let me know!

A journalism video account on YouTube for student videos.

I use Nuzzel for aggregation, as well as Feedly and Google Alerts. Feedly has been ticking me off a bit lately because the service keeps trying to upgrade me — and really restricts what I can do and have access for free. As a result I don’t use it much anymore. I love Tweetdeck for aggregating tweets and seeing Twitter lists.

There are a couple of really cool sites that allow you to aggregate in fun ways, such as StumbleUpon, which let’s you “stumble” into really cool stories based on your interests. I suggest you give it a try! I also like Flipboard, which I use on my iPhone and iPad.

For my professional profile, I use LinkedIn. I also have a profile at Muckrack.com. I have a Google+ account, but there’s not much there. It’s a good idea to have one because it gives you good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) but it’s just not something I keep up with.

VIDEO: How journalists confront their own biases

This is a video from the Society of Professional Journalists. It features journalists talking about bias, and how they confront both their own biases and those biases others see in them. It’s worth viewing. I can’t actually embed the video, but if you click on the image it’ll take you to it.

Journalists speak about bias in this SPJ video.

 

Elements of Style provides a refresher on grammar, punctuation

As I mentioned the first day of class, “The Elements of Style” by Strunk & White is a quick read but an invaluable one for everyone who needs to brush up on grammar and punctuation. I think the punctuation pieces of this book are especially relevant for some of you in this class.

So I’m linking here to the free online version of the book, and I am suggesting specifically the elements related to commas (it’s the first major section). I’m seeing in a lot of your work a lack of commas — and this text is GREAT at explaining exactly when to use them and when to leave them out.

I hope it’s helpful!  I find myself reading elements of this book every once in a while to remind me to stay sharp when writing.

 

Data stories: What the class picked

Here are the data stories that class members picked to talk about. I’m linking to all of them here so we can discuss on Wednesday. Each of you can talk about your own selection and explain why you picked it, what makes it a “data-driven” story and what you took away from it.

Myles: 

The Guardian: Young voters, class and turnout: how Britain voted in 2017

Snapshot of the election blog.
General election coverage in data blog at The Guardian’s website.

Zahara:

Washington Post: America’s chaotic, crazy, challenging, great, tumultuous, horrible, disappointing year/  A look back at the ups and downs of public opinion in 2017.

Screenshot of WaPo's year in review online.
The Washington Post’s year in review package.

 

Olivia:

CDC: Autism Spectrum Disorders data

Screenshot of CDB autism disorder data page.
CDB’s website for data on autism.

Josh:

World.LiveUAMap: Russian Ministry of Defense shows photos … 

Liveuamap

Chanel:

New York Times:  How Effective Is Your School District? A New Measure Shows Where Students Learn the Most

Screenshot of NYT schools project online.
New York Times UpShot project on schools.

 

Safa:

New York Times: Can requiring people to work make them healthier?

Screenshot of NYT story on work and health.
New York Times story in UpShot on work and healthfulness.

Noor:

NPR: Veteran Sues After Scalpel Found Inside His Body 4 Years After Surgery

 

Screenshot of NPR story.
NPR story about a lawsuit over a scalpel left inside a patient and found four years later.

Zeinab and Aya:

The Guardian: Read this before you have a baby (especially if you’re a woman)

Screenshot of Guardian series.
Guardian story on the impact of motherhood on lifestyle and choices in the United States.

Ashley:

New York Times: Why it’s still worth getting a flu shot

Screenshot of the image from the NYT article.
New York Times story on flu vaccines and whether they are worthwhile to get.

Eric:

New York Times:  Where Athletes in the Premier League, the N.B.A. and Other Sports Leagues Come From, in 15 Charts

Screenshot of NYT sports package.
New York Times data package in athletes from throughout the world.

 

Travis:

Coinmarketcap.com: Crytocurrency market capitalizations

Screenshot of bitcoin chart.
Database shows crytocurrency rates.

Jennifer:

New York Times: Why trying new things is so hard to do

Screenshot of NYT story with image.
New York Times story on why trying things can be hard.

News discussions: Here’s the lineup

Last class, you all volunteered for leading the news discussions at the start of every class for the first several weeks. Here’s the schedule. Please let me know if you have any problems with your assignment! I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Remember, 3-5 stories in your category, and please choose from more than one news source. You can find the news sources I’ve mentioned in class on the home page of this site. I’ll continue to add to those as we find new sources throughout the semester.

New York Times home page
The home page of the New York Times online.

Jan. 24:

  • Nation/world: Safa
  • State/local: Keturrah
  • Wildcard: Olivia

Jan. 30: 

  • Nation/world: Jennifer
  • State/local: Aya
  • Wildcard:  Zeinab

Feb. 7:

  • Nation/world: Josh
  • State/local: Ashley
  • Wildcard: Eric

Feb. 14: 

  • Nation/world: Chanel
  • State/local: Noor
  • Wildcard: Zahara

Feb. 21:

  • Nation/world:
  • State/local: Myles
  • Wildcard: Travis