Youtube video: quantity or quality?

Many communicators are turning to video to make their work more engaging. Audiences are certainly lapping it up, via PCs and mobile devices. But what makes for a good video?
In this video, science blogger Derek Muller reflects on the pros and cons - some of the them specific to YouTube - of producing lots of videos or investing time, effort and money in producing higher quality but fewer videos.
Muller has opted for quality, and it shows. It is the reason this video appears here, and it helps to explain Muller's success, even when he strays from his core science topics...
For more like this, see Muller's YouTube channel Veritasium.

How to be an investigative journalist

How can a journalist get attention these days? Bloggers and the general public are swamping the breaking news cycle with tweets and photos from their mobile phones; companies are developing their own media content; and public relations practitioners outnumber reporters. It can be hard for a news reporter to get their head above the hype.
For the lucky few with the time, money and requisite skills, investigative journalism promises not only headlines but also infamy. But even if you have the time and inclination, how can you become an investigative journalist? UK newspaper The Guardian has put together a masterclass seminar with award-winning writers and professional snoops. They will explain how to find information and outfox the powers that want it hidden. This event occurs on November 30 in London and will cost £139, or £109 if you book early.

The Guardian hosts a series of other learning opportunities through the year. If you cannot make the introduction to investigative journalism, how about the digital journalism bootcamp? This costs a bit more, at £299, but is being held after work over four weeks in November (5, 12, 19 and 26 Nov.).

You can keep in touch with forthcoming learning opportunities by email, or follow @guardianclasses on Twitter.

The image above is from the London Journalism Centre, which offers a number of courses including politics, fashion and travel writing, among others.

8 things every journalist should learn

There are so many different types of journalists that defining the curricula for journalism students can be a hot topic. Journalism includes small-town, all-purpose reporters; multi-purpose, multi-media workers; interactive data journalists and researchers; and specialists in many subjects.

Olga Khazan, writing in The Atlantic, proposes several common-sense core topics that should be in the toolbox of any journalist. Here are the headlines, with some thoughts of my own

1. Statistics
2. Data
3. Experiments and sampling (i.e. how to interpret studies)
4. Marketing (not only pitching stories and understanding public interest and e.g. viral media, but also handling pushy PR people and separating story angles from spin)
5. Civic issues (human and civil rights and media law should also be part of this)
6. Online writing (add broadcasting, video, audio and photography) 
7. The internet - how it works and why (include privacy and research techniques)
8. Plus: how about some basics, like story construction (5Ws+H, story pyramid, human interest), note-taking, writing techniques, hygiene (spelling, grammar, house style) and maybe even basic computer skills (keyboard, software etc.); plus some broader issues such as how to build rapport with readers, an understanding of human rights and journalistic rights, and a sense of ethics and obligation to match with your potential impact as an authority figure, commentator, critic and - perhaps - advocate (for a recent debate on the difference and merits of each, read this piece in The Guardian).

What do you think should be in every journalist's toolkit?