If the story is in the links who will follow them?
By Andrew Grant-Adamson • Aug 22nd, 2007 • Category: Blogging, JournalismThe question of the extent to which a story can be told through the links in a blog post has been raised by Shane Richmond at the Telegraph, commenting on my criticism of Jay Rosen’s attack on the writer of an article in the Los Angeles Times.
The LA Times article was a slack piece of journalism attacking blogging, designed to irritate everyone who believes blogs have a valuable part to play in journalism. It was born of ignorance and a refusal to accept change. But I felt that Rosen’s explosive response was likely to only reinforce the views of those who know little about blogging.
I described Rosen’s post as a “contentless diatribe”. Richmond wrote: “Still, Rosen’s riposte is not quite ‘contentless’. His argument is not in the text, it’s in the links.” Perhaps, it is my old fashioned apprenticeship in journalism that makes me hold to the view that every piece of writing should be able to stand on its own — to have sufficient content to intelligible.
The ability to hyperlink to source material is one of the greatest things the web has brought to journalism and is far too little used on online news pages. It creates much greater transparency, allowing the reader to examine original reports, opinions and speeches. Readers are better equipped to make up their own minds.
In writing a blog post, I have developed four linking rules for myself:
- It should be capable of being read and make sense without following any of the links.
- Link to all source material when possible, providing, at least, a brief indication its content.
- When it is not possible to link because the material is not available on the web quote from it more extensively.
- Where I hope that readers will have knowledge but suspect some will not, provide links to background material such as biography or history.
Andrew Grant-Adamson is Andrew Grant-Adamson is a journalist who now teaches a new generation of writers, subs and editors at the University of Westminster.
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Posted 4 hours ago If the story is in the links who will follow them? The question of the extent to which a story can be told through the links in a blog post has been raised by Shane Richmond at the Telegraph, commenting on my criticism of Jay Rosen’s attack on the …
[...] and maintain a community by using the internet as a mean of communication between its members. … If the story is in the links who will follow them? http://www.wordblog.co.uk/2007/08/22/if-the-story-is-in-the-links-who-will-follow-them/ The LA [...]
, Andrew Grant-Adamson pergunta: “se a história está nos links, quem vai segui-la?”.A pergunta originou-se de uma conversação entre Jay Rosen, Shane Richmond eAndrew Grant-Adamson, em torno do editorial do L.A. Times, na qual Richmond defende que os principais argumentos de Rosen não estão em seus texto, mas nos links que insere em sua intervenção.
A pergunta é de Marcos Palacios no excelente Blog do GJOL (veja, sobre jornalismo online mal feito, o post “Folha muda e fica igual”). O uso dos hiperlinks também é discutido no Wordblog, por Andrew Grant-Adamson (leia o artigo, em Inglês), que alinha alguns critérios. Repito a tradução feita por Marcos Palacios para o texto de Adamson: “Ao escrever uma postagem para um blog, eu desenvolvi quatro regras de linkagem: 1. O texto da postagem deve ser construÃdo de modo a poder ser
Wordblog: “Perhaps, it is my old fashioned apprenticeship in journalism that makes me hold to the view that every piece of writing should be able to stand on its ownâ€
Hack-o-rama…
Things I’ve been meaning to link for a while:Dan Blank points out that the lesson of the exposure of Fake Steve Jobs is that journalists can really inovate, if given the chance.Scoble gives an idea of the competition and technology……