News about the activities of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas
Thousands of Latin American Journalists Download Free Digital Training ManualThousands of Latin American Journalists Download Free Digital Training Manual
By JOSEPH VAVRUS
The E-Book How to Write for the Web, written by Colombian journalist Guillermo Franco and published by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, was downloaded more than 20,000 times in five months, and a second edition is under way.
Spanish and Portuguese versions of the book can be accessed for free in PDF format from the Knight Center’s website.
The 221-page book, first published in Spanish in December 2008, presents practical examples about writing for online publications, as well as research from other sources. In March 2009, it was translated into Portuguese by Brazilian journalist Marcelo Soares.
How to Write for the Web has also inspired a new Spanish language Knight Center course, taught by Franco. The five-week course began on May 25, 2009, and will be offered again in July.
The number of users may already surpass 20,000. The Knight Center's statistics measure only those clicks from its own website and do not include direct links to the PDF file from other sites. Other news and training organizations have also printed and distributed the guide on their own.
The Knight Center e-book is the second project of its type in which Franco has participated. In 2005, he published a free Spanish translation of the participatory journalism e-book We Media: How the audiences are shaping the future of news and information, by authors Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis.
“I believe that these two projects, as well as the book Journalism 2.0, are examples of one of the best ways to raise the standard of Latin American journalism which will strengthen democracy in the region: the availability of free, high quality journalism manuals,” Franco says.
Free training materials for journalists are extremely important, he adds. Only a limited number of journalists in Latin America and the Caribbean have access to training courses, and low income levels make the region less appealing for commercial publishers.
A second edition of How to Write for the Web is already in progress. It will include new materials, inspired largely by user comments. Franco plans to include examples from more countries, more references for younger readers, and practical exercises for teachers to use with their students—all in an effort to make the guide relevant to users throughout the Americas.
"The book is intended not only for journalists," Franco says, "but for anyone who wants to present content on the web."
Added Jun 10, 15:25, 2009
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