Timeline of online journalism events
In 2008 I made a timeline of ‘key events in online journalism’ based on posts by Mindy Mcadams, Paul Bradshaw and a few others. I added a few of my own (and other peoples suggestions) and made a Dipity timeline.(this is no longer running)
A lot has happened since then so the timeline needed some updating and a lecture to the first years which usually contains a bit of a ‘history’ segment seemed like a good time to do that.
The new version of the timeline has been made using the rather nifty Timeline JS script which allows you to build a timeline from a google spreadsheet (it does JSON and promises Storify at some point too!). There is a great online version of the tool you can play with without having to load the script on your own site. As well as being a very nice looking (IMHO), the ability to use a spreadsheet means that the ‘data’ for the timeline is a bit more accessible, so you can get a copy of the spreadsheet it if you have Google drive.
Because this was done with a lecture in mind, the methodology behind the content is a bit mixed. As well a the defining moments from other peoples posts, and mine, there are some that are there to allow me to join this in to other stuff I’ll be doing with the students. The last item, for example, is the NYT snowfall piece. That’s in there as it allows me to talk about the form of online journalism as something unique with it’s own storytelling techniques and opportunities. Hey, if you don’t like it, download the spreadsheet and make your own 🙂
As part of the lecture I also generated some Spotify playlists – well it’s not taking my clothes off but I hope it adds a little interest – which you might want to try. One is of the decades featured and one is for UK singles of each year mentioned. The methodology there is based on sales (well some wikipedia work), not quality. If you bought records in the 90’s you’ve only yourself to blame!
There’s a bigger version (on a page) but in the meantime let me know what you think and if you have any additions to suggest then feel free to let me know.