Journalism Grads: 30 Things You Should Do This Summer
June 25 2009, 3:50pm
You could spend this summer working on your killer tan... or you could use the downtime to get heads up on the thousands of other grads competing for journalism jobs. Use this checklist to improve your journalism skills and set yourself apart from the pack:1. Start a blog and post at least twice a week2. If you already have a blog, write a post that gets retweeted 20 times3. Shoot 100 amazing photos and post them on Flickr4. Friend at least 50 journalists on Twitter who in turn follow you back5. Become a part of a crowdsourcing project (start here)6. Improve at least 5 Wikipedia entries7. Create an audio slideshow using Soundslides8. Shoot and edit a 3-minute video and post it to YouTube9. Design a website from scratch using HTML and CSS10. Create and maintain a Delicious account with at least 50 links that you find interesting11. Create an online portfolio12. Learn at least one other form of blogging (e.g. photoblogging, videoblogging, liveblogging)13. Crop, resize, and color correct 50 photos using photo editing software14. Start your own podcast15. Create a profile on LinkedIn16. Learn another computer language besides HTML (e.g. XML, PHP, MySQL)17. Create an avatar and use it on all your social networking profiles18. Learn how to create a basic slideshow in Flash 19. Subscribe to at least 25 non-journalism blogs using an RSS reader20. Record, edit and embed a 3-minute piece of audio.21. Interview 10 people using a handheld audio recorder22. Interview 10 people using a video camera23. Create a map mashup using a CSV file24. Set your social network profiles to private or remove any incriminating evidence25. Create a multimedia project that incorporates, video, audio, and text26. Create a Flash project that uses ActionScript 3.027. Write a blog post that is Dugg at least 20 times28. Join Wired Journalists29. Attend a multimedia training workshop or take an online course30. Remind yourself why you want to be a journalistAlso on 10,000 Words: • How to make the most of your journalism internship• 15 Journalists' outstanding personal portfolios• Why J-Schools matter• 10 Journalists you should follow on Twitter
