Chip on Your Shoulder

Once a journalist needed nothing more than a pencil and paper to take notes and a typewriter to write a story.

In some ways that's all some reporters still need. "Even in these days of high-tech weaponry, the writer's most effective research and interviewing tools remain the humble pen and low-tech notebook," writes veteran editor David Fryxell, in "How to Write Fast (While Writing Well)."

There are countless reporters who bring nothing more than an empty notepad, a pen and an open mind to an assignment, and they produce compelling journalism.    

But today's journalist has available an array of other tools to choose, from digital audio recorders and video cameras to software programs that transform digital information into multimedia news and information for the World Wide Web. Changes in the way news is consumed have increased the demand for journalists to  gather sound, pictures and video, as well as words on paper. Whichever you use, never forget that it's not the tool that matters as much as the way it's used.

Says Michael Rogers, an online pioneer now futurist-in-residence at The New York Times, "It's trite but true: The fundamentals still apply. It all begins with writers, reporters and editors who can recognize and tell a good story. If you don't have those folks on your side, it doesn’t make any difference how good the widgets are."

But the fact remains that journalism's tools for gathering, distilling and present news, stories and information are a far cry from the pen, notebook and trusty Royal typewriter.

Given this new reality, I'd appreciate your help. You can consider this post as a cross between "Ask Chip" and "the ABCs of Online Journalism," two series I recently established. Except that I'd like to ask you questions about one letter in the online alphabet: T -- for tool.

I'd like you to look inside your journalistic tool box, and itemize what's inside, starting with the basic elements and progressing to any electronic devices, as well as the software programs, that you rely on to produce online journalism.

What devices and skills do you consider critical for today's journalists?

Why do they need them?

How can they learn how to use them?

Does every journalist have to include every device and skill in his or her toolbox?

What's the impact when so much attention is paid to new tools; will the journalism suffer?

I think our community will be excited to hear the answers. (I confess to an ulterior motive: I'm revising my journalism textbook and want to make sure I offer an accurate and complete picture of the state of journalistic devices and skills. If I'd like to quote you directly, I'll seek your permission, of course.)

Thanks for answering.

Chip