The Verification Handbook is now available

I was honored to have been involved in the writing of The Verification Handbook, which is available now as an ebook.

I’ll blog more about it later after I read the other chapters (I wrote one chapter). For right now, I’ll say:

• Congratulations to Project Manager Rina Tsubaki and Editor Craig Silverman. It was a pleasure to work with you.
• Thanks for involving me.
• I’m delighted that this book is geared not just at journalists, but emergency workers, humanitarian organizations and others who gather and distribute information, especially in crises.
• For more on the vide0-documentation story I told in my chapter, check out my recent blog post on that story.

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Chip Scanlan: Ask students to critique peers’ work

Thanks to Chip Scanlan for sending along this advice for a new adjunct journalism professor, responding to my post about teaching lessons a variety of ways (I added a few links):

Put Student Work on Display

Chip Scanlan, photo by Bruce Moyer

Building on your point about showing work, good and bad, I think it’s important for students to see and comment on each others’ work. Journalism, after all, is an act of public performance.

Students need to learn how to handle criticism, develop the toughened skin needed especially in an age where their work is available everywhere and forever more. The approach I prefer when asking for comments is to pose two questions: What Works? and What Needs Work? We build on success and positive reinforcement guides students to a greater understanding of journalism that meets the needs of readers.

What Needs Work? can be tricky. The default question, and one that students and professionals alike often revert to is “What Doesn’t Work?” What Needs Work? helps students see both the flaws and points them toward revision without destroying their confidence. It’s not an ego-booster but a motivator.

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