Writing for the Web

Marketing Online Writing

I've been happily writing for The Tyee for several years. It's a lively online magazine with a focus on British Columbia but with plenty of attention to the rest of the world. The Tyee is now trying a little viral marketing to attract more readers: Tyee: Join Us! I'd be interested to hear your reactions to this approach.

The Tyee has also published a survey of Independent Media: Vibrant and Growing.

By the way, I've just published a piece on avian flu in The Tyee.

I'd love to hear about other good online magazines, especially in Europe, Asia, and Latin America—in any language.

The Plagiarism Problem

A commenter posted an innocuous message a few minutes ago, but when I went to the commenter's URL, it advertised "undetectable and plagiarism-free" essays for sale. I zapped it as comment spam, but it also hit a sore spot.

This semester I flunked four students and gave a D to a fifth, all because of plagiarized work. It was the worst outbreak I've seen in years, and after forty years in the college teaching business I think I'm pretty good at spotting it. Probably not good enough, though: All these cases involved simple cut and paste from websites. All I had to do was type a typical sentence from an essay into Google Advanced Search, and bingo—the source was usually the first hit.

Back in the dim days of typewritten essays and print sources, this was what I called lazy plagiarism: transcribing almost random chunks from easily accessed published sources. Smarter plagiarists went to the trouble of finding more obscure sources. I'm sure their descendants are using sources like my spammer's, or otherwise swiping stuff not easily found on the web.

I've even found a few folks who plagiarized my writing advice, presenting it as their own. Since this material is also available in different, copyrighted form in my book on writing SF and fantasy, my publisher always swings into action with highly intimidating emails that get the material removed very quickly indeed.

In some cases it's flattering to be quoted at length, as long as one's cited as the source, and plagiarism might be seen as the insincerest form of flattery. But it's clearly a major problem for educators, and no doubt for web writers and editors as well. So I'm curious to know if you've run into problems with people swiping your stuff—whether you've written it for your own purposes or for your client/employer. And where do you draw the line between common knowledge and intellectual property?

It should be a fascinating discussion, but I won't be able to take part in it until sometime late in the month: This afternoon my wife and I are off for Ottawa on a family visit. I won't have much computer access until I'm home, which is probably just as well...I hope to make some progress, in longhand, on my long-neglected novel.

Teaching Writing and Editing for the Web

Merry Bruns posted some interesting thoughts on the OWL list yesterday, and she's kindly given permission for me to reprint them here:

As I post my class announcements to this list, you probably know that I've given web writing and editing classes for almost a decade now, in the U.S. and London. I also consult with clients who need help with anything you can think of that's content-related. My work, and my teaching, dovetail nicely.

Back when I joined OWL, in 1998, I assumed I'd be a web writer or editor, but quickly saw (at least here in Washington DC) that staff really need to do it themselves, and desperately need training in doing it.

I think the reason I've stayed in business so long is because I fill a need:

People want to learn to do it themselves.

So how did this start?

I began as the ubiquitous "Web Producer" in 1996, as I'd been working with the Internet since 1993 as an online journalist. I worked for several large web companies in the Washington DC area in the hoo-hah days, then went out on my own as an independent producer.

In 1997 I was asked to give a short web writing class at a conference for publishers, here in Washington DC. It was great fun - a two-hour class on the basics of what we now call formatting text for scanning, mainly, but I got several on-site training requests out of it.

In 1999, I was asked to come on board at Georgetown University, to teach Web Writing & editing classes at their (now defunct) Networked Media Center (part of their Culture, Communication & Technology program). I taught through the year, did summer schools classes for the MA program, but then a new director axed the department. We went over to Professional Education for several more years, and then they axed all web-related courses.

By then I was also teaching classes at the National Press Club in DC (where I'm a member), and where I am today. I give in-house staff training to every type of business you can think of, including government. I still consult for clients on content-related jobs, and do a great deal of flying around giving talks and classes at conferences.
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I believe that those of us who love web writing, and understand the web editing experience, might think about giving training where we live. We're the ones with experience, and we can take advantage of our longevity in the field to train those who need help.

It helps to have organizations with content-rich sites where you live, and it helps to be known in your field as an online writing/editing specialist. But even those of us who live in smaller cities might find that if they can craft a good class, and enjoy teaching, that it might work. It certainly won't hurt to try.

Can We Still Talk Online?

Dave Beers, my editor at The Tyee, has a thoughtful article today about the famous interactivity of websites: Can We Still Talk Online?.

It won't be a surprise to webwriters that responses to their work are often ignorant, abusive, and even threatening. Dave uses The Tyee's experience, and that of other online magazines, to invite still more interaction on the subject.

Maybe this is a good time to dig out a piece I did on the subject about ten years ago: "Time for Flame Wars to Flame Out" was first published in the Vancouver weekly Georgia Straight in the summer of 1997.

Print Editors and the Web

Jade Walker recently posted some interesting thoughts in the Online Writing List, and she's kindly allowed me to quote them here:

I recently attended a conference for copy editors in Miami and whenever conversation turned to the Web, the editors in attendance often fell into two categories:

1) They hate the Web because they believe its mere existence is going to result in profit/job losses.
2) They fear the Web because they don't understand where copy editors fit in.

I have no doubt there are other editorial folks at newspapers and magazines across the country that feel the same way. This is so easy to fix! All it takes is a little time and training. Those of us who've been working in new media for many years need to show the print folks what the Web has to offer, particularly the advantages of publishing news in different formats, reading/writing blogs, using RSS feeds, etc.

I also believe newspapers and magazines should make a concerted effort to update their online portals. So many sites are clunky, hard to navigate or simply replicate the print product via online templates. What can these companies do to fix this problem?

• Look at the competition and see what works and what doesn't.
• Experiment with design but avoid repeating others' mistakes.
• Hire copy editors, or assign current editors, to give blog entries and articles a once-over before posting on the Web.
• Allow comments, albeit moderated ones, on stories.
• Create a forum just to find sources for stories.
• Include e-mail addresses for reporters on each entry/article, or a link to a profile page.
• Provide "e-mail this entry" links as well as permanent links for readers/bloggers who wish to discuss stories and share them with friends/family.
• Offer one-click options to the recommendation sites (digg, technorati, netscape, etc.), or follow USA Today's lead and allow readers to rate the stories themselves based on usefulness or entertainment value.

Jade ended her post with "Any thoughts?" And I echo her question.

I'll add one thought from my own online-writing experience: The editor of The Tyee finds comments a chronic headache. Too many are illiterate, incoherent, abusive, and plain libellous. He requires registration before people can post comments, and this has helped a lot. I find the comments on my own Tyee articles generally pretty civil. But some topics can bring out the barking loonies.

Rousing the OWLs

Since the 1990s I've belonged to the Online Writers' List, which at one time was an exuberant bedlam of folks figuring out how to write for this medium.

In recent years, alas, it's become very quiet. Then some feckless spammer recently started using it, a couple of list members complained, and it occurred to me that a lot of webwriters aren't even aware of it.

So I suggested to the list that we post news about ourselves and see what issues we're dealing with these days, and some intriguing replies came in. Perhaps it's time we recruited some new participants and started sharing ideas again.

Along the same lines of getting people in touch with one another, if you're a webwriter or editor and you're not on the list here (right column, near the bottom), send me your URL. And if you know of any good resources for online writers, send them along too.

The Webby Nominees and Winners

Time flies...and here are this year's Webby Nominees and Winners.

Check the nominees and winners in the categories that matter most to you, and tell us all what you think.