Social Reporting

At the Internet Governance Forum 2010

1) What is social reporting?

Social reporting (sometimes called digital reporting) uses digital media to capture
conversations, information, and different voices from a community or from an event.

Social reporting might involve:

• Writing blog posts or live blogging from a meeting, event, or a discussion;

• Sharing short updates on Twitter;
• Carrying out short video interviews or audio interviews;
• Finding the slides and presentations from a seminar and posting them online;
• Taking photos of an event, or sharing photos of flip-charts and notes from
discussions;

There are many different styles of social reporting, and you will need to find which style
works best for you. However, itʼs important to remember that social reporting is not about
creating a formal report. Instead, it can be
about:

• Bridging the gap between people Checklist

who are at an event, and those who
are not, but who can still engage via
the Internet.
• Sharing insights, ideas, and
important conversations from an
event or community.
• Helping people in a community, or at
an event, to share their own views,
in their own words, on what has
been going on.
• Providing your own reflections on
particular themes of conversation
you have found interesting.
Whichever media tools you use, and what
ever your social reporting style, the
process generally involves three key
stages:
Before you get to Vilnius, have you:
✓ Registered on the
www.DiploInternetGovernance.org
website?
✓ Registered for a Twitter account at
http://www.twitter.com?
✓ Got a Twitter programme on your
phone or laptop and found out how
to search twitter, how to share a
photo, and how to reply to or
ʻRetweetʼ someone?
✓ Checked if you have any video
recording equipment (or if your
phone can record video)?

✓ Practiced writing a blog post?

Capture Put it You can find all the information you

Media
Share it need to help you with these tasks
Online
inside this guide.
2) Preparing as a reporter

Before you head out with a digital camera or

digital audio recorder, or before you start blogging,
you need to think about a number of important
things.

• Who are you reporting for? It is useful to have Social reporting at IGF2010
an idea of who your audience is. What context or
background information will your audience need?

• What will you report? Be selective. Itʼs easy to get hours and hours of video or audio -
but no-one will watch it all. How much time does your audience have? How can you find
the most useful things to report on? Choose carefully what you will focus on.

• What questions or themes are you interested in? And what is your audience
interested in? You may want to do some quick background research.

• How will people find your reporting? Will you alert a mailing list or online community
to let them know how to follow your reports and how to suggest questions or themes for
you to explore? Will you focus on reporting ʻliveʼ, or on generating content that you will
share with established websites, newsletters, or media after the event.

Unlike formal journalism - where the journalist may try not to communicate his or her
interest or passion for a subject - in social reporting, you can be part of the report too. You
can use your interest and passion for a subject in your reporting as long as you keep it in
balance with the goal of giving a platform to other peopleʼs views and voices.

The focus at IGF 2010 - Vilnius, Lithuania

At Vilnius weʼre particularly interested in:

• Making sense of key themes - helping people at the IGF, and outside the event, to
understand the different views and issues relating to key Internet governance themes.

You might like to pick a particular theme and then focus on that throughout the week:
sending regular tweets from workshops, capturing some photos or videos, and then
writing a reflective blog post during, or at the end of, the week.

• Including new and unheard voices - using social media to include different
perspectives into the Internet governance debate.

This guide suggests some high-profile social media tools: but you know your own
communities best. Could you try a different approach to reach them? Do they use
different tools (Facebook instead of Twitter? E-mail instead of websites?) that you
could use for social reporting? Come and talk to Tim Davies or other members of the
social reporting team if you want help turning your ideas for a new social reporting
approach into reality.
3) The social reporterʼs toolbox

There are many different tools in the social reporterʼs toolbox. These tools help you with a
number of different tasks:

• Track It: listening tools

For following what other people are saying online and for being able to be part of the
debate. For example, Twitter search, or a social media aggregator or dashboard. See
http://bit.ly/brD1F5 for more details on listening tools you can use to track social
media conversations.

• Tweet It: quick update / status update tools

For reporting on what is taking place right now; for sharing quick insights; for joining
in the discussion; or for pointing to more detailed reporting.

• Blog it: reflective writing tools

For longer reports on sessions of themes, or for pointing to other media content you
have generated.

• Blip It: rich media sharing tools

Video or audio recording, or sharing presentations and documents.

The heart of our IGF 2010 social reporting will be the Diplo Internet Governance
online community where you can add blog posts, share videos and start
discussions. Make sure you have registered for an account at http://
www.diplointernetgovernance.org.

Key concepts
There are two key concepts that help explain how we can post media in different places
across the Internet, but still bring it together in one place.

Tagging
A tag is any key word or string of letters
used to show that two or more bits of
online media (twitter messages, videos,
blog posts) are related.
RSS feeds can be used to aggregate all
the bits of media with a particular tag
from most websites.
Embedding
Embedding allows the media uploaded on
one website to be displayed on another.
For example, if you upload a video to the
high-resolution video hosting website
Blip.tv, you can ʻembedʼ it into the Diplo
Internet governance website without
having to upload it again here.

Anyone can make up a tag. For the IGF Look for ʻembed codeʼ or ʻembed thisʼ links
we are using the tag ʻigf10ʼ, and then on video and audio that you upload.
adding an extra tag for each workshop or
session (e.g. #ws69 for Workshop 69)
DiploInternetGovernance.org: Ning Website
The www.DiploInternetGovernance.org
website is the hub for our social reporting.
You can use it to:

• Write blog posts about themes and

issues, or to summarise your Twitter
messages and point to other media.

• Embed and upload photos and

videos to share in a central place.

• Start conversations with hundreds

of other community members.

You can sign up for free and create a

profile from the front page.
Blogging
Once you are signed in, you can create you
own blog posts by finding the
button underneath existing blog posts on the
front page.
Give your blog post a clear headline, and then
write in clear paragraphs. You can use the
button to add links into your blog posts, and the on a particular issue.
buttons to add images and files,
respectively.
You should add ʻtagsʼ to the bottom of your
post to describe it. Use ʻigf10ʼ and the relevant
workshop tag (e.g. ws69) as well as any other
thematic words. Tags on Ning should be
separated by commas.
To embed a video/slideshow in a post:
• While in the rich-text editor write ʻEMBED
HEREʼ where you want the video/slideshow
to go.
• Switch to ʻHTMLʼ editing mode from the tab
along the top.
• Paste the embed code over the words
ʻEMBED HEREʼ and switch back to rich-text
mode before publishing your post.
Track It
You can check in on the blogs regularly
to see what other people are writing.
If you have something to contribute to a
blog post, why not add a comment? You
might also want to link to other peopleʼs
blog posts when you write yours to help
readers find their way to other content
Adding video blips to Ning
You can upload photos and videos
directly to the Ning site, but if is often
better to use a professional video
hosting platform like Blip.tv, and then
ʻcross-postʼ embed the video into the
Ning site.
Once your video is uploaded to a video
sharing site, find its embed code and
look for the ʻAdd Videoʼ link at
www.diplointernetgovernance.org/video/
Paste in the embed code and choose
ʻAdd Videoʼ. Give your video a clear title
and description, and include the
relevant tags.

You can edit your posts after

they are published to tweak the Find more at: http://bit.ly/dDp5fQ
layout and text if needed.
Twitter: Track it and tweet It.
Twitter is a great tool for social reporting.
You can use Twitter to:
• Share short updates from
workshops and meetings (Twitter
limits messages to 140 characters).
• Share links to media and reports
you have just uploaded to the
Internet.
• Keep track of conversations that
other people are having about the
meeting or workshop.
Sign up
If you do not already have one, you will
need to create a Twitter account to make
the best use of it. Visit http://
www.twitter.com to sign up.
Once you have signed up, let other
members of the social reporting team
know your Twitter name, and find out
theirs so you can ʻfollowʼ them.
Twitter tips
• Click the names of people who send
interesting tweets and then ʻfollowʼ them to
get all their updates (you can always
unfollow people later).
• To reply to someone include
ʻ@theirnameʼ at the start of your
message.
• To share a message wider you can
ʻRetweetʼ it. Copy the message and
include “RT @authorsname” at the start
before sending it.
Set up
It can help to have a Twitter application on
your computer or on your phone. One of the
best is TweetDeck, which is available for PC,
Mac, and iPhone. TweetDeck shows
messages you are following in columns, and
you can set up columns to follow particular
tags. For example, set up one column to
show everything on Twitter posted recently
with the tag ʻ#igf10ʼ included in it.
Twitter applications will also help shorten
long web addresses, which otherwise
wouldnʼt fit into a message on their own -
and many help you upload video clips or
photos and attach those to your tweets.
You can manually shorten addresses if you
are not using an application by going to
http://tinyurl.com or http://is.gd
What ever application you use, make sure
you have a way of following all the recent
messages with key tags in them (e.g.
#igf10). You can do this through the Twitter
website at http://search.twitter.com
• Tag your tweets: include #igf10 and the
workshop tag (e.g. #ws69) in each tweet.
Find out more at: http://bit.ly/99LyEP
Blips It: Video interviewing & audio Interviews

Short video interview clips (ʻBlipsʼ) can be one of the best ways to
capture and share a sense of what has been happening at an event.

A good blip might be between 60 seconds and five minutes long. Often
they are around two minutes long.

You might use a video blip, or a short audio interview to:

• Invite a speaker who has just been on a panel to summarise the

points they were making.
• Invite someone who asked a question during a discussion to
elaborate on his or her point.
• Get views from a wide range of people in response to a set
question.
• Capture on film a key insight that you heard someone share
during a discussion.

Capturing blips
To capture a blip you will need a video camera or audio recorder. Check in advance that
you know how to use it, and practice recording short clips. Test how well the audio records,
and how the video and audio work when there is background noise, or low/high light
levels. Once you know your equipment, look out for opportunities to capture your blips.

a) Invite someone to participate

Explain clearly that you would like a few minutes of someoneʼs time to capture their views,
and that it will be uploaded to the Internet afterwards to help focus the attention of a wider
audience on the issues the blip will deal with. Often getting speakers who have been on a
panel to take part in a blip involves hanging around until you can find a moment to talk to
them just before they leave.

b) Find a quiet space with good lighting

It doesnʼt need to be silent, but you should know from your test what conditions you need
to get a good quality blip. Line up your video shot
so that the head and shoulders of the person you
are interviewing are in frame, and so that you are
close enough to get good audio recording.

c) Start recording and introduce the person

you are interviewing, giving some context, then launch into your questions.
People are often more natural and able to talk briefly if you go straight into the interview. If
you talk about the questions before hand, often the people you interview will talk for a lot
longer which isnʼt good for a blip. Aim to capture your clip in one take.

Here is an example of how the conversation for a blip interview might go:

Interviewer: I would really like to capture the point you made about Internet access on film
for our social reporting. Have you got three minutes for a short video interview? We are
uploading clips of many speakers and delegates views for a wider audience online.

Subject: Of course.
 Interviewer: We should step just over there - where it is quieter and the camera will pick up
your voice best.

Subject: Ok. What questions are you going to ask?

Interviewer: Iʼm will ask about the point you made on the panel just now. Ok - Iʼm ready to
start recording. [Switches video recorder on and frames the shot].

Interviewer (recording, from behind the camera, to give context on the start of the clip) Iʼm
here with Mr Howard, who has just been talking on the Internet Access panel at the Internet
Governance Forum 2010. Mr Howard, you were just talking about the importance of rural
Internet access. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

Subject: (replies with a summary of their talk).

Interviewer: (adds a follow up question... and after the subject has replied, ends the
interview by saying:) Mr Howard, thank you very much for your time and for sharing your
views. [Stops recording].

Notice that the interviewer records a short introduction on the start of the blip, with details
of where it is being capture and the context. Because the blip could be embedded
anywhere on the Internet, this makes sure that it is never watched entirely ʻout of contextʼ.

d) Edit your blip, and upload it to the Internet

If you managed to create your blip in one single take, then you
may be able to upload it directly to the Internet. Otherwise, you
will need to edit it first.

Most computers have basic free video editing software on them.

For example, on Windows, there is Windows Movie Maker, and
on Mac you will usually find iMovie. These allow you to shorten
clips, add titles and join different clips together. See the help in
each programme for basic information on how to edit a blip.

The software can be used to add a title on the start of your clip
with the name of the person in the clip, the date it was recorded,
and the context it was taken in.

Once you have edited your blip, you can upload it to the Internet. You can upload direct to
the http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org/ site (see above) or you can upload it to sites
like YouTube and Blip.tv.

Blip.tv provides high quality video hosting. For IGF2010 we have an account. The
username is ʻigf10ʼ. Ask one of the social reporting team for the password.

Once you have uploaded your blip, you may want to embed it into a blog post on the http://
www.diplointernetgovernance.org/ site, along with a brief text description or transcript of
the blip for those who may not be able to watch the video itself.
 4) A social reporting team at IGF 2010

This guide provides a basic overview of social reporting, and is intended as a discussion
starter, not as a fixed way of doing things. Visit the DiploInternetGovernance.org Social
Reporting group at http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org/group/socialreporting to:

• Find more social reporting resources.

• Share tips and ideas about other approaches to social reporting.

• Discuss how we can make the most of social media tools as part of the IGF.

Weʼre particularly keen to explore how to make social reporting as inclusive as possible.
For example: are there other social media tools we should be using to avoid excluding
particular communities and networks? How can we work better across languages?

Making connections
There are three key ways that social reporting at IGF 2010 can be brought together:

a) Tagging
Add tags to your tweets and other content to show which workshops or themes they relate
to. See below for suggested tags.

b) Aggregate and curate

The website at http://igf2010.diplointernetgovernance.org will aggregate all the twitter
messages and blog posts from the DiploInternetGovernance Ning site. If you are posting
content anywhere else it can be
aggregated too; just let Tim Davies Tag it
(details below) know about it. Tagging the content you share helps viewers to
make sense of what it is about. Most social media
CC-BY Written by @timdavies for Diplo Foundation

You can use the aggregated content
to write ʻcurated contentʼ blog posts
that point to some of the best content
on the theme you are following.
c) Co-ordinate
Tim Davies (@timdavies /
IGF2010@diplomacy.edu / obslogic
on Skype) is helping co-ordinate
social reporting activitie questions
about the aggregator, or for support
with your own social reporting.
Use the notepad at http://
ietherpad.com/igf10-socialreporting to
register yourself as someone who is
engaged with social reporting.
tools have a tagging option, or you can use hash-
tags which simply involve including #tagname in your
message.
For example, if you are sending a tweet about
Workshop 69 you would include ʻ#igf10 #ws69ʼ in
your message to share that your message is about
the IGF, and about Workshop 69.
Anyone searching Twitter could then search for
ʻ#igf10 #ws69ʼ to find more messages about that
specific workshop.
Suggested tags for each workshop can be found at
http://igf2010.diplointernetgovernance.org based on the
patterns below:
• Workshops: #ws + Workshop Number (e.g. #ws120);
• Regional Networks: #rn + session number (E.g. #rn1);
• Dynamic Coalitions: #dc + session number.
• Plenary: see website (sessions donʼt have numbers in
the programme)

This document has been produced in the framework of the Capacity Building Programme in ICT
Policy and Internet Governance for ACP countries with the financial assistance of the European
Union. The content of this document are the sole responsibility of DiploFoundation and can under
no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.