I’ve recreated my earlier video guide on using a TiddlyWiki, a single-page wiki you can use for your notes and task lists. Instead of Wink, I used CamStudio to capture screen activities this time.

Wink is an easy to use free software to capture videos of your screen activities and it’s great for creating tutorials. My only problem with it is that it doesn’t offer an option to capture screen activities in video format (i.e. mpeg or avi) so that it can easily be uploaded in video sharing sites like YouTube, Metacafe, and Revver. Wink outputs the screen activities in .swf and .exe formats.

My previous screencasts– one is on how to turn any web template into a WordPress theme–are in .swf format and hosted in the Internet Archive. I’ve had complaints on its playback quality and how it can be slow at times so I decided to try hosting it other video services. These services, however, do not accept .swf files so I spent days trying one application after another to convert the files into .mpg or .avi formats to no avail.

Continue reading ‘New screencast on using a TiddlyWiki’

I’ve been meaning to try the services of scanR for a long time but somehow I’ve been pretty successful in avoiding meetings–and those I attended didn’t use whiteboards–that I somehow forgot about it.

WHITEBOARD DATA processed by scanR. Compare it with the original photograph below. Images processed by scanR are great for printing as handouts. Click on photo to enlarge.

I was finally able to try it yesterday. Metro Cebu staged a dry run yesterday of the traffic re-routing to be implemented during the Asean Summit in Cebu. As is usual with major news events, reporters and editors held a story conference to thresh out news angles, discuss gathered data, and look for issues to follow up.

Sol Amante, our managing editor for news and the writer behind Peryodistang Pinay, presided over the story conference using a whiteboard to take down notes. She was about to copy her notes on paper after the meeting when I told her I’d reprint it using scanR.

Continue reading ‘Using phones to capture data from whiteboards, cards, documents’

And here’s the link to the complaint form.

Our editor-in-chief, one of the driving forces behind the Cebu Citizens-Press Council (CCPC), asked me to build the council’s website in time for the Cebu Press Freedom Week celebration in September.

CCPC WEBSITE, as featured in a recent issue of Philippine Journalism Reports. Click on image to enlarge.

The requirements for the site were simple: the ability to post articles and reports and an easy facility to get feedback–features easily managed by my favorite open source blogging platform, WordPress.

I briefly considered using another content management system (CMS) with more advance portal features, some form of document tracking or online file repository but the person tasked with updating the site said these aren’t needed. Complaints, she said, will be handled offline.

Continue reading ‘Do you have a complaint against a Cebu newspaper? File it online’

I spotted this before but I just showed it to colleagues in the office and forgot about it. I got another email recently telling me that my column on porn in Globe’s mobile blogs had been reprinted by the Asian Sex Gazette.

Here’s the link (it’s not safe for work and may contain images some might consider offensive). When I first spotted it, I went around the newsroom to show to colleagues what I said was the new publication I’m writing for and everyone had a good laugh. It wasn’t the first time that a Sun.Star Cebu story got reprinted in the site.

The site had once reprinted this story (again not safe for work). When I showed it to the reporter, she blushed. The way the sites presented the stories, you’d think the reporter and I are their staff writers. You don’t see any hint it was lifted from Sun.Star Cebu.

I showed it to our editor-in-chief and the first thing he asked me was how I spotted it–”you mean you visit these sites?” I actually got it from an RSS alert on a search for Cebu. Maybe I should add porn site writer in my resume.

I’m spending a lot of time in my activeCollab installation these past weeks. ActiveCollab is an open source project management and collaboration script that had been described as a clone of the popular Basecamp service (but I think it’s much more than that).

CREATING FORMS. ActiveCollab allows you to create forms that automatically add data to your to-do list or message. This allows me to replicate my Wridea workflow in my activeCollab installation. Click on photo to view larger image.

I’m using the web-based script for several projects. I’ve also been using it to manage blog posts and articles for my publication that I’m working on. This makes sense as I have my activeCollab screen a third of the time I’m in front of the computer.

Before I stumbled on activeCollab, I managed my blog posts using Wridea. But a really good feature in activeCollab allows me to replicate this functionality in my installation.

Continue reading ‘Using activeCollab to manage blog posts, article ideas’

If you’re still waiting for that MeasureMap invitation, don’t fret. A new service has opened that will more than make up for the time (what is it now? several months?) you spent waiting for the still unsent service invitations.

Clicky is a new service created “to complement” other website metrics tools. What Clicky does is help website owners “track individual users, to see where they came from, what they did, and how long they stuck around.” I signed up for the service two hours back and the stats I’ve been getting so far are really interesting.

CLICKY DASHBOARD. Clicky is a new website metrics tool that will help you track visitor sessions: how website visitors found your site, how long they stayed and the last page they viewed before leaving. Click on image to enlarge.

Clicky does the usual tracking of unique visitors and page views as well as browsers used and search engine and keyword referrals.

But what differentiates Clicky from other free services I frequently use is that it tracks visitor sessions. Not only would you know how a particular visitor (identified via IP address) got to your site, you can also get information on how long the visitor stayed and which pages he or she read and clicked.

Continue reading ‘Track your blog visitors’ sessions with Clicky’