Part 2.
To celebrate our 10000th follower we asked 30 journalism experts and digital wizards to choose 3 tools in their field of expertise.
The most useful, most innovative and one hidden gem.
This is part 2 of 3.
Most Useful
Thinglink: Allows you to communicate layers of information in multimedia format, great for use on mobile devices.
Most Innovative
Storehouse: Easy to compile and share multimedia stories fast.
Hidden Gem
Awesome Screenshot and Diigo — it acts as toolbar for your browser.
Most Useful
Search social networks with Google by using, for example site:facebook.com alongside your search term. Fine tune the search with other syntax like intitle: followed by words that must be in the title of the social network page. Use OR. To add other site: options to the search.
Most Innovative
You can use Google’s search by image feature to search for profile pics etc. Then modify the search with normal Google syntax like site:Facebook.com to focus the results.
Hidden Gem
Spidering tools like Intellitamper scan websites for links you may have missed.
Most Useful
Camera App of Choice: FilMicPro. It offers camera control and functionality way beyond the stock iOS Video Camera including Focus/Exposure/White Balance Lock and lots of other features.
Most Innovative
For professional results the IKMultimedia iRig Pro is a great option. It allows you to set a microphone input gain level and also provide +48v Phantom power if required.
Hidden Gem
If you are a radio reporter then you may not realise you can use your Zoom H5/H6 recorder as a live audio mixer for 2 mics and connect it to your iPhone/iPad via Apple Lightning to USB adapter.
Most Useful
CartoDB: Easy web mapping tool. You don’t need any code and it is super lightweight to use, in comparison to other GIS-tools. LocalFocus: Created it w/ my Company, no code needed, easy to share w/ colleagues, export instantly in your own style + SVG export for print.
Most Innovative
RAW: Makes it easy to create super complex — normally code based — data visulaizations which then can be used as a starting point for print.
Hidden Gem
Blockspring: Not the best viztool, but it creates interactive scatterplots in seconds. (The only tool who is able to do that, as far as I know.)
Most Useful
Twitter: Because I can connect with sources and peers around the world..
Most Innovative
Anything out of the Knight lab at Northwestern University because of the user-friendly and open-source nature of the tools.
Hidden Gem
CartoDB: Because you can quickly visualize data, not necessarily to publish but rather to understand, probe.
Most Useful
Dropbox: I can write stories from my computer, tablet or smartphone, completely synchronized. I love it, especially when I travel. It is a relief to know that there is always a copy.
Most Innovative
Creatavist: I love slow journalism and Creatavist presentations are very stylish, yet can be very deep content. I believe there are tools focused on different journalistic genres. Creatavist is one. Perfect for multimedia interview and reports.
Hidden Gem
Snapseed: For me it is a little gem. Just because you can edit a photo by touch … it is a gift.
Most Useful
Twitshot: It’s makes sharing an article to Twitter with an image super-simple and really quick to do. It even helps you crop the image pulled from the article page to be the optimal size for Twitter.
Most Innovative
MixMax: An awesome Gmail add-on that lets you compose emails with surveys, polls, calender availability, article previews, in a slick and beautiful way.
Hidden Gem
tldrify: This tool creates a short link to any text on the Internet. You can highlight a key line in a blog post, use the Chrome Extension to create a short url + pre-drafted tweet to share the quote.
Most Useful
To investigate: Graph commons
Most Innovative
Hidden Gem
Immersive: A product designed to help individual storytellers create and publish stories online.
Most Useful
Shoulderpod S1: Universal smartphone camera mount that securely holds your phone and enables professional picture-taking and filmmaking.
Most Innovative
Storehouse App: Enables Immersive longform, interactive multimedia stories to be made easily by reporters in the field. Video, photo & text can be added and edited smartly. Extraordinary tool.
Hidden Gem
iRig Pro pre-amp: This pro-quality mic preamp/converter allows professional microphones to seamlessly connect with smartphones, tablets and laptops. Audio quality is what separates amateur from professional productions.
Most Useful
I’d be lost without Tweetdeck to keep an eye on Twitter lists. Tweetlogix is a good Tweetdeck substitute for iOS. I also still use Feedly to monitor and organise RSS feeds. It works as a safety net to ensure I don’t miss anything important.
Most Innovative
Nuzzel is great for surfacing news recommendations from people you follow on Twitter. I’ve also recently started experimenting with INK361 as a way to manage Instagram.
Hidden Gem
I’m really interested in mobile photography. Camera+ and Snapseed are great apps for getting Photoshop-worthy results from an iPhone.