My husband Elliott Wilson and I are journalists: we have a story. We also have a history of over-serving the journalistically under-served. We do it with diverse teams. We do it with flair, and without a lot of fanfare.

Our call now is for creativity, it’s a call for new work.

Let’s change the soul of journalism.

Why not? Let’s do it.

But let’s really do it. Let’s not just change platforms. Let’s not just play musical chairs with talented media stars. No. Let’s truly change the soul of journalism.

If we don’t, it won’t just be print that has died—it will be journalism’s grave that we weep over.

But let’s not dress for that day yet.

Let’s get to work, because the work is difficult. The work is hard.

The givens, the obvious:

The audience has changed. The audience has changed in ways fundamental, and in ways subtle.

Journalism has changed. Journalism has changed in ways fundamental and in ways subtle.

And while some say print has died, it is actually in need of tough, consistent, and transformative love. And that’s work.

In fact: journalism is in need of a soul-changing. A new, New. For the New Everyone.

We, my husband and I, and our small but amazing and enthusiastic and brilliant teams—we respond to this challenge, with HRDCVR.

The HRDCVR project is a deeply designed and edited concept magazine in the form of a massive book. Ink on paper.

Why print? Because print has not yet, journalistically, been pushed to its extreme. HRDCVR is that push. A new aesthetic will be born on HRDCVR paper. That’s what is needed: new names for things, a new kind of mix, for the New everyone. Pardon us if we want for it first to be touchable and hold-able—and of the physical world.

There is more:

HRDCVR is crowdfunded.

HRCDVR is published 1nce.

HRDCVR is for the New Everyone, but more importantly is created by teams reflecting the New Everyone. HRDCVR designs and produces content from the revolutionary stance of everyone being equally interesting. We reject the niche, and we reject the mainstream. HRDCVR is about the multistream.

We embrace the politics and cultures of the actual and projected United States populations—with a global attitude. We take for granted a boundless number of kinds of people and kinds of relationships and kinds of cultures and kinds of souls.

Do we know all about everything we’re trying to do?

No. Who can? What we’re calling the New Everyone is mostly the Actual Everyone, and frankly, has yet to be successfully served.

So for us, and for you, HRDCVR is a model. HRDCVR is a practice. HRDCVR is a lab. There is funk and an anger and fun and a fever —and that’s just in our skypes. Because we are committed. And we want to have more effect than we intend.

The mission of HRDCVR is to provide an extreme print experience, a new kind of content, and a new aesthetic. The mission of HRDCVR is to change the very soul of journalism.

The Kickstarter for this project is here.

This was the handout I passed around during a presentation to some of my fellow Knight Fellows at Stanford. These tips are for beginners (and for the newly enthusiastic). We had a great hour. Find me @danamo or TheSmithian or at danamo’s IG, anytime.

Twitter

1. Your name and your settings. Be clear, or be consistent. Best: be both.

2. Your bio: Why the mystery? Let people know who you are, and make it easy for people to google your twitter page.

3. Your avi. Two schools of thought. Leave it the same, or change it every six weeks or so. I say change it. Give people something to talk about.

4. Follow to unfollow. Follow people that make your feed interesting. Follow people who make your feed funny. Follow institutions related to your beat and your lifestyle. Follow the people who people you find interesting are following. For a month to six weeks follow everyone, even if it makes your feed weird, and your ratio “off.” Then start unfollowing people if they irritate you, are boring, or are not dependable in terms of truthfulness.

5. Respond to every tweet. Respond quickly.

6. On that note: attend to Twitter often. To save time, look only at your “mentions,” or “ats.” Think of a way to respond almost without thinking. A retweet is a response. A retweet with a comment in parens or caps or whatever is your style is a response. I choose a smiley face or a single exclamation point. I choose to comment always in brackets ahead of the other persons tweet.

7. Decide on your plan for RTs/retweets. I choose to RT. People begin to see you as a curator.

8. Checkout Twitter’s “best practices for journalists.” Suggestions include “tweet your beat,” “use hashtags for context,” “share what you’re reading.”

9. Make it a lifestyle. Be yourself. Be truthful. Don’t RT idiots. Have fun with it. If you’re doing it right, you may experience a moment of addiction. It will pass.

Instagram

1. Your profile/bio. Utilize the spaces that ID you. It’s easier to do this on laptop than on mobile.

2. Try to update at least twice a day. ANYthing is an IG photo. People love found text. Memes get irritating. People love food. Remember: wherever you are, that place is somewhere miles away and amazing to someone else.

3. Camera+ and the clarity filter. Use it. Filters in general: use them.

4. Google “top” “instagram” “hashtags.” Click Search Tools. Note top hashes of the moment, for example: #selfie #Stanford #onthemove #fitness #goodtimes #food #foodporn #Friday #yolo #love #California etc. Use those hashtags.

5. Make up your own hashtags, use them consistently. Find people to follow via hashtags.

6. Often people post their IGs in their twitter bios. Consider it.

Tumblr

1. Blog, or aggregate. Make it an ID blog, or a journal. Or a kind of fan site. You could be a “fan” of New Delhi, or of blue sneakers, or of one character on a particular show, or of grammar and usage. For many tumblrs, the more specific the better.

2. Pick a theme, for free. There are many free themes. If you want something more original, you can pay for themes $9 to $49.

3. Follow people. Post content. Reblog content.

Integration

1. Deciding which feeds go through which other feeds.