Writing News items
News on Diffusion is usually several short science news items. The script for each item should only take about a minute to read. If the story needs a longer amount of time, then it would sound better if it was explored as a feature.
The news is for reporting, so there's less space for opinion than a feature story, however its OK to add your own spin and comments.
Each news item should start with a headline sentence that grabs the readers attention, and should be read that way. Its no use having a clever headline, and then reading it like its a grocery list.
You can sign up to the Australian Science Communicators mailing list here to have press releases sent to your inbox. However if you see some news online or in a magazine, you can search for the press release to see what they really said, and sometimes its worth looking up the original scientific paper to see if the press release matches the paper. This can apply especially to medical stories.
If you're just using the one source of news, then you need to acknowledge them at the beginning of the report, after the headline.
How to edit show details on archive.org
Point your browser to the archive.org page of the show which has details you need to edit.
Look at the top right corner, and see if you are logged in as "Discovery Science".
If not, then click on "login" in the top right corner, and enter username "discovery@2ser.com" and the password you used to upload the show. Click on the "login" button when you've done this.
The page will refresh, displaying the show details again. This time, in the left menu column, under the heading "Resources", is a new link that says "Edit item". Click on this.
Edit whatever needs to be changed or updated, probably in the "Description" field or the "Date" field. When you're done, scroll to the bottom and click on the "submit" button.
Finished!
How To update the website
Click here and a new window will open.
Enter the username, and the password you were emailed.
Paste the URL of the show you've uploaded to archive.org, such as:
http://www.archive.org/details/diffusion01-02-2007/
Hit "update", and you're done.
How to Produce
1. Print a Runsheet from discovery.keirdotnet.net
2. Give a copy to the panellist and the presenter
3. Time the parts of the show so that last vox are at 26:50 and for CBAA the music fades at 27:50
4. Edit the show to get rid of everyone's mistakes and be certain that last vox are at 26:50 and for CBAA the music fades at 27:50.
5. Save the show as an MP3 file with 128Kbps bitrate and 44100 Hz frequency.
6. Upload the show to the http://www.archive.org/create
7. Burn an AUDIO CD of the show for CBAA and post it to CBAA with a copy of the show description sheet from discovery.keirdotnet.net
CBAA
P.O Box 564
Level 3
44-54 Botany Rd
Alexandria. NSW 1435
Phone: 9310 2999
8. copy the MP3 of the show to a directory within the 2SER computer and write this on the show description sheet for 2SER and leave it in the Thursday Brekky pigeon-hole. Email Jane at Brekky, and Tilly at 2SER for the weekly highlights.
Podcast blurbs and archive.org show summaries
We need the blurb format to be:
Short 38 letter headline summary
Feature 1 description and name of feature writer/producer,
Feature 2 description and name of feature 2 writer/producer,
News by Full Name,
Presented by Full Name,
Produced by Full Name.
NOT "This week in Diffusion we..." because all people will see is "This week in Diffusion" every single week. It sounds good on radio, but it is a bad headline. We have only 38 characters, so get creative!
These headlines are grabbed in RSS and syndicated all over the web, it may be the only link to the podcast people see, so it can't be "This week", and it can't be so long that it gets cut off and makes no sense. Have a look at the rotating headlines on http://www.2ser.com/programs/shows/diffusion/ Some versions show only the first line. Imagine if it kept changing from "This week in Diffusion" to "This week in Diffusion", nobody would click on it. The information is lost.
These should be something close to what the feature writer/producer has written in their intro. Sometimes its remembered differently to what the writer said they intended, or only a small part of what they said is over-emphasized. Certainly if I've written that you've said something that you didn't, then you'd be annoyed, so its good to be sensitive to that. Keep it short, punchy, attractive, but also accurate. Our old style blurbs have been pronounced un-readable by some of our audience, and we need to change with the times.
First names or no names are not sufficient - people don't know who we are unless we tell them.
All credits should be given. Sometimes producers accidentally leave credits out of the blurb altogether.
Diffusion 8th June 2006
This week the diffusion team has
Diffusion 1st June 2006
This week the fantabulous Diffusi
Diffusion 25th May 2006
This week was a bit of a lazy one
How to upload an MP3 of the show
0. Uploading from home is different and easier than uploading from 2SER or a University computer due to permission problems.
1. Browse to http://www.archive.org/create/
2. In the top right hand corner of the page, next to "Anonymous User" click on the "login" link, and enter discovery@2ser.com and the password privately emailed to you, click "OK" to bring on the next page
3. Enter the "Item identifier" in the format "diffusionYYYY-MM-DD", same name as you gave the MP3 file diffusionYYY-MM-DD.mp3 (where YYY is the 4 digit year, MM is the 2 digit month, and DD is the two digit day), and click submit. A message should appear in your browser telling you they have created an FTP directory for uploading
4.a archive.org create a different URL for every session, and you need to copy and paste the URL they give you on the screen to upload the MP3 file.
Or you can open Windows Explorer from Start->Program Files->Accessories, and copy and paste the URL from "Using Windows Internet Explorer" on the archive.org page in your browser.
Log in using "discovery@2ser.com" as the user (no inverted commas), and the same password as step 2. You will find that archive.org have created a directory "diffusionYYYY-MM-DD", click to enter it.
4b. At 2SER you can open Windows Explorer from Start->Program Files->Accessories, and copy and paste the URL from "Using Windows Internet Explorer" on the archive.org page in your browser, making sure that the address in the address bar starts with "ftp://". Then you can drag the file from the Diffusion folder to Windows Explorer and drop it to upload the file.
Internet Explorer at 2SER won't let you upload any files.
5. upload the file from your local computer in binary mode to the remote folder (25 minutes on home broadband)
6. in your web browser, click on "Click Here when finished"
7. Click on the item on the new screen
8. Click on "submit audio"
9. Fill in the white fields on the form:
Type the title as "Diffusion DDth Month YYYY"
Enter the show description:
Throats gargling in space
How throats gargle, throats head for space, and virtual throats, has their time come at last?
"Presenter Blah"
News by Blah
Throat gargling by Blah
Throats in space by Blah
Produced by Blah,
with technical support by Blah"
Fill in the author as "The Diffusion Team"
Fill in the run time of the show (which you will have given CBAA)
The source: "http://www.diffusionradio.com"
Taped by: enter your name
Categories: "Science" and whatever other keywords might help listeners find the show, seperated by ";" and not any other character - just a semi-colon.
Run Time: enter how many minutes and seconds
Track Number: "1"
10. Click "create entry"
11. email the Diffusion list with the show teaser and description and the item identifier you chose so the file can be included in the podcast by Ian
12. wait for applause
Using the Panel
The LED Meters
In the middle of the vertical part of the consul you will see that there are three LED (Light Emitting Diode) Meters.
The Meter on the left corresponds with Channel 1, the channel that you use when you are broadcasting live to air. The meter in the middle corresponds with the cue function, the function you use when you don't want something to go to air or to be recorded, and the meter on the far right corresponds with
channel two, the channel you use when you are pre-recording.
The two large meters have three columns of LED. The left hand column gives you the left level channel signal and the one on the right gives you the right channel signal the cater column (1 the middle of the right and left channel metres) represent the mono signal and indicates whether the signal is ''IN PHASE'' or not.
At the top of the three column metres is a peak flash LED which flashes when the signal being sent through that console exceeds 8dB above OVU. The ''peak flash'' LED can flash occasionally but not continuously.
When you are sending a signal through the console, the levels should be peaking around the top of the green lights at OVU. Occasionally they can flash into the red lights, but if the signal is constantly showing in the red lights your levels are to high and your sound is probably distorting.
REMOTE RECORDs
These yellow buttons allow you to activate the record functions on the MiniDisc recorders without having to turn around and press play record on the machines themselves. Handy when you/re doing complex, tightly timed mixing!
CUE SPEAKER/INTERCOM
As the name suggests, speaker and intercom allows you to do two things.
Firstly, when the faders are in the cue position, or if cue has been selected on the channel assign selectors, you will hear the audio through this speaker.
If you hear any other audio coming through this speaker at any other time it means that some one has activated the intercom somewhere else and is talking to you.
To intercom anyone else in one of the studios or the newsroom, press the appropriate button and speak into the announcer mic and talk.
RECORD CHANNEL SELECTORS
By using this selector you can determine whether you want to record of channel 1, channel 2, or off air (when this selector is not activated channel one is the on air channel and channel two is the record channel).
Starting from the top and going down the monitor selectors are:
* CH1 which corresponds with channel 1 on the output selectors
* CH2 which corresponds with channel 2 on the output selectors
Auto which allows you to hear (monitor) what is going to air while you am in delay That is, you hear what is going to air 7 seconds before the listeners do. This control is used when you are doing talkback.
Cue allows you to hear what is being sent on the cue channel through the monitors. Normally you would hear what is being played on cue through the cue speaker on the far right of the panel.
TX allows you to hear what is being broadcast. That is, you can hear what is coming off the transmitter, rather than the sound that is being generated in the studio. Whenever you are doing a live to air broadcast you must monitor off TX other wise you will not know if you have gone off air or not.
To select one of the monitor selectors al1 you have to do is press which button you want and a red light will come on, thus indicating what output is being monitored.
Below these selectors is a volume knob. This allows you to alter how loudly something is coming out of the monitors. It is important to note that there is a difference between ''volume loudness'' and ''level loudness.'' If you turn down the volume control you are changing what you can hear through the speakers without changing the amount of sound being measured in the L.E.D. meters.
Below the volume knob there is a DIM control. By pressing this you can temporarily DIM the sound coming out of the monitors in the studio.
HEADPHONE SELECTORS
The headphone selectors allow you to hear what (monitor) what you will hear through the headphones.
Starting from the top and going down the monitor selectors are:
* CH1 which corresponds with channel 1 on the output selectors.
* CH2 which corresponds with channel 2 on the output selectors.
* Auto allows you to hear (monitor) what is going to air while you are in delay. That 1, you hear what is going to air 7 seconds before your listeners do. This control is used when you do fallback. You must always have your headphone monitors on auto when you are doing live to air telephone interviews and talkback.
Cue allows you to hear what is being sent through the cue channel on your headphones.
TX allows you to hear what is being broadcast. That is, you can hear what is coming off the transmitter, rather than hearing the sound that is being generated in the studio. You should monitor off TX when you are broadcasting and you are not in delay.
To select one of the headphone selectors al1 you have to do is press which button you want and a red light will come on, thus indicating what output you can hear in your headphones.
Split Control
As you have no doubt noticed, these selectors are exactly like the monitor selectors, but there is one main difference. On the headphone selectors there is a split function. When you press the split function you will hear the cue channel in the left headphone (provided cue has been selected on one of the output
selectors). When you press the split function, you will hear the cue channel in your left headphone, cutting out what has been selected by the main button above. The right headphone will still have what has been selected above. The point of this function is that it allows you to continue monitoring what is
being recorded or going to air while you are cuing up the next thing.
Headphone Volume
The headphone volume only controls the volume of the announcer's headphones. The volume control is split into two parts, this means you can control the volume of the left headphone and the volume of the
right headphone independently of each other. This is especially useful if you are using the split function and you want to hear what is being cued and your main sound source at different volumes.
GUEST HEADPHONE CosTRous
Below the announcer headphone selectors are the guest headphone selectors.
You have the choice of:
* CH1 if you are going live to air you would need to have the guests headphones on channel 1
* CH2 If you are recording an interview with a guest than you need to have the guest headphone selectors on channel 2.
* AUTO if doing live to air talkback with a guest then you need to have the guest headphone selector on Auto.
FADERS
The fader controls allow you to do two things: Firstly, it allows you to determine the level at which a
signal is being sent through the console, and secondly, it allows you determine where you want a signal
to go, that is, to go live to air, to be recorded onto another machine, or to be cued.
Levels
Faders control the level of the signal being sent through the console. You monitor the level being sent through the console by watching the LED meters. If you want to send a low signal through the console then you will need to have the fader down low (for example, music or SFX under an interview). The more you want to raise the levels then the more you raise the fader. Often, for a normal broadcast level, the fader will be at around -0- and the LED meters will be flickering in the green area, just below the red area. However, it is important to remember that every input will have a different level and you need to check this before you put it to air.
How To add your Diffusion bio
Click here and a new window will open.
Enter the username, and the password.
On the new page click on "new entry".
Type your name in the "title" field.
Use the mouse to click on the selector under "Primary Category" and select "Profiles"
In the "entry body" field write your life story.
Leave everything else to the defaults.
Then click on "save" at the bottom of the page, and you can then click "logout" at the top of the page to finish.
