Seven Ways to Write Like a Digital Native

I originally developed this web writing checklist for my Writing for the Web class in WebU, but am reposting it here today because I’m giving a short seminar on this topic here at the Star. Additionally, one of the best resources for Writing for the Web has to be Jacob Nilson’s collection of posts on the topic at Useit.com

Here are seven ways to get the most out of the web when publishing a story. Stop before posting ANY story and ask how you can enrich it for the reader:

1) Are there original documents you can link to?
If you’ve downloaded a report, meeting minutes or agendas, watched a video or listened to a tape — share it. If it’s living elsewhere on the web, link to it. If you have your own copy – can you scan it? Post it yourself? You’ve already done the hard work, share it with your audience.
2) Are there any photographs (related videos, soundfiles, slideshows) online?

Dog and Frisbee

You don’t have to own a file to share it with your audience. Need an photo of a dog and a Frisbee for a story on off-leash dog parks? Go to Flickr’s creative commons search page and search for what you need. That looks for photos with a Creative Commons attribution licence – you can use the photos so long as you attribute them. (The dog photo comes from Bruce at www.flickr.com/people/superfantastic/ )
If you can’t get permission to post or host the file yourself – why not link to it?

3) Can you map it?
Mapping information – especially interactive mapping – can offer readers highly useful information. A simple locater map or a route map can be created and embedded directly into a story in a matter of minutes. Some stories might even best be told entirely as an annotated interactive map. Ask yourself if this is one of them.
4) Can you gather past stories together and link to them?
It’s a conversation, remember? You’ve gone and dug out and re-read the old stories to prepare for your interviews and to nail down the background – why not share them? Provide a sidebar or box with links to 2 or 3 or 5 related stories: make readers happy and increase our site page views.
5) Can you post the audio or video of an interview or performance or meeting?
If you’ve recorded your interview or the meeting, if cable television (or a parent or your photographer) has taped the meeting or show or game, can you post that material for people who are gluttons for the topic?
6) Can you direct them to an authoritative site for more info?
Again – you’ve probably already visited related, authoritative sites during your reporting of the story. Why not do your readers a favour and share those links with them? The web is all about linking.
7) Can you invite comment or start a conversation?
Is this story – and the ongoing ‘conversation’ it represents – a chance for us to host discussion or debate or any kind of sharing of stories and views from and with our community? Invite conversation and stories the way a good dinner party host would.