The Citizen Journalism Boot Camp program has a full day of workshops to help you improve as a citizen journalist or to get started as one.
8:30-9 a.m. – Registration and coffee.
9-10 a.m. – Members of The Indianapolis Star’s Starwatch investigative team share tips of the reporter’s trade in a roundtable discussion. Participants: Mark Alesia, Tim Evans, Heather Gillers, Alvie Lindsay.
10-10:45 a.m. – Brant Houston, former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors (now holder of the Knight Chair in Investigative Reporting at the University of Illinois), presents a session on information gathering, with discussion on basic research and background and special attention to online sources.
10:45-11 a.m. – Break.
11 a.m.-Noon  –  John Strauss, former Indianapolis Star journalist and member of Ball State University’s journalism faculty, demonstrates easy-to-use multimedia tools that can turn any citizen activist into a backpack journalist.
Noon-1:30 p.m. – Lunch. Jan Schaffer of the Knight Citizen News Network gives the keynote speech.
1:30-2:30 p.m. – Erik Deckers, vice president of creative services and operations for Pro Blog Service, presents the nuts and bolts of starting a blog.
2:30-3:15 p.m. – Erik is joined by Pat Andrews, neighborhood activist and blogger, and Bil Browning, co-owner of Bilerico Media, for a discussion of their experiences blogging – how to maintain a blog and not get burned out.  Audience Q&A.
3:15-3:30 p.m. – Break.
3:30-4:45 p.m. – The Citizen Journalist and the Law. Panel includes Steve Badger of Bose McKinney & Evans, Jan Carroll of Barnes & Thornburg and Dick Goehler of Frost Brown Todd. They will talk about challenges and pitfalls for citizen bloggers, strategies for staying on the right side of the law, and the current state of affairs regarding access issues.
To register for the Boot Camp, click here.