Steve Buttry, Journal Register Company's new Director of Community Engagement and Social Media, spent some quality time with us here in the trenches at the New Haven Register Newsroom Arena as one of the first stops on the prestigious Steve Buttry World Tour. And by world, we mean JRC. In case you missed his excellent workshop on live blogging, which he not-so-ironically live blogged about as it happened -- here is the replay:

(and do yourself a favor -- follow him on Twitter @stevebuttry if you haven't already)

Liveblogging tips for journalists

View more presentations from Steve Buttry

And this isn't Steve's first rodeo. Check out this post from 2009 on his blog about another live blogging workshop he held for the American Society of News Editors.

Check out The New Haven Register's updated staff and topics lists at the links below. We now have 41 staffers (reporters, editors, designers, copy editors, and uh, a mouse?) and 16 topics, so you can follow and engage with the writers and content that interests you most. Or just follow the whole list.  

NEWSROOM STAFF: Follow them here

NEW HAVEN REGISTER TOPICS: Follow them here

And if any body knows who the mysterious @nhrnewsmouse is, please send me a news tip. The secret identity of this anonymous mouse has thus far eluded an ENTIRE room of journalists and copy editors who microscope every detail that crosses their desk.

And no, it isn't me. If you think I'm that sneaky, then we have trust issues.

When a newsroom starts cranking out multiple stories under the banner of a single topic or news event over a period of time, it's good practice to organize that into an 'archive' for your readers. That way, readers have the option to go as 'deep' into the story as they want. Readers get easier access to more of your related information, and thus it generates more online traffic for your website. #WINNING.

We've toyed with this link-thinking at the Register the past few years on some of our larger stories, such as the tragic triple-slaying of the Petit family in Cheshire and the slaying of Annie Le.

Today, I used Dipity to archive our developing coverage of the East Coast Rapist capture, and eventual trial. And I like the way it came out. It's clean, it's elegant, it's attractive. It's an interactive story archive. Check it out.

What are some other really solid uses of Dipity you've seen from local news organizations? Post your links in the comments.

The New Haven Register has written about many events that required people to find parking if they wanted to go. What news or media organization hasn't?

But with this story on New Haven's St. Patrick's Day Parade, we're showing readers where they can park on a Google map that can generate them directions as well as parking cost, if they want to get that detailed. And folks are going to need it, because the Parade is considered the biggest annual spectator draw in the state of Connecticut.

Entertainment Editor Jordan Fenster made this map simply by :

1. going to http://en.parkopedia.com
2. Typing "New Haven, CT" in the search bar.
3. Clicking the paperclip icon for an embed code.
4. Changing the width in the embed generator from '700' to '635'
5. Copying and pasting that code into his online version of the story.
6. yeah, it was that easy.

Of course, Parkopedia's database is not as up to par in some locations as it can be, but it's one of those informational tools that has great potential and can be a great resource for your online readers.

All credit on use of Parkopedia goes to Jordan Fenster, so if you have any questions about how we used it here, email him at jfenster@newhavenregister.com

SIDE NOTE: Not to be confused with Parkipedia, a South Park info wiki.

In writing, 'showing' always trumps 'telling.'

Whether we're talking factless works of fiction or Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism, a writer needs to illustrate the story. And in this digital age of multi-channel storytelling, it's important for every online news organization to show their stories in as many ways as possible. This is at the heart of my love affair with Google Maps. Especially when we're talking about local journalism. People like to see where the news around them is happening. It's also great for filling out space on breaking news stories that may not have much more information than a location yet available.

In about a minute (seriously, it's not that difficult), you can add an interactive map to any online story and show your "where." Google an address, grab the embed code, paste it into your web-publisher, voila.

We've been taking advantage of this at NewHavenRegister.com quite a bit recently. Every time I catch a story that has a location I can pinpoint on a map, I add it to the story. That is of course, if it makes sense to show the location. For example, if you are working on a story about a man who was arrested for stealing a vanilla ice cream cone from a kid - you want to show where this crime occurred on a map. But if the only "where" info you have is the man's address -- as some blotter stories do -- there is often little reason to map that. Don't map just to map. Map information that has context in the story you're telling.

Here are some examples of how I've used it:

• Bridgeport man charged in deodorant heist
• Two people shot at New Haven Dunkin Donuts
• Clerk injured in Hamden armed robbery
• Hamden cops describe cops suspect in Walmart robbery 

And here is more advanced use with multiple locations and areas:

• New Haven cops seek public's help in finding alleged child beating suspect
• Serial rapist sought in New Haven 
• FBI launches digital billboard campaign to capture 'East Coast' rapist

How do you make and embed your own Google Map? Let's walk through it step by step:

Read more »

You know what's better than producing solid, electrifyingly good content for your newsroom? Validation. Proof that readers are interested in your supposedly electrifying content.

For the past year or so, the New Haven Register newsroom has incorporated video into their storytelling and reporting. Many of them now shoot, edit and publish their own video content without any 'computer guys' (which apparently I am?) in the room. They have all honed their skills, and found varying degrees of comfort with it. Which is a fairly compelling story, since many across Journal Register Company had never even held a video camera before being handed their own FLIP cam last year to use as a reporting tool.

BEFORE THIS GETS LONG AND WINDED: This link is what this blog post is about

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