Bloggers, others gather

Self-described "citizen blogger" Faye Anderson said she is all about civic engagement - and she called the style at Saturday's BarCamp "the epitome of civic engagement."

Anderson was among attendees at the third annual BarCamp NewsInnovation event at Temple University's Annenberg Hall, organized by TechnicallyMedia, the company behind tech blog "TechnicallyPhilly."

Anderson, who writes a daily blog, "Anderson@Large," said she had come to BarCamp to pick up tips about blogging and social media.

Topics included the role of fact verification in journalism, a discussion led by Howard Weaver, a former Anchorage Daily News reporter and a former vice president of news at the McClatchy newspaper chain. There also was a more technical discussion of the syndication of long-form journalism led by Will Mitchell, a Washington City Paper developer.

Participants included college students, professional bloggers, photojournalists, print reporters, editors, and social-media strategists. Weaver's session included an examination of the implications of citing - or not citing - sources in stories in print and online.

Social-media strategist Valeria Maltoni came to BarCamp because she "loves journalists, loves reporters, and loves to figure out where the money is in media and content," she said.

Maltoni said she noticed a difference between old-media and new-media professionals who attended.

"There seems to be some trepidation with people embedded with the old news model. They don't want to rock the boat," she said. Younger professionals are "more native and feel more optimistic about what they can do."

Wall Street Journal outreach editor Zach Seward led a session analyzing social media, including their role in news coverage. He focused on Twitter's analytics for particular tweets such as followers, retweets, and clicks.

About 120 people were at the conference, organizer Sean Blanda said.

He noticed more attendees this year than last year who specialized in data and programming, he said, which is an "indicator of where journalism is going."