Other prizewinners include other notable sites such as ProPublica, 48 HR Magazine, PolitiFact, Publish2 and Ushahidi.

They’re all compiled here. [Update 4-29: Apologies for the link fail. The link is posted now.]

“To the surprise of many, Facebook in not just the privilege of tech-savvy kids – the college and post-college folks (18- to 24-yearolds), which the site originally aimed to target, now only account for less than 25 percent of total users. The fastest-growing demographic group is women age of 55 and older, up 175 percent since September 2008.”

Read more at SFN

[Hat tip to Journerdist Will Sullivan]

The infamous multimedia boot camp at the University of North Carolina is now coming to the University of Miami in Miami, Fla. Taking a look at the roster of instructors, I get goosebumps at the freaky amount of talent that’s going to be teaching multimedia skills. They’ve got Alberto Cairo. They’ve got Andrew DeVigal. They’ve got Brian Storm. If you’re looking to learn about creating awesome interactive graphics, that’s the mod squad right there.

There will be two three-day workshops, one on Jan. 3-6 and the other on Jan. 7-10. Tuition is $750 for the three-day workshop (which really isn’t so bad considering the quality of the boot camp). If you’re a visual journalist –especially in Florida– this is a workshop at which you’ll want to take a good look. Plead to the boss if you have to!

[Interactive Narratives - New Multimedia Training Opportunities at the University of Miami]

MacGyver Newspaper Use #1:
Make your windows streak free!

If you’re a fan of household frugal tricks (as I am), you’ll be glad to know a great way to eliminate streaks from windows is to wipe them with glass cleaner and newspaper. And it magically leaves no ink stains behind! (No, it doesn’t work on your face.)

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MacGyver Newspaper Use #2:
Pick up dog poo!

That paper has plenty of uses, but folks often overlook the plastic bag in which it’s wrapped. It just so happens that this plastic bag is extra long and slides conveniently up your arm, making it perfect for use as a poop-snatching glove. The newspaper industry may be in deep crap, but that doesn’t mean your tender skin has to be!

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MacGyver Newspaper Use #3:
De-stinkify your shoes!

It’s pouring rain, and your shoes just got soaked with rain and foot sweat. Newspaper industry to the rescue! Just ball up a bunch of newspaper inside the shoes, and the paper’s miraculous moisture-absorbent properties will take care of the problem faster than you can say “Dr. Scholls”.

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MacGyver Newspaper Use #4:
Entertain your kids with a cheap coloring book!

In many newspapers, the comics appear in black and white on weekdays. To a child, that colorless newspaper is an untapped canvas, my friends! Give junior a box of Crayolas and let him go to town on those funnies while you work on updating your resume. Once he finishes with the comics, give him some news pages for fun activities such as coloring funny mustaches on Thomas Friedm… er…

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MacGyver Newspaper Use #5:
Beat somebody stupid!

They say the pen is mightier than the sword. Well, it’s true when you can roll up a newspaper, coil it, wet it and turn it into a truncheon that can crack a grown man’s skull. Extra points if you stick a rusty nail in it! (Tutorial here.) British soccer hooligans began using so-called “Millwall bricks” as stealth weapons during melees at soccer matches after police began confiscating other possible weapons. In “The Bourne Supremacy”, super-agent Jason Bourne fights off an enemy using a rolled-up newspaper and Eskrima, a Filipino martial art that makes use of everyday objects. So if you’re on a plane that’s suddenly hijacked, pour your Dr. Pepper on that Wall Street Journal, wrap it up and start beating the snot out of terrorists.

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BONUS MACGYVER TIPS: Make a telescope, distract your enemies, defuse a bomb and send a message via hot-air balloon [Wikipedia]

MORE REAL-LIFE TIPS: 80 Uses For Old Newspapers

[Photos by jellywatson, keaggy, massdistraction, stefernie and Wikipedia. Paper hat tip to my esteemed colleague John Cutter for the Bourne tip.]

Hey Journalistopians, just a quick heads up that the Journalistopia Crime Map Directory has been updated with a slew of new crime maps. A lot more folks are getting into the crime map act, including news organizations, neighborhood associations and lone wolf developers (as usual, the list only includes non-police groups).

If you’re developing a crime map or thinking of developing one, you’ll want to explore this list for plenty of dos and don’ts.

[Journalistopia - Online crime maps directory]

Among the publishers participating in the service: Advance Publications Inc., Hearst Corp., Lee Enterprises Inc., McClatchy Co., MediaNews Group Inc. and Rust Communications Inc.

I’d review the service, but yours truly still uses this old thing… sigh.

[Tip 'o the hat to Will Sullivan]

Etan writes:

“If you are a technology journalist, you need to start using Twitter. And regardless of what you cover, you should sign up for Twitter. It’s where the people you cover are hanging out and communicating and it will help you build sources, promote yourself, get story ideas and keep your finger on the pulse of the community you cover.”

Etan’s post follows a post by Charles Cooper on CNET about how journalists haven’t taken to Twitter.

Here in Orlando, I, along with the breaking news staff, are the keepers of the Orlando Sentinel Twitter feed. Twitter has been a great opportunity to reach a new, tech-savvy audience and provide a service that many folks tell me is valuable to them. Besides, where else could you get away with rickrolling readers on April 1? (See: “ Family of manatees discovered in Lake Eola”)

Here, you’ll find proposals for community content management systems, initiatives to prevent censorship, geo-reporting and much more.

The winners will be announced May 14 at the E&P Interactive Media Conference in Las Vegas.

Check out the list for a plethora of interesting ideas.

Online advertising is expected to generate more than $20 billion in revenue this year, more than double the $9.6 billion it represented as recently as 2004. Nobody doubts that the figure will grow — particularly as advertisers hone their techniques for aiming messages to particular consumers — but the question remains how much the clashing traffic figures will hold the market back.

Read the story here.

(And yeah, yeah, I know it’s from Oct. 22. Just catching up on some feeds… sigh.)

What is interesting about this story is that it is told heavily from Hoffman’s point of view and in the first person. There’s none of the “this reporter” stuff. The story starts off with Hoffman’s face being pinned on the hood of a car:  “Joe Francis, the founder of the “Girls Gone Wild” empire, is humiliating me.”

Definitely worth a read to examine her writing technique.