Brown Bag Lunch With Julio Ojeda-Zapata

What is Twitter? What’s the next big social networking tool? And whats life like at the Pioneer Press these days?

Pioneer Press tech columnist Julio Ojeda-Zapata will be our featured guest at our next Brown Bag Lunch with A Journalist, at noon Wednesday, April 22 at the East Lake Public Library, 2727 E. Lake St., Minneapolis. According to his bio, Julio “has been on the front lines of the Internet and computer revolutions as a syndicated newspaper columnist, editor and award-winning writer for more than a decade. He is author of the hot-selling book “Twitter Means Business,” which documents how the Twitter social-networking service has become a vital tool for companies. Julio covers consumer technology for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, where he writes a weekly Tech Test Drive column and maintains his Your Tech Weblog. He lives in St. Paul, Minn., with his wife, son and a hopelessly spoiled guinea pig called Pepita.”

Also, if you want to learn to shoot your own videos or create your own website, TCMA and the Twin Cities Daily Planet have a couple of great classes coming up:

Video reporting
Instructor: Ashley Siebels
When: Thursdays, April 23, 30 and May 7 | 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Where: 125 SE Main Street #244, Minneapolis
Cost $80 Register through MTN
There is also a $20 (Minneapolis residents) or $25 (non-Minneapolis) MTN membership fee which allows participants to use MTN cameras after the class is done. If you take this video class ($100) and produce two PUBLISHABLE videos for us, we’ll reimburse you the cost of the class. So, it’s quite the deal. Contact Lisa Peterson, lisa@tcdailyplanet.net , 612-281-8094 for details.

So you want to be a video reporter? There’s nothing stopping you from becoming the next Tom Brokaw, except of course knowing how to shoot and edit news stories. In this class Ashley Siebels will show you how to choose an appropriate subject for community news reporting, shoot video, and edit it using imovie. The class will have some instructor led activities and lecture, but you will also have lots of room to work with your story. Students will be expected to produce one story in the three-session class.

If students produce two video reports whose content and quality is applicable to the Twin Cities Daily Planet and MTN, the TC Daily Planet will reimbursed the cost of the class.

Create Free WordPress Websites for Business or Blogging
Instructor: Matt Bartel, Secrets of the City (formerly the Rake and MNSpeak)
When: Wednesday May 6 | 6:00 tp 8:30 p.m.
Where: Rondo Library | 461 Dale Street North

Cost: Free

Contact Lisa Peterson, lisa@tcdailyplanet.net , 612-281-8094 to register.

WordPress.com offers free websites that are easy to design and use, and very suitable for small businesses and neighborhood organizations, as well as blogging.This workshop will teach the basic skills necessary to setup and maintain a web site or blog using WordPress. Each attendee will set up their own basic WordPress site, then learn how to create/edit content, change themes, install plugins and change site settings. We will also cover related topics including social media integration, email address collection and basic web usability/design concepts. “

For a complete list of upcoming Twin Cities Media Alliance classes, go to www.tcdailyplanet.net/classes