The International Association of Online Communicators (IAOC) has announced the papers to be given at the 2008 International Conference to be held in Reykjavik, Iceland, June 12-13, 2008. This year’s papers include an eye-tracking study involving online journalism, issues of the media and ethics when high profile child deaths and disappearances go online, how social media and broadcast meet in radio 2.0, CEO blogging and ghost writers, student-produced online news media, and a look at the impact the virtual office has on commitment the organization.

Presenters this year are from the University of Trier (Trier, Germany), Western Carolina University (Cullowhee, North Carolina), the University of Miami (Coral Gables, Florida), Richard Stockton College of New Jersey (Pomona, New Jersey), Central Michigan University (Mount Pleasant, Michigan) and Rowan University (Glassboro, New Jersey).

There is still time to register for this year’s IAOC Conference, June 12-13, 2008 at the Hotel Holt in Reykjavik, Iceland. Iceland is an ideal meeting ground for those from Europe and North America. Flights are five hours or less from much of North America and about three hours from Europe.

For those from the US, it’s an opportunity to visit a European capital where the dollar still enjoys a favorable exchange rate. For Europeans, the exchange rate is even better. IAOC has a block of rooms reserved at the Hotel Holt, www.holt.is, or contact our travel service at Lina@LTTravel.com. Be sure to ask for the IAOC rate. Registration is $199 for members, $299 for non-members. For more information and online registration visit http://iaoc2008.eventbrite.com.

The following papers will be presented at the Iceland Conference:

• Preparing Online Communicators for the Future of Information Systems, by Bill Wolff and Diane Penrod
• Using Google Applications for Online Teaching:  Competition for Proprietary Educational Software in an Age of Fiscal Constraint by Kevin Lee
• Loud Voices, Silenced Voices; The Ethics of Online Content in Media Coverage of High-Profile Child Death and Child Disappearance cases by Kathryn Quigley
• User Interaction with Time-dependent Presentation in Online Journalism, Results of an Eye-tracking Study by Peter Schumacher
• The CEO as Celebrity and Blogger: Is there a Ghostwriter in the Machine? by Sam Terilli
• Issues of Organizational Commitment in the Era of the Virtual Office, by Diane Holtzman and Evonne Kruger
• Broadcast Media Meets Social Media; Radio 2.0 and the Future of Broadcasting, by Keith Brand
• Online Newsroom by Joseph Basso and Randy Hines
• Student-produced news media, how complex have their online efforts become? by Rick Sykes
• Old Needs, New Demands:  How Online Communication has Re-shaped the Practice of School PR, by Edward H. Moore
• Research Methodology for Web 2.0, by Chandrasekhar Vallath
• Effective Tactics During a Product Recall: A Case Study of the Menu Foods Pet Food Recall by Melissa Bass
• Online Libel and the Court’s attempt to apply First Amendment protection to an emerging medium, by Joseph Basso

PATRON SAINT PRODUCTIONS, INC.
~  CHAT TRANSCRIPT  ~
Patron Saint Productions, Inc.
Internet PR Chat Series

Topic: Online Newsrooms
Guests: Steve O'Keefe, author of "Complete Guide to Internet Publicity"
Date: April 18, 2008

LAST SESSION
Opening URL: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/default.mspx

Who uses online newsrooms?
- Journalists to gather information, background and supplemental information
- Company in crisis
- Non-media trying to break through. Customer service inquiries, job applicants
- Investors and analysts
- Attorneys and investigators
- Own employees and investors

What should a newsroom contain?
1. Must contain
      - Contact information
2.  Should contain
     - News releases, current
     - High-resolution artwork
     - Searchable news release archive
     - Financial Information, especially for publicly traded companies
     - Management profiles EXAMPLE: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/default.mspx?group=A-D

3. Bells and whistles
    - Newsletters
    - Transcripts of speeches
    - Calendar of events
    - Stand on political issues
    - Roster of employees, directory
   - Broadcast room EXAMPLE: http://br.thenewsmarket.com/Microsoft/br/Login/LoginPreRegistration.aspx
    RESTRICTED ACCESS
        - Contact information OK so emplyees are not spammed
        - Could limit coverage for your business
4. Should not contain
    - Dated material you cannot maintain
    - Message boards
   
EXAMPLE:  http://www.apple.com/pr/
    - Contact information: public
    - News release example: Final Cut Server Shipping
        - No personal contact information on release because of archive issues
    - Images for the media: Airport Express
        - Include format of the artwork including size

ONLINE CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS:  2 Strategies
1. DUCK: what crisis, what problem?
    - Pretend it is not there and hope it goes away
     EXAMPLE: http://www.southwest.com/about_swa/press/prindex.html
    - Archive of news releases
    - Special Web site to deal with media: http://www.swamedia.com
    - Making significant changes on a daily basis
2. STAND TALL: want your side of the story to be told.
    - Pro and con
     EXAMPLE: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/legalnews.mspx
    - Provide exhaustive information on the topic
    - Document the entire story to get your side of the information out
    - Dark Web site - Emergency Web site that redirects people to the crisis information


Class Podcast:
http://www.authorviews.com/authors/promo/chatsessions/online_newsrooms.wav

PATRON SAINT PRODUCTIONS, INC.
~  CHAT TRANSCRIPT  ~
Patron Saint Productions, Inc.
Internet PR Chat Series

Topic: Search Engine Optimization
Guests: Steve O'Keefe, author of "Complete Guide to Internet Publicity"
Date: April 11, 2008

Opening URL for the day:       http://www.google.com

Search Engine Optimization: The science of trying to get people to come to your site (increase traffic).
Careful, traffic can be a bad thing:
 - Expenses rise as traffic increases.
 - Unwanted viewers
 - hackers
 - lawyers

GOOGLE: algorithm - ranking system based on metatags
On Web site look for source code:

Example site: Google search food - pick LA Times
- Title bar tag (keywords) helps Google understand what is on that page

Example: Food News, Recipes & Restaurant Reviews - Los Angeles Times
- Keywords tag (non in this example). No more than 50, separated by commas

Example: meta name="keywords" content="" /
- Description tag. 25 word of what is on your Web site, not what you do.

Example: meta name="description" content="Find food & wine news and reviews on restaurants, recipes, cooking, desserts, chefs, fine dining, cuisine, Los Angeles restaurants, four star restaurants & more." /

What Google looks for to rank:
- tags match content (you will get the Google smack down if you do not represent yourself properly with tags and content. Smack down = moved to the bottom of the search list)
- linkage (how many sites link to your site)
- popularity among searchers (when Google offers options, how many times are you chosen)

Recommendations to optimize your site:
- Follow metatags rules
- Annual search engine optimization check
    - find out where you are in searches
    - update metatags
- Register your Web site with search engines
http://www.patronsaintpr.com/resources/templates.html
    - Web site registration list
    http://www.patronsaintpr.com/resources/templates/regreport.html
- Linkage campaign (expect 20-25% success rate)
    - Link letter
    http://www.patronsaintpr.com/resources/templates/linkreport.htm    
    - When asking for linkage ask these questions:    
        - Is the site dead or not?
        - Do they have links to other site (links or resources)?
        - Who should I pitch?
Example: Eric Ward article on link letters http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=831971
    -Find a super site (someone that has made it their job to be a resource on the topic)

Here's a link to the sessions podcast:
http://www.authorviews.com/authors/promo/chatsessions/080411.wav