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FAQ's

Old Intern guidelines

You will be assigned a user name and password. Log in by going to the Audio/Video page and clicking on the LOG IN button in the left-hand column below the list of HNN Departments.

You will be responsible for creating a SINGLE new entry for each audio/video selection.

To post an entry click where it says:"Click Here to Post an Entry." You will notice that when you create a new entry the system generates a title field and two large boxes. Put the title of your entry in the title field (use existing entries as a template); include in brackets [ ] the length of the audio/video. Put text in the first big box. Leave the second big box blank. Include a couple of paragraphs from the SOURCE where you found the audio/video selection.

Then fill in the remaining open fields: SOURCE. DATE (this refers to the date when the audio/video was published by the Source). URL (this is the http://... ). You must include the entire URL, including the http:// part.

Then click: PUBLISH. Once the entry is published recheck it to make sure it came out the way you wanted. If there's a mistake you go back in and re-edit the entry. At the bottom of the entry there will be something like this:

Posted on Friday, January 4, 2008 at 6:17 PM | Comments (0) | Top | Edit | Delete.

To re-edit the entry click on"Edit." Then, when you're done, remember to click on the PUBLISH button again.

KEEP IN MIND THAT THE SYSTEM TIMES OUT AFTER A FEW MINUTES. ONCE YOU CLICK TO CREATE A NEW ENTRY YOU HAVE TO FINISH YOUR WORK ON THE ENTRY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES OR YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING YOU POSTED. THAT IS, YOU HAVE TO CLICK ON THE"PUBLISH" BUTTON.

Thanks to Simon, our computer guru, you do not have to do html coding when you blog. The system will automatically insert line and paragraph breaks and automatically turn your URL's into hot links (just as it does when readers post comments on the discussion boards). If you go back into an entry and make changes html coding will NOT be inserted automatically. The system only automates coding on the first pass--when you first create the entry. Subsequently, if you go back into an entry and make changes you may have to add new coding. If, for instance, you add a paragraph of text you'll need to add the coding for a paragraph break:

< P  >

Questions? Contact editor Rick Shenkman.

Sites that should be checked include:

1. NPR: All Things Considered
2. NPR: Morning Edition
3. NPR: Weekend Edition Saturday
4. NPR: Weekend Edition Sunday
5. NPR: Day to Day
6. BBC
7. bookguys.com
8. booktv.org
9. http://www.fora.tv/
10. http://www.researchchannel.org/
11. http://soundprint.org/  
12. http://wpr.org/book/shows.html
13. NPR
14. NewsHour (PBS)
15. BigThink (YouTube for intellectuals)
16. Making History Podcast: The Blog
17. Talking History
18. Nate DiMeo's thememorypalace
19. History Counts
20. Back Story

GROUP W: Interviews with Historians

Search the web each week for interviews with historians, combing through publisher websites.

New books often are accompanied by interviews with historians. Check the major publisher websites (Knopf, Random House, HarperCollins, Cambridge University Press, University of Kansas Press, etc.) and hunt for interviews.

Basic Books (division of Perseus)
Cambridge University Press
Casemate Publishing
Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press
Continuum International Publishing
Crown Publishers
Doubleday
Farrar Straus Giroux
Free Press (division of Simon and Schuster)
Globe Pequot
Goldberg McDuffie Communications
HarperCollins
Henry Holt and Company
Hill and Wang
Hyperion
John Wiley & Sons
Knopf (division of Random House)
Little Brown (division of AOL Time Warner)
Longman Publishers
McGraw Hill
Metropolitan Books
The New Press
Oxford University Press
Palgrave Macmillan
Pearson Custom Publishing
Penguin Putnam
Perseus Books Group
Princeton University Press
Public Affairs (division of Perseus)
Regnery
Routledge
Seven Stories Press
St. Martin's Press
Stanford University Press
Sunbelt Publications
SUNY (State University of New York) Press
Syracuse University Press
The Book Report Network
University of Arkansas Press
University of California Press
University of Chicago Press
University of Indiana Press
University of Michigan Press
University of Pennsylvania Press
University Press of America
University Press of Kansas
University Press of Kentucky
Viking Penguin
Yale University Press

GROUP X: H-Net Reviews

Every week H-Net--"an international interdisciplinary organization of scholars and teachers dedicated to developing the enormous educational potential of the Internet and the World Wide Web--publishes new scholarly reviews of books. Your job is to look through the reviews and determine which ones might be suitable for HNN. The reviews are posted here
.

We are interested in reviews that link history to current events or that tell readers about an exciting new development in historiography.

GROUP Y: Social Networking Websites

To increase our readership we are now posting links to new articles on the HNN homepage to social networking websites like digg.com. These are listed at the bottom of every article using the SHARE THIS button. Each week your job is to post links to the new articles appearing on the HNN homepage to at least 3 social networking websites. (Please always include digg.com.) Note bene: ONLY concern yourself with the ARTICLES posted on the HNN homepage. IGNORE Breaking News, Roundup and all other categories.

GROUP Z: Interviewing Historians

The intern responsible for this Group will interview historians by email about one of 2 subjects: (1) Why he or she became a historian, (2) Advice for students wanting to become historians.

Who should be interviewed: It will be the intern's responsibility to come up with names of possible interview subjects. (The editor may sometimes make suggestions.) Once Editor Rick Shenkman has approved the name of an interviewee the person should be contacted to see if they are willing to be interviewed.

How many questions should be asked? Probably ten or so questions should be sufficient. Once the intern has drafted a list they should be run by Editor Rick Shenkman for review. Then they can be sent to the interviewee. Questions should be based on a knowledge of the historian's work and career. Questions should range broadly including subjects drawn from both the historian's life and work.

How many interviews should be scheduled? About 2 a month.

Anything else? Each interview should include a short paragraph identifying the historian. The identification should include where they got their PhD, where they are teaching, the book or books for which they are known.

GROUP AA: Independent Historians

You will be responsible for finding historians who are not affiliated with a university (i.e. non-professors) for our Independent Historians feature. This is a research-intensive assignment, since there is no one directory where you can find suitable candidates! Refer all potentials to the assistant editor.