OK, you could learn Flash and Photoshop

But life's too short

So what multimedia journalists need are simple, free software applications that take all the technical stuff out of creating timelines and visualisations.

We need to be able to combine text,  images, video and audio, and root all that information into a timeline that is easily embedded in our websites or blogs.

We'll take a look here at two applications that give us everything we need: Dipity and Vuvox

I've trialled them both, seeing how easy they are to use, and how much they can do for us.

They're both great. But they aren't the same.

So I created a timeline on the Murdoch crisis in each for comparison.

If you want to build  timeline fast, Dipity is perfect:

If you want a higher level of design, Vuvox is the answer:

Next: how to use Dipity to create a multimedia timeline fast

There are good reason for grouping science, health and environment together in our survey of journalistic specialisms

In terms of their subject matter, there are overlaps.

That’s reflected in the fact that many news titles and broadcasters give their correspondents responsibility for two or more of the science, health and environment categories.

The BBC, for example, has a science and environment correspondent, in David Shukman. Reuters has a health and science correspondent in Kate Kelland.

These beats have something else in common – they are often really badly reported.

Why is science reporting often poor?

Partly because the issues concerning science, health and environment beats are often very complex and impossible to boil down to a headline without risking getting things very wrong indeed.

Journalists and scientists work in diametrically opposed ways.

Journalists need it fast, scientists need to consider the import of a finding or event before they declare on it.

Can we overcome this?

Can science etc be reported well?

We’ll look in detail at how become a really good science reporter, taking advice from a range of experts – both scientists and journalists.

Environment, health and science also have this in common: they attract, and are appropriate beats for, those with science degrees. So we'll look at how scientists can become science journalists.

Our trio of topics make for great specialisms in B2B publications.

B2Bs are useful seed beds for specialist science, health and environment journalists, who often transfer to  serious newspapers and to broadcasters, both of which generally want specialists in these areas.

How to get into science journalism

We’ll take advice from the Association of British Science Writers on the various avenues into these beats – for those with a science background, and those without one.

I’ve known of pharmacists, scientists and others who have drifted into journalism and discovered that they are as good, if not better, at covering developments in their specialism as they were in practising it.

Because of the overlaps mentioned, much of what we say for science applies equally to health and environment.

So I’ve grouped a lot of information with general relevance under the heading of science journalism, and you’ll see that reflected in the modules,.

So if health or environment are your thing, it’s worth reading through science as well.

We’ll profile the star science, health and environment journalists, so you can learn from the best, and we’ll focus on the university courses relevant to these journalistic beats.

if you are not a subscriber to Multimedia Journalism: A Practgical Guide, you can only access the course until June 24 2011.  To subscribe, you can find out about the course here. And buy the textbook, and hence become a subscriber, here.

Subscribers have permanent access to all 35 masterclasses on every aspect of journalism practise and careers advice, as well as the full MMJ website, which is a multimedia support to the textbook..

Next: Science Journalism, how to get into it

Celebrity and showbiz news has traditionally been looked down on by the posh newspapers and the BBC

They have arts correspondents, putting the emphasis on culture and arts policy matters

It was redtops, and the more ‘tabloid’ TV channels that went for showbiz gossip, kiss-and-tell tales about soap stars, footballers and reality TV wannabes.

But that’s all changed. Now even the poshest papers recognise that their audience, however high-minded it might be, is also interested in celebrities and what they get up to.

On channels such as BBC3, the news is bite-sized showbiz gossip. The Guardian and The Times both have writers who focus on celebrity.

In this masterclass we’ll look at what a massively expanded journalistic area this is, and at the opportunities for celeb and showbiz reporting there now are.

Much of the growth in celeb news has been fuelled by websites – often maverick, sometimes plain nasty. But while they began often as email newsletters distributed among friends, the most successful now have millions of readers, make millions a year, and are challenging the existence of established celebrity publications and the red tops.

The other big driver of celebrity news is the way celebrities themselves have taken to Twitter, often writing about themselves and what is happening to them, and sometimes conducting their love-lives in public.

So we’ll look here at several things:

• Why celebrity and showbiz news is so big - and how it got that way
• How to do celeb and showbiz reporting
• Twitter's vital role in your reporting

We’ll have a case study in how to create a full newspaper article from the tweets of celebs (and a bit of telly watching) by analysing how The Times’s Caitlin Moran told the Royal Wedding story through celebs' tweets.

We'll also have:

• Celebrity Twitter accounts listed
• Star celeb and showbiz reporters

And we won’t forget about arts reporting. We’ll look also at what it is and where you can get a job doing it, plus list the Arts tweeters you should follow

Next: Why celebrity and showbiz news is so big - and how it got that way