A chalkboard newspaper has skipped paper but gone online.
Alfred Sirleaf operates the Daily Talk in Monrovia, Liberia.
My time to move on
Back in 2000, after Susan Luce offered me a job at The News & Observer, I literally jumped up and down.
I was proud to work there.
But this month I took a buyout.
You might have seen the farewell page (PDF) we made for ourselves, posted by Romenesko. And kind words from Buregetta Wheeler.
The decimation of good newspapers is a shame.
I wish everyone well — journalists and our colleagues in other parts of the papers, those who have left and those who carry on.
Fellow McClatchy employees (current and former), I invite you to an alumni group at Linked In.
I will probably move to Albuquerque, to spend more time with my father.
Comic news
This is a smart idea, found via Poynter.
“The Santa Cruz Comic News is a monthly journal of progressive editorial cartoons. Each issue features well over 100 cartoons from the nation’s leading political cartoonists. The Comic News is the granddaddy of all cartoon newspapers — established 1984. Publishers: Thom Zajac and John Govsky.
“Our online edition features weekly updates of the best progressive editorial cartoons in the nation. Our website also has an archive of thousands of progressive editorial cartoons going back to 2005.”
J-schools: tech skills vs. future fitting
Serena Carpenter of Arizona State University has outlined several classes that would “that connect technology to bigger issues.”
They include:
* Digital Sandbox
* Online Organizational Behavior and Change
* Citizen Journalism
* Defining and Envisioning Journalism
How-to’s
*Steven Clift of E-Democracy is compiling some handouts, mainly on social media.
*Ryan Thornburg of UNC-Chapel Hill has a few one-page guides to online journalism (in the section titled “Writing Projects”).
* Poynter’s E-Media Tidbits has my piece on “How to start a web site in six easy Steps.
* More resources are listed at the bottom of my post on “How should journalism schools adapt?”
Build it or be quiet
Matt Waite wrote, “Build something or STFU.”
Waite, the news technologist for the St. Petersburg Times and Tampabay.com, said, “Before I get myself into trouble, I just want to say this: If all these people who know so much about journalism on the web spent less time on waving their arms in hysterics and actually built something — created value, or tried a new model instead of opined on one — the world would be a very different place.”
Mine are:
* Stem Neighbors
* Raleigh Shelter
They still need a lot of work. But everything starts with something.
More takes on journalism schools for the future
In case you missed Poynter’s chat on Monday, “What Do College Journalism Students Need to Learn?”:
* “Advice for journalism job hunters,” at Advancing the Story
* “Shaping the future journalist,” by Marion Geiger at Editors Weblog.
Thinking on our feet
A common theme of Poynter’s chat Wednesday was about students being able to think on their feet.
But during the chat on “What Do College Journalism Students Need to Learn?” we didn’t get far on how to help them do that.
I’ve read that a factor in creativity is having knowledge that is both broad and deep. Guest speakers and team teaching are helping to build bridges among journalism, technology and business.
One caution I would make is against changing one mold, writing, for another. But reaching across disciplines could also work with other departments.
And multidisciplinary courses or programs might be increased — such as by issues-oriented offerings with sociology, political science, public health and public administration.
Integrating digital media throughout J-school
Digital media is becoming a core skill for journalists.
But it is not yet a core skill for their faculty members.
This issue came up in Poynter’s chat on Monday, “What Do College Journalism Students Need to Learn?”
Robert French of Auburn University asked:
“Where would you rank the importance of learning technical aspects like video/audio production, CMS / social network usage (how to use open source platforms to create online communities)? Should programs have this interweaved throughout the curriculum, or only one course? Finally, should faculty be actively involved in emerging digital media networks? blogging? podcasting?”
My answer was:
“Robert, I think all students need to be able to do basic work in at least two media. And it’s unfeasible for most schools to integrate digital media throughout the curriculum. So I’d suggest all students having at least one course. I think all faculty members need some experience with digital media. But for both students and faculty members, there’s still room for different specialties.”
I think everyone else who addressed this disagreed with me about the feasibility of most schools integrating digital media throughout the curriculum.
Possibly we’re just understanding the question differently. I meant how feasible this is to do soon. And by “throughout the curriculum,” I meant “in every course.”
I doubt all professors are ready to do this. Take any representative sample, and see how much of a digital presence they have.
One answer could be to get rid of any faculty members who can’t or won’t integrate digital media.
But they have expertise in other areas. It would be a shame to throw that out.
If that were done, the breadth and total sum of knowledge among the faculty would be sharply diminished.
I think it would be better to start with a more-basic move – such as getting syllabi online and easy to find.
Business link
Revenue Two Point Zero
(found via Poynter)
From the site:
In the manifesto we posted last week, we identified four strategies for funding journalism. These links point to demonstrations of new revenue models we developed for news companies:
News Atoms 