Convergence
Newsletter
From
Newsplex at the University of South Carolina
Vol. III
No. 9 (March 8, 2006)
Commenting
on Convergence
By Jordan
Storm, editor of The Convergence Newsletter
The
debate over the meaning of convergence continues, but from different angles. In
this issue of The Convergence Newsletter Douglas Perret Starr, Professor of Agricultural
Journalism at Texas A&M University, responds to Michael Sheerin’s response
to his original piece, “A Dispatch from the Convergence Trenches.” Whew, say that
five times fast!
Also Mary
Rogus, of Ohio University, highlights the upcoming BEA conference, BEA2006:
Convergence Shockwave and Brian Murley, of the University of South Carolina,
reviews last month’s College Media Advisor’s Mini-Summit, Reinventing College
Media.
In
conclusion, Lindsey Simpson, of James Cook University, shares her piece, The
Impact of Digital Technology on Journalism Education. This article is of
interest to academics and professionals alike in preparation for a future of
media creation and consumption.
View past
newsletters at http://www.jour.sc.edu/news/convergence/.
Jordan
Storm is working toward a Master of Arts degree at the University of South
Carolina. Contact her at convergence-editor@mailbox.sc.edu.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Feature
Articles
Converging
on Convergence in Las Vegas!
Response
to responses to "A Dispatch from the Convergence Trenches,"
Convergence Newsletter, January 2006: Focus on how news is handled and touted
on Convergence
The
Impact of Digital Technology on Journalism Education
Reinventing
College Media Mini-Summit Revisited
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Conference
Information
Citizen
Media: Engaging an Empowered Audience
Ver 1.0:
Institute for Analytic Journalism
ASNE
Convention
BEA2006:
Convergence Shockwave
Newsplex
Summer Seminar Series
World
Editors Forum
NAHJ in
the Old West: El Portal a un Nuevo Mundo
ICA:
Networking Communication Research Conference
Asian
American Journalists Association National Convention
AEJMC
Convention
Native
American Journalists Association Convention
SPJ
Convention & National Journalism Conference
Convergence
and Society: Ethics, Religion and New Media
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------Feature
Articles
Converging
on Convergence in Las Vegas!
By Mary
T. Rogus, BEA2006 Convention Program Chair and Assistant Professor in the E. W.
Scripps School of Journalism, Ohio University
We have
two months and counting until the Convergence Shockwave hits Las Vegas.
The Broadcast Education Association’s 2006 convention, Convergence
Shockwave: Change, Challenge and Opportunity opens Wednesday, April 26
and we have a jam packed program with more than 20 sessions examining
convergence from many different perspectives. There will be discussions
of convergence and all different types of content, management issues,
advertising sales, culture, technology and all aspects of curriculum and
teaching.
Two
highlights of the program will be our theme plenary sessions which kick off
programming Thursday and Friday mornings. Thursday morning at 9 a.m. we
focus on content with the “Convergence and Content Plenary: Convergent
Journalism—The State of the Field” including a CNN reporter, convergent journalism manager,
audience expert and researcher. On Friday morning at 9 a.m. we move from
content to technology with “Convergence and Technology Plenary:
Leading the Convergence Shockwave” where executives from top technology companies Adobe,
Apple, AVID and Panasonic discuss the role their innovations play in
convergence.
Here are
some other highlighted sessions:
Thursday:
=“Hyperlocalism’
in the Age of Convergence: Something Old is New Again”
=“The
Convergence Shockwave: A Swapshop of Teaching Ideas”
Friday:
=“An
International Perspective on Convergence: From Americas to Europe”
=“Managing
Change Internally while Seizing Market Opportunities in the Convergence
Shockwave”
=“Public
Media’s Convergence Shockwave”
Saturday:
=“Cultural
Convergence: The Challenge for Educators and Students”
=“Convergence
Trajectories: Different Paths to Integration”
The
conference will also offer free, hands-on technical training in a variety of
production software from Adobe, Apple and AVID in the BEA Training Labs, nearly
20 exhibitor booths, opportunities to discuss convergence and other industry
trends with top media executives, and the show of shows, BEA’s Best of the
Festival of Media Arts Friday night.
BEA2006
Convergence Shockwave: Change, Challenge and Opportunity—April 26
through 29 in Las Vegas. You can check out the entire program and
register online at beaweb.org—early registration deadline is March 10 or
e-mail Mary Rogus at rogus@ohiou.edu
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Response
to responses to "A Dispatch from the Convergence Trenches,"
Convergence Newsletter, January 2006: Focus on how news is handled and touted
on Convergence
By
Douglas Perret Starr, Professor of Agricultural Journalism, Texas A&M
University
(Editors
note: This piece continues a conversation Douglas Starr began in the January 2006 issue and Michael Sheerin
continued in the March 2006 issue of The Convergence Newsletter. Both articles
can be accessed at http://www.jour.sc.edu/news/convergence/index.html.)
Michael
Sheerin of Florida International University said I view Convergence through a
telephoto lens to newspaper news only. He's right, you know; I know that
Convergence is much broader than news.
But I did focus on news, simply because most of what I have read about
Convergence is that it is a means of providing news to the masses more
thoroughly and more quickly than conventional news media. It's a grand thought,
assuming that the masses have computers and are logged on around the clock, and
that the masses are interested in all that news.
Heck, the masses not only don't read the newspaper, they don't even look at
television news. And radio news is something that happens on the hour while
driving.
And Sheerin calls me a naysayer, one who opposes, habitually. I sort of
consider myself an Ayesayer, not a Naysayer, nor a Yes-man by any means,
because I have been known to say no when warranted.
I don't say no to Convergence; I just suggest that, in the realm of news, it be
taken with a grain of salt, that it not be heralded as the be-all, end-all of
anything. It's just another means of communication, albeit a major innovation,
probably the greatest since movable type.
Convergence purports to be new, and shakes out new terms for the new medium.
However, they are but new terms for old newspaper items and activities.
And I focused on news as relayed through the magic of Convergence because that
is what is being touted, not just news, but all of the news, more news than
most people want or need or can use, and RIGHT NOW. Remember, "Right
Now" means that the reader be near a computer and that the computer is
logged on. The same is true of breaking news on television. You don't know the
news unless you're near your television and it is turned on.
But, horror of horrors, news people are calling for a new approach to writing
news for Convergence. That so-called new approach not only uses old newspaper
techniques, but goes further and changes the approach to writing.
The result often turns out like this: The lead sentence in a story about a
Katrina evacuee being killed in Houston says only that, evacuee shot to death,
because it's designed to catch the eye of the reader. However, it's not until
three sentences later that the reader learns that the Katrina evacuee was shot
to death by the driver of a pickup truck that the evacuee was trying to hijack.
Pooh.
Hurrah for the inverted pyramid lead. At least, the inverted pyramid lead would
have provided the criminal activity of the evacuee.
And, sure, there's no question, Convergence provides all those other amenities
— the sights and sounds − that alter communication, and Convergence
provides much more information, giving the online user the option of reading
(accompanied by music or a capella, by still photos and video, all desirable)
not dozens, not hundreds or thousands, not even tens of thousands, but MILLIONS
of hyperlink (sidebar) articles with their gazillions of words, more than
anyone even thought existed.
But, who will/can read all that?
Well, sure, some folks. Researchers, of course. People who have the time to
delve that deeply into the news of the day. The average reader, however, never
gets past the fifth paragraph.
Mind you, all this hoo-rah is about news, not books or journal articles or blogs
... blogs? Blogs have no authority but that of the writer, so they cannot be
trusted; and, worse, they can be altered by anyone. Blogs are nothing more than
tip sheets, not to be taken seriously until verified by known authority.
And there is no basis for the premise that news writing has been changed by
Convergence. People still use the same English, the same words, the same
syntax, the same punctuation, the same grammar. People still study and use all
that and use what they learned to read the news, in newspapers, in magazines
and online. There is no need to change the style of writing.
Let's step away from the side-show hawking of online news stories as superior
simply because they are online and not because they are, in fact, superior
stories. Many of them are not worth reading.
Instead, strive to make the news more readable. Use the time-tested methods:
Get to the point; keep it simple; and write tight.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The
Impact of Digital Technology on Journalism Education
By
Lindsay Simpson, lecturer in journalism, School of Humanities, James Cook
University
(Originally
printed in 2005 in the Australian Studies in Journalism journal, Number 14)
Apart
from traditional generic skills and the ability to engage in critical thinking,
tomorrow’s journalism graduate requires digital literacy and technically
competency in order to compete in an ever-evolving communication labour market.
This paper explores approaches to this issue from an experiential perspective.
The
digital frontier is a dynamic space that encourages amateurs and professionals
alike to engage in the process of newsgathering, across audio, video and text.
In a rapidly changing media landscape, there are more entry points now into the
media labour market than through the traditional mainstream of a decade ago. No
longer do students want a curriculum that focuses on news writing,
pyramid-style for a career path consisting of junior level entry into
mainstream or regional media outlets. Today’s journalism students might expect
to become involved in newsgathering without even completing a journalism
degree.
The
graduate profile is changing, particularly as postgraduate coursework programs
flourish. Communication subjects have grown to become the largest area of the
humanities. According to 1999 DETYA statistics, 12,323 students were studying
Communication and Media Studies courses at 27 universities in Australia.
Masters by coursework programs have proved to have the highest growth rate. By
2000, there had been a further increase in overall student load of 11.3 per
cent over 1999 (Putnis et al 2002).
At the
University of Tasmania an increasing number of postgraduate coursework students
are seeking to enter the media industry for a variety of, often less
conventional reasons. These students, who typically have undergraduate degrees
in discipline areas other than journalism, do not necessarily want full-time
employment within the media, but seek generic writing and film making skills
and digital literary and technical competence to compete in a digital world, as
well as skills in investigative journalism. They are attracted by the
opportunity to be public watchdogs and create their own news by investigating
stories often ignored by the cost-cutting mainstream media outlets. They want
to work from home as freelance journalists and are prepared to work elsewhere
to sustain an income. As consumers of news, delivered across multiple mediums,
they have an increasing level of expectation, that they can become involved in the process.
They want skills to prepare them for this brave new world.
Technology
has increased the interactive process between the producers of the message and
the receivers. The process of reception is never an uncritical process as
Thompson (199: 14) points out. He challenges the assumption that the recipients
of media products are passive onlookers like sponges absorbing water. (1999:
14). Six years ago he described recipients’ contribution to the communicative
process as writing letters to the editor and phoning television companies to
express their views. Today, interactivity aided by technology means the
audience is not only receiving messages but is also actively participating in
the sending of them. Columnists, like Margot Kingston through her Web diary (www.webdiary.smh.com.au/index.html), engage with their readers directly in a way
that was not previously possible. Their columns are based on dialogue in
cyberspace, thus redefining the relationship between those who deliver the
message and the audience. Kingston has encouraged readers to write online
reviews of her latest book Not Happy, John Defending our Democracy (see http://www.nothappyjohn.com/default.cfm).
Web logs,
and now Moblogs (via mobile phone), that encourage personal expression through
online diaries or journals are now estimated to number 1.8 million on the Internet.
In San Diego, residents have become involved in newsgathering by posting their
camera phone images of local news events on the Web for others to see,
particularly in recent bush fires. (Newsplex Trends Report – No 5 [March
2004]). The URL www.writenews.com is a
medium for communication and sharing of information. It offers a database with
over 1000 links including how to write news and submit your own news, as well
as a free news archive dating back to 1997. Access to archived news is at an
unprecedented level with issues of The New York Times between 1851 and 1995 being
digitised. These issues of The Times contain more than 15 million articles. The NYTimes.com
has now integrated these articles into its search tools and pages.
Journalism
students exposed to this rapidly changing news landscape have an increasing
confidence they can take be included and are entering universities to seek a
pathway into that workplace. Mainstream media outlets are no longer the only
agenda setters and gatekeepers. Major news events are mediated worldwide
through “global communications media networks” (Flew 2002: 25). Some of the
first stories of 9/11 were posted on the Internet by amateurs (Allan 2002:127).
The news gatherers were often not trained journalists. David Vogler, a graphic
designer who captured some of the footage explains on C-Net: “Anyone who had access
to a digital camera and a Web site suddenly was a guerrilla journalist posting
these things.” Vogler added that he wanted to record the event for history.
“When you’re viewing the experience through a viewfinder, you become bolder
than when you’re naked without the camera” (http://news.com.com/2100-1023-274325.html).
Compare this with the eerily silent coverage immediately following JFK’s
assassination. Amateur war footage is becoming more the norm, such as the 53-
minute video that documents the destruction of a Russian tank convoy by lightly
armed Chechen partisans.
Increasingly,
during the coverage of the Iraq war, the “information war”, the media,
particularly the Internet has been used as a tool of war to show decapitations
of hostages. The viewer is experimenting with the notion of what makes news,
for example San Francisco resident, Benjamin Vanderford, faked his own
decapitation he told the online magazine Canada.com “to see how quickly that
system will spread news.” (www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=87ba0126-d435-4dbb-a806-26eee4180d3f)
All of this challenges the traditional concept of news and news gathering and
should be embraced by educational institutions offering studies in journalism
and the media.
If
consumers are using the digital space to read news, journalism graduates should
have the skills to write news that is Web based. There are 160 US newspapers
which offer electronic editions and more than 225 papers worldwide (Online
Newshour Digital News – 24 October 2003). Readers are choosing
alternative news to the mainstream versions by digesting Web newspapers such in
Tasmania, Tasmanian Times (www.tasmaniantimes.com)
which tackle stories neglected by the only other daily in Hobart, The
Mercury, owned by
Murdoch, or the more well known Crikey.com (http://www.crikey.com/).
News is
no longer delivered in predictable ways or through traditional channels, but is
tailor made and delivered to consumers when they want to view, read or listen
to it. Today’s consumer of news is becoming adept at reading hypertext. He or
she not only reads ”news” but engages in news interactives, for example in The
New York Times online,
with a tap of a keyboard into a video or photographs and audio news features.
Consumers are invited to “roll over” photos, for example, on MSNBC News, of
Saddam’s inner circle to learn about the men behind Iraq’s former dictator. We
can now know, if we look up the Chicago Tribune online, what it might be like to
stand in the batter’s box facing a hard-throwing young pitcher, according to
Associate Professor Rich Gordon, chair of the new media program at Northwestern
University who gave this interactive example in his new book on digital
storytelling highlighted in Online Journalism Review. (http://www.ojr.org/ojr/business/1068686368.php).
In Washington State, Gordon writes, the local government created an interactive
game to allow citizens to choose the developments they wanted for the
waterfront.
Graduates
need to be prepared to enter newsroom of the future. Tomorrow’s graduate is no
longer entering a news field where specialisation of print, radio or television
is considered important. Instead the focus is on skills in knowledge
management. The modern newsroom, says Kerry Northrup, the executive director of
Ifra’s Center for Advanced News Operations, “should be capable of managing very
large amounts of raw input data, and be capable of outputting more than just
one type of information processed for a single type of media” (Quinn 2002: 20).
Tomorrow’s
newsroom must work across multiple media simultaneously and in real-time. It
will be the hub of an information-based service company, more content-driven
and less product-limited. It will be in a constant race for the latest
publishing technologies, skills and methods, in a constant state of change and
innovation. In this newsroom, the tenets of journalism must be stronger than
ever. The manner in which they are practised, however, must adapt to a new
generation of journalists with new capabilities to serve the public’s ever
increasing need to know in ways both more effective and more accessible (http://www.newsplex.org/mission/index.shtml).
A
worldwide industry survey, conducted by the College of Journalism and Mass
Communications at the University of South Carolina, cites adapting print news
style to a multiple media format as more important than any visual
communication skill or the ability to work in teams. Of all respondents to this
survey, 65 per cent of employers “wanted to hire someone with an education in
‘new media journalism’” (Quinn 2002: 170). Stephen Quinn also cites the American
Journalism Review
which states that journalism recruits were expected to be able to write quickly
for multiple deadlines and have the ability to make multiple-media news
judgements (Quinn 2002: 171).
News, as
we all know, will always be a commodity and the larger corporate context still
defines market-driven journalism which is precisely why, even though it is
still in its infancy in Australia, convergent journalism is here to stay. The
development of new technologies of production, distribution and reception has
linked the changing media landscape to the growth of the capitalist economy
(Thompson 1999: 22). Tomorrow’s graduate will be expected to enter the news
marketplace equipped to record, write and film events. These mergers and
takeovers between the computing and IT industries, telecommunications companies
and the media sector have changed the demand for the type of skills expected
from tomorrow’s journalism graduate as the race is on to deliver content across
as many mediums as possible.
A
university is an ideal place in which to be able to deliver the practical and
theoretical underpinnings reflecting these changes. This often means, as an
educator you are outside of your comfort zone and in unfamiliar territory.
Keeping up with technology means predicting what tomorrow’s media industry will
want – not to mention understanding things like XLR protectors and the
difference between radio microphones and lavalier lapel mics. As Marshall McLuhan
said, decades before the words “digital literacy” became in vogue, the medium
is the message.
With
access to digital tools such as cameras, and microphones and some basic skills
these students can provide on-the-scene footage from a news event as it
happens. Programs like Dateline and Insight on SBS promote the idea of the video journalist and have
produced some of the most engaging television seen in Australia. In a world
dominated by infotainment where “reality” television is becoming more contrived,
the raw footage produced by people like Mark Davis on SBS of an interview with
a guerrilla leader in the back of a car is far more compelling because it
embodies realism. All of this is good news for journalism educators
particularly now that digital technology is affordable and can be resourced
without steep budgets.
Katherine
Fulton (Quinn 2002: 14) states: “The good news is that journalism and
journalists ‘could become more essential than ever.’ Smart journalists will
embrace new forms of journalism such as multi-media storytelling and learn to
take advantage of archival resources ‘aggregating and repackaging reporting
from many sources’.” We, as educators, are always working out the best way for
our students to learn. Project based learning involves students undertaking
practical activities. This, in my view, is an ideal way to teach convergent
journalism, storytelling across multiple mediums.
At the
University of Tasmania, in 2003, we offered convergent journalism as an
intensive two-week subject in our Masters of Journalism & Media Studies.
All three media were emphasised and students had already gained skills in
writing text before enrolling in the unit. Most, however, had no experience in
audio or video. Sound and visual workshops were conducted independently and
then integrated, before students were introduced to non-linear editing. The end
product was a three-minute audio and a separate three-minute video with 800
words of text. There are opportunities for educators to develop prototype Web pages
to deliver these local stories to a global audience or developing an e-zine,
for example, with an international theme such as the environment with national
and international counterparts.
In the
convergent journalism unit which was taught at the University of Tasmania,
storybuilding was delivered via an industry professional, a documentary
filmmaker. The major topic for all three mediums was “Tasmania in Transition:
Finding the Tasmanian Voice”. The most recent cohort of students produced
stories involving a wilderness therapist whose PhD is entitled: “Busy doing
nothing”; an environmental activist who uses music to spread his message, and a
local hip-hop artist from a disadvantaged Hobartian suburb, who expressed his
view of urban life through rhymes. All were voices outside of the Tasmanian
stereotype and their stories were not aired on the traditional media. Having
presented one of these three-minute films to New Zealand journalism lecturers
at a conference at the end of 2003, I discovered how well the material travels
across international borders and was able to investigate what virtual
experiences might do to our notion of community.
Some of
the graduates from convergent journalism went on, in 2004, to take part in an
internally funded project to document the teaching/research nexus at the
university. Five academics were chosen to demonstrate how they use a
teaching/research nexus in their own practice. These mini documentaries are being
placed on the university Web site and were showcased at a “Teaching Matters”
conference last year to highlight an important strategy adopted by Teaching and
Learning. Students’ skills were enhanced and they were paid so value was placed
on their work. They gained authentic learning skills from the project with deadlines
and professional responsibilities.
Some of
the students have used the convergent skills in the marketplace. A recent
graduate submitted a print story to the Good Weekend magazine on Senator Bob Brown
rafting the Franklin River for the first time after 16 years in the heady days
of the Franklin campaign. The student, who was also a guide on the journey
filmed the expedition and recorded audio. The ABC has expressed interest to
produce a radio documentary for its program, Bush Telegraph. Her footage of the
event was shown on local news broadcasts. Providing these opportunities for
students and following through the task of completing an assignment for
publication is an important role for the journalism educator as within the
university environment, practical exercises can only be a poor simulation of
the real world.
What have
I learned as an educator? Convergent journalism was by far the most difficult
and challenging course I have ever offered, but if you are to develop a
teaching practice that embraces risk-taking, you need to experiment in order to
push subject boundaries. Convergent needn’t dilute the “basics” of good
writing, reporting, and ethics. It is my view, that we cannot resist this
change.
Professor
Gordon concedes that the trend won’t happen overnight, but he said:
No longer
can journalists assume that just because they work in one medium (say, a print
newspaper), they don't need to worry about how their story should be presented
in another (on television or the Web). No longer can journalism school faculty
assume that they can turn out graduates who understand only one set of
communications tools… the journalists who best understand the unique
capabilities of multiple media will be the ones who are most successful, drive
the greatest innovations and become the leaders of tomorrow (2003). As
educators, we need to take note.
References
Allan S.
& Zelizer B. (eds) (2002). Journalism After September 11. London: Routledge.
Flew,
Terry (2002). New Media: An Introduction. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Gordon,
Rich (2003). Digital Journalism: Emerging Media and the Changing Horizons of
Journalism.
Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield cited in Online Journalism Review. www.ojr.org/ojr/business/1068686368.php
[Accessed 20 November 2004].
Putnis
P., Axford B., Watson L., & Blood W. (2002) (eds). Communication and
Media Studies in Australian Universities. University of Canberra, Division of Communication and
Education: Lifelong Learning Network.
Thompson,
John (1999). “The media and modernity” in H. Mackay & T. O’Sullivan (eds) The
Media Reader: Continuity and Transformation. London, Sage.
Quinn
Stephen (2002). Knowledge Management in the Digital Newsroom. Oxford: Focal Press.
Websites
C-Net http://news.com.com/2100-1023-274325.html
Canada.
Com www.canada.com
Crikey www.crikey.com
Fairfax
Digital: Margot Kingston Webdiary www.webdiary.smh.com.au/index.html
Newsplex
Web site http://www.newsplex.org/
The New
York Times www.nytimes.com
Not
Happy John http://www.nothappyjohn.com/default.cfm
Tasmanian
Times www.tasmaniantimes.com
Online
Journalism Review
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/business/1068686368.php
[Accessed 3 October 2004
Write the
News www.writenews.com
Lindsay Simpson was a lecturer in journalism and media studies at the University of Tasmania when she wrote this article; she is now a senior lecturer in journalism at James Cook University, Townsville.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Reinventing
College Media Mini-Summit Revisited
By
Bryan Murley, College Media Advisors’ Webmaster and University of South
Carolina doctoral candidate
About 40
college media advisers and students gathered at Ole Miss the weekend of Feb.
3-5 for a “mini-summit” on the future of college media.
While
those in attendance didn’t come away with any crystal ball insights into the
future, they did get some new ideas and new things to ponder for their student
media operations.
The
Reinventing College Media mini-summit was the brainchild of Ralph Braseth,
director of student media at Ole Miss, and Chris Carroll, director of student
media at Vanderbilt University. Last fall, both veteran advisers began
discussions about the changes taking place in the news industry during the Fall
College Media National Convention in Kansas City. After the convention, they
influenced the CMA to host a Weblog where discussion about the issues facing
college media could take place.
The Web
site, http://reinventing.collegemedia.org,
went live in November, and plans were immediately underway for the mini-summit.
In some
ways, the soul-searching undertaken by College Media Advisers, Inc. is similar
to the soul-searching that takes place at the annual convergence conference
sponsored by the University of South Carolina and BYU. Student media advisers
are looking at ways to retool their media for a changing audience. While they
didn’t use the word “convergence,” it was clear that advisers are trying to
find ways to adjust to multimedia storytelling.
Friday
night, Dr. Brian Reithel, dean of the business school at Ole Miss, told
attendees about the changes that were sweeping through the world of computing
and how those changes will possibly affect student media operations.
On
Saturday, Lex Alexander, citizen journalism coordinator at the Greensboro News
& Record,
detailed the history of the citizen journalism experiment in Greensboro, and
how colleges should be training journalists for the future of media.
Make sure
students are competent not only at reporting and writing, but that they are at
least competent at recording and editing video, recording and editing audio,
create a basic Web page,” Alexander said. “Teach them how to tell which medium
or combination of media best tells any particular story.
“There’s
a place for people with those skills, that ability to think and deal with those
kinds of questions in every newspaper in America right now. And that may be the
only way we get journalism done 20-30 years from now,” Alexander said.
Dr. Samir
Husni, department chair and professor of journalism at Ole Miss, brought those
in attendance up to speed on changes in the newspaper landscape across Europe,
and what those changes might mean for the future of news in the U.S. Almost
every major newspaper in Europe has switched to a smaller format - something
they call “compact,” which is a more “vertical” tabloid format. For some, this
has meant a transition to using the front page as a magazine-style design,
rather than a traditional news front page design. One dominant photo or art
element is featured, along with headlines to stories inside the edition.
“For
newspapers to survive, they must be a bridge between yesterday and tomorrow.
Publishers must change the way their papers look, feel, read, and deliver. You
are not reporting the news, but creating the content,” Husni said.
Later,
Carroll showed how student media at Vanderbilt were just beginning to
transition away from silos of content to a more converged management model, and
Lee Warnick of BYU-Idaho closed the summit with an idea-generating session on
ways for the attendees to experiment at home and bring their results back to a
future conference. He used the acronym ACE to describe the future of news
media: Accountability, Connectivity and Engagement.
The
mini-summit didn’t “reinvent” college media in February, but it helped move the
conversation along in a key segment of the college journalism universe.
For more
complete details about the summit and the speakers mentioned above, readers are
invited to peruse the articles at the reinventing college media Web site: http://reinventing.collegemedia.org.
Thoughtful contributions are also appreciated.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------Conferences
American
Press Institute and J-Lab
Citizen
Media: Engaging an Empowered Audience
April
4-5, 2006
Reston,
Virginia USA
http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/06/Citizen/
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Institute
for Analytic Journalism
Ver 1.0
– A Workshop on Public Database Verification for Journalists and Social
Scientists
April
9-12, 2006
Santa Fe,
New Mexico USA
Participants
in the three-day workshop will explore developing statistical and other
methodological tools suitable for social scientists, biomedical and behavioral
researchers, journalists and other interested investigators to determine the
veracity of public records databases.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ASNE
Convention
April
25-28, 2006
Seattle,
Washington USA
http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?id=5052
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Broadcast
Education Association
Convergence
Shockwave: Change, Challenge and Opportunity
April 27-29,
2006
Las
Vegas, Nevada USA
The
BEA2006 Conference aims to create a forum for discussion and research on the
issues that face media convergence today. The deadline for pre-registration is March
10, 2006.
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The
University of South Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications
Newsplex
Summer Seminar Series
May 8
– June 30, 2006
Columbia,
South Carolina USA
Four
separate seminars will be held at Newsplex in May and June 2006, ranging in
topic from a broad overview of convergence trends to more specific training in
Web publishing and specific software operation. The seminars are:
May 08-12:
Convergence Software Bootcamp #1
May 22-26,
2006: Teaching and Research in Convergent Journalism
June
12-16, 2006: Web publishing in Convergent Journalism
June
26-30, 2006: Convergence Software Bootcamp #2
For more
information, or to reserve a spot, visit: http://Newsplex.sc.edu
or e-mail Augie Grant: augie@sc.edu.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
World
Association of Newspapers
World
Editors Forum
June 4-7,
2006
Moscow,
Russia
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
National
Association of Hispanic Journalists Convention and Media & Career Expo
NAHJ in
the Old West: El Portal a un Nuevo Mundo
June
15-18, 2006
Fort
Worth, Texas USA
http://www.nahj.org/Events/2005/convention/convention.shtml
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International
Communication Association
Networking
Communication Research Conference
June
19-23, 2006
Dresden,
Germany
http://www.icahdq.org/events/conference/2006/conf2006info.asp
Conference
pre-registration starts January 15, 2006.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Asian
American Journalists Association National Convention
June
21-24, 2006
Honolulu,
HI USA
http://www.aaja.org/programs/convention
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
AEJMC
Convention Call for Papers
August
2-5, 2006
San
Francisco, CA USA
http://www.aejmc.org/convention/
The
programming groups within the Council of Divisions of the Association for
Education in Journalism and Mass Communication invite submission of original,
non-published research papers to be considered for presentation at the AEJMC
Convention, postmarked no later than April 1, 2006.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Native
American Journalists Association Convention
August
10-13, 2006
Tulsa,
Oklahoma USA
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SPJ
Convention & National Journalism Conference
August
24-26, 2006
Chicago,
IL USA
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
University
of South Carolina College of Mass Communication and Information Science and
Newsplex
Convergence
and Society: Ethics, Religion and New Media Conference
October
19-21, 2006
Columbia,
SC USA
http://newsplex.sc.edu/newsplex_cfpapers06.html
Since
September 11, ethics and religion have emerged as important topics in the study
of new media. At this conference, the moral implications of emerging media are
addressed at the levels of society, culture, and the media professions. It is a
forum for scholars, media professionals and theologians to discuss converging
media from the standpoint of competing values. Papers and panels may include
institutional, content, audience, cultural, political and technological
perspectives on media from the perspective of social responsibility. Abstracts,
completed papers and panel proposals for this conference should deal with one
or more of the following four themes:
= Ethics:
Examination of current approaches to moral reasoning about convergence
= Values:
Analysis of values related to converging technologies (i.e., information
equity, privacy, diversity, etc.).
=
Religiosity: How denominations are contributing to public and policy discussion
of convergence and values.
= Media
Convergence, including convergent journalism, technological convergence and
audience behavior.
The
purpose of this conference is to provide a scholarly exploration of these
issues individually and of the connections among them. Submission may address
theory, history, media practice, social influences, cultural issues, legal
implications and effects upon consumers.
Faculty
and graduate students are invited to submit in one or more of three categories:
completed papers, proposals or abstracts of papers in progress and proposals
for panels.
Submissions
may address practical, theoretical, phenomenological, critical and/or empirical
approaches to any of the subjects listed above. All submissions will be
reviewed by a jury that will consider: 1) relevance to the conference theme, 2)
the quality of the contribution, and 3) overall contribution to the field.
Submission
guidelines:
=Electronic
submissions (Word or RTF attachments) are encouraged (send to augie@sc.edu).
=Paper
copies may be submitted: five paper copies of the submission should be mailed.
=A
detachable cover page should be included with the title of the paper or panel
and authors’ names, addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses. For
electronic submissions, the cover page should be in a separate file.
=Submissions
deadline (postmark) is June 15, 2006. All submissions will be jury-reviewed
with notification to authors and organizers on or before July 31, 2006.
For
registration and further information about this academic conference, visit the
conference Web site at: http://Newsplex.sc.edu.
Papers,
proposals, abstracts and panel proposals should be addressed to:
Augie
Grant, Conference Chair
ERNM
Conference
College
of Mass Communications and Information Studies
Carolina
Coliseum
Columbia,
SC 29208
e-mail: augie@sc.edu
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------Announcements/News
Publishing
a book about convergence? The Convergence Newsletter regularly publishes information
about new and upcoming books on convergent journalism. Send your submissions to
convergence-editor@mailbox.sc.edu.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------Publisher
and Editorial Staff
The
Convergence Newsletter is free and published by The College of Mass Communications and
Information Studies at the University of South Carolina.
Executive
Editor
Augie
Grant, Ph.D.
Editor
Jordan
Storm
convergence-news@mailbox.sc.edu
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------Copyright
and Redistribution
The
Convergence Newsletter is Copyright © 2006 by the University of South Carolina, College of
Mass Communications and Information Studies. All rights reserved.
This
newsletter may be redistributed in any form - print or electronic - without
edits or deletion of any content.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------Formatting
The
Convergence Newsletter is optimized for 80 character display; you may need to reset the line
length on the preferences menu of your e-mail program.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------Submission
Guidelines/Deadline Schedule
The
Convergence Newsletter provides an editorially neutral forum for discussion of the
theoretical and professional meaning of media convergence. We welcome articles
of all sorts addressing the subject of convergence in journalism and media. We
also accept news briefs, calls for papers and conference announcements. Our
audience is both academics and professionals and the publication style is APA
7th edition. Feature articles should be 750 to 1,500 words; other articles
should be 250 to 750 words; announcements and conference submissions should be
200 words. All articles should be submitted to The Convergence Newsletter editor at convergence-editor@mailbox.sc.edu.
Please include your name, affiliation and contact information with your
submission.
The
Convergence Newsletter is published the first week of each month except January. Articles
should be submitted at least 10 days prior to the publication date. Any
questions should be sent to convergence-editor@mailbox.sc.edu.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------Subscribe/Unsubscribe
Information
To
subscribe, unsubscribe or edit your information, please send a message to convergence-editor@mailbox.sc.edu
or write to The Convergence Newsletter c/o School of Journalism and Mass Communications,
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208.