I’m looking for help with the Online Journalism Blog. Things have exploded since the ‘News Diamond’ and the blog is at the point now where it needs to step up a gear. I’m looking for a volunteer worker to do a bit of research and information management, and possible interviews and articles, so that a) I can focus on the analysis side of things and do more postings of the ’21st century newsroom’ type; and b) we can maybe do some interesting experiments with online journalism that have been on the ‘To Do’ list for far too long. You don’t have to live in the same town, city, country or time zone as me. You just have to be interested in the news industry and the online environment, have an email address – and you’ve got to want to actually do the job.
This is probably a weekly thing — or an hour every other day, say — and it comes with no pay. There is no earthly reason why you might want to do this, except perhaps as a work experience exercise or to put down on your CV or as a way to develop your contacts and knowledge.
I can promise that it’ll be interesting (or at least, it’s all about stuff that I find interesting anyway, so if you’re reading this, chances are that’d be true for you too), but it won’t be rewarding in any traditional sense.
I might buy you a little token gift around Christmas time if it all works out well, but the work will pretty much need to be its own reward. That said, as you might guess, this is part of an overall project to ‘build a team’, and if the past year is any guide, that may help open some doors for you.
I imagine this is going to suit someone young and enthusiastic with decent written communication skills, maybe tech skills, and a pre-existing interest in this blog. If you’re an academic, you might want to pass this on to your journalism students.
If there’s a reason you think you’d be right to do this, drop me an email: paul.bradshaw@bcu.ac.uk
PS: Idea and much of the text stolen shamelessly from my colleague Andrew Dubber. He knows what I’ve done and where I live.
Online Journalism Blog 
Ooooh that sounds so interesting…but maybe there’s a guy/gal who needs it more than i do…still, i’m considering this opportunity.
Best of luck.
The more the merrier – I’m not limiting it to one person.
This sounds great – I would love to be involved. Although I won’t be able to commit to such time until the uni holidays: if that suits?
Oh, It’s a pity that I’m not british! 😉 It sounds really interesting!
You don’t have to be British! In fact, the more geographically dispersed, the better!
It`s great! really interesting. Do you still need volunteers?
More volunteers always welcome!
I noticed you haven’t mentioned Australia on you list of contributors… i think that need to change and i ‘d be keen to get involved!
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Hi Paul
Would be really interested in volunteering on OJB – what are you looking for people to do?
Here are some areas:
– I have a number of ongoing projects that interns could help research and organise
– I get lots of leads that I don’t have time to follow up; you might be asked to do an interview or look at a website, or test out a service or tool.
– There are areas that I’m not able to cover because of language barriers or simple lack of awareness: I need people to help cover those areas.
– And then there is anything else you may want to contribute or want to pursue. I want to make this your blog too.
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