One for the diary: The latest Journalism Leaders Forum from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston is on the theme ‘Local Turf Wars – Notes from the digital news frontline’ Continue reading
Valerie Kirshner has asked me to spread the word about the Knight News Challenge – here’s the info:
“It is open to community-minded digital news innovators worldwide — journalists, software designers, bloggers, and students of any age.
“This competition is sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, who fund excellence in journalism and freedom of expression worldwide. They are offering up to $5 million this year alone to winning participants. It’s something that can really change a person’s life.
“Applications will be closing Oct. 15.”
Here is a link with all the information you need. Also see http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/070604colombo/ and http://journalism.wikia.com/wiki/Knight_News_Challenge
And even if you don’t enter, help improve the entries by visiting the Read & Comment page of the site.
Online Publishing Insider reports on the rise of people’s use of content online:
“In the last four years, the share of time devoted to viewing Content online has experienced the greatest growth, increasing from 34% to 47% of time spent, outpacing all other activities. There are a number of factors contributing to Content’s rapid rise. Continue reading
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.
The Guardian are advertising for a Keyword Manager “to look after the labelling of our content online to ensure that it is consistent with the needs of the reader and the editorial values of the Guardian and Observer. The role requires attention to the demands both of a considerable content archive and of a fast-moving news operation, and involves work across media; from text to cartoons, video to podcasts. It would suit either a journalist with a particular interest in archiving, or someone with a background in information science who posesses a keen editorial sense.”
To quote William Gibson: “The future is already here – it is just unevenly distributed”.
Bas Timmers is Newsroom Editor at Dutch broadsheet de Volkskrant. This post is also available at http://www.bastimmers.nl/diginewsuk.php
“In the virtual world a year only lasts three months,” a manager once sighed. The innovations keep on coming very quickly indeed on the web, and a success story can turn into a tale of shattered dreams within months. Kazaa and ICQ were once extremely popular, for instance, but are now only marginal players on the web.
This high speed of innovation doesn’t mean that you cannot draw any lessons from the past. For example, Pablo J. Boczkowski was examining three online projects at American newspapers already in 1999 and 2000, but the conlusions he drew are still applicable. Continue reading
I’ve agreed to pass on the following call from Gregory Povey of MELD. Sounds a very worthy attempt to match new media and journalistic expertise:
MELD is a world first project: bringing together the best northern (UK) journalists and new media practitioners to explore what happens when the two worlds collide
Selected talent will be paid to attend a five-day residential lab where they will develop products and pitch them to industry partners. This is a fantastic opportunity to extend industry networks, develop new products and explore new routes to market Continue reading
Last week I wrote a post entitled ‘How to be a journalism student‘. The response was generous, with many people adding their own tips on separate blogs or pointing out areas for clarification or addition. A wiki is an ideal place to both collate those contributions and enable corrections/clarifications to the original list – so that’s what I’ve created. The wiki is at http://howtobeajournalismstudent.pbwiki.com/ – please add, remove, change and correct as much as you like (just click ‘Edit page’).
The password, by the way, is ‘howto‘
Bas Timmers is Newsroom Editor at Dutch broadsheet de Volkskrant
It´s 2015. Newspapers don´t exist anymore. At least, not as a mass medium. Because everyone is living in his own cocoon, his own little world, assembled to his own preferences. Customizable, as the phenomenon is generally called. A television(or a computer screen or electronic paper?) displays documentaries and YouTube-like videos from internet users with the same preferences and the same lifestyle. The mp3-player pounds out songs automaticallty that fit the mood of its user, because the bloody thing can sense the mental state of of its boss. And in the meantime it also suggests some new songs that might match his preference. Continue reading
In the first part of my model for the 21st century newsroom I looked at how a story might move through a number of stages from initial alert through to customisation. In part two I want to look at sourcing stories, and the role of journalism in a new media world.
The last century has seen three important changes for the news industry. It has moved… Continue reading
Online Journalism Blog 