TAKEAWAY: For Journalism may offer the best solution yet to bridge the gap between what our fast changing newsrooms need in terms of skills, and what students are taught in journalism schools.
From time to time we come across a project or idea that we know is so needed, that we wonder why it did not appear in the horizon earlier.
For Journalism, a new project to teach data journalism, is such an example.
Dave Stanton, of Smart Media Creative, with whom I had the pleasure of collaborating (along with Sara Quinn and Jeremy Gilbert) on the Poynter Institute EyeTrack for Tablet tests, is behind this great idea, which fills the giant gap between the tech skills the newsrooms need in today’s fast changing multi platform environment, and what students are being taught at schools and colleges of journalism and mass communications.
This is, indeed, a topic dear to me, not just because I visit newsrooms weekly around the globe, witnessing precisely the degree to which that gap exists, but because, although I am no longer in academia, my interest in the subject of journalism education remains at high levels.
I have served as a professor at both Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications (New York), as well as the University of South Florida, in Tampa. In addition, I have spent a considerable part of my career at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies. My experiences in these institutions have been rich, and highly rewarding. This part of my job—-teaching, mentoring and nurturing new generation of media practitioners—is one of my favorites.
What is For Journalism?
In order to provide a full picture here, I chatted with Dave Stanton, and here are some of his comments:
Mario: What’s the goal behind For Journalism?
Dave:
We’ve all been talking for years about the gap between the tech skills newsrooms need and what students are being taught. Although there are some amazingly skilled university faculty, adjuncts and workshop instructors, there is an immense gap between the demand for data journalism skills and the pipeline of new journalists capable of working on news applications.
Mario: In practical terms, how does For Journalism work?
Dave:
With For Journalism, we’re going to make the books, videos, forums, etc. that would allow any instructor to teach a data journalism course. The professor, graduate student or adjunct would just need to stay a few weeks ahead of students to be able to teach comfortably. Of course we’re keeping working journalists in mind. You can take a course as self-study, or get your team involved.
Mario: How are you getting people out there to know about For Journalism?
Dave:
We want to use the Kickstarter campaign to create the initial courses and infrastructure to turn For Journalism into a sustainable program. Above all, we want to provide instructional materials that are contextualized to journalism as well as remove the initial friction many feel diving into programming.
Mario: Who supports For Journalism and its lofty goals?
Dave:
We have just started raising funds for this project, with terrific reception. Already on the first day, we were at 10% of our funding goal within 24 hours.
Mario: How can contributions be made?
Dave:
Visit http://kck.st/10XiAfn to contribute
Details on For Journalism
The initial classes will be lead by and cover the following:
- Jeremy Bowers: Django
- Christopher Groskopf: Information Management
- Jeff Larson: Ruby on Rails
- Jacqui Maher: DevOps
- Michelle Minkoff: Charting and Visualization
- Ryan Pitts: Responsive Design
- Ken Schwenke: Mapping
- Mike Tigas: Cybersecurity and Online Privacy
College newspaper goes “digital first”
While on the subject of journalism education, here is encouraging news from the University of Virginia, where the editor of its independent student newspaper,The Cavalier Daily announced Friday a comprehensive plan to shift focus from the traditional daily newspaper to a digital-first newsroom. Starting in August 2013 the organization will replace its daily newspaper with a revamped biweekly newsmagazine and expand online and mobile content offerings.
The press release refers to the fact that the new publication frequency will best serve the current interests of its readers.
New digital offerings include plans for mobile and tablet apps, a daily e-newsletter, high-quality multimedia content and an increased emphasis on social media and web graphics.
“Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs are becoming increasingly popular,” said Kaz Komolafe, Cavalier Daily managing editor. “After an assessment of the newspaper we decided the best way of riding the wave of contemporary journalism was to move with the times.”
For complete story:
http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2013/01/press-release-cavalier-daily-announces-restructuring-plan
Previously in TheMarioBlog about journalism education:
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/journalism_education_innovators_ma_in_online_journalism%20
http://www.garciamedia.com/blog/articles/journalism_education_innovators_in_chile_learning_by_doing
Where’s Mario?
Mario’s upcoming speaking engagements
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