Comments on: Journalism students need new heroes

By: Robert Andrews

Robert Andrews — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:28:09 +0000

How timely. I’ve just started teaching a journalism class at undergraduate level.

On technology — Back in the late 90s and early 00s, j-schools seemed to have the notion that the online journalism must learn Dreamweaver. I’ll be spending some brief time on HTML basics for conceptual underpinning - and then skipping such tools altogether. Better to learn how to tell link-laden stories through proper content management systems, surely?

By: Graham

Graham — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 10:15:23 +0000

Re: blogger/journalist nights. I was thinking the other day about what a Commentisfree night might be like… I wonder how many of the more vicious regular commenters would turn up in person?

If the Cif comment box is anything to go by the glasses would be flying within seconds. Somehow, I think ‘Cif in person’ would be a far more gentile affair than the original online edition

By: Ewan McIntosh

Ewan McIntosh — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 08:30:04 +0000

We get the same issues with new recruits in the education sector. Believing that the younger they are the more they will understand these media will always lead to disappointment - I’ve found some of the best users of this kind of technology are over the age of 45 or are up all night with wailing babies (i.e. they have the time to experiment and find things out).

Like yourself, I find it hard to swallow that people in the knowledge industry don’t know how to use RSS. How can they purport to say that they have their fingers on the pulse?

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 06:20:38 +0000

Thanks for mentioning me in the same sentence as those other gentlemen, Kevin.

I still have a humbling pile of things to learn ahead of me, but then again, we all do. It’s going to be an exciting ride.

By: Kevin Anderson

Kevin Anderson — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 17:57:55 +0000

Craig,

That’s an interesting idea. I’ve been meaning to have some blogger outreach. Maybe we can expand Ian Forrester’s geek dinners to have bloggers and journalists come together swap ideas.

Guardian blogging nights? Some type of joint thing with Journalism.co.uk? Just thinking out loud on how this might work.

By: Craig McGinty

Craig McGinty — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 17:16:18 +0000

Hi Kevin

Sounds very helpful and I wonder if the Guardian would open the course up to the public and enable people to go through it online?

Noticed mention that the BBC journalism college website may soon open its doors:

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/article/150107/public_access_to_bbc_journalism_training_site

All the best

Craig

By: Suw

Suw — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:53:37 +0000

Strangely, Kev appears unable to leave a comment on our own blog! Very peculiar. Going to have to look into it.

By: Kevin Anderson

Kevin Anderson — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:47:57 +0000

Mindy, Thanks for kicking off/continuing this thread. Fortunately, in the industry, I think we’re getting past the defensiveness. Now, whether it’s by necessity or vision, the industry is moving. In fact, we can’t move fast enough.

Craig, I’m working on some training sessions for Guardian journalists about RSS. Journalists I’ve shown RSS are amazed at how useful it is, but unless technology is their beat, they’ve never heard about it.

Adrian and everyone, keep those suggestions for heroes coming. My alma mater, University of Illiois at Champaign-Urbana, recently asked me who they should be bringing in to talk about the future. Adrian Holovaty and Rob Curley, Steve Yelvington, Steve Outing, Ken Sands, Ryan Sholin, to name a few. But, hey, as Mindy says, they all blog.

By: Adrian Monck

Adrian Monck — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 22:45:30 +0000

Kevin - if they need examples, how about one of their peers, Dave Cohn? A

By: Mindy mcAdams

Mindy mcAdams — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:52:10 +0000

Thanks for the link, Kevin. I still find it surprising that so many journalism students do not read ANY blogs. Yet they will read The Onion quite avidly.