Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Online News Assn. organizing social network

The Online News Association is pursuing a couple of initiatives that civic/citizen journalism educators might be interested in knowing about.

One of them is an online network, akin to LinkedIn, that ONA has set up using an interim site on Ning, the free social-networking site.

It can be accessed at:
http://onlinejournalists.ning.com/

According to Jody Brannon of ONA, here’s how the educators can use it.

"From the main page, under GROUPS, you’ll find various categories, especially Teaching Online Journalism. This will be our online clubhouse, so to speak, where we’ll be able to contribute and organize our efforts. To start, I’ve created four discussions, related to syllabi, research, experts and student groups. Each of those arenas has two leaders so far, but we can certainly tap into the expertise around the academic and professional communities. Maybe that’s you?"

Jody also notes that a conference call to update everyone on efforts is planned for 4 p.m. Wednesday Feb. 27. I didn't want to post the phone number and access code here in public, but anyone from CCJIG who wants to take part may e-mail me and I'll forward Jody's e-mail with the information.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Two articles of interest in latest AJR

Two articles in the current edition of American Journalism Review focus on some of the positive things occuring with interactive, participatory journalism.

The lead article in the Drop Cap section of the magazine, titled "Joining the Conversation: Newspapers are establishing blogs to talk to readers about their concerns" explores the use of editors' blogs or transparency blogs

The article notes that "Once more likely to circle the wagons than engage in conversation, newspapers have moved in recent years to become more transparent, and top editors like [Raliegh News & Observer's John] Drescher are increasingly reaching out to readers via blogs."

The full article can be found at:
http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4464

In the same issue, Carl Sessions Stepp's regular book column discusses a new offering from Northwestern University's Michele Weldon titled Everyman News: The Changing American Front Page (published by University of Missouri Press). According to Stepp, the book "argues that a content revolution is taking place in plain sight that will transform media and could help save newspapers." He further quotes from the book that this revolution, is a "revived journalistic reverence for the individual" and "the concurrent explosion in marketing of the stories of ordinary people."

The full review by Stepp can be found at:
http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4463