(Slate) [...] From the beginning, newspapers sought to invent the Web in their own image by repurposing the copy, values, and temperament found in their ink-and-paper editions. Despite being early arrivals, despite having spent millions on manpower and hardware, despite all the animations, links, videos, databases, and other software tricks found on their sites, every newspaper Web site is instantly identifiable as a newspaper Web site. By succeeding, they failed to invent the Web… READ IT
(Miller-McCune) [...] The digital revolution that has been undermining in-depth reportage may be ready to give something back, through a new academic and professional discipline known in some quarters as “computational journalism.” James Hamilton is director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke University and one of the leaders in the emergent field; just now, he’s in the process of filling an endowed chair with a professor who will develop sophisticated computing tools that enhance the capabilities — and, perhaps more important in this economic climate, the efficiency — of journalists and other citizens who are trying to hold public officials and institutions accountable.
In fact, Hamilton says, his interest in computational journalism grew out of his studies of media economics, which suggested that accountability journalism — [...] — does not have the kind of everyday utility or broad interest value that will ever make it a revenue center in the disaggregated media world of the Internet… READ MORE
(The Boston Phoenix) If you’re a tree, you’re probably feeling pretty good right now. We’ve long known that the traditional newspaper — a hard-copy compendium of the previous day’s events, printed on an obscene amount of wood byproduct — was terminally ill. But two of 2008’s big media developments — the Christian Science Monitor’s plan to kill its daily print edition outright, and the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press’s decision to radically scale back their print operations and refocus online — suggests that the traditional newspaper’s death will come sooner than anyone imagined… READ MORE
SND asked what’s ahead for news design in 2009. Journalists, teachers, consultants, artists and editors answered HERE.
(McCormick Foundation) Research about the representation of women in the news media, as reporters and editors, producers and directors, students and faculty, managers and guests. READ IT
(WIRED) Days after sending aircraft to strike Hamas militants in Gaza, the Israeli government is launching a campaign to dominate the blogosphere.
Among other things, the Israeli military has started its own YouTube channel to distribute footage of precision airstrikes. And as I type, the Israeli consulate in New York is hosting a press conference on microblogging siteTwitter. It’s pretty interesting to see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reduced to tweets of 140 characters or less… READ MORE
In the fall 2008 edition of the AEJMC Communication Technology newsletter, Jacob Groshek, Teaching Chair, wrote a very thought-provoking piece entitled “Hands On, Minds Off: Engaging Defeatist Students in Learning Technology.” In it, he described the challenges of teaching technology skills labs, when one or more students seemed to be paralyzed by the material. He said, “It happens every semester. During a technical skills lab, a student will raise his hand, ask for help on his project and then remark, ‘I can’t do
it.’” He asked for feedback on this AEJMC blog site, so I cross posted both here and on my own tech blog.
I can definitely relate. I have taught Web design since 2001 (first at The University of Texas and now at Texas State University), and every semester, there are always a few students for whom I have to engage with some extra effort and encouragement. And, honestly, all students, at many points in the semester, need a little nudge with troubleshooting a particular problem. I spend a good deal of time on this activity. And, over the years, I have developed several strategies to assist students overcome their technology paralysis. (more…)