Give the 'Net credit

Apple owes much of its success to its refusal to accept the status quo, and it owes that philosophy to Steve Jobs. As a journalism educator, I’m trying to instill that same entrepreneurial spirit in my students.

Like so many people, I turned to social media last night when I learned the U.S. had killed Osama bin Laden. Frankly, I learned more from my friends tweets, retweets, photos, and posts than I did watching an hour of NBC’s coverage. I used Storify to create a record of a historic event that I didn’t ever want to forget.

By no means is this comprehensive. It represents only the messages that came under my radar, but I’m excited about the possibilities Storify presents, and what a service such as this means for traditional reporting. This could be one way to create collaboration between reporters and audiences through the application of journalistic principles, while also preserving the audience’s voice.

Knight and Reynolds are in unique positions to drive innovation. Their focus on journalism as central to a democracy will ensure that whatever innovations they sponsor will serve communities. But they must go beyond simply funding projects. They need to drive innovation by drawing upon their vast experience and resources to suggest the course innovation will take.

I learned this lesson the hard way as an educator. It’s not enough for me to hand my students a toolbox without telling them what I expect them to build.

But as Yahoo! has expanded their original news offerings once again, I think they’ve set new standards for citizen journalism. The Style Guide is a first step. Sure the guide has a lot on SEO, but Barr repeated over and over again to students that no one should write for the search engines. I agree. It leads to the kind of articles Slate’s Farjad Manjoo describes. Barr also assured us that all members of the Yahoo! Contributor Network work with editors. At this stage, that’s good enough. At least it shows Yahoo! is practicing what it is preaching.

It was gratifying to see the amount of participation based on Cohn’s first summary post. A number of friends, colleagues and former students at the University of Missouri responded. What I appreciated most about the carnival, especially after reading most of the first 50 or so posts, is how Cohn is encouraging us to practice what we preach. He brought so many people together from so many different places that I’m confident positive change will come from our discussion. I know I will at least make better contacts and add some new ideas to the way I teach journalism. I’ve added at least half a dozen new blogs to my Shrook account.

Universities need to push the journalism envelope when the industry cannot.

They need to test the innovations because they can afford to fail. Failure is often a good lesson for students. To make it all worthwhile, however, universities must do a better job reaching out to the industry and providing more than an ample supply of interns. Journalism researchers and professors must overcome our fear to step back into the newsroom. We must realize the industry is hungry for what we have to offer.

What would news organizations give for a system that would handle subscriptions for them effortlessly? Is it worth 30 % of revenue?
That’s what Apple seems to be asking right now from big media house such as Time Inc. who want to sell iPad magazine subscriptions. I admit I don’t know all the details. I also understand the need to access and mine subscriber data. I know Apple can be a control freak that isn’t willing to compromise.
But I still have to ask if publishers shouldn’t be willing to give a little to get something invaluable.

Look I don’t have a problem with journalists cracking a joke here and there (see my posts on Brian Williams), but The Today Show is only making fun of their sources and their audience at the same time in their new Today Goes Viral series. Viral video creators like Tompkins and Fong respect their source material. Even more, they respect their audience.

When Peter Day and Beau Yarbrough of the Hesperia Star addressed my J314: Online Journalism class last May, they were frank in explaining how they just tried online and social media tools to see if they’d work, and worried about the consequences later. We all laughed when they said they’d get chastised for using Twitter one week and then corporate encouraged them to do the exact thing that got them in trouble the next.

At first glance, I thought GoogleVoice was Google’s way to steal someone’s good idea. Unlike GoogleWave, however, Voice is useful, unobtrusive, and perfect for people like me who think the Web’s the best Rolodex. Whenever I want to make a call now, I just Google the person and click on the blue phone number that appears. I even Googled my own house the other day.