A Perfect Hyperlocal Recipe?

About a year ago, I guest blogged for the Summer 2010 NPR Interns news site ("Jump For Joy Across The Digital Gap"). It was then, newly enveloped in the wonders of Twitter, that I started reading and writing about the shift to hyperlocal news in the midst of so much journalistic upheaval.

I've come across some really great blogs that cover the pop up of hyperlocal news sites and discusses biz models (LostRemote and Newsonomics are great).

Today, in fact, I came across a post from Newsonomics. While it did a great job of covering TBD's launch last month, it also talked about one of the newest sites, The Deseret News, based out of Salt Lake City. What I most enjoyed - it's recipe-like description of what's going to make The Deseret News successful. What does that recipe look like?

Several cups full of daily newspaper and broadcast types.
Teaspoon of Christian Science Monitor.
Teaspoon of Demand Media
Borrow ingredients from 143-year-old Washington Post and 1-month-old TBD

Directions: shred, dice, slice, puree, whir and blend.

Here's what I also found interesting: from a religion reporting perspective, Newsonomics noted that SLC has a high population of Latter Day Saints (duh). But, hey! Great to see a slight resurgence in religion reporting.

I chuckle, though, as Newsonomics writes:

"And it's all something of a blur, especially the view from outside the unique culture of Utah. The deep talk of values and mission is enough to give an old newsie hives, and we'll all have to watch to see how much "news" coverage is skewed by religious beliefs."

Religion On The Radiowaves

"Speaking of Faith," a talk radio show from American Public Media, got some great coverage from The New York Times this week.

Creator and host Krista Tippett describes her radio show as a vocation: “I get asked if I consider this show a ministry. I do like the word ‘vocation,’ a calling. If it is a ministry, it’s a ministry of listening rather than talking.”

That, friends, is the beauty of journalism. The focus is not on the storyteller, but rather on the story-maker.

Finally, I love how Tippett describes the religion beat:

“Religion is a touchy subject. You’re really getting at the core of people’s identities, an intimate place. This religious sphere in our public life is very charged, and I want to disarm that.”

College of Comm: A Good Marriage

Tonight, a town hall meeting – made up largely of faculty and some students – gathered to discuss the creation of a sixth college at Butler – the College of Communications.

It would encompass the Media Arts and Journalism programs, as well as Communication Studies and Communication Disorders. I will admit – it’s a big decision for such a small school. But it's a concern I've raised in the past, and it hasn't gone away.

I got to speak at the Town Hall – in front of a room of about 60 or so faculty – to make my case for a College of Communications.

Why the decision to mix things up a bit? As a student of both Media Arts and Journalism, I can give you a bit of insight:

• There is an overlap in curriculum. I have taken an ethics course and media law course in both departments.
• Other institutions have taken the step to converge these programs.
• Students in both departments should have equal access to camera equipment and software.

In the “glory days” Butler University used to have a renowned radio and television program. Today, the revised Media Arts department focuses on dynamic areas such as digital media production, recording industries, and broadcast journalism. It is a fairly small department, but also lacks a traditional communication foundation (i.e. writing).

Journalism is an altogether separate department, largely funded by newspaper giant Eugene S. Pulliam (hence, the name of the j-school) and it's part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. It boasts a strong internship program, and solid reporting classes needed to work as a traditional journalist.

The only problem is that both departments fall under two different colleges. Media Arts is aptly named the “step-child” of the Jordan College of Fine Arts. We’re chalked up next to the ballerinas and musicians – while Journalism falls under the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences – by far the largest of Butler’s five schools.

The proposed College of Communications would:

- Include accreditation

- The three current departments would develop into 6 programs

• Journalism
• Strategic Communication
• Digital Media/RIS
• Organizational Communication
• Critical media/rhetoric
• Communication Disorders

Even though professors in the liberal arts school are concerned about journalism breaking away from LAS, in reality, a converged curriculum would allow those students time to take additional classes in the College of LAS. Problem solved.

I was most impressed by one of my journalism professors, Dr. Anokwa. He stayed quiet for most of the conversation, then offered his thoughts, with an excellent analogy: “[Journalism with the Liberal Arts] is a bad marriage and our children are suffering.” (PS - I am one of those "children.") He added that he wished his colleagues would be more supportive. He comes from broadcast background, having grown up and worked as a broadcaster in Ghana. But he couldn’t teach broadcast and print journalism – he had to pick. This is just one of the many challenges the faculty face - not being able to fully practice their area of study. Most of the room clapped at the end of his comment, including me.

The case of a College of Comm. has even been attempted in the past. In fact, both departments are already housed in the same building – Fairbanks!

Other perks of a new college: a college-wide internship program, and potentially a graduate program in the future.

The decision is far from being made. On March 2, there will be a Faculty Senate meeting, and then two additional meetings in April. Ideally, we’ll know sometime before the semester ends.

Here’s what I concluded: After a two-hour presentation and lively discussion, it’s clear that the faculty, staff and administrators care about Butler. They care about it as an institution, they care about the students. They care about its future. They cared enough to show up and duke it out. That alone gives me hope.

A College of Communications would break down barriers between departments and work in the best interest of students – to prepare them for real-world, multi-platform media experiences.

It was a beautiful thing to see professors from both departments work together on this proposal - better yet, to see them in the same room together! Last month I had to decide which program to sit with at graduation. Journalism? Media Arts? Like the child of bad marriage, I could not decided which 'parent' I liked better. I'm hoping for a better marriage for future students.

My Eighth Semester

I said my final farewell to my semester in Washington, and now I'm nearing the finish line to my time at Butler University. I've got a full plate of academics, extracurriculars and sorority life (not to mention that thing called "finding a job").

Here's the lineup:

Theological Ethics is my last chance to utilize an elective. As I've continued to explore religion and faith in my daily life and work, I wanted to take a religion course before Butler told me to graduate. Our professor, Dr. Brent Hege, just won an award for theological promise, too! I'm looking forward to some deep discussions, especially since there's only 7 of us in the class.

International Communication is going to focus on how media is distributed around the world - and how that contributes to globalization. Last week our class divided into two section and did some role-playing: one side was the Western world and the other side was the Third World and debated issues of Westernization. It got pretty heated.

The History and Literature of Journalism, though it may sound dry, will probably be pretty cool. I'm hoping to do my epically long research paper on either the Newsboys Strike of 1899 or the development of non-profit media. Who knows? But I'm excited, as only a journalism major could be.

Data-based Investigations is a new journalism elective this semester, taught by the expert! Mark Nichols is in charge of data-based investigations at the Indianapolis Star. We meet once a week, from 7:15 - 9:45, hoping that all those crime statistics will keep us awake! In all seriousness, though, we'll practice writing a FOI request letter (Freedom of Information) and use software to input things like crime statistics.

Directing the Narrative offers me one more chance to work behind a camera before I get out in the real world. It will finish off my Media Arts (video production major. This weekend I shot a short character sequence with a classmate. I played an OCD college student. If all goes well, maybe I can post that clip at some point.

During the week I'm also interning at the Center for Faith and Vocation, working as the multimedia editor for The Butler Collegian, bible study-ing and living in Pi Beta Phi (a.k.a. The White House)! I even found a video (tour of the house) my roommate Christina did for her gig as a Butler blogger.

Photo Credit

Interns Spur Discussion

"What is the future of journalism?"

The summer interns at National Public Radio wanted to know.

And after three years of journalism and media arts classes - including law, ethics and literacy - I felt like I had a lot to say. So yesterday I submitted an essay in an attempt to answer this question.

To my delight, the essay was published this morning at the "NPR: Intern Edition" blog under the section "Consider This Journal".

But I'm not the only who had something to say. As of today, almost twenty aspiring journalists have posted their thoughts. They have posted theories, business models and rationale for attending graduate-level journalism programs.

The NPR interns also post their experiences on the blog site, and produce an entire multimedia show that is set to 'go live' in about a week. Want to keep up with these cool kids? You can also follow them on Twitter (You have an account now, ever since you read my last post, right?), @NPRinterns.

And while we're talking about NPR, check out their Web site on Sunday. That's when they reveal their new redesign.

Twitter Turmoil

Ever feel left out of the digital conversation? Stumped by status updates?

Status updates are used on sites like Facebook and Twitter. But what is their purpose? Sure, it's a way to "keep in touch" with friends and family. But then updates can turn into mini snippets of bragging material. "Laying out in Mexico! This is the life!" or "Headed off to an awards ceremony...in my honor." 

And then there's a different kind of update. I'll call it the "members only" status.

You read a twitter status and can almost hear the Twitterer saying, "Oh, sorry, guess you had to be there. You missed out. How can you not know that [insert clever, obscure factoid or joke here.]"

I recently perceived the effects of my Twitter updates (which are automatically forwarded to Facebook). My Facebook friends responded to one of my updates with mass confusion.

A few days ago, I was participating in a live chat with the Poynter Institute, a non-profit that trains journalists. I was excited to ask questions, which could be submitted via Twitter. So, employing my clever Twitter abilities, I posted a question that looked like this: "#poynterchats What the best way to keep in touch with former internship contacts?" 

If that looks like a foreign language to you, read on.

In my example above, "#poynterchats" was a search term I created while doing a live chat with the Poynter Institute. Poynter suggested I add this prefix to my twitter status so they could search for my status and then post it in the live conversation.

That day two Facebook friends who commented on the post because they were confused. "I never really understand what your status is about. Is that normal or am I just being really stupid?"

Yay for reality checks. It reminded me that not everyone uses Twitter, and therefore not everyone knows why @, #, and RT are used in sentences. 

One follower, @copyblogger, said in a post, "How about you add value instead of engaging in veiled "conversation" you mistakenly think makes you look good?"

Well gosh darnit, he's right. The Twitter elitist in me needs to think more carefully about the "conversations" I have with others in the so-called Twitterverse. It may make sense to me, but not to others. And then, this vehicle created to help with communication, is actually putting up walls.

Duncan Alney, of Firebelly Marketing in Indianapolis, posted some social media etiquette tips on his company's Web site. Not a bad thing to review. 

Brief Twitter Jargon Decoding

@ - place this symbol in front of a person's Twitter name. Use this when you want to mention something to that person. It's a direct, but public, message.

# - place this symbol in front a word. Then if you search that word in the search box, your update will be included. This helps define "trending topics" which are the most tweeted about subjects on Twitter. 

RT - means "retweet." I use RT when I see a status I like (usually with a cool link) and want to share the info to others. 

Links - when you post a link into Twitter, it compresses (remember, there's a 140-character limit), so the URLs look funny. For example: http://bit.ly/iPm8h

And there it is, in a nutshell! Feel free to post comments or other questions you have.

Walter Cronkite: The End of Era

Just minutes ago I turned on my very own WISH TV to learn that Walter Cronkite passed away today. Although I grew up watching Dan Rather (I was an 80's baby), I would not be a journalism student if I did not acknowledge Cronkite's accomplishments in the field.

He bridged the gap between radio and TV. Some thought TV was just a passing trend. Advances in technology made way for a new storytelling format. Wait - where have I heard that before? That's right - the Internet! He is an example to today's journalists who facing the "scary" transition and adaptation of the Internet. 

Journalism does not equal the medium. Journalism is not the same as the Internet. Rather, the Internet presents journalism, and writers must work within the limits of that, until the next thing comes along. Some say journalism is dying; I say it's adapting. If Walter Cronkite can do it, then so can we.

 And that's the way it is.

Convergence Does Not Signal "End Times" for Journalism

It's near the end of the semester, and I'll be finishing up a pilot course in the Eugene S. Pulliam School of Journalism. It's a course I was super-excited about: Online Journalism. The result was pretty cool. The department bought enough Flip Cameras for everyone in class, which we used to go out and get "man on the street" interviews, and then uploaded to the computers. We learned about writing for the online medium, and ended the courses with a multi-media project about how the recession has affected Butler University.

Next year will be a year of transition for the department. There will be new course offerings like Convergence Journalism and Web Design. For the first time in Butler's history, our two news media, The Butler Collegian (print) and Dawgnet News (online) will follow the industry trend and converge to become one staff.

I began at Butler as a media arts major, with a video production emphasis. Then I decided to sharpen up my writing skills, so I added journalism as a secondary major. In doing so, I've found many similarities between the two departments. True, they each have their own uniqueness and wonderful faculty, besides. 

But in an effort to better understand why the two departments have not come together as a college of communications (see Ball State University's and University of Missouri's programs as examples) I wrote an editorial about it. I interviewed Dr. Nancy Whitmore, head of the journalism department and Dr. Ken Creech, head of the media arts department. Their responses accurately reflect the state of media today and the dilemmas it faces.

Written for Marc Allan's Editorial Writing class (JR317) on Tuesday, February 10:

All that separates the Media Arts Department and the Journalism school is a flight a stairs in the Fairbanks Center. There shouldn’t even be that much separation. Merging the departments would strengthen academics and keep curricula up to date with the real world.

Journalism is part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, while Media Arts is considered by some to be the “stepchild” of the Jordan College of Fine Arts. Journalism seems lost within a college of many different majors, while TV producers don’t bear any resemblance to ballerinas or musicians. 

Attempts have been made in Butler’s history to merge the two departments. In the early ’90s, former President Geoffrey Bannister encouraged monthly meetings to discuss the possibility. Former Provost Bill Berry organized a task force to examine how other universities were embracing changing media and technology.

Neither effort led to anything of substance. 

If we examine the curriculums of both departments closely, it is evident there is an overlap of courses. Journalism offers JR426 – Mass Communication Law – while Media Arts offers MDA432 – Law and Regulation of the Electronic Media. Sound the same? Maybe because they are.

Both departments also offer core classes in ethics, as well. This repetition forces students, who want to learn from both areas, to take repetitive courses. The separation of the two departments puts students at a disadvantage when trying to explore the convergence of print and broadcast journalism.

One step has been taken, however. This semester, the journalism department is offering online journalism, a pilot course that will get students acquainted with the basics of writing for the Web and demonstrate how to incorporate video into the new medium. 

Larger schools, which benefit from more resources, have been able to create individual colleges that encompass public relations, advertising, radio, TV, print journalism and online journalism. However, as Media Arts Department Chair Ken Creech pointed out, creating a whole new college would cost a lot of money – something that is not available in these tough economic times.

Creech said there has been discussion about how to best accommodate students in both curriculums, and said the best way might be to create a collaborative program that would allow students to more freely take classes between departments.

“Both [departments] went our own ways and so it’s hard to bring things back,” Creech said. “We all agree with keeping curriculum fresh, especially given [the industry’s] changing nature. At least media and journalism should be looking for ways to collaborate more formally.”

Both departments worried that a merger would eliminate job security. Creech said his staff would be worried about not earning tenure, and Dr. Nancy Whitmore, head of the Journalism department, said both departments develop faculty with different mindsets. 

Still, with more traditional publications being revamped with video and websites, Butler curricula needs to reflect the changing industry. If the cost of hiring a dean for a brand-new communications college is too much to ask, then the departments should still find a way to implement each other’s material into the classroom. Convergence is the future, and if the curriculum isn’t preparing students for the reality of that, then it isn’t doing its fundamental job.

Photo Credit

Perfection is My Enemy

"Sometimes I believe that I can do anything/Yet other times I think I've got nothing good to bring/But You look at my heart and You tell me/That I've got all You seek." - Francesca Battistelli, "Free to be Me"

The last four days have taught me a lot about my own ego. That's funny, because I don't tend to think I have a fragile one (ego, that is). But I must have been on a pedestal because I came down from it really quick. Recent efforts to apply for scholarships have fallen through, making me doubt my writing ability and doubt the effort I put into my extracurriculars. Even more recently, peers (whom I respect) have administered constructive criticism of my work. 

Ever felt like everyone's out to get you? Like you can't do anything right? That's about where I'm at. It happens when I put my life on cruise-control, and I think everything is going swimmingly. Then...SMACK! I've hit a brick wall and I'm about to start bawling. 

I look at my work sometimes and see so many flaws. Writing's different from anything. When the writing is perfect (or near perfect) readers don't notice; they simply enjoy the story. But when there is a mistake, it sticks out like a sore thumb, and seems to be all anyone can concentrate on. 

I just finished reading some criticism the other day and felt about ready to just say, "Can I just take a break from writing? Maybe I'm tired of doing that 24/7. How 'bout that, God?"

But that's when I have to put it in perspective. I wouldn't be getting criticism of my work if I didn't need it. And if I didn't need to improve, that would mean I'm perfect. And if I was perfect, I would be like God. And I am certainly not God. 

Plus, I know that writing is a passion God has given to me. And he wants to use it for Him. So even if the process of writing is painful, frustrating or tiring, I know it will be put to use for Him someday (and even now as you're reading this!)

It's ironic, too, with Easter right behind me. Jesus atoned for all those times I am jealous, frustrated and that constant drive of perfection. I will never be perfect, and all my efforts will be futile. So maybe its not the attempt to be perfect that God wants from us, but rather the humility to accept our faults as they are.