I am extremely excited that I will be part of such an innovative organization, which now also includes Ryan Sholin as director of news innovation and Howard Weaver as a member of the board of directors. Needless to say, that pair is a one-two punch of journalism awesomeness.
And, yes, this was not a traditional job application. I am honored to have been selected from a group of extremely talented journalists as part of the “I am the future of journalism” contest. As you may recall, I posted a link to my entry here in January (actual entry):
Tune in Thursday at noon EST to watch Paige West, director of interactive projects at MSNBC.com.
Why? Because you can’t get enough of multimedia.
To try to satisfy your hunger for awesome information about awesome storytelling, we’ll be livestreaming the new round of lunch speakers at part two of two of Beyond Bootcamp.
(The “we” is Trevor Green operating the three built-in cameras and mics from the control room, me in the room with my laptop managing the livestream/chat/promotion and the UM School of Communication’s equipment and facilities.)
We’ll also be streaming Friday and Saturday’s lunch speeches. Information about speakers will follow, but both will be from noon to 2 p.m. EST.
Watch the Thursday speech by West here (not visable in RSS feed) or at:
Newspaper reporters, editors and others listen as Miami Herald Multimedia Editor Rick Hirsch gives opening remarks at Saturday's workshop. (From my camera phone, TwitPic)
This is the first in an occasional series called “Tips from a J-Student.” Posts will focus on ways journalism students can better prepare themselves for jobs, internships and other opportunities.
Yes, we helped unload a car. Yes, we helped set up breakfast. Yes, we handed out name tags and programs.
But why?
Well, there was free breakfast and lunch. More importantly, it was an opportunity to see old friends, meet new people and learn something (sessions were also free for volunteers).
As for learning something new, I was able to attend a session in each of the three time slots (more details). It just so happened that all of them were led by Miami Herald journalists:
Spreadsheets and databases – Rob Barry, investigative reporter and database specialist; Stephanie Rosenblatt, multimedia developer
Online story planning – Paul Cheung, deputy multimedia presentation editor; Niala Boodhoo, multimedia business specialist
I wish I could have attended all the workshops, but I picked the ones where I thought I would learn the most.
So what good does this do you?
Find out if your school hosts any professional development events. Most UM journalism students have no idea this opportunity – though limited to a few volunteers – exists at all.
If there’s not such an event, see what you can do to lobby for workshops or some other opportunity to network and learn (somewhat related: a shameless plug for Sean Blanda‘s efforts to bring BarCampNewsInnovation to Philadelphia).
But the overall lesson is to take advantage of any available opportunity to improve your skill set, make new connections and continue relationships. And, if that opportunity doesn’t exist, try to make it happen.
Upcoming opportunity: From Jan. 3 to 10, Knight Char in Visual Journalism Rich Beckman will host his annual Beyond Bootcampworkshops at UM for the first time.
Students have the (paid) opportunity to assistant in one of the three-day sessions. I’ll be helping out with the video narratives sessions, Jan. 7 to 10. Of course, I plan to blog about this event.
Looking forward: Several upcoming posts in this series will related to applying for summer internships. Although it’s too late for many summer opportunities, I hope these posts will help students applying in the spring and beyond.
Weigh in: Have you found any similar training or networking opportunities at your school? If not, what kind would you like to see?
I intend to answer those questions and more this summer as an intern at The Dallas Morning News!
It’s an online internship, but I’ll primarily be working under metro as a multimedia reporter. Split between breaking news and other projects, my role will include writing stories, shooting video and doing other kinds of mischief.
This will be my fourth news internship – third at a metropolitan daily. I plan start soon after I graduate in May.
I can’t wait!
What should I see and do in Dallas?
Read about my experiences at The Miami Herald last summer:
The Online News Association officially launched their new Web site (see right) Monday evening.
If you’re a member with full access, or even a non-member just perusing, you can tell this site is big step forward.
Here are some of the features, as outlined in an e-mail from ONA President Jonathan Dube:
Networking features, including discussion groups that connect members by region and area of interest, giving you the ability to have one-on-one conversations and to chat in real time.
An easy-to-navigate membership directory – searchable by name, type of organization, areas of expertise, and more – enabling you to more easily network with people with common interests.
A Career Center that allows members to post and search job openings.
A new training section with innovative digital presentations tagged by topic, source and medium. This section features videotaped sessions from ONA’s sold-out 2008 annual conference, with tips on the latest techniques in multimedia storytelling from the New York Times, Washington Post, USA TODAY and the BBC, among others.
So why I am blogging about this? Earlier this month I was asked to be the student group discussion leader, a role I enthusiastically accepted.Â
I’ll be posting there a couple times a week in order to start conversations on topics such as classes, cool projects and internships. The group has six members so far, including two pros.Â
If you’re a student interested in online journalism, I highly recommend joining ONA. I joined in April and think ONA is a group often overlooked by student journalists (read about membership benefits).
For only $25 a year, you can’t say no.
One benefit is that you get a heavily discounted conference registration — we’re talking less than half the pro rate.
And if you saw my posts or tweets about this year’s gathering in D.C., you’d see why the experience is so valuable. I went to a number of great sessions, but more important are the connections you make.
