We usually think of an earworm as one of those 1980s one-hit wonder songs or any-generation pop song that you can’t get out of your head. Let me pause for a minute here while you try to get something unstuck. Sorry. But I’ve learned of a different kind of earworm: the academic/mentoring kind. That voice in […]
I love that there are so many different ways to tell the story of what’s happening in the world. It can be overwhelming, but it’s good. I discovered one of the most interesting, thanks to an NPR story, headlined: Picture this. That story introduced me to illustrator Maria Fabrizio, who is behind the project Wordless News. , touted […]
I am a Twitter advocate, someone who loves the ability to converse, communicate, get information, links, jokes and, yes, snark. It’s my early warning radar for news and for pop culture. I understand its limitations and drawbacks. I don’t mind the fire hose, but I probably do spend too much time on it. (New Year’s […]
A new Pew study about Twitter use wasn’t surprising to me, an avid Twitter user. Certainly my experience as a college journalism professor bears out the findings that Twitter users are young, mobile and educated. The research showed 8 percent of people on Twitter get their news there. What did surprise me was the statistic […]
It seems to be a simple question. But asking/debating whether journalists should learn to code and whether universities should teach their journalism students to code has taken on a life of its own. The latest conflagration started with an Atlantic article by Olga Khazan. She makes interesting points, but I don’t agree. I think an […]
It’s time for some questions and answers. As part of the July Bloggers Challenge, started by Jen Schneider of Liv, Laugh, Love blog, it’s time to write some answers. I’m much more comfortable asking questions, but I turned to Twitter to see if I could dig up some questions. Some wonderful former and current students obliged. […]
Forgive the sports metaphor, but the College World Series has rubbed off on me. Small ball is a metaphor for probably what’s ahead in journalism. Start-ups and smaller news organizations will become more and more common. Nicco Mele has written about this phenomenon on a larger level in “The End of Big” where he describes how […]
One of my mantras these days is that young and old journalists have to be fearless — not reckless — but fearless when it comes to trying new things. Today I have wrestled with Photoshop, WordPress and assorted other programs to get this blog looking better. I still have a ways to go, but it […]
Being a college professor is more than just standing up in front of a class. It takes hours to prepare for that class, time to grade and figure out assignments, time to assess whether students are really learning what we intend. We do research to learn new things about the world we inhabit and then […]
“You have to make stuff. The tools of journalism are in your hands and no one is going to give a damn about what is on your resume, they want to see what you have made with your own little fingies. Can you use Final Cut Pro? Have you created an Instagram that is about […]