From backpack journalist, to video blogs, convergence has pushed not only the media to its limits, but also the audience and its means of interacting with journalists and the stories and information they produce.
Click here to read the entire issue.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Monday, July 26, 2010
May 2010 Convergence Newsletter
May 2010: Citizen Journalism in the Newsroom and Ad Office
Joe Marren of Buffalo State College looks at how social media require media workers to rethink their traditional gatekeeper roles, not just in the newsroom but in the advertising office as well.
To read the entire article, click here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
May 2010: Cedar Rapids Newsrooms' Grand Experiment in Convergence
Wartburg College's Cliff Brockman analyzes one newsroom's attempt to embrace convergence by moving from the idea of selling one product to a world of "multiple products."
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Monday, May 17, 2010
April 2010 Convergence Newsletter
In looking at convergence and the myriad ways it affect us, it is easy to forget the rest of the world is not far behind - or in some cases ahead - of North American media. From the economics of convergence as well as initial application of the idea, the international community is moving forward in exploring convergence as a function of news.
To read the entire article, click here.Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
April 2010: Emerging Media Models in Ukraine
Augie Grant and Alexander Gorelik provide an in-depth review of a program designed to train early and midcareer journalists in Ukraine in of convergence. By engineering a study that analyzes the business plans of these journalist, new models of news have been recognized.
Click here to read the entire article.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
April 2010: Convergence blamed for media mess in Canada
Mark Edge looks at the possible causes of Canada's of unstable state of television. As stated by Edge, "with some television stations closing and others selling for a token few dollars, and with the country's largest news media company in bankruptcy, Canada's media system is broken, according to the country's converged media players."
To read the entire article, click here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
April 2010: Newsroom convergence in Spain
Guillermo Coll describes how one can view the product of how convergence has been implemented by Spain's media. By looking at the situation of the media in the country, Coll provides a contemporary picture Spain's journalistic industries.
Click here to read the entire article.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
March 2010 Convergence Newsletter
To look at how convergence has affected journalism and the news business, a couple of key elements come into play. One main factor is the quality of journalism and how to compare it with traditional journalism values. Another is the interaction with the journalism process that convergence allows s to have.
Click here to read the entire newsletter.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
March 2010: Convergence leads to questions of journalism quality
Serena Carpenter of Arizona State University explores the new perceptions of journalist, journalism and quality in the digital age. The question of quality is addressed in an in-depth manner in this article.
To read the entire article, click here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
March 2010: Do readers have rationale behind commenting?
Val Pipps of the University of Akron analyzes the interaction between community and news source. By looking at the activity of users of a Web 2.0 site, Pipps finds the some of the reasons and rational behind users' comments.
Click here to read the entire article.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Thursday, April 1, 2010
February 2010 Convergence Newsletter
In looking at the newsrooms of 10 or 20 years ago and those of today, the comparisons are staggering. The process of making, gathering, buying and selling the news has changed dramatically, with everything from massive layoffs to totally integrated newsrooms.
To read the entire newsletter, click here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
February 2010: Knoxville's newsroom convergence
Jack Lail, the Knoxville News Sentinel's news innovation director, gives a firsthand account of his newsroom's evolution and the mental and emotional strains that came with it. Lail also analyzes how the Sentinel's staff has measured the effectiveness of its efforts.
Click here to read the entire article.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
February 2010: Community involvement and news use remain linked online
As newsrooms converge, one of the questions to be examined is whether the community involvement that researchers have found correlates with newspaper reading also carries over to online. Jennifer Cox of the University of Florida finds a relationship, but with a simpler metric than time spent on site.
To read the entire article, click here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Monday, January 11, 2010
December 2009: News Organizations don’t practice what they preach
It’s a familiar refrain, the constant need for traditional news organizations need to retool to a form that embraces convergence. But some Virginia Commonwealth University students learned that this idea still has little traction on the front lines of news organizations.
Tim Bajkiewicz of VCU expounds on the research he delivered at the Convergence and Society Conference in Reno, Nev., in which his students questioned the heads of major news organizations.
Friday, December 4, 2009
November 2009 Convergence Newsletter
Given the speed with which digital media have become part of our lives and the accompanying publicity, it's easy to understand how we might forget that such convergence is not necessarily widespread throughout all social strata. A Knight Foundation-funded program headquartered at Newsplex, BGTIME, looks to bridge some of that divide when it comes to senior citizens. R.J. Kraft explains how BGTIME is using students to help older members of the community with technology -- the ultimate result being a richer civic dialogue for all. Augie Grant also has a recap of the Convergence and Society Conference co-sponsored by the University of South Carolina and hosted by the University Nevada, Reno the first week of November. After two days of presentations, he concludes that social media are affecting journalism as much as the current economy is, only in a good way.
To read the entire newsletter, click here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
November 2009: BGTIME: Building a community Web site from the ground up
R.J. Kraft, a University of South Carolina graduate student, has been integral in the creation of an original content website for a very particular demographic: senior citizens. The website, BGTIME.org, gives seniors an outlet to a new technology, as well as serving as a platform for original content written and edited by the seniors.
In his article, Kraft provides insight into not only creating a website, but also the trouble of teaching the seniors how to adapt to a new technology that could not be more foreign.
November 2009: onference highlights challenges, opportunities in convergence
University of South Carolina Professor Augie Grant gives a first-hand look at the highlights and emerging challenges in the field of convergence represented at the eight annual Convergence and Society conference.
The conference, which took place on November 5-6 at the University of Nevada, Reno, highlighted some of the issues materializing in the field that will be contested in the future.
Monday, November 9, 2009
October 2009 Convergence Newsletter
Click here to read the entire newsletter.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
October 2009: Convergence in Africa: A phone on a mango tree
Paul Bowers, a journalism student at USC and winner of winner of a two-week trip to Africa with New York Times writer and Pulitzer Prize winner Nicholas Kristof, discusses the challenges facing world-wide convergence.
Not only does Bowers examine the obvious problems of lack of widespread broadband Internet access, but also the more telling problem of basic communication on the continent. While convergence may seem to be rapid publication and new digital mediums to Westerners, simple communication via telephone is as far as many Africans get.
To read the entire article, click here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
October 2009: 'More, Better' May Not Be Better, But It's Reality
SUNY Fredonia Professor Elmer Ploetz takes a look at the changes that have been made throughout journalism to accommodate more of a focus on convergence.
Ploetz speaks from first-hand experience as State University of New York, Fredonia has started from scratch with their convergence program and has made adaptability the cornerstone of their curriculum. Undeterred, he illuminates that problems that many other universities are having in emphasising convergence within the traditional journalism school dichotomy.
Click here to read the entire article.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Convergence and Society conference coverage
Doug is at the "Convergence and Society" conference in Reno this week. He is doing some live blogging on it at his blog, Common Sense Jounalism. Here is a list of his posts that is being updated.
- News orgs still don't get it
- Slide shows, who is doing them and why
- Radio's conundrum
- Michigan as ground zero
- Newspapers in Second Life
- All things Canadian
- Thursday quick hits
We also hope to have excerpts from these papers in upcoming newsletters.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Monday, October 12, 2009
September 2009 Convergence Newsletter
With each innovation, fewer technical obstacles prevent us from reaching the apex of media intertwinement.
This month's issue will address the areas of HD video streaming and the upcoming University of South Carolina "Convergence and Society" conference at the University of Nevada, Reno. These two insightful pieces by Edgar Huang of the University of India - University of Purdue, Indianapolis and USC's own Augie will surely make for good reads.
Please feel free to contact us at convedit@mailbox.sc.edu with your thoughts and article proposals.
Click here to read the entire newsletter.
September 2009: Demystifying HD Streaming Video Technologies
Professor Edgar Huang of the University of Indiana - Purdue University, Indianapolis takes a look at the recent advances in HD streaming video technology and how it is affecting other aspects of internet progress.
In this piece, Huang articulates that HD streaming video is the backbone of convergence that, while still in the development stages, will become more important as other areas of communication advance.
To read the entire article, click here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Septemer 2009: The Biggest Little Conference In The World
University of South Carolina Professor Augie Grant gives a preview of the 2009 "Convergence and Society" conference, which will be heading to the University of Nevada, Reno.
The theme this year is “The Changing Media Landscape.” Almost four dozen submissions have been juried and whittled down to a two-day conference that explores the rapidly evolving state of journalism and mass media in general. The conference includes theme sessions on the nature and impact of the multitude of changes including consolidation, economic challenges, globalization, and regulatory change.
Click here to read the entire article.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Thursday, September 17, 2009
August 2009 Convergence Newsletter
It’s September, you say, so why does my Convergence Newsletter say August?
No, we haven’t put time on hold, though we wish we could. It’s simply been a time of more changes here at TCN. Combined with some technical glitches and then the inevitable rush at the start of classes, and we found ourselves staring at a calendar that had moved on.
We will be following this in a week or two with the actual September issue, led by Edgar Huang’s article detailing his important work researching effective video streaming technology. But to keep things in synch, we decided to put out the “August” issue instead of a more confusing “August-September” issue.
One change you will notice is a new editor for the newsletter. Matt McColl joins us both as a graduate student and as the new day-to-day whip-cracker, bottle-washer and keeper of the passwords. Please feel free to contact him at convedit@mailbox.sc.edu with your thoughts and article proposals. And, of course, you can always contact me.
This is our back-to-the-classroom issue, and we have three insightful pieces I think you’ll enjoy.
To read the entire newsletter, click here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
August 2009: Preparing for a future in the convergence journalism world
South Carolina graduate Holly Fisher tells the tale from the frontlines of an ever-evolving journalism world and what she would and would not do differently.
Fisher provides a template for other journalism students and how to react and adapt to that new journalism world.
Click here to read the article.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
August 2009: Preparing Students for an Increasingly Freelance Journalism Career
David Weintraub a writer, editor, photographer, and educator based in Aiken, S.C., outlines an experimental course he is teaching that is designed to give communications students a firm grounding in business basics and entrepreneurship.
To read the entire article, click here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
August 2009: Responsible Journalism in a Social Media World
Nicole White provides insight into the ever changing social media world and how journalism should adapt responsibly.
First it was blogs. Then came the rise of social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and mySpace. Now, “lifestreaming” is taking hold with sites like Tumblr and Posterous that allow easy posting of an almost stream of consciousness mélange of facts, observations, pictures, videos, etc.
With this seemingly exponential rise in news sources, it becomes increasingly difficult to determine which stories have responsible journalistic coverage and which were fabricated or embellished to provide more excitement. While newspapers and news anchors have been delivering sensational headlines for years, with the advent of Internet news it becomes ever more difficult to figure out where the news coverage takes liberties.
Click here to read the entire article.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
June 2009 Issue Now Available
Cyber social networking is helping to fuel the current Iranian protest against recent election results. But with Iran’s government trying to stem the opposition’s mobilization by actively removing opposition Web sites and attempting to slow down social networking portals such as Facebook and Twitter, the world is being deprived of information concerning this major political movement. Iranian censorship of the Internet is not unique. The Chinese government tried to shut down dissidents’ online use at the time of Tiananmen. Other nations face such roadblocks to cyber information. This issue of The Convergence Newsletter offers two articles examining problems of Internet access in Ethiopia. We also present a study focusing on India’s use of media, examining how and where convergence in that country takes place.
June 2009: Commentary from the Wrong Side of the Digital Divide
Fulbright Scholar Alice Klement provides a view from what she calls the “wrong side of the digital divide.” Her article offers insight into Ethiopia’s technology shortfalls, which she says interfere in the advancement of media convergence and are compounded by governmental censorship of Web sites.
Click here to read the full article.
June 2009: The "Imprisoned" Internet of AAU
Addis Abada University graduate student Sileshi Yilma addresses student concerns about the Ethiopian university's censorship of Web sites that are important tools in the research of social and political issues.
Click here to read the full article.
June 2009: Meeting Media Needs: What You Learn When You Ask Your Students Questions
Dr. John Cokley of the University of Queensland presents quantitative findings from a 2008 convergence journalism workshop in Delhi, India. Participating journalists from across India provide insight into media consumer needs and just how those needs are being met.
June 2009: Conferences and Training
Read the conference and training schedule of the June 2009 issue here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
May-June 2009 Issue Now Available
This May-June issue of The Convergence Newsletter looks at how convergence is serving some local communities.
Leading off is an interview with Mike Orren, founder and president of Pegasus News, a Dallas-Fort Worth online publication founded in 2005. Pegasus offers people the opportunity to localize their news, and, if they desire, to be unfettered citizen journalists, reporting the news as they see it. Orren tells The Convergence Newsletter that to be a successful online news source you need to offer your reader more than just news.
Doug Fisher of the University of South Carolina, and executive editor of TCN, says you can save the money you'd spend on some of those "secrets of social media" training sessions. He explains some simple truths he has learned from creating Hartsville Today, a three-year-old experiment in online community news and social networking.
Finally we bring you Douglas Starr, a former Associated Press journalist and now a media professor at Texas A&M, who stresses the importance a free press plays in today’s society. Starr encourages readers to seek out all forms of media and apply it daily in making informed social decisions. He says a free press serves communities and aids all in becoming better citizens.
Monday, June 15, 2009
May-June 2009: Community Companions: Pegasus News and Dallas-Fort Worth
Mike Orren is the founder and president of Pegasus News, a Dallas-Fort Worth online news site. The Convergence Newsletter interviewed Orren and discussed with him how Pegasus News is incorporating citizen journalism in the coverage of both local and regional news.
Click here to read the full article.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
May-June 2009: Building Community Online
A lot has been learned from Hartsville Today, created by the University of South Carolina journalism school more than three years ago in partnership with a twice-weekly newspaper and with a New Voices grant from J-Lab. The site now has about 1,600 registered members in a market area of about 20,000, and far more people in the area visit the site regularly, based on our IP address logs. University of South Carolina Professor Doug Fisher discusses ways in which newspapers can utilize digital media to interact and reach out to readers.
Click here to read the full article.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
May-June 2009: The Future of the U.S. and Newspapers
The United States is in jeopardy. Many newspapers have gone out of business and the rest are in deplorable condition. If the news media shut down, the United States will no longer boast government of the people, by the people, for the people. The government will be in charge because there will be no free criticism of the government, no uncensored report on what the government is doing. Douglas Perret Starr argues there are three things that must be done to save newspapers.
Click here to read the full article.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
May-June 2009: Conferences and Training
Read the conference and training schedule of the May-June issue here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
April 2009 Issue Now Available
If there's one thing that has characterized recent trends in media – convergent or otherwise – it's "change." The latest issue of The Convergence Newsletter explores changes in media, from the traditional to the cutting-edge, with a dose of optimism that might surprise you.
Read the April 2009 issue of The Convergence Newsletter here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
April 2009: Reinventing a Journalism Career in the Digital Age
Wendy Parker joined 15,000 others among the ranks of former newspaper workers last year, but rather than lament her situation, Parker has embraced the change. Optimistic and encouraging, her story can serve as a model for those looking for life after newspapers.
April 2009: Modeling Demographic Predictors of Content Creation
Sharing some research initially presented at last fall's Convergence Conference at USC, Bartosz Wodynski and Jessica Smith of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill discuss research that helps us understand and anticipate who are the most likely groups to create and share content online.
April 2009: Be Careful what You Wish For in 2009
Times are certainly tough for newspapers, but that doesn't mean editors and publishers can't adapt to the changing landscape and meet today's challenges head on. That's the message offered by Tom Griscom, editor of the Chattanooga Times Free Press in Tennessee.
April 2009: Book Announcement – Understanding Media Convergence: The State of the Field
Bringing together theoretical and research perspectives from a wide range of convergence researchers and commentators, Understanding Media Convergence: The State of the Field, edited by August E. Grant and Jeffrey S. Wilkinson, is now available from Oxford University Press.
Click here to read the rest of the announcement.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
April 2009: USC Convergence Conference Goes West
The University of South Carolina’s annual Convergence and Society conference is moving west for the second time in eight years. This year’s conference will be hosted and co-sponsored by the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, Nov. 5-6.
Click here to read the rest of the announcement.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
April 2009: Conferences and Training
Read the conference and training schedule of the April issue here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Thursday, February 26, 2009
February 2009 Issue Now Available
After a too-long hiatus (TCN executive editor Doug Fisher explains), The Convergence Newsletter returns for 2009 with more material culled from October's Convergence Conference at USC.
Read the February issue of The Convergence Newsletter here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
February 2009: Goodbye Convergence, Hello 'Webvergence': The Decline of Broadcast-Print Partnerships in an Increasingly Online Media World
In the early days of convergence, the newsroom of the future was envisioned: all manner of media platforms – newspaper and television, mostly – sharing information, staff, and resources all under the same roof.
Has this panned out? Mostly not, suggest Drs. Susan Keith of Rutgers University and Leslie-Jean Thornton of Arizona State University. Keith and Thornton interviewed scores of TV and newspaper managers to find out the degree to which such hotly anticipated partnerships ever came to fruition.
February 2009: The Root of ‘Empowerment’ is Power: An Examination of Political Engagement and the Web
What has been the political impact of the Internet in the United States? On the heels of a history-making presidential campaign, this is not just a fascinating but an important question.
Laurel Gleason of Ohio State University examines the matter and suggests we may have only just begun to scratch the surface.
February 2009: Taking the Future of Journalism into Our Own Hands
Over the years, much of the academic study in the area of journalism has consisted of investigations of and about journalists and journalism – yet, as Dr. John Cokley of Australia's University of Queensland points out, there has been precious little happening in studies for journalists and journalism.
Cokley proposes turning the lens of study to show the journalist’s point of view. How the future of journalism turns out could depend on it.
Read the full article here.
February 2009: Conferences and Training
Read the conference and training schedule from February's issue here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Thursday, December 11, 2008
November 2008 Issue Now Available
If you couldn’t get to October’s Convergence and Society Conference at the University of South Carolina, we’re here for you. Our November issue begins our spotlight of some of the interesting presentations and discussions during the conference.
Be sure to check back with TCN, as we hope to bring more highlights from the conference in future issues.
Read the November issue of The Convergence Newsletter here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
November 2008: The Duality of 'The Participatory Web'
As the organizing force behind USC's annual Convergence Conference, Dr. Augie Grant has, as much as anyone, been witness to the broad changes that have taken place in the study and practice of convergence over the years.
In our November, Grant offers his reactions to this year's conference and lessons learned.
Read the full article here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
November 2008: By-product Learning in the Communication Age - Instant Message Use and Political Learning in China
With the U.S. hosting a major election in November, politics were understandably top-of-mind among some of our conference presenters – but not just American politics. Jinghui Hou, a master’s student at Syracuse University, delved into how the Chinese are using instant messaging and social networking Web sites to fuel political learning.
Read the full article here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
November 2008: MySpace/MyVote - Young voters, social networking and 2008
This issue's second look at politics turned its attention stateside, as Dr. Tim Brown and Jasmine Jones from the University of Central Florida explored how the roles of MySpace and other social networking Web sites were expanded during the 2008 elections.
Read the full article here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
November 2008: Conferences and Paper Calls
Read the conference schedule from November's issue here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
November 2008: Job Annoucement - Elon University
The School of Communications at Elon University is searching for six new tenure-track assistant or associate professors, effective immediately.
Click here to read the full announcement.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Monday, November 3, 2008
October 2008 Issue Now Available
In April we took a special look at convergence internationally. As promised, we have revisited the topic, this time with perspectives from India and China, plus a how-to guide for keeping up with developments around the globe.
Read the October issue of The Convergence Newsletter here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
October 2008: With Newspapers on a Roll, Convergence has yet to Happen in India
Sometimes the story isn't just about convergence that is taking place, but also about convergence that's not. Sunil Saxena explains that the Indian media have yet to experience major convergence, and why.
Read the full article here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
October 2008: Mobile by the Millions: Pocket-Sized Convergence Goes Big in China
Much of the discussion about convergence in the U.S. has fixated upon computers. But in some parts of the world, the big story is what's happening with mobile technology. China is one of those places. We sat down with USC's Dr. Ran Wei for an update.
Read the full interview here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
October 2008: Keeping up with International Developments
You don't need to be in the thick of international convergence to know what's going on. TCN Executive Editor Doug Fisher tells us the best spots online for keeping up with global trends.
Read the full article here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
October 2008: Conferences and Paper Calls
Read the conference schedule from October's issue here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Sunday, September 21, 2008
September 2008 Issue Now Available
This month’s issue offers a couple of first-hand perspectives on convergence from two practicing journalists, a pair of reports from the “convergence trenches.”
Stan Zimmerman of the Sarasota, Fla., Pelican Press, reflects on a career that has seen its share of industry trends and changes. Drew Brooks, formerly of The (Shelby, N.C.) Star, tells us what it was like using a mobile newgathering tool to provide up-to-the-minute reports.
Read the full September issue of The Convergence Newsletter here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
September 2008: Don’t Fear Media Evolution – Outrun It
Stan Zimmerman of the Sarasota, Fla., Pelican Press, reflects on the evolution of journalism and discusses the "how" of getting news stories in front of eyeballs in today's changing media landscape.
September 2008: Star Car Helps Paper Adapt to the Future of News
In a world of 24-hour newsrooms, how are small news operations adapting? Drew Brooks, a former reporter at The (Shelby, N.C.) Star, shares his experience with the Star Car, a mobile newsgathering van aimed at revolutionizing small-town news.
September 2008: Conferences and Calls for Papers
Read the conference schedule from September's issue here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
August 2008 Issue Now Available
As we hunker down for the new semester, The Convergence Newsletter is pleased to offer a special issue designed especially for educators. This month's articles talk about specific ways to practice convergence with students, the need to spot the difference between technology access and information processing, and the danger in hyping convergence without considering how to best serve audiences.
In addition, this month's issue features a special announcement about October's Convergence Conference at USC.
Read the full August issue of The Convergence Newsletter here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
August 2008: Convergence Conference Agenda Released
Some exciting changes are in store for the 7th annual Convergence Conference at USC. Dr. Augie Grant, conference chair, discusses some of the innovations he says will increase participation and help attendees better synthesize the ideas on offer.
Read the full announcement here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
August 2008: Making Your Wiki Sticky: Allowing Students and Faculty to Experience Convergence Together
The Mass Media Department at Washburn University does not merely talk about convergence -- they walk the walk, too. Drs. Maria Raicheva-Stover and Kathy Menzie tell us how the department has been using a wiki to allow students and faculty to learn about convergence together.
Read the full article here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
August 2008: Rescuing our Classrooms and Students from their Technology
Rapid developments in technology mean each successive generation of students brings different information-processing tendencies and competencies. Former USC professor Dr. Paul S. Lieber discusses the need to bridge the gap between students' access to information and their perceptions of information value.
Read the full article here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
August 2008: Pause, Watch, Listen, and Learn … Then Converge
Media hype is a phenomenon we are all familiar with. Have we considered that convergence may be among its current beneficiaries (or victims, depending on your perspective)? Hofstra University's Victoria Geyer thinks so. She offers sound advice for how instructors can teach students to see through the hype and use convergence wisely to serve audiences -- even (and especially) those who refuse to give up their newspapers and TVs just yet.
Read the full article here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
August 2008: Conferences and Calls for Papers
Read the conference schedule from August's issue here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Friday, June 13, 2008
June 2008 Issue Now Available
It is illuminating and important to highlight what convergence means for those in the media business, and also for those who teach tomorrow's media practitioners. Those are considerations we regularly take up at The Convergence Newsletter.
But we should keep in mind that media exist to serve audiences, and so the effects of convergence upon these audiences is no trivial matter.
June's newsletter is another in our ongoing series of special theme issues. This month's focus is on communities, and how they are impacted by convergence. We include in our analysis communities both physical and otherwise, for when we talk about "communities" in the same context as "convergence," the intangible are in fact as real as their material counterparts.
Click here to read the June issue of The Convergence Newsletter.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
June 2008: Community Embraces a Converged Journalism-Sourcing Project
Paul Niwa may have hit upon sometime rather big. The Emerson College professor devised a unique project to create a new model of compiling sources for journalists, using the "snowballing" method of sources referring sources. Niwa and his students created a visual, Web-based schema displaying the sources and their degrees of interconnectivity.
And then something funny happened. Niwa discovered community members began to use the project not for its original journalistic function, but for a host of other purposes serving community concerns.
Niwa's piece reminds us that the Web remains, as always, organic and unpredictable.
Read the full article here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
June 2008: Radio and Newspaper Converge in one of Iowa’s Smallest Markets
The effects of convergence, it might be argued, can be felt more acutely in smaller communities. In the case of Iowa Falls, Iowa, changes were in store when the town's newspaper and a major radio station came under the same roof.
Cliff Brockman of Wartburg College tells us how the convergence has been a miniature boon to the town — better news coverage and new jobs followed the merger, Brockman reports.
Read the full article here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
June 2008: Knight Foundation Looks Online to Connect with Innovators
In the tradition of our recent interview with National Public Radio, this month we contacted Marc Fest, vice president of communications at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, to ask about Knight's recently created position of online community manager.
We asked Fest why Knight decided to create the position, and what they hope to get out of it. Fest's observations and insights remind us how much stands to be gained, not only by nonprofits like Knight but also by those in the for-profit arena, by plugging into the ever-growing online community.
Click here to read the full interview.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Friday, May 9, 2008
May 2008 Issue Now Available
From high-tech newsmobiles to book reviews to Convergence Conferences, our May issue takes a diversified look at convergence happenings in industry and academia.
If you have reactions to any of this month's articles, you can use this blog's comments feature and leave your thoughts at each piece's corresponding blog post, below.
Click here to read the May issue of The Convergence Newsletter.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
May 2008: Newspapers Go Mobile to Compete with TV
L. Carol Christopher's look at the Star Car has been republished with the generous permission of The Seybold Report.
Read the full article here.
Leave your thoughts on this article by using the comments link below.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
May 2008: Book Review – Online Journalism Ethics: Traditions and Transitions
Ethics and changes to the industry, many brought on by technology, are of primary consideration in the next text Online Journalism Ethics: Traditions and Transitions, according to USC's Dr. Chris Roberts, who reviews Cecelia Friend and Jane B. Singer's book for our May issue.
Read the full review here.
Leave your thoughts on this article by using the comments link below.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
May 2008: Convergence Conference at USC
The call for papers deadline for this year's annual Convergence Conference at the University of South Carolina is June 15. USC's Dr. Augie Grant provides details for those who may be interested in submitting. Also included is a call for participants on a panel dedicated to convergence education.
Read the full article here.
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Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
May 2008: What's Wrong With the Convergence Conference?
Once upon a time, we promised to bring the results of our invitation to last October's Convergence Conference attendees to tell us how to improve the conference. Two attendees provided some great feedback, which TCN editor Brad Petit compiled for this issue.
Read the full article here.
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Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Thursday, April 10, 2008
April 2008 Issue Now Available
Over the years, we have featured the occasional article from outside our borders in The Convergence Newsletter -- contributors in locales from China to Chile have leant an international touch to the newsletter.
But we figured it was time to take global convergence more seriously. So, we intend to release two special international-themed issues a year; this month's issue is the first. We hope our readers -- ours is a worldwide audience -- will appreciate this broader look at convergence, in all its intercontinental applications.
If you have reactions to any of this month's articles, you can use this blog's comments feature and leave your thoughts at each piece's corresponding blog post, below.
Click here to read the April issue of The Convergence Newsletter.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
April 2008: Australia’s Fairfax Embraces the Multimedia Future
Reporters equipped with high-tech PDAs? Online-only dailies? Over 5 million monthly pageviews? This is life in the digital fast lane for Fairfax Media, Australia's largest media group. Dr. Stephen Quinn of Deakin University tells us how the digital "future" is now at Fairfax.
Read the full article here.
You can comment on this article by using the comments link below.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
April 2008: Media Convergence and Journalism Teaching in Brazil - A Project Using Newsplex as a Reference
We head south of the border (well, our border, anyway) with Lorena Tarcia of Brazil, to explore an in-depth convergence-teaching project Tarcia has engaged in with her students at University Center of Belo Horizonte. Tarcia first introduced us to this project, which was based on the Newsplex model, at last October's Convergence Conference at USC.
Read the full article here.
You can comment on this article by using the comments link below.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
April 2008: Are We Paying Enough Attention to Space in Newsroom Studies
The third of our international contributions come from Ivar John Erdal of the University of Oslo in Norway. Erdal expands upon his presentation at last October's Convergence Conference at USC, in which he called our attention to the need to think of convergence in real, spatial terms -- especially when considering how newsroom personnel interact in a converged environment.
Read the full article here.
You can comment on this article by using the comments link below.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
April 2008: Book Announcement - Principles of Convergence Journalism
Dr. Augie Grant announces the publication of a new practical textbook for teaching convergence. Principles of Convergence Journalism, from Oxford University Press, takes a step-by-step look at reporting across platforms, using new media, and a host of other tools of interest to the convergence journalist. TCN Executive Editor Doug Fisher and past newsletter contributor Dr. Jeff Wilkinson are co-authors.
Read the full announcement here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Thursday, March 6, 2008
March 2008 Issue Now Available
Fresh off our first theme issue of the year -- February's look at broadcasting -- we at The Convergence Newsletter found ourselves with still more solid material on broadcasting. So we've extended the February theme, if you will, to this month's issue, with a look at how TV stations use new-media technology to stay in touch with viewers, followed by the conclusion of our interview with National Public Radio's Maria Thomas. We featured part one of our interview with Thomas, NPR's senior vice president of digital media, in February.
If you have reactions to any of this month's articles, you can use this blog's comments feature and leave your thoughts at each piece's corresponding blog post, below.
Click here to read the March issue of The Convergence Newsletter.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
March 2008: How Television Stations are "Broadcasting" Their News to Your Pocket
As technologies like text messaging and e-mail continue to gain prevalence in our society, many in the world of traditional media are seeking ways to capitalize on these new delivery formats to provide their customers with content.
Dr. Tim Brown of the University of Central Florida discusses research that has delved into the question of how local television stations are taking advantage of these new-media options.
Read the full article here.
You can comment on this article by using the comments link below.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
March 2008: NPR: Not your Parents' Radio – Part Two
In February's issue of The Convergence Newsletter, we presented part one of our interview with Maria Thomas, senior vice president of digital media at National Public Radio. This month, we're pleased to present the conclusion to that interview.
Thomas speaks at length about how a media company that has been traditionally tied to a particular format -- in this case, radio -- can become an innovator in the arena of new technologies while at the same time staying true to its core values.
Read part two of the interview here.
You can comment on this interview by using the comments link below.
While NPR continues to embrace new technologies, some traditional radio stations are worrying customers will stop tuning in for over-the-air NPR content, and possibly stop donating to those listener-supported stations, as well. Randy Dotinga of The Christian Science Monitor explains.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
March 2008: The Colorado Colloquium on Media Ethics & Economics
In September, a collection of Colorado universities will bring together scholars in Estes Park, Colo., to explore the intersection of media ethics and media economics.
Colorado State University's Dr. Patrick Plaisance, one of the colloquium's organizers, provides details for those who might be interested in submitting proposals for the colloquium. The deadline is April 15.
Read the full announcement here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
March 2008: Training
There is only one space still available at the Newsplex Summer Seminar 2008. Details here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
Thursday, February 14, 2008
February 2008 Issue Now Available
After a brief holiday layoff, The Convergence Newsletter returns for 2008 with the first in an ongoing series of theme-oriented editions. In the interest of bringing greater cohesion to the newsletter, we will be organizing upcoming issues around their own (more or less) unifying motif.
This month's topic is broadcasting. How are broadcasters fitting into the world of convergence? How about those whose job it is to teach broadcast journalism?
As always, we hope you'll take advantage of the commenting feature on this blog to give us and our contributors your reactions to this month's articles.
Click here to read February's issue of The Convergence Newsletter.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
February 2008: The Problem with Broadcast News on the Web
While it's true that many TV networks are making the most of the Web to offer interactive, multimedia content for their audiences, not all are.
For our February issue, Sid Bedingfied draws upon his experiences as former head of CNN's U.S. network and current visiting professor at the University of South Carolina in examining how some TV entities -- notably, local affiliates -- are falling woefully behind in the push toward rich online content.
Read the full article here.
You can comment on this article by using the comments link below.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
February 2008: NPR: Not your Parents' Radio
We would be wise not to exclude the radio industry from a discussion on how broadcasters are (or aren't) adapting to the new media landscape.
Count National Public Radio among those who aren't just adapting, but leading the way. This month, we talk with Maria Thomas, NPR's senior vice president of digital media, about what's happening in their world.
Read part one of our interview with Thomas here. Check back next month for part two.
You can comment on this interview by using the comments link below.
While NPR continues to embrace new technologies, some traditional radio stations are worrying customers will stop tuning in for over-the-air NPR content, and possibly stop donating to those listener-supported stations, as well. Randy Dotinga of The Christian Science Monitor explains.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
February 2008: Book Review -- "Advancing the Story: Broadcast Journalism in a Multimedia World”
One question that has weighed on the minds of many journalism educators recently is: "How can we give our students the tools they need to get by in the world of converged media?"
Authors Deb Wenger and Deborah Potter propose some answers in their new text "Advancing the Story: Broadcast Journalism in a Multimedia World.”
In his review, Dr. George Daniels of the University of Alabama gives the book high marks. Though the book is written from the perspective of former broadcast journalists, Dr. Daniels notes that both broadcast and newspaper educators are sure to find the text helpful.
Read the full review here.
You can comment on this article by using the comments link below.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
February 2008: Training
There is only one space still available at the Newsplex Summer Seminar 2008. Details here.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
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