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
Sunday, September 21, 2008
September 2008 Issue Now Available
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Leave your thoughts on this article by using the comments link below.
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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.
Leave your thoughts on this article by using the comments link below.
Recent and archived issues of The Convergence Newsletter
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