Here Comes Everybody

In class this week, we focused on tools (open architecture and Web 2.0 applications) and culture (of participation, collective intelligence, etc.)—these two facets of convergence that are driving the internet we know today. Think of this part of the course as scaffolding work: once we understand how the Web works, at a conceptual level, then we can begin to figure out best strategies for doing journalism in this new context. It’s about speaking the language of the Web—and that requires some fundamentals up front.

So, our next step is to investigate what this convergence/digital culture means for (1) communities, social action, and information-sharing at a broad society level; and (2) for journalism in particular. In other words, how do these changes in tools and culture play out in the media realm in which you’re going to operate?

Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody is perhaps the best book to answer that question. For Tuesday, read chapters 1-5 and come ready to discuss the key principles and how they apply to media/journalism. In the meantime, in lieu of a comment here on the blog in response to this reading, I’d like you to experiment with doing your response in another forum—on your own personal Tumblr or Posterous blog.

Yes, this leads us to this weekend’s social media assignment. It’s pretty simple:

1. Sign up for Posterous and learn how to use it (hint: it’s dead-easy blogging). Create some content (photos, text, whatever suits your interests), and otherwise just try to get the hang of it. Perhaps just think of it as a public diary, and try posting at least once a day for 3-4 days. Play around with different forms, with links, etc.

2. Ditto for Tumblr, which has a slightly different structure but offers some similar easy-to-post options and other ways to incorporate flows from elsewhere (like your Twitter feed). Guides like this might also help. The key here is just to become familiar with both blogging options.

3. IMPORTANT: Of your posts on either blog, make at least one in response to the Shirky reading, just like you normally would have done so here on this blog.

4. Then, in the comments section here (below), please drop a line that includes links to your Posterous and Tumblr sites so we can see each other’s work.

Finally, keep up with your RSS readings as you go … in fact, I would encourage you to take cool items you find via RSS and integrate them into your blogging streams, if you can … OK, have a great weekend!

The culture of the Web

Today we covered some of the basics of Web 2.0—how the tools of the internet have changed, and why that’s significant for the creation and circulation of media content (of all kinds, not just journalism).

On Thursday we complete the circle with a discussion of how these tools get bound up in a particular cultural ethic—in other words, a “digital culture.” We find this in two pieces I’d like you to read: the first chapters of “Convergence Culture” by Henry Jenkins and “Media Work” by Mark Deuze (in that order). I’ve put both PDFs on Blackboard for you.

You can catch Jenkins discussing more of his work here, or visit his blog. For Deuze, check out his blog, read this interview, or watch a clip of Deuze discussing his research:

As you read Jenkins, I’d like you to ask: What does the blending of production and consumption, of professional and amateur, through the digitization of media and the tensions that creates … well, what does it all mean, exactly? What does it mean for media industries at large? Journalism in particular?

As you read Deuze, think: What is the present and future of working in/with the media? How does work, play, and “life” get mixed together in today’s world, and what are the implications of this change?

Deuze writes in the preface: “The aim of the book is not only to prepare media students to become competent media practitioners, but to also enable students to become competent citizens in a media-saturated ‘hyper-reality,’ where meaningful distinctions between public and private life, work time and non-work time, local and global, or lived and mediated reality are fading.”

In other words, knowing how to function in this digital culture is going to be essential going forward—whether or not you plan to work in the media industries. The key takeaway here is that we need to understand what it means to have “cultural competency” in this digital culture. Do news organizations have that kind of cultural capital? Why or why not?

A few additional questions to get you thinking, on both readings:

—What is convergence culture? What is digital culture? Are we talking about the same thing, or not?

—What does it mean to develop relationships with media? Where does the “real” end and the virtual begin?

—What is the emerging “workstyle” for the digital media worker, and how do you feel about it?

—What does it mean to be connected and have a sense of community in today’s media experience?

All in all, think of how digital media and culture are changing (or not) your own life and the future of our field. I look forward to your responses for Thursday. And … bear in mind that I’d like you to be analytical—that you should approach this with the eye of a critic, forming an opinion about what you’ve read and using evidence from the reading to illustrate your point. Sharp thinking.

Questions? Just let me know…

Weekend assignment: Learn del.icio.us

Because social media tools are a part and parcel of today’s online journalism (whether to find sources, promote your work, or listen to the community), many of our “weekend assignments” (see the syllabus for the explainer if you’re confused about those) will involve learning something new about the social web.

We’ll begin with social bookmarking—in particular, Delicious. If you need a refresher after my overview in class, try this:

Your assignment:

1. Bookmark at least 10 articles of interest to you.

2. Use the “share” function to share some of those articles with others (e.g., via Twitter, or look for a Facebook integration)

3. Just experiment, explore, and have fun getting familiar with this tool.

4. Post a comment to include a link to your public Delicious feed.

p.s. We may get back to this later in the term when talking about link journalism, but check out Publish2—it’s like Delicious built for journalists.

First-week readings: How we got the Web, and what that means for media

Before we can understand online journalism and its many forms and functions, we have to understand the Web itself. That means not only grasping the technical terminology and general architecture—which you got from the “Journalism 2.0” reading—but also digging a little deeper into the very ethos of the Web. That’s prerequisite. To “get” Web journalism, we have to get the Web.

So, let’s start with a little history. Watch:

Now: Who invented the Web, and why? What does the Web’s very makeup—its structure, its linking, etc.—have to do with big-picture issues regarding how we communicate, on a mass scale and in an interpersonal way? Should we care? Does any of this matter for journalism? (OK, that’s rhetorical. But, really: why does this matter?)

Bring some of those questions as you jump into this piece from Vanity Fair. It’s a long but rather interesting history of the medium, as told by the key players themselves. Try not to get bogged down with names and dates; I’d rather you skim that stuff and instead focus on the larger (and perhaps more subtle) issues at work here—the socio-cultural elements and implications of the Web’s development during the past 50 years. What are some of the takeaway lessons as we think about rebooting journalism for the 21st century?

Lastly: I would like you to layer into this two seminal readings that help us understand the “how did we get here?” question—which is one of THE big questions we need to grapple with in this class … (in this order)

Old Growth Media and the Future of News, by Steven Berlin Johnson

Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable, by Clay Shirky

Please respond with your comments (approximately 150-200 words) by 8 a.m. the day of class—in this case, by Tuesday morning.

p.s. We don’t have time to watch all of “Download: The Story of the Internet,” which aired on the Discovery Channel a while back, but a couple of clips are useful, such as this one on social networking:

Welcome to Spring term!

It’s the first day of school, the blog is back (after a long winter’s nap), and I’m looking forward to an exciting semester ahead.

You’ll find version 1.0 of our syllabus here. Expect some changes in the coming days as I refine the schedule and provide some clarity on the timing of the readings, adjusted for student interest.

Here’s to Spring!