Saturday, June 20, 2009

into the sandbox

Leslie forwards this post from Mashable on "10 ways journalism schools are teaching social media."

Some good ideas for using the tools such as facebook and its clones and twitter to enhance journalism, such as real time reporting, crowdsourcing, and even e-interviewing. Okay, a phone or face-to-face interview is still better. But...

The idea is that, rather than ends in themselves (or, ahem, time sponges), social media can be useful tools. We just have to play with them awhile to figure out their best use. At which point, they may become as transparent as computers themselves.

Reminds me of a story I did on Xerox Park many years ago on a visionary program that brought in artists to work with computer developers on state of the art technology. The geeks wrote the code. The artists played with the apps -- "we're like kids playing in the sandbox with all these toys," said one of the artists -- to help the developers think outside the box. built

Anyway. Check out the full list here. bk

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Your right, working in a creative way with the new technological social networks will give rise to useful applications for journalists we just need to be open to playing for a bit. Looking at the role twitter, facebook, internet forums and the like have played in the coverage of what is going on in Iran should be VERY informative and suggest major directions for future development. There are some great interviews with major journalists at http://www.ourblook.com/component/option,com_sectionex/Itemid,200076/id,8/view,category/#catid69 concerning the future of journalism which I have found particularly useful.

barbara kelley said...

Thanks. A great site! bk