Bryan Murley of College Media Advisers and the Reinventing College Media crew have, um, re-invented themselves as the Center for Innovation in College Media.
From the send-off post at the old site:
“This new Center will serve as a resource to college journalists and their advisers by sharing information freely online and by providing practical training in the application of emerging media techniques at regional and national workshops.”
I like the sound of “practical training.” More than theory and handwringing and discussion about the curriculum, J-School students — and faculty — need to get their hands dirty with tools like Soundslides, video cameras, and blogs.
Otherwise, all the New Media talk in journalism departments is just that — talk.
Check out the first big post at the Innovation in College Media blog. It’s an interview with the editor-in-chief at the Campus Lantern, a student paper at Eastern Connecticut State University that recently converted itself into an online-only publication, but now is battling with student government, which has threatened to pull the paper’s funding if there’s no print edition.
The Lantern looks like a great case study for papers looking to move from a daily/print publishing cycle to a continuous/online news cycle, not to mention the political issues around taking funding from student government.
I’ve heard some talk in the hallways about changing the way SJSU’s Daily gets funding from students, and the Lantern’s struggle to maintain control of its format provides some strong warnings about what can go wrong when the student government pays for your press run.
So when can we get an Innovation workshop going over here on the West Coast?