So, always with profs looking on and guiding the process, I see entry into this model as an apprentice sooner so that they can progress to masterworks, and so that they get 2 semesters helping to teach the concept because by teaching you learn much more…AND if they are to build this medium, they will have to be able to teach it.

After all, we want Mizzou grads to lead these new newsrooms, not just go in as worker beatbloggers

So as you envision it – the actual site itself would pass to the leadership of one student to the next each semester? So the first semester is more of a traditional classroom experience, the second one is basically serving almost as an apprentice/intern for the community leader, and the third semester you take over as the community leader? Am I understanding that right?

The other thing I like about something like this is that it could be feasible for schools that don’t currently have anything like the Missouri model structure. I’d love to bring that aspect of my alma mater to Memphis, though I don’t see us getting our own TV station/newspaper anytime soon.

We are fiddling with a somewhat similar idea although we hadn’t figured out yet how to handle the community management aspect of it, which I agree is important. We are thinking about creating a kind of multimedia capstone in which all of our senior students from all sequences are involved in producing a Web site with all different kinds of content on it surrounding a particular issue e.g. crime or education in Memphis or similar. Some of the content as we envision it would actually be from the community, with our students serving as editors, and some of it would be of the more professional nature e.g. video and articles etc.

I love your thoughts here. Having a new job and watching a lot of my friends about to graduate has got me thinking a lot along the same lines. I’m 100 percent certain that my resume got a second look because of my multimedia skills.

I think it’s also really important to teach new media students about the business side of things and especially branding. For example, one of the most important things I think I learned at KOMU was about niche advertising on the web – KOMU does it for severe weather (I’m sure you already knew that). Taking that example, it makes me want to think about interactive products I can create that are great journalistically but also have their own personality that can be a new venue for advertising clients. It shouldn’t be the first priority, of course, but in any newsroom (especially now) the need for revenue and for setting yourself apart from the pack is great. One good example is the Times-Call’s Desk Jock videos ( http://www.timescall.com/sports-desk-jock/ ). A sports reporter challenges a local prep star at their sport, and tapes it and makes a 2-3 minute video. It’s great press time for local kids, and it’s hilarious – AND we share it with the local tv station. It’s also a great way for us to market web advertising to sporting goods places, local teams, and anybody that wants high school parents to buy their product.

My boyfriend’s in advertising, and every day I learn something new from him about branding, for example, that it’s important even for public service industries like journalism. At the T-C, there’s an ongoing effort to reach younger readers in a town where you don’t see them all that often. That requires at least a little rebranding, in the form of getting some new features that those younger readers will like, and finding a way to effectively let those younger readers know they’re going on. It’s something I will be studying in my spare time as much as possible so I can help the paper any way I can. It’s also something that will be hugely important as more papers switch to online-only, like the PI and the web site the Rocky staff is starting.

Anyway, keep the thoughts rolling Always a pleasure to read.

-rebekah

Yesterday.