MGP2006: Democracy & Independence -- Sharing News & Politics in a Connected World

ALUMNI NOTES: ABOUT THIS BLOG

As an ongoing resource, this blog spotlights the work of Media Giraffe Project/Journalism That Matters alumni  that fosters participatory democracy and community -- starting with "MGP2006" -- the event "Democracy and Independence: Sharing News & Politics in a Connected World" held June 29-July 1, 2006 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Organized by the Media Giraffe Project, the event drew some 300 journalists, educators, technologists and political strategists to consider the funding and future of journalism. Click on the links in the column to the left for archived teaching videos and background.  Or view the archived MGP2006 HOME PAGE. Oher MGP/JTM convenings have been in St. Louis, Memphis, Washington, D.C., and, soon, Sunnyvale, Calif.  Send "alumni" notes to mediagiraffe (at) journ.umass.edu.
GO TO MEDIA GIRAFFE PROJECT HOME PAGE

GMP2006 alum Michael Stool pursuing non-profit web "daily newspaper" project

Michael Stoll, MGP2006 alum, writes in an April 23 email post:

The Public Press www.public-press.org [2] is a concept for the next-generation daily newspaper. We're organizing a group of journalists, technologist and nonprofit managers to organize a new newsroom for the San Francisco Bay Area that would produce a Web site, daily print newspaper and collaborations with nonprofit news-gathering organizations locally and nationally. We've built a simple Drupal 6 site that we will be growing in the coming weeks and months, and we plan to start publishing on the Web using this platform.

[2] http://www.public-press.org

Read more: http://groups.drupal.org/node/10941 Post reply: http://groups.drupal.org/comment/reply/10941#comment-form

Garfield illustrates the "viral" power of short-form video

MGP2006 alum Steve Garfield, the Boston-based videoblogging expert, conducted a test over the last few weeks illustrating the viral/distributive power of the Internet -- if you know (as Garfield does) how to package it. The lesson: Short-form videos that can be spread on the popular mass-market video web services will reach many more people than long-form on a single website. The example he used for his test: A 90-minute video shot of the New England News Forum's multimedia-newsroom presentation at the Feb. 9, 2008, New England Press Association annual meeting. Here's a link to see what he found:
http://offonatangent.blogspot.com/2008/04/making-your-videos-spreadable.html

Fair Media Council's Clement alarmed about "Newsday" sale talk

MGP/JTM alumna Jaci Clement, who runs the Fair Media Council out of Briarcliffe College in Bethpage, N.Y., is sounding an alarm about talk the Long Island daily "Newsday" may be sold by Tribune Co. Read her concern at: http://mediasavvybyjaciclement.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-price-for-local-news.html

Knight multimedia training workshops at UC Berkeley

Paul Grabowicz at UC Berkeley's j-school sends along a reminder that the April 11 deadline is approaching for applying for the Knight Digital Media Center multimedia training workshops at UC Berkeley in May, June and July. There are 20 fellowships per workshop, which combine practical instruction in multimedia reporting with in-depth exploration of issues in online publishing. Participants receive six days of intense, hands-on instruction on how to do multimedia stories for the Web, including:

* Using digital video cameras, photo cameras and audio recorders; * Doing storyboards, stand-ups, voice overs and other broadcast techniques; * Digital video, audio and photo editing; * Creating photo slide shows in Flash; * Web page creation and multimedia Web site design.

Fellows create multimedia projects as part of the seminar. In addition, there are evening and noontime presentations by onlinepublishing experts on the most pressing issues in digital media.

WHO SHOULD APPLY: Professional print and broadcast journalists seeking multimedia skills. Fellowships include lodging, meals and instruction. Cost of travel to the workshop must be paid by the applicant's news organization. An online application form and instructions are available at: http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/trainingIf you have any questions, please contact Lanita Pace-Hinton,director of multimedia training, at pacel@berkeley.edu or (510) 643-7429.

EVENT: New Pamphleteers/New Reporters, June 4-5, Minneapolis -- training for passion about place

A host of MGP2006/JTM alumni are coming together to host "New Pamphleteers/New Reporters: Convening entrepreneurs who combine journalism, democracy, place and blogs," on June 4-5, 2008 in the McNamara Alumni Center at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. DETAILS:

https://www.123signup.com/event?id=tzfmb OR:
http://www.mediagiraffe.org/wiki/index.php/Jtm-mn

"We're presenting a how-to program for people who are passionate about place," says Bill Densmore, Media Giraffe Project director and a member of the Journalism That Matters collaborative. "We're pulling together experts for discussions on the business, marketing, legal, advertising, journalistic, technical and fund-raising skills needed for local oneline news and community-building websites to approach success." Densmore says the event may also be the launching pad for the American Society of News and Community Forums (ASNCF), a professional/trade group for "placebloggers" -- part pamphleteers, part reporters and part entrepreneurs. "America's new online citizen journalists are inventing a new business and a new passion -- the business of building local, literate, digital domains on the web where community and commerce flourish," says Densmore. "But efforts -- and structure -- to share best practices are only just emerging."

The event is timed to occur immediately before the fourth National Conference on Media Reform, also in Minneapolis on June 6-8 and discounted registration to NCMR is an option for those attending "New Pamphleteers/New Reporters." "We'll serve as an incubator / think-and-do tank for those who are considering starting their own civic engagement / citizen journalism projects in urban/rural Minnesota and nationally," says Densmore.

TO REGISTER: https://www.123signup.com/event?id=tzfmb

J-Lab offers $10K grants for women entrepreneurs in news/information

MGP2006/JTM alumna Jan Schaffer sends along email about the McCormick Tribune New Media Women Entreneurs (NMWE) initiative -- competitive grants to spur new ideas in the world of news and information. Winners will be given $10,000 in funding to launch their ideas and blog about the process over the next year, Schaffer says. The deadline for proposals is May 1, 2008. Schaffer, who heads J-Lab at UM-College Park, says its "part of a unique initiative to address issues of opportunity and innovation, recruitment and retention for women in journalism." The initiative will:

• Provide $10,000 each to help launch three women-led news ideas.--Honor a New Media Woman Entrepreneur of the Year in an awards program.
• Research women¹s consumption and creation of news and explore creative opportunities in today¹s newsrooms.
• Produce a day-long Women Entrepreneurs Summit to unveil pilot projects, spotlight other entrepreneurial ideas, and release research findings.

A link to the application is here: http://www.newmediawomen.org/application/apply/

"Why are we doing this?" asks Schaffer. She answers her own question: "I think of this as an 'asset mapping' project. Women make the vast majority of household purchasing decisions. Women often articulate different definitions of 'news.' Yet existing research tells us that for the past two decades, women have comprised two-thirds of journalism school enrollments but make up only one-third of newsroom workforces. Many women who do become journalists leave prematurely; others say they plan to. Still others are leaving to make their ideas a reality in cyberspace. We want to create a safe haven for women to show their stuff and model the creative attributes they can bring to the table."

CONTACT: Jan Schaffer / Executive Director / J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism 7100 Baltimore Ave., Suite 101 College Park, MD 20740 Ph: 301-985-4020 Fx: 301-985-4021 jans@j-lab.org

Len Witt introduces "representative journalism" idea

Kennesaw State University Prof. Len Witt  (MGP2006/JTM2007) is going public with his "representative journalism" idea. To learn about it, watch this short flash video (click on carat to left of bar underneath the picture) or go to Len's web-page primer on the subject.

Most-expense-paid multimedia reporting workshops at Berkeley

The Knight Foundation funds multimedia reporting workshops for "professional journalists" conducted at the University of California at Berkeley. MGP2006 alum Paul Grabowicz (grabs@berkeley.edu) who runs the weeklong workshops, sends along this posting notice with a Feb. 8 application deadline:

----

Fellowship applications being accepted for:

Technology Training for Editors Workshop March 25 - 28, 2008

Technology Training for Reporters Workshop April 15 - 18, 2008

Knight Digital Media Center at The University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism

APPLICATION DEADLINE FOR BOTH SEMINARS: FEBRUARY 8, 2008

The Knight Digital Media Center Multimedia at the University of California, Berkeley is accepting applications for 20 fellowships per workshop for editors (March workshop) and for reporters (April workshop) to attend these training sessions that combine practical instruction in current and emerging technologies that impact news reporting with in-depth exploration of issues in online publishing.

Workshop participants will learn how to create database-driven map mash-ups, how to use GPS for hyper-local news, create audio, video and .pdf podcasts, and create identities and participate in social networking sites. Fellows will produce a publishing project as part of the seminar.

Participants will receive four days of intense hands-on instruction on how to:

-- Produce audio slideshows; -- Produce audio, video and PDF podcasts; -- Use Flickr, YouTube and other alternative content delivery channels; -- Use Facebook and MySpace as news sources and traffic drivers; -- Produce map mashups using GPS data; -- Use databases for storytelling and providing other information of interest; -- Publish using Adobe Flash shells and blogs

The workshops will be supplemented with engaging discussions lead by online publishing experts on pressing issues in the evolving world of digital journalism. Participants will leave with new tools for reporting and with new insights on how to serve new and emerging audiences.

WHO SHOULD APPLY: Professional print and broadcast journalists who want to develop technology skills to support their publication`s Internet publishing effort. Fellowships include lodging, meals and instruction. Cost of travel to the workshop must be paid by the applicant`s news organization.

HOW TO APPLY: An online application form and instructions are available at:

http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/training/

If you have any questions, please contact Lanita Pace-Hinton, director of
multimedia and technology training, at pacel@berkeley.edu or (510) 643-7429.

COMPLETED APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY FEBRUARY 8, 2008

MGP2006/JTM2007 participant Faye Anderson among bloggers in Newsweek political "Rukus"

Brooklyn-based blogger Faye Anderson, (MGP2006/JTM2007) is among nine political bloggers picked by Newsweek magazine -- with the help of Robert Cox of the Media Bloggers Association (MBA), for online commentary about the presidential race called "The Ruckus." Details:

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/12/18/newsweek-media-bloggers-association-cause-ruckus

Hume joining MIT center which has $5M Knight grant to study "future civic media"

MIT announced last week that Ellen Hume (MGP2006) is moving from UMass Boston to head research for the Center for Future Civic Media. C4FCM, as it is known, was founded earlier this year with a $5-million grant from the Knight Foundation to "develop new techniques and technologies to promote and enhance civic engagement in local communities, providing people with new means to share, prioritize, organize and act on information . . . " The MIT release says the center uses the term "civic media" to refer to any form of communication that strengthens the social bonds within a community or creates a strong sense of civic engagement among its residents. Here's the MIT news release: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/future-media-1206.html
. . . and background on Hume's New England Ethic Newswire project at UMass, which will continue.