Widgets, dude. Widgets.
Posted by Bob Benz
Rob Curley rocked the house at the University of Tennessee’s “A Public Conversation on Web Journalism” last night with a 2 1/2 hour rollicking look at his greatest hits, which include some amazing examples of what Web journalism can be.
But I was most geeked when Curley looked forward to identify trends he sees on the horizons, one of which is widgets. Our subsidiary, Maroon Gadgeteering, just released its first widget and we completely agree with Rob. In an online universe were content is becoming progressively more distributed, widgets will be a key way to ensure your presence across the internet.
I also had fun during the panel discussion I took part in earlier in the day, though I have to admit I was lobbing a few grenades around just to see what would happen. When asked where in the lifecycle web journalism is, the panelists tended to say infancy or adolescence. “But what if,” I asked, “it’s really a senior citizen?” Is it possible we’ve seen the best of journalism on the web already and it’s downhill from here? I’m not sure I believe this, but an argument could be made that as the mainstream media contract, there will be a vacuum that will be difficult to fill. Citizen journalism is great, but it’s work. And it takes a lot of work to do great journalism. I think a lot depends on our ability to develop a business model that provides online revenue commensurate with the work that capital J journalism requires. (We’re working on that … but it’s going to take us a little while. Har.)
And finally, keep an eye on the University of Tennessee’s journalism program. The Tennessee Journalist site just nabbed eight regional Society of Professional Journalist awards. That’s amazing. Their site is driven by Django and is a great example of what college journalism programs should be doing online.
Other coverage:
Katie Allison Granju’s post on KnoxvilleTalks. She’s updating regularly with new info and details.
Randy Neal’s notes on Curley’s speech and the panel discussions from Thursday.
Jack Lail’s recommended readings for journalism grads. Great stuff that you should be reading if you’re about to enter the job market …
Other posts by Bob Benz
Tags: Journalism, Maroon Gadgeteering, widgets
June 9th, 2008 at 7:44 am
[...] a month or two ago, Washington Post new media guru Rob Curley came to UT and spoke to many of us involved in online journalism and blogging ventures here in [...]