The University Daily Kansan and KUJH-TV made an effort to converge Monday night after the Border Showdown. Days before the Kansas-Missouri game, staff from the Kansan and KUJH-TV met to talk about how to combine forces to produce multimedia for the Web. The plan: KUJH-TV staffers were going to use still photos from the Kansan and recorded sound of quotes and ambient bar noise from KUJH-TV into a multimedia slideshow that both media could use. Staff in the Multimedia Newsroom would build the slideshow because the technology to add sound to a slideshow is located down here. (We're in two buildings, you see.) Unfortunately, the plan failed.
There is no need to identify who dropped the ball or who put in more effort for this trial run of convergence. There is no need for animosity between the two campus media. And there is no need for excuses.
There is a need not to take it personally. It's a systematic failure, not a personal one.
Over the last six years attempts like this have been unsuccessful. Six years, and we're still not past the trial-run stage. I'm astounded. How many years does it take to break away from the traditional media mindset and put words into action?
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