In about an hour, I'm going to make a soggy trek up to Minneapolis for the American Copy Editors Society conference. Before I leave, I'm double-checking the list of sessions offered. About half of them are Web-based. Editing sports online, how to use Flash, how to edit video and audio slideshows, how to design Web sites, how to choose a CMS. All of those sessions and more are there. In comparison, the good old-fashioned "how to write headlines" sessions looks outdated and quaint.
Look at the name of the organization though -- we're a bunch of copy editors. This isn't a multimedia journalism convention or a code writers convention. Yet even among copy editors, the Web is central.
Actually participating in professional Web-based sessions helps me understand the future of the industry better than the gloom and doom news stories I read. It gives me hope that someone, somewhere understands the need to adapt. Instead of bending over and taking it, some of us are doing our best to keep journalism relevant in the digital age by learning the skills necessary to stay caught up.
I think the days of reporters, photographers, copy editors, videographers, etc. are over. Instead, you have a girl with a notepad in one hand, an audio recorder in the other, pen tucked behind her ear, with a laptop bag slung over one shoulder and a camera bag (still and video, both Canon devices of course) slung over the other. The computer bag holds, obviously, a 17" MacBook pro with a pimped-out hard drive and maxed-out RAM, with a small external device to spare. In addition to a built-in Web cam, there's of course Microsoft Office and the full Adobe Creative Suite. Oh, and Final Cut Express. Don't forget the 8 gig memory stick hooked to her keys. She also has a CrackBerry in her purse. I give you the journalist of tomorrow (or today). The only thing missing is the obligatory flask of scotch. She keeps that in her desk back at the office.
So, Mummy, can I have all of that for graduation? Please! I need it in order to work!
Look at the name of the organization though -- we're a bunch of copy editors. This isn't a multimedia journalism convention or a code writers convention. Yet even among copy editors, the Web is central.
Actually participating in professional Web-based sessions helps me understand the future of the industry better than the gloom and doom news stories I read. It gives me hope that someone, somewhere understands the need to adapt. Instead of bending over and taking it, some of us are doing our best to keep journalism relevant in the digital age by learning the skills necessary to stay caught up.
I think the days of reporters, photographers, copy editors, videographers, etc. are over. Instead, you have a girl with a notepad in one hand, an audio recorder in the other, pen tucked behind her ear, with a laptop bag slung over one shoulder and a camera bag (still and video, both Canon devices of course) slung over the other. The computer bag holds, obviously, a 17" MacBook pro with a pimped-out hard drive and maxed-out RAM, with a small external device to spare. In addition to a built-in Web cam, there's of course Microsoft Office and the full Adobe Creative Suite. Oh, and Final Cut Express. Don't forget the 8 gig memory stick hooked to her keys. She also has a CrackBerry in her purse. I give you the journalist of tomorrow (or today). The only thing missing is the obligatory flask of scotch. She keeps that in her desk back at the office.
So, Mummy, can I have all of that for graduation? Please! I need it in order to work!
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