Beat it, journalism

Apr 12, 2005

Via Ed Cone, I see that NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen has written another eye-opening post about blogging and journalism: Are You Ready for a Brand New Beat. My wish: that this post get read by the faculty in the UNC j-school, and that they engender a few more projects like SouthNow.

A few of my blogger acquaintances have mentioned recently that I’d make a good adjunct professor there, and I wouldn’t turn down an invitation. (I’m proud of my affiliation with the school, and honored to have studied with some very smart teachers there.)

But then again, why do I care so much about the j-school? (Untapped potential?) As Rosen points out, it’s how pioneering individual journalists and local citizens are using blogs for a new type of journalism that’s so exciting. Like Ruby Sinreich and Orange Politics, for a local example.

Yesterday, I had lunch with my j-school classmate Michael O’Connell, and among our discussion topics of leadership for collaboration and how to generate community-written restaurant reviews, we talked about the Chapel Hill bloggers community and ways it can serve the greater community. At tomorrow’s bloggers meetup, I’ll ask about ways we can create more citizen journalism here in the Triangle.

One project I’d like to start soon is a senior blogging service project, to get the wisdom of our elders into cyberspace. A Wikipedia-style restaurant resource would be nice, too. Last year, I wanted to create a blog about the many ways to reduce, reuse and recycle in the Triangle (where to discard computer monitors, why use local biofuels, and more). What other opportunities are there? Share your ideas in the comments (click on Storian).

Anton Zuiker ☄