» Conferences

The future is bright

staci baird — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 17:53:38 +0000

Four online media professionals talked to students, faculty and staff about blogging, work schedules and challenges they face in today’s ever-changing new media environment during Student Media Convergence Week at the University of Tennessee on Feb. 21. Photo Brandon Ball, TNJN.com

I had the honor of attending the University of Tennessee’s Student Media Convergence Week. My good friend and former colleague, MSN Multimedia Producer Peggy Collins and I joined Dr. Stovall’s Managing News Websites class then attended a panel discussion with two other online professionals.

Patrick Beeson is a project manager for E.W. Scripps Newspaper Interactive in Knoxville. Patrick is a former colleague of mine and a super sharp guy. He’s someone to keep an eye on. He is always blogging something really profound over at patrickbeeson.com and he makes me feel like an idiot over here at girljournalist.com blogging about nothing. Thanks Patrick. He also posted something about the conference on his blog.

Katie Grangju is, as she puts it, “a writer/editor/TV producer/mama” who lives in Knoxville. I’ve been following Katie’s blog for awhile and it was exciting to finally get to meet her in person. She has the kind of energy and deduction to life that fills a room. I’m not sure how she keeps up with it all (Oh wait, yes I do. She admitted to being on the computer in the wee hours of the morning while up with her newborn. Inspiring. That is totally the kind of mom I’m going to be).

So the four of us shared our insight with University of Tennessee students, faculty and staff.

From what Dr. Stovall told us most of the work putting together the conference was done by the students. I could go on and on about how much I was inspired, uplifted and honestly, relieved after this conference. These journalism students are top-notch go-getters. The world is only going to get better after they graduate and hit their first jobs. I can’t wait to see how they change the way we gather, produce and disseminate news and information.

If you haven’t already, take a look at TNJN.com. The student staff manages the 24/7 news site like maniacs. I couldn’t believe how fast they posted a story about the conference (complete with photos by Brandon Ball). Way to go guys! As one on of the founding “parents” of TNJN I am overjoyed to see how far you have taken the site in less than two years. Keep up the good work!

Journalism camp renewed my spirit

staci baird — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 17:17:15 +0000

I have to admit, I had mixed emotions about teaching a high school journalism camp this summer.

Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching, but I just wasn’t sure how to approach the subject of new media with high school students. I went into the first session on Sunday night with one thing to say, New Media = Multimedia = On demand, 24/7/365. That’s all. That’s all I had. I figured I could sorta wing it from there. After all, new media changes so fast that I didn’t want to prepare a four-day lecture that was only going to be old before I got to Tuesday night.

Thank goodness I had five bright, motivated and flexible students. These five hit the ground running and never looked back. They didn’t doubt me or new media. Awesome. And, they were funny too.

So, we put together this blog called The Hills. I had them read a couple of articles and react to them in their posts. They also created audio and video podcasts. Really, their talent and their drive amazed me. It confirmed my belief that this next generation of journalists is going to come to college ready to kiss arse and take names. Our future is not so grim. We will have a whole new kind of journalist and it will be our job to guide them ethically and morally as they break through the rules of traditional journalism.

My spirit has been restored, and I will return to the Multimedia Newsroom on Monday refreshed and eager to begin planning for the fall semester.

Pictures from KJI summer camp will be posted to my Flickr account soon.

What? No caffeine?

staci baird — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 16:58:54 +0000

Media Convergence conference in Provo, Utah. No coffee on the BYU campus, I had to bring this styrofoam cup from the restaurant.

OMG. Provo is the weirdest place I’ve ever been. Now, that might not mean much because I haven’t exactly been a world traveler. With that disclaimer, I must reiterrate, Provo is the weirdest place I’ve ever been. I couldn’t get a cup of coffee to save my life. And, no Coke, Pepsi, Dr Pepper or any sort of beverage that has caffeine. I am slowly dying here.

All jokes aside, I have learned a lot at this Media Convergence conference. And, better yet, I have met some really interesting journalism educators. I’ve collected business cards, URLs and email addresses. My little black book is starting to finally look like something.

As I blogged on eHub, I think our presentation went off without a hitch, or so I think.

Listen to Blogs – not just for blogging, technically speaking

(mp3) and see for yourself. We also put our paper online.

The naked truth

staci baird — Sat, 30 Jul 2005 23:02:20 +0000

Dooce was on the panel How to get naked, along with Ronni, and Koan. This session was all about identity blogging, which made me think about Brand Me all over again. Am I doing the right thing switching from geek girl to girl journalist? Somedays, I wonder. But deep down, I believe it’s the right thing to do. I can still be a geek, but I want to play up the journalist in me.

The web’s very own, Dooce, live and in the flesh. For those of you who don’t know who Dooce is, well, click on the link and read up on her. Funny stuff.

In this session, we talked about identity blogging and opening up to the world online. Some good lessons to take away from this session…
Mindy, of theMommyBlog.com, said she pictures her entire family standing behind her when she’s blogging. This keeps her from posting something she might regret later.

Coming soon…my first podcasts.

Jay Rosen was here too, he said he came for the hot geeky chics. *cool* He also said, “Blogging as a practice, is a form of freedom. A weblog is a First Amendement machine.”

Bathrooms at Blogher

staci baird — Sat, 30 Jul 2005 16:04:01 +0000

Welcome session at Blogher. Conference coordinator, Elisa Camahort talks about the overload we’ve already put on the wireless networks setup by Google.

During the “Welcome” session at Blogher this morning, they announced that the convention center was converting the first floor men’s bathroom to a ladies room for the day – just for us.

How cool is that?

This is going to be a great day and I look forward to meeting fellow bloggers and learning more about the power and the beauty of blogging.