Journalism education: Begin anywhere

"Before it was InDesign, it was paste-up and darkroom courses."

"J-school == glorified trade school."

"A few can teach themselves."

"lynda should replace formal education."

"for some students class definitely gets in the way."

"the important point is that you have a whole community of 'tweeple' now to to help advance your learning."


Some journalism students held a discussion on Twitter late Saturday night about journalism education. The ideas go beyond the young students.

These days, all smart journalists are looking at how they should retrain themselves or update their skills, and many have moved beyond waiting for their company (or their school) to hand the tools to them.

The question even for experienced journalists: What kind of class should I take? Should I just focus on the software? Is a community college course in HTML as valuable as a certificate program like the one offered by UNC's journalism school? Should I just focus on the technical tools I can learn on my own? Who needs a high-priced program anyway?

Funny thing:
I remember having these same conversations 25 years ago. It wasn't on Twitter, and didn't span a group from Alaska to Florida, but the questions remain quite similar:
"How will counting headlines by hand help my career in a world of new technical innovation?"
"How will writing programs on sequential punch cards help me in a world of new computers?"(Yes, I punched cards.)
"These professors are old and out of touch. I can learn everything I need at the school newspaper. I'm switching my major to something else." (Some did, successfully).

Those memories have a point: No matter what software you learn now, you will have to learn something new later. No matter how good (or bad) your journalism school or company is, your education and career are in your own hands. To continue to be marketable, you need to demonstrate a continued ability to learn, to cross discipline boundaries, to make connections and to think.

I can't tell who will get more bang for their buck at the moment: Those who pick up skills online or in a tech class, or those who go for broader programs at established schools like UNC. But as one young tweeter said: Having community support and role models, tweeple or otherwise, helps immensely.

Begin anywhere.

CLT Wordcamp roundup

The Wordcamp conference at The Charlotte Observer was a great success. Jason Keath of The Stratius Group organized the event, presented on Wordpress blog basics and got a Wordpress keynote speaker, Mark Jaquith. The Observer contributed space, some volunteers and some organizational help. Steve Gunn led The Observer effort and made the partnership happen.

More:
Slides from keynote speaker Mark Jaquith, plus links to deeper stuff.

The official CLTWordcamp blog.

Ben Ullman on The Ultimate Tweetup.

Corey Creed of Hippo Internet Marketing on what he liked.

The Guy Trapped in the Elevator speaks.


Short story in The Charlotte Observer. (Ben Ullman noted the story did not mention Wordpress. Good point.)

And yes, My Other Blog is on Wordpress.

Where to get online election results

North carolina results.


General N.C. Board of Elections site.


South Carolina results.


General S.C. Board of Elections site.


Chrys Wu on where to watch.


New York Times dashboard.


More here.