Today I got an e-mail from a journalism undergraduate with a few basic-sounding questions that I could answer quickly. But when I looked at my answers, I realize they have some more profound implications then she was probably expecting:
1. What is the most important skill you use in your posts on the Web?
Having a good sense of what’s likely to be interesting to the people I’ve connected with (or who I’d like to connect with), and why.
2. In your opinion, what is the most effective way to tell a story online (pictures, text, sound, video, etc.)?
You should know how to use all these tools and know the people/communities you want to connect with, and what their media preferences are (both for media content type, and the tools they tend to use most). Then tell your story in a form that will work best for them.
Stories don’t exist for their own sake, and you are not your audience. It only works if you really connect with people, and that means taking them into account from the start.
3. What is the hardest part about being an online professional?
Anyone these days who’s doing any kind of media work is inherently an online professional in some way, directly or indirectly. People who deny that or try to avoid it make their own careers impossible.
4. What core skills do you think every journalism major should have?
Many, but the most basic one is: How to define and connect with communities. This is the basis of all media activity, including journalism — but too often it’s taken for granted and not studied and understood in its own right.
http://www.contentious.com/2009/04/18/2603/
