Word clouding KU's j-school

I saw a cool post on Megan Taylor's blog, exploring j-schools descriptions of their programs. She was inspired to create a wordcloud about the University of Florida's program after seeing something similar on 10,000 Words, which diagrammed programs at Northwestern, CUNY, Berkley, UNC and the Asian College of Journalism.

10,000's Mark Luckie writes:

One of the biggest complaints about modern journalism schools is aren't equipping the next wave of journalists with the skills they need to compete in today's newsrooms. So what are they teaching students? The online course description for several J-schools were run through Wordle.

I decided to see what the University of Kansas' program looks like, in wordle form. Here it is, below, in all its glory. First, the grad program:

Followed by the undergraduate program description, and undergrad course descriptions:

The Internet is bottomless cup of coffee

Mindy McAdams has a succinct list of what journalism students need to learn, um, now.

Web stuff (XHTML and CSS, whatever those are...); audio reporting and editing; photo (graphy, editing, shop); video (check) and Soundslides, which is apparently ridiculously easy storyteling.

Bryan Murley suggests maps and blogging, too. Good points, all. I wish I knew what half of these things were without using the google.

It's part of a larger discussion across the Internets about what journalism education may be lagging in. Murley, at Innovation in College Media, even wrote up a syllabus for an all-encompassing multimedia course.

This can only help the journalists of tomorrow -- and today.

After all, everyone's pretty much in agreement that the Web is where it's at.

And isn' that part of a greater conversation about the need for entrepreneurship? I'd be interested to know how many j-schools are teaching students about creating their own news venues, whether they're part of a larger news organization or their own media venture.

They're talking about it in England, where there's a Journalism Enterprise & Entrepreneurship conference next week.

And Mark Glaser writes that journalists need to better exposed to the business side of the...business. Some schools, like CUNY, teach entrepreneurial journalism.

I think of all the possibilities that the Internet provides. Whether its ventures like Rocketboom or the Chi-Town Daily News or the Voice of San Diego, the Web is an bottomless cup of information coffee. I think if you localize a news venture, providing a very Webby product -- more than a blog, less than a newspaper -- you can tap into a niche that has yet to mature.

And thank God for the Web to teach me all about it.

A slight tinge of regret

While I'm still feeling out the classes at KU and trying to figure out how knowing about media theory will help me make a deadline, I've been pretty satisfied overall with my experience here. But I just read something that made me wonder if I would have been happier at Indiana University, one of the (many) graduate programs I applied to.

IU is sending a group of students to Europe to follow the steps of one of my heroes, Ernie Pyle.

How much do I like Ernie Pyle? I've got a million books about him. Oh yeah, and a G.I. Joe figurine of him on my desk. I have taken mounds of shit for that, so you don't need to pile (pyle?) on. I also visited his birthplace in Dana, Ind. It was a bit out of the way of where I was going. I was driving from Chicago to Oxford, Ohio, but decided to go to Dana, then on to visit a girl I had a major crush on in Bloomington. Good trip, long drive.

IU's j-school is located in Ernie Pyle Hall, so it'll be great to visit the places he reported. They'll go to London, to see where he reported on the Blitz with Ed Murrow; they'll also go to Normandy, where Ernie joined invading troops. There he cut his chops as a war correspondent. He wrote about normal, sometimes mundane things, and his dispatches brought a sense of closeness for parents worrying about their sons. He wrote a story about Army cobblers and another about the troops who gathered discarded M-1 Garand rifle pieces and repaired broken weapons. He also survived strafing by U.S. fighter planes, which mistook a column of Americans for Germans.

OK, this isn't a deal-breaker, for me. It's just really cool. I don't know how excited I'd be to go on a field trip to Emporia, Kan. to see where William Allen White grew up.

UPDATE: I'm an idiot. I was just reading this over, and it sounds like Ernie's first war dispatches were from Normandy. Of course, that's untrue. After covering the Blitz, he joined Bradley's troops in North Africa. Then he covered the invasion of Sicily, where he wrote perhaps his most famous column, "The Death of Captain Waskow."

The Greening of Alex Parker

As promised several days ago, a wee update on what I've been doing at j-school, here at KU. Classes are in full swing. I'm taking an editing crash course, which is truly humbling. I consider myself a pretty good writer who is able to edit in a competent manner, but I know I'll be learning a lot in this course. To wit: we were assigned some readings on grammar. And gadnummit, if I haven't thought about parts of speech, gerunds, participles, etc. for years. Talk about a refresher course.

I'm also taking a writing for multimedia course. It's pretty cool so far. I was worried that it was going to be heavy on the PR writing -- after all, the textbook is entitled, "Strategic Writing: Writing for Public Relations, Marketing..." But it's light on that stuff, and tonight I'm writing a radio broadcast script.

The biggest and most exciting news is that I am a graduate assistant for Professor Simran Sethi, a visiting professional chair at KU. Professor Sethi is well-known for her work in environmental journalism; she's a reporter for TreeHugger.com, she's headed up the news desk for MTV India, interviewed Al Gore, and is soon to begin work as a correspondent with NBC News.

I'm going to be helping Professor Sethi in gathering materials for her course on Environmental Reporting; assisting in researching topics for a new book she is writing; compiling materials for her various speaking opportunities across the country, and researching topics for her class on multimedia reporting this semester.

It's an incredible opportunity to work with a smart journalist, and on topics that are incredibly pertinent, not only in journalism, but also in our everyday life. Woohoo!

College media lagging behind

According to a new study, 91 percent of college newspapers have an online presence. I’ve gotta say, this seems like a low number, given the immediacy of the Web, the online culture of college students, and the ease in which an online presence can be created. Other mediums are much worse off: “36.3 percent for radio stations, 20.9 percent for television stations, 18.1 percent for magazines and 6 percent for yearbooks,” according to the study, conducted by researchers at James Madison University.

It’s fascinating to see how behind some of these outlets are (though, honestly, I’ve never heard of an online yearbook).

One of the things that attracted me to KU is its focus on multimedia. The University Daily Kansan has a great site, complete with RSS delivery, blogs and other community-oriented features. The local TV station, KUJH, brings the station to the people on the Internets; it includes podcasts and its own blog. Radio outlet KJHK (K-Jayhawk, get it? Yuck, yuck) streams online, though doesn’t break many barriers in its presentation or sevice.

I’ve only been here a week, so my experience is limited, but I can say that the media presence on campus trumps that of my beloved alma mater, Miami University. Granted, I was in Oxford a lifetime ago (sometimes it seems), but the Miami Student’s online presence is limited; I’ve long thought on OxBlog was in order…c’mon, it’s creative. MUTV, the student-run television station, has a deplorable site, but WMUB, the student-run NPR station, has a decent presence on the Web.

I’m told that Miami is increasing its emphasis on journalism. I hope so, especially since they’ve torn down Reid Hall , my freshman year home and named after Whitelaw Reid, who also founded the Miami chapter of my fraternity, Delta Kappa Epsilon (speaking of a weak Web presence). Reid, of course (?), was a famous journalist in his time, reporting from Gettysburg and later was the publisher of the New York Herald-Tribune.

Still, when you think about it, these “new” formats — blogging, podcasting, multimedia platforms — are essential. I don’t think college publications are hurting for readers or advertisers; college media is not facing the same problems as its professional counterparts (I don’t think; might make an interesting case study), so a robust Web presence is not an immediate concern.

In terms of media, it’s not a huge concern. But in terms of looking like the top tier educational outlet a university may claim to be, it’s a terriffic concern. Imagine a university without a Web site , or with a site that looks like it’s a Geocities production. You earn zero credibility. It’s just like companies that don’t have Web sites, like those I used to find on CareerBuilder looking for sports-minded players…those companies that had you tag along a sales associate as they trudge through suburban strip malls, hawking phone plans. S-H-A-D-Y.

“Why do I need to learn video?”

The study also says that a lot of young college journos decide their path in high school, shunning the emergence of new media. Like, duh. OMFG, say other bloggers. Kids, you’re sounding stodgy. Aren’t these young kids supposed to be up on all these new-fangled things? Video, audio, slideshows…these things make our product more robust, more “readable” and just plain better. Get with the program. I know I am.

The adventure begins

I arrived in Lawrence, Kansas on Saturday, greeted by three high school friends dressed in gym clothes, ready to move me in, and scorching, unrelenting, oppressive heat. I’ve forgotten how bad summers in this region can get. Seriously, it was 100 degrees at seven p.m.

I’m all moved in to my cool apartment, which is a short (uphill) bike ride to campus and I’m starting to figure out what I need to do in the coming days; classes start on Thursday.

There are a few things I need to do: get books, figure out how to write for the Daily Kansan paper, find out if there’s an orientation I need to attend. When I was preparing to go to undergrad, these things were spelled out for you. The school sent a welcome packet telling me what books I needed to buy and the important things I needed to know about Miami University.

KU, and in fact the majority of schools I applied to, seem loathe to provide helpful information. Columbia College forgot to send me an acceptance letter, but CUNY and Boston University were very forthcoming. I was given the runaround by the presitigous Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern (which, considering the turmoil there, might not be surprising). KU has also proved confusing, as I was told first that I was denied admission, then a few months later that I actually did get in.

So now I’m preparing to learn all about writing, reporting and editing for the digital age, as well as the tantalizing-sounding class, Research Theory. I’m sure it will be very valuable; one of the assigned books is called “Learning to Hate Americans”,which sounds bad at first, but actually explores how foreingers view Americans. Sounds interesting, but I’m in Kansas here, so I’m hoping it’s not a USA love fest, but something more objective and transparent. The natural history museum on campus currently has an exhibit on Darwin, so I think I’m safe.

One of my professors is a former Pulitzer Prize winner and I’m certain I will learn a lot from her, as well as the other distinguished professors here. Hopefully they’re up to date with the things I need to learn as a journalist; most of them appear to have been at KU since about the time Wilt Chamberlin marched about campus, but the school has been a social media advocate for years.

Nonetheless, let’s get it on!

Coming up on the Web Stained Wretch…I’ll respond to an article I’ve not even read yet. The Tribune’s DC Swamp blog discussed the media’s response to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. Hallows. I’ve refused to read anything on Harry Potter since I accidentally read something on how a very important character dies at the end of Half Blood Prince. (Notice I didn’t say who???) I started reading Deathly Hollows Hallows yesterday, and I’m already 250 pages into it. I imagine I’ll be done sometime next week. Until then…

The top seven things I want to learn in j-school

I’m going to j-school to learn to be a journalist. Even though I majored in journalism in college, I’m certain that by getting an advanced degree and honing my skills and expanding my network, I am doing myself a favor. Here are the top 10 things I hope to learn over the course of the next two years.

1) Writing: I’m a pretty good writer. In fact, if I have one skill, that’s it. But I know I can be a better writer. And I’ve been slinging corporate key messages for so long, I think a good kick in the ass will be good for me.

2) Reporting: This seems obvious, but there’s a difference in compiling information and actually reporting a story. There’s more to it. I want to learn how to go deep into a story or situation and quickly identify the story. I can tell you who, what and where, but I want to know “why.”

3) Video/photo/Web: Since MT is apparently really hard for me to master, and the customer service reps don’t get back to me, I want to learn to create cool video, exciting phtos and real, interactive, effective Web sites. I’m pretty excited that I’ve been able to do some of that on another blog I keep for work, and I want to take it to the next level.

4) Interviewing: Another obvious one, but something I’ve struggled with for a while. When I spoke to people for my work with the Chi-Town Daily News, I asked some good questions, but it took me time to develop them. After thinking for a few minutes or rehashing notes, the smart questions came. But I want to ask them on a dime and not have to pause to digest information before my questions are the important ones that unlock the key to a story.

5) How to get (and keep) a job: It’s going to be tougher now, I think, than in almost any time before in journalism. And it’s going to be hard as heck to go where I want to go, which is, of course, Sweet Home Chicago. Joe Grimm had some good advice on his careers page at Poynter, courtesy of the Trib’s recruiter. I’ll keep it in mind and hope the wind blows me back, via Chicago.

6) Bravery: I’m not looking for the Silver Star here, but I want to get over the fear I sometimes have of talking to the man on the street. I covered a gay pride prom a while back and the one thing I really wanted to do was talk to a couple on a date. But I didn’t. I talked to a bunch of people, but I could have made a decent story great if I’d found the courage to mingle more. It just felt awkward disturbing people at their prom. I’m not that happy with the story (and I wrote that shitty headline…yech), but it’s a lesson to me that a story can always be improved by a little gumption. This will also help me to…

7) Take steps to be a foreign correspondent: I don’t know how the heck I’m going to do this, but it is totally fascinating to me. I don’t know if it’s something i’d want to do full-time, because frankly I don’t have the language skills to go anywhere other than an English speaking country, but I look at young reporters I admire and they’re totally doing it. Evan Osnos at the Tribune is in his early 30s and kicking ass reporting in China; my current fave reporter James Janega, also at the Trib, has written some incredible dispatches from Iraq; and the Washington Post and Fresno Bee both have 23 year old reporters covering the war. Except for the constant fear of death and abduction, I think that’s amazing.

More later. There may be more later…good news is that a new computer is on the way!

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