I recommend all journalists — not just the ink-stained variety — take a look at BetaTales’ “Digital makeover of a journalist.” The site and the makeover are written by John Einar Sandvand, editor at Media Norway Digital.
Sandvand was a newspaper editor in Norway in 2006 when he decided to aim himself toward evolving technologies rather than stick with what he was familiar with.
It is a decision that many are making, whether by choice or necessity.
Having made the journey, Sandvand has scripted a one-year makeover for print journalists who want to or need to follow suit.
Sandvand has a smart, seven-part plan. I like it because it is broad, rather than narrow. In Poynter career chats, which we hold weekly, at 3 p.m. Tuesdays, guests often ask what skill or skills they should be learning.
Sandvand proposes a suite of skills. His makeover includes social media, photo editing, video, interactive elements and analytics.
What he is saying, in other words, is that for journalists truly to make the leap from print to new platforms, buying a smart phone or learning one piece of software won’t get the job done. True transformation takes a new mindset, like the one Sandvand adopted in 2006, and wholesale change. It is a long list.
Sandvand tells it like it is. If you read his plan, you will see that he is not asking anyone to spend a lot of money. The whole thing can be done for the cost of some lessons on Lynda.com and a smart phone. What it takes is time and work. It would be great if we could make ourselves over just by writing a check or zipping a credit card.
It is not gee-whiz super-science, either. Many of the skills that Sandvand prescribes are common practices in high school classrooms. Seriously. Make and post a video. Learn to tone photos. Make interactive graphics with free online software. These skills are among the offerings for beginning students at Michigan State University’s School of Journalism, where I teach. Other universities, community colleges and even community education programs offer them, too. Of course, there are free online tutorials and YouTube videos about all of them, too.
What the one-year makeover requires is effort.
Sandvand concludes: “… do not be fooled: It requires hard work! And you have to do it yourself. Don’t sit around and wait for your employer to come around with a course or two. Only you can be the manager of your own professional future.”
I have said similar things myself.
Worry less about how you will integrate those skills than about acquiring them. Integration will come naturally as you try to add videos or graphics to the site you build and as you study analytics to learn what type of content works for the situation.
I would amplify one of Sandvand’s suggestions: Make new friends. In a Feb. 22 Poynter careers chat, Victoria Lim talked about how much she learned from co-workers who worked in other areas of the news business. They helped her transition from pure print to video and digital — even to coaching others.
In this week’s Poynter careers chat on visual journalism, AP Global Interactive Editor Paul Cheung agreed on many of Sandvand’s points and rejected the idea that there is a big difference between text and visual journalists.
Questions about careers? E-mail Joe for an answer.