news-press.com The Fort Myers News-Press performed one of Gannett's premier crowdsourcing projects this summer, according to Wired News.

I've been reading -- and thinking -- a lot over the last few days about Gannett's strategic shift toward "Information Centers." Make no mistake, this is a very big deal for the news business.

...At least, it could be, if this effort doesn't get derailed or bogged down. Remember, it's difficult and dangerous for any large, sprawling, entrenched organization to make sweeping changes to culture and operations. Never underestimate the power of inertia, confusion, and turf wars in these situations. This shift won't be easy, and don't expect the print-side "old guard" to change or leave quietly. And it's true: If Gannett alienates or demoralizes too many talented longtime staffers, they could toss out the baby with the journalistic bathwater, at least in some markets.

That said, I agree with Steve Klein and Tom Callinan that overall Gannett is moving in a smart direction. It's not the only possible smart direction, of course -- Tim Porter outlined another approach to news back in 2005 that I really like. (Thanks, Doug Fisher, for reminding me about that.)

AP reports, "Under [Gannett's] plan, the 'Information Center' will be divided into seven areas: public service, digital, data, community conversation, local, custom content and multimedia."

I'm intrigued and pleased that Gannett is specifically giving top-level emphasis to "community conversation." For the past couple of years, conversational media has become my key fascination -- especially because of its vast potential to complement traditional journalism and serve community interests.

As I see it, public conversations have two main goals: constructive engagement and mutual discovery. I suspect this is what motivates the "crowdsourcing" efforts included in Gannett's new strategy. Jeff Howe explored these in an excellent Nov. 3 Wired News article, Gannett to Crowdsource News.

Crowdsourcing is one way to leverage public conversations. It seems to me that if news organizations want to retain loyal audiences, they need to engage those audiences more effectively. It may seem obvious, but a key way to accomplish this goal is talk to your audiences, show them that you're listening, and help them (don't just "allow" them) to participate.

Coincidentally at the SEJ conference a couple of weeks ago (just before the Gannett news broke), Adam Glenn and I gave a well-attended talk entitled How Blogs and Citizen Journalism Can Help Your News Career. My part of the talk was really about conversational media and why journalists need to understand what it is and how to use it.

One of my key points was that combining journalism training/ethics with conversational media and community liaison skills can increase any journalist's value in today's job market. That's no small matter as the traditional news-media job market continues to shrink.

I was surprised that no one at that session really pushed back at me on that assertion, other than to ask "Where will we find the time for this with all our other duties?" (A very fair point, I agree.) I think a lot of journalists are finally starting to "get" the increasingly conversational, participatory nature of the news business, even if they aren't completely comfortable with it. And not all of these bright reporters are 20-somethings.

I hope Gannett and other news organizations will give journalists a chance to grow into and shape their new roles, and also respect reporters' valid concerns -- especially regarding workloads. Like Jane Abao, I don't know how much Gannett consulted its reporters on this switch.

I asked at least one reporter about how Gannett's change affects his work. Louisville Courier-Journal investigative reporter James Bruggers (who is turning out to be a great blogger) explained in a comment to this post his concerns about shouldering heavy blogging duties. I wouldn't dismiss this as mere fear of change.

All in all, I'd really like to see Gannett's move work out well. I think it can, and I think we'll all learn from it.