E-Media Tidbits

Adobe.com Web development tools like Dreamweaver are important, but today's journalists need to know far, far more about online media.

A couple of days ago, Juan Camus noted an essay in which a Colombian editor bemoaned the state of journalism education in his country. In response, Mark Luckie commented: "This is a broad generalization. As a student at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, [this school has expanded] to included classes on virtual reality, advanced multimedia, and Web site development, all of which weren't offered even a year ago."

That's a great point -- although, to be fair, the author of the essay Camus referenced was talking about journalism schools in Colombia, not globally.

The issue of journalism education has been on my mind lately, both for initial and ongoing education. Media doesn't stop moving. The way I see it, in the news business we are paid to be curious about the latest developments in everything -- including how we can be doing our jobs differently.

As Luckie noted, I'm glad that many J-schools are starting to offer resources for interactive design and Web site development. However, the truth is that those topics represent what was coolest and most powerful about online media several years ago. Online media has expanded in far more compelling and engaging directions since then.

Personally, I've seen very few J-schools that actively teach the basics of today's important online media skills. These skills include: online community participation and management, working with citizen journalists and contributed content, conversational media, mashups, feeds, blogging, online learning development, running virtual events, using collaboration tools, Creative Commons licensing, content management systems, wikis, single- and multi-user online game design (including virtual environments such as Second Life), or social media (such as del.icio.us or Flickr) -- and how journalists might leverage any of these (and whatever comes down the pike next) to enhance how news gets discovered, covered, presented, and delivered.

Now, I haven't done a comprehensive survey on this topic. I'm sure I'm missing some great schools and programs that are teaching those valuable subjects.

So I'm asking you, Tidbits readers: Where are the best places for current and future journalists to learn what they really need to know in order to keep up with how media is evolving, especially online media? Tell me which journalism schools or other educational programs or resources you think are doing an exemplary job of preparing students to use 21st-century online media creatively and well.

Remember, journalism education doesn't just happen in J-schools. Great journalism education can also be found in mid-career education programs (such as, well, those run by the Poynter Institute), online resources (perhaps including Poynter's News University project), professional organizations (such as the Online News Association), weblogs (such as Mindy McAdams'Teaching Online Journalism), discussion forums, in-house training efforts, formal or informal mentoring -- or elsewhere!

So let's hear it from you: Which resources, in the U.S. or elsewhere, are teaching journalists more about online media than how to use Dreamweaver and Flash? Please comment below. Thanks!