Dr. Carrie Brown at the University of Memphis has some great thoughts on how we can give students the skills they will need to find jobs. Her blog, The Changing Newsroom, is one of my “must reads” every day.
She also had some great thoughts in September about the value of social media. She wrote:
“It also kills me when I hear academics refer to “the blogs” as though they are some monolithic entity and bemoan the lack of original reporting they produce as though that was a matter of the form itself, rather than of function.
I’ve learned a lot by writing this blog and being an active participant on Facebook that I don’t think I could have learned just by reading the trade press or otherwise being a passive observer of technology trends.
For those who haven’t realized this yet, social media is a great original reporting tool – you can learn a lot about “what’s going on.” Every good journalist I know talks about the importance of hanging out in diners and coffee shops and other mechanisms to figure out what regular folks, not just “official sources” are talking about, but most say there is less and less time these to do that kind of out-of-the-office reporting. Well, social media may not ever be able to replace the shoe-leather, but it tells you a lot without you needing to leave your desk.”
I contacted Brown recently and asked if I might bounce things off her once in a while. She was gracious enough to agree. And that is the lesson I try to impart on my students: Blogs and social networking sites help us learn from each other.
I have added a link to Brown’s blog. I encourage you to visit.
