Ah, Spring Brings New Ideas, New Media

Poets--yesterday's bloggers--have written numerous odes to spring. Many have love, nature and, appropriately, ideas bursting forth. Spring certainly is my favorite time on campus with a wide assortment of events, speakers and performances to stimulate an aging mind.

The annual Symposium on Demococracy, started by Kent State President Carol Cartwright in 2000, has become a spring fixture. Although only the second symposium focused directly on the media, every year we find the topic relates to the media in one way or another. It was certainly true this year with the theme on Democratic Policy Deliberations in Science, Religion and Politics, co-chaired by Jim Gaudino, dean of the College of Communication and Information. Keynote speakers, all covered by the Daily Kent Stater, were

• David Zarefsky of Northwestern University on the importance of the public forum in a democracy,
• Philip Kitcher of Columbia University on the division between people who accept the views of the scientific community on evolution and those who prescribe to a religion/creator- oriented view, and
  
• John Campbell of the University of Memphis on the need to address the evolution debate through public discourse. Campbell, whose doctoral dissertation was a rhetorical analysis of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, emphasized the book showed Darwin's genius as a persuasive communicator (convincing the doubtful 19th century scientific community) as well as a scientist.

One conclusion: Darwin was, or could have been, a great journalist. Obviously he would have been superb on the science beat, but with his skills of observation, analysis and persuasion, I think he'd have been an excellent editorial writer.

The keynote talks will be published online, and they are well worth reading. I'll keep you posted.

And on the Convergence Front

Meanwhile, new media pioneer Rob Curley brought his traveling cyberjournalism show to Taylor Hall in late April. Curley is director of new media and convergence for the Naples, Fla., Daily News. Journalism and Mass Communication Professor (and blogger) Fred Endres discusses Curley's presentation and relates it to journalism education at the Kent JMC Blog.

Some of Curley's points are traditional: emphasis on writing for journalism students and local news coverage ("hyper-local" as Endres reports) for news organizations.

Curley acknowledges his approach to news/information coverage and presentation requires a lot of staff, both in information-gathering (think more interns) and technology.

Especially interesting is Endres' update on "New Jargon (to accompany New Media)." New terms include "webification," "internization" and "organic convergence."

A Victory for Bloggers

The blogging world is abuzz with the victory of Maine blogger Lance Dutson, who had harshly criticized the state's Office of Tourism and its advertising agency. The agency filed suit against Dutson; his supporters, including the Media Bloggers Association and the Boston Globe, rushed to his defense. Last week ended with the ad agency dropping the suit, saying the battle "had taken a life of its own."

The incident is one more example of blogging (and other new media) climbing toward journalistic credibility.