The Canadian Association of Journalists has
its annual conference in May in Vancouver. For the last seven or eight years
at this event, I've led workshops in computer-assisted reporting. This year,
I'm foregoing spreadsheets and database programs for blogging. Here's the
blurbs for a panel and a workshop I'm involved with. I am eagerly accepting
any and all advice about what I ought to do or say. Also looking for your
nominations about the best places to eat in Vancouver.
The Blog Revolution: How Blogs are Changing and
Challenging Journalism
Everyone's doing it, including media professionals. Web logs, or blogs, give
anyone a platform and a potentially limitless audience. Lately, bloggers
have broken news stories, kept other stories alive, created their own
celebrities, and-oh yeah–helped overthrow the editor of the New York Times.
Previously unknown bloggers have been offered plum jobs in conventional
newsrooms, and conventional newsrooms have started blogging. Some prominent
journalists have even found themselves paired with “watchblogs” that analyze
and critique every story they create. What are the tensions between blogging
and traditional journalism? And what can journalists learn from blogs and
bloggers? Is this a new form of media democracy? This panel of tech-savvy
journalists, bloggers, and media observers will explore the way blogs are
changing and challenging journalism-and where it's all going.
Featured Panelists: David Akin,
technology writer for the Globe and
Mail and CTV and blogger; Emira Mears, co-founder of
Raised Eyebrow web design, media activist and co-editor of Soapboxgirls.com; Alan Bass,
assistant. professor of journalism, University College of the Cariboo; Robert
Washburn, blogger and professor of e-Journalism, Loyalist College;
Caterina Fake, former art director at Salon.com, editor of Caterina.net; Saleem Khan, blogger and
technology writer/editor.
Workshop: Blogging 101
They've played key roles in the combative US presidential campaign.
Academics say they'll revolutionize mainstream journalism. But what do blogs
have to do with the daily lives of journalists in Canada? What do
journalists need to know about this new source of views and information?
David Akin, who is National Business and Technology Correspondent for CTV
News, a contributing writer for The Globe and Mail, and a blogger himself,
leads a workshop for journalists who may one day want to start their own
blog and for all those who wish to learn how blogs fit into daily
newsgathering. Blogs– short for Web logs — are a new kind of online
publication that are quickly becoming as important to journalists as e-mail
and the World Wide Web. Akin will run through some of the popular blog
publishing tools; take participants on a brief tour of the blogosphere; and
lead a discussion of the relationship of blogs to mainstream working
journalists. Designed for those with little or no knowledge of blogs or
blogging, this workshop will focus primarily on giving working journalists
real-world skills they can put to use right away in their newsroom.