My projects – Page 6

May 22, 2014May 22, 2014

School’s out for summer

What the hell happened to the last month? Actually, I know exactly what happened: finals. Lots and lots of finals to grade. And portfolios and projects and essays to read. And students dropping by my office to talk about their summer plans* or ask advice on applying for jobs. It all unfolded at a pace similar to the week before an election: dizzying, thrilling and, in hindsight, rather blurry.

It’s over now, and I’m looking ahead to a summer of consulting, freelancing and — here’s the tricky one — wrapping my head around what it means to be a writer in a beautiful, fascinating and overwhelming digital world.

The consulting is already underway. I’m spending a few days each week in the newsroom at the Concord Monitor, the newspaper where I worked as a reporter and, later, web editor for many years. The paper’s staff is young and talented, and it’s my job to help them build stories with all the digital tools at their disposal. (I suppose it’s a little like a professional version of last year’s Summer Tech Camp.)

I have some stories in the works for NetNewsCheck, and I’m hoping to finally start a reporting project that’s been on my list for years. (Details to come.)

As for modern writing, I’m heading to a workshop in a couple of weeks that explores the intersection of writing and yoga. I’m not sure what to expect, but I hope to understand why I seem to struggle more now than ever before to put a few decent sentences on a page.

I’ll be blogging about it all, so please stay tuned.

*Speaking of summer plans, be sure to follow my colleague Tom Haines as he embarks on the first leg of a journey through what he calls “landscapes of fuel in America.” He launched his blog last week, and it’s already a great read.

April 26, 2014April 26, 2014

Where the Women Are: Measuring Female Leadership in the New Journalism Ecology

Here she is: My thesis. Download, share, quote and ponder.

A huge thank you to the organizers of the Society of Professional Journalists’ New England chapter for inviting me to unveil my research at today’s conference. Here’s the slide deck from my talk:

And here are links to a few of the books, articles and people I mentioned in my talk:

Gwyneth Mellinger’s Chasing Newsroom Diversity provides a fascinating and thoroughly-researched overview of diversity efforts in legacy media.
Here’s Nicco Mele’s article on what he calls the “diaspora of journalism.”
A number of journalists and scholars are looking at racial disparities in digital media. Michelle Ferrier’s work in this area is especially interesting.
I also talked a lot about diversity as a matter of ethics. Here’s SPJ’s Code of Ethics, and here’s Poynter’s new ethics site — Truth and Trust in Media.
As for the suggestion to post job ads and call “bullshit” on editors who say they can’t find diverse and qualified hires, check out this piece about the pipeline un-problem and yesterday’s post about recruiting practices.

March 14, 2014March 14, 2014

The beginner’s mind

Seeing the light at my yoga studio yesterday afternoon.

I seldom write about my yoga practice because, on most days, it defies words. But many of the concepts we discuss at the studio percolate into other aspects of my life. One of those notions — what Zen Buddhists call “the beginner’s mind” — has seemed especially relevant as I’ve navigated my new job teaching journalism at UNH.

The beginner’s mind calls for abandoning preconceptions and staying open to new possibilities, no matter your level of experience. For me, this means remaining always a student, both of writing and of the many platforms on which stories will live in the years to come. Many of my students adore Tumblr, something I’d decided I was too busy to use. That changed last month when, at their urging, I launched a Tumblr of my own. It’s called 1,000 words, and it’s a venue to publish some of my photography.

Yes. Photography.

Taking pictures is wildly intimidating to me. I’ve worked alongside dozens of the finest photojournalists in the business and worried that picking up a camera myself would somehow dilute the value of their work. (Or encourage a short-sighted newsroom bean counter to eradicate the photo department in favor of “good enough” images from reporters’ smartphones.) But I don’t work in a newsroom anymore, and I needed to better understand the visual nature of the web.

About a year ago, I started taking pictures with intention. At first, I used my iPhone. Later, I bought a Nikon D5100 and began learning about aperture and shutter speed and focus. Thousands of pictures later, I still have no idea what I’m doing — but I’ve decided that probably makes me a more compassionate teacher. I’m no expert, just one beginner in a classroom full of beginners, all looking for great stories to tell.