Fotovision was a sponsor for the May 3rd “Innovations in Journalism Expo”. The day long event, organized by the Society of Professional Journalists and Independent Arts and Media, promised to “showcase cutting-edge work that combines journalism, technology new business models and philanthropy” and to “push the envelope with fresh ideas in a time of crisis for the news industry.” Fotovision's Program Coordinator, Adrianne Koteen, Executive Director Melanie Light, and I enthusiastically carpooled to Palo Alto to glean what we could from the event.
The day proved to be not only engaging, but a bit overwhelming, and certainly inspiring. The one day Innovations in Journalism Expo that we attended was simultaneously its own event, and also the final day of a 3 day symposium called “NewsTools2008/Journalism That Matters.” The Journalism That Matters events are facilitated meetings held around the country that bring journalists together in large “open space” conversations aimed at addressing the challenges and opportunities in journalism today. Journalism That Matters co-founders Peggy Holman and Stephen Silha were there to “host the conversation”.
This particular Journalism That Matters meeting was in Palo Alto; the conversations were particularly infused with lofty ideas of creative ways to use the Internet to assist the dissemination and creation of quality journalism. We had arrived in the afterglow of 2 days of brainstorming and excited information sharing. Butcher paper hung from the walls with intricate “Value Network Maps” drawn expertly by Sherrin Bennett. One map graphically displayed the interrelationships people in what they termed the “Old News Story” - how people worked together in the past to produce news. This map was contrasted by another of the “Emerging News Ecology” of today where the audience is actually engaged in the creation of news, and the bloggers and “Community Weavers” arise as a necessary role from the importance of community driven websites in journalism.
Some attendees expressed some boredom with the standard panel discussion format of the Innovations in Journalism Expo. One attendee of the three day conference, Hemant Bhanoo, is co-founder of the Berkeley based company Reporterist. Reporterist is creating an online marketplace for freelancing journalists. Hemant told me that he was having difficulty with the rigid format of the standard panel discussions in the Innovations in Journalism Expo after so many days of intense conversation and idea generation. But for me, having not been to the previous two days, I found the panel discussions quite engaging.
One panel on “Funding and Journalism” featured David Cohn. David is working on a model he calls “Spot Reporting”. “Spot Reporting” is an online mechanism that journalists can use to get donations for their projects. Collectively, the micro-funding from small online donations becomes enough to fund the project. We have seen countless examples of independent journalists funding their projects through tip jars on blogs. David Cohen's project is working to put people that want to micro-fund journalism projects and journalist together in one online application.
Like any new idea, David Cohen's idea is by no means isolated. Another attendee, Leonard Witt, has been talking quite a bit about his concept of “Representative Jounrnalism”. Leonard Witt suggests that if news organizations are to survive, they will have to begin to cater to the niche. Rather than think of circulations of hundreds of thousands, news organizations will have to begin to think of hundreds of circulations of one thousand, with the niches themselves providing the funding and demand to the news organization for the coverage. Like David Cohen's project, Leonard Witt's idea integrates the audience itself in the creation of the news.
But these were just a few of the people we met at the conference. And just a couple of the compelling ideas. With sessions organized on “New Money, New Media, New Hope”, “Journalism Before Profits: The Future of Public Media”, and a career counseling session set-up like “speed-dating”, there was an abundance of exciting ideas and people. By the day's end, I felt inspired by all the work being done at the bleeding edge of innovation to help shape the direction of journalism in the US, and excited by the possibilities in photojournalism.