News about the activities of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas
Knight Center Launches Digital Literacy Guide for Journalists in Spanish and PortugueseKnight Center Launches Digital Literacy Guide for Journalists in Spanish and Portuguese
The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin launched electronic Spanish and Portuguese editions of the book Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive, A digital literacy guide for the information age, written by U.S. journalist Mark Briggs.
The Spanish, English and Portuguese editions can be downloaded in PDF format for free from the Knight Center's website http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/journalism20.php.
The book is the result of an initiative from the J-Lab at the University of Maryland, and the Knight Citizen News Network, and was made possible by the Institute for Interactive Journalism of the University of Maryland. Briggs describes it as a practical manual, although it contains enough theoretical elements to serve as an introduction to digital journalism.
The book begins by explaining the main characteristics of the Web and other basic technological concepts (such as the acronyms that describe them), the concept of Web 2.0, and new devices (iPods and MP3 players, mobile telephones and other wireless appliances, USB memory cards, etc.) and their impact on journalism.
It continues with suggestions for new reporting methods, including how-to introductions for blogging, reporting news for the Web, recording digital audio and podcasts, taking and editing digital photographs, filming and editing video for stories, writing scripts, and recording narrations.
“If you truly want to learn how to do digital journalism, you will," Briggs said in the guide’s introduction.
"This handbook will guide you along the way, breaking down each skill and technology into digestible lessons that will be immediately usable for you in your work… It is practical, not conceptual. You will be able to perform the skill the same day you read about it.”
The celebrated investigative journalist Phil Meyer, author of the English version’s foreword, emphasized the practical nature of the book.
“You can use it like a cookbook. There are recipes, up-to-date, for all kinds of things digital," he said. "When I read it, I kept wanting to stop and try something, for instance, setting up an RSS feed, converting my old audio tapes to MP3 files, and changing my default browser to Mozilla Firefox.”
Guillermo Franco, translator of the Spanish version and author of its foreword, said the book can guide journalism organizations that want to redefine their role as content generators instead of simple 'newspaper makers’. Step by step, it will guide journalists who work with non-traditional media so they can learn on their own, without the need for an instructor. It can also give universities some hints on how to restructure their academic programs.
Meyer and Briggs agree that journalists with multiple skills will become increasingly valuable.
“The old adage ‘a good reporter is good anywhere,’ is no longer so convincing. We need good reporters who can bring appropriate tools to bear on constantly changing situations. In this environment, journalists who can do more than one thing well will be in demand… A good reporter would be redefined as the one who is competent enough in any medium,” Meyer said.
Briggs said that in the same way that digital skills are mandatory for candidates seeking new openings at newspapers, the lack of such skills will disqualify others.
“And with more than 3,000 newsroom job cuts just since 2000 in the United States alone, anyone still working in a newsroom should be looking for ways to become more valuable to the operation. The same holds true whether the medium is a newspaper, magazine, television or radio station,” he said.
The Spanish version will contribute to close the “digital gap” between the type of journalism practiced in the developed and developing world. Likewise, it will contribute to close the “language gap,” which limits many journalists from accessing valuable knowledge in English about journalism (in general) and about digital journalism (in particular) produced in the United States, a leader in development and a point of reference in the field.
Rosental Calmon Alves, founder and director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin, said that the launching of the Spanish and Portuguese editions of Journalism 2.0 marks the organization’s shift of focus toward an increased effort to train journalists in Latin America and the Caribbean on the use of digital technologies.
“This is only the beginning of a new chapter for the Knight Center. Thanks to a generous grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, we’ll launch in the following years several other initiatives to help journalists in the hemisphere in their efforts to adapt to the changes brought by the Digital Revolution,” Alves said.
The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas was created by Alves at the University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism in August 2002 thanks to a generous donation from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
The J-Lab at the University of Maryland helps news organizations and citizens to use new media technologies to create fresh ways for people to participate in public life. It also administers the Knight Citizen News Network and the New Voices community media grant program.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation invests in journalism excellence worldwide and in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Since 1950 the foundation has granted more than $300 million to advance quality journalism and freedom of expression. It focuses on projects with the potential to create transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.
Added Dec 14, 10:56, 2007
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