Technology Seminar by Auburn Alumni Shed Light on New Media
Three Auburn alumni gave a presentation at 10 a.m. in Thach Hall on using technology in journalism. Jim Alfred ‘98, Shayne Bowman ‘91 and Dan Doughtie ‘77 evaluated the technology courses offered in the Department of Communication and Journalism. Topics discussed included social media elements such as blogging and using multimedia to draw viewers to Web sites.
Dr. Jennifer Adams put together the panel to help students understand where the journalism industry was heading and what the industry had to say about today’s graduates with journalism and communication degrees. Doughtie, business analyst for Morris Technology Services, said that the Fourth Estate has become the Fourth Dimension. In other words, print journalism is going to be replaced by the Internet.
His presentation “How to Fill 15 minutes: Putting Your Journalism Degree to Use 30 Years Later” emphasized the importance of multimedia content and convergence from print into online journalism. His company recently cut almost the entire communication department. The communication department consisted of public relations and marketing people who had been there for 20 years.
“Everyone who leaves the communication department today needs to be able to write, edit, photograph, audio record, video, and edit/design web pages,” said Doughtie. According to him, Internet video will be a $1.8 trillion a year business. Everyone wants to get in on it.
Student need to leave college with software skills in InDesign (InCopy), DreamWeaver, imovie, audio recording and blogging software.
“Newspapers have been going out of business since Ben Franklin invented the light bulb,” said Doughtie. He mentioned Wikipedia and the increasing importance of ethics because there are no rules in blogging and online journalism. If you want to get rich, get a law degree and specialize in copyright infringement and protecting intellectual property, said Doughtie.
Web sites like Craigslist has taken about $10 billion out of newspaper classifieds and advertising. Also, entertainment and news have started to blend together.
Elizabeth Adams, managing editor for Augusta Chronicle, talked in a video presented by Doughtie about how the industry needed graduates with multimedia capabilities. The graduates need to be able to tell stories with more than just print. Schools aren’t teaching these skills to their students. She did say, however, that Auburn University is on the right track because she’s just hired an Auburn graduate who knew DreamWeaver and other software skills.
Alfred is the former director of New Media for Studio 55, an award-winning five days a week news blogcast by Naple News Daily. He now works for a small company in Rome, Ga doing online media content for the paper there.
“I’ve always believed good content is king,” said Alfred. He told of his work capturing a video from a police officer’s dashboard camera of a crane falling on a women’s car in the street. It was the most viewed video for a week on YouTube with 15,000 views in three days.
Covering the community comes first, and some papers have gotten away from local events, said Alfred. A video of a second grade play was the most viewed video for the month on his Web site. It was surprising since it wasn’t hard news, but that’s what people wanted to see in their communities.
He has a staff of two full-time and three part-time interns. They’ve managed to capture more than 800 local videos since last year. It’s important not only to work at the Plainsmen, but also at WEGL and Eagle Eye TV to get audio and video training. He is offering paid ($7.00/hr) internships for interested students.
Bowman is a media and software consultant. He has experience in building content management and publishing systems so companies can share online content. His presentation “We Media: How Audiences Are Changing the Future of News and Information” emphasized how people want to be active participants in the news. Bowman talked about social media and Amazon’s amazing browsing technology.
The audience at the technology seminar was composed of students and faculty. The speakers stressed the importance of technology in journalism and the skills students should possess after graduation.
In a video presented by her father, Shannon Doughtie asked, ”Are you [the professors] preparing the student for what’s coming our way?”
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