21st century literacy

I enjoyed the Web 2.0/Journalism 2.0 session yesterday because it was an interesting and thorough introduction to becoming more “literate in the 21st century.” Mark Briggs, an interactive-media manager at The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., gave us a good list of Web sites to have on hand and I can’t wait to look around www.go2web20.net. I also appreciated the conversation we had about how newsrooms can increase their consumer-created content by asking readers how they like their news and by moving away from creating journalism just for journalists. The Des Moines Register has created a strong audience from niche Web sites, similar to cincymoms.com.

I am going to keep in mind the lessons we learned about accuracy. I also hope to start thinking more creatively about my story assignments and how I can incorporate more photos, audio and video at every opportunity. And I am going to copy edit every single First Amendment statement I see to make sure it includes all five civil liberties.