January action plan

So we’ve all come back after christmas laden down with research aplenty, and on top of this, Sharon has done and dusted three killer interviews for us with top social media gurus.

After our meeting today, we have a plan and we’re really going to get the ball rolling from here on in.

• We have all done some academic research and looked at studies on the impact of social media upon journalism. In order to fully communicate this in the group, everyone is now going to post a review of their findings. After the post, remember to Tweet it as well and link out to the research if possible, to keep the multi in our media.
• See if we can change the colours of our blog so our style is more similar to that of the major social media sites. Bright, friendly, and playful. We feel that a grey background is a bit too sombre for our subject.
• We’ve set a date for our gather-a-thon. On Sunday 31 January, we are going to film our news challenge. This will involve us sitting for two hour shifts across a ten hour period by a computer, seeing if we can find “newsworthy” stories through social media alone. Then we will how quickly (and indeed – if at all) these stories appear on the corporate news websites and radio broadcasts.
• Jason is going to interview BBC Cornwall’s Tim Hubbard, and Lydia is going to join Sharon in the cat-and-mouse campaign to pin down Ruth Barnett for an interview.

So, let’s get into gear and get those research findings rolling around the blogosphere. Then, once we’ve pooled our data, we can pepper it with our interviews and comment to really hit the ground running with the presentation.

By the way, feel free to edit the appalling cliches out of my posts. I have a feeling they may be everything that innovative social technologies stand against.

First Date: Impact of Social Media group

by Sharon Robins

Getting together for a first date was no easy task for five busy MA journalism students; James, Jason, Lydia, Shan and Sofia.  But we managed it, pulling wheelie chairs into a huddle at the back of the media centre to get started.

Our task, to plan the way forward to complete a group assignment: A 15 minute live multi-media presentation followed by 15 minutes for questions and discussion.

And the subject?  What impact are social media having on established news gathering techniques and output?

A tasty pot full

Into the pot went what we knew and we shared what we had found out, e.g. blogging – effect/risk to news, Al Jazeera listening posts – how social media works,  wikileaks, Twitter- quick way sharing research, Digg – voted by readers not news corporations, facebook – a photo stolen for a news article?,  Prezi – could it be a useful presentation tool?

What are established news gathering techniques?   What is happening now?   What about the future?

Horse's Mouth

Between us we came up with names of social media guru’s and journalists in different media that we are all going to contact, the aim being to interview them. 

Timeline

Count 11 weeks from First Date to Baring All (the presentation).  Not a lot, if it then becomes 7 weeks if you skip the Christmas break wherein some of us are on work experience. 

Others will be, hopefully, wrapped up in Christmas shenanigans and we’ll all be studying for the lovely law exam upon our return.

A Leader or Two

Our Producer is Jason.  It was not democratic since Sofia was attending a tutorial for a few minutes but hey, you snooze – you lose.  But of the remaining group, those who wanted to be Producer let it be known.

Jason (tells us he) makes a great completer/finisher and will feel most comfortable knowing he is in control of being sure there is a final product, i.e. the presentation.  Sounded great to me.

Lydia is Assistant Producer/Chairwoman and will keep us on the straight and narrow.  Her main task is to drive the meetings and keep us focused on the subject.  Secondary she will assist Jason in producing the presentation.

The group blog Administrator is Sofia who will also develop the design as we go along.  Sofia has specialism in this area and will share it with the group.

James and I (Shan), along with Sofia, are neither shy nor retiring so we will stick our finger into the pie whenever we feel the need.  Lydia will ensure we stay on track.

ACTION

• Create Blog – Sofia 
• Conceptual flow of how we will focus – Lydia 
• Make contact with guru’s and journalists – All
• Dream up blog name – All
• Set up Twitter account related to subject for stream on Blog & info sharing - All

All actions to be completed by next meeting.

And another thing, although these are minutes of the first meeting, the next and last one will be after ‘Baring All’.