Comments on: Why journalists should learn to program http://rc3.org/2010/06/03/why-journalists-should-learn-to-program/ Rafe Colburn on software development (and other topics) Wed, 23 May 2012 22:44:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Nathan L. Walls http://rc3.org/2010/06/03/why-journalists-should-learn-to-program/comment-page-1/#comment-8957 Nathan L. Walls Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:00:32 +0000 http://rc3.org/?p=11138#comment-8957 <p>One of the key shortcomings we had in my interactive news days (sacbee.com/McClatchy Interactive) was that the organization was interested in hiring journalists and training them to be HTML jockeys. And that's a worthwhile goal. But, what we could have used more of were more 'Net savvy people willing to learn journalism.</p> <p>People who have the marriage of skills between tech / statistical analysis and journalism like the Everyblock guys, Nate Silver and Rob Curley are •rare• and while a lot of news orgs would love to have any of those folks working for them, they weren't necessarily ready to take the organizational risks on developing that talent when the outcome wasn't proven.</p> <p>The other issue facing newsrooms is right around the time the message finally got through that journalists needed to do more than think about print (when the ad market and the economy at large fell off a cliff) , the people who had the know-how to help them were largely moving on to other endeavors where they felt they could make an organizational impact.</p> <p>None of this means it's too late, but the last 10 years held a lot of frustration by way of witnessing a lot of missed opportunities across the industry. UNC-CH seems to be developing journalism students who are familiar with the web and a recent grad, Andrew Dunn, was editing the Daily Tar Heel <em>and</em> had pursued coursework in Python.</p> One of the key shortcomings we had in my interactive news days (sacbee.com/McClatchy Interactive) was that the organization was interested in hiring journalists and training them to be HTML jockeys. And that’s a worthwhile goal. But, what we could have used more of were more ‘Net savvy people willing to learn journalism.

People who have the marriage of skills between tech / statistical analysis and journalism like the Everyblock guys, Nate Silver and Rob Curley are •rare• and while a lot of news orgs would love to have any of those folks working for them, they weren’t necessarily ready to take the organizational risks on developing that talent when the outcome wasn’t proven.

The other issue facing newsrooms is right around the time the message finally got through that journalists needed to do more than think about print (when the ad market and the economy at large fell off a cliff) , the people who had the know-how to help them were largely moving on to other endeavors where they felt they could make an organizational impact.

None of this means it’s too late, but the last 10 years held a lot of frustration by way of witnessing a lot of missed opportunities across the industry. UNC-CH seems to be developing journalism students who are familiar with the web and a recent grad, Andrew Dunn, was editing the Daily Tar Heel and had pursued coursework in Python.

]]> By: Jonathan Hartley http://rc3.org/2010/06/03/why-journalists-should-learn-to-program/comment-page-1/#comment-8953 Jonathan Hartley Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:19:21 +0000 http://rc3.org/?p=11138#comment-8953 <p>However, I agree with the underlying premise. I think of the democratisation of programming in much the same way I'd think of spreading numeracy (and indeed literacy.) It would be good for all concerned.</p> However, I agree with the underlying premise. I think of the democratisation of programming in much the same way I’d think of spreading numeracy (and indeed literacy.) It would be good for all concerned.

]]> By: Jonathan Hartley http://rc3.org/2010/06/03/why-journalists-should-learn-to-program/comment-page-1/#comment-8952 Jonathan Hartley Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:15:44 +0000 http://rc3.org/?p=11138#comment-8952 <p>Call me pedant, but HTML and CSS are not programming languages, and understanding them will not acquaint a person with 'understanding the world with a coder's point of view'.</p> Call me pedant, but HTML and CSS are not programming languages, and understanding them will not acquaint a person with ‘understanding the world with a coder’s point of view’.

]]> By: Rafe http://rc3.org/2010/06/03/why-journalists-should-learn-to-program/comment-page-1/#comment-8951 Rafe Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:55:13 +0000 http://rc3.org/?p=11138#comment-8951 <p>I came <i>this</i> close to mentioning R in the post, but then I didn't.</p> I came this close to mentioning R in the post, but then I didn’t.

]]> By: Michael Sippey http://rc3.org/2010/06/03/why-journalists-should-learn-to-program/comment-page-1/#comment-8950 Michael Sippey Fri, 04 Jun 2010 07:49:54 +0000 http://rc3.org/?p=11138#comment-8950 <p>Imagine if journalism courses taught stats and how to use R.</p> Imagine if journalism courses taught stats and how to use R.

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