Digital Journalism

Three days ago,I began my internship for the Spring 2011 semester at The Daily Freeman. I really did not know what to expect out of my first day here. I met with my internship supervisor, Ivan Lajara and we created a set schedule and filled out some paperwork. I went on a tour of the building and was able to see where the papers used to be printed and how the system worked. I also met everybody else who works at the Daily Freeman and everyone was friendly and welcoming.

Afterwords,Ivan and I talked about what I would be doing over the semester. Ivan showed me his iPad which has a ton of apps on it and said that I would be using these apps to see what they do, how they work,and most importantly, how they can be used in the field of Journalism.

At first I felt like I couldn't keep up with the different apps that were being thrown my way through all different mediums of technology. The computer,two laptops,an iPad, and a Droid all have remarkable apps that can do amazing things. The Droid can take multiple pictures and piece them together so that you can see a whole stadium for example.

There was an edition of the paper where Ivan inserted a barcode next to an article in the paper. People with smart phones could scan the barcode and a map popped up giving locations that were relevant to the article. He said that it had not been as successful as he had hoped, but I don't think it will be too long until that is a successful tool.

As I've been learning in my classes and have seen for myself, Journalism is moving into the digital age, whether people like it or not. There is no way to get around it; instead we have to adapt to it and learn how to use tools and apps to improve and enhance what is turning into digital journalism. Instead of waiting for readers to search for news, we have to make it available and easily accessible to them.

This is what I am hoping to learn how to do in the following weeks.