Writing skill is no longer enough to sustain journalists

"The stenography model of journalism must die. Many random people off the street will be able to paste together a "he said, she said" story. What the hyperliterate media marketplace needs are experts who can analyze, and advocate for, information in the public interest. "That demands journalists who have professional-level training and experience with the beats that they cover. It demands journalists who have the analytical skills, including training in statistics, to make sense of datasets and to find the stories buried within them. It will demand journalism schools to become significantly more selective in the students that they admit - choosing only those with the academic skills and performance to meet these new demands."

A growing market: cellphone service for low income - but beware the extra charges

As many companies have done during the recession, Assurance Wireless is offering a free service to the unemployed, or underemployed, during a rough time in their lives with the hope that they'll stay customers when they get back on their feet financially. Nice, sure. But why does it cost double for more minutes when one of the parent company's prepaid plans is 10 cents a minute?

RJI Mobile Blog

"Within 35 months the whole newspaper industry needs to move its emphasis from the static Web to the mobile Web. From 17-inch displays to 3-inch displays. From full keyboard and mouse to one-handed navigation. And you can’t really wait until the deal is done if you want to be a major player in technology. If Gartner’s prediction is accurate, newspapers really have just 18-24 months to position themselves as the leading news content provider for mobile platforms." See Clyde Bentley's timeline for how to meet this goal

Gartner Highlights Key Predictions for IT Organizations and Users in 2010 and Beyond

"By 2013, mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide. According to Gartner's PC installed base forecast, the total number of PCs in use will reach 1.78 billion units in 2013. By 2013, the combined installed base of smartphones and browser-equipped enhanced phones will exceed 1.82 billion units and will be greater than the installed base for PCs thereafter. "Mobile Web users are typically prepared to make fewer clicks on a website than users accessing sites from a PC. Although a growing number of websites and Web-based applications offer support for small-form-factor mobile devices, many still do not. Websites not optimized for the smaller-screen formats will become a market barrier for their owners — much content and many sites will need to be reformatted/rebuilt."

RJI Collaboratory member describes new journalist role

Jane Stevens of the World Company describes the developing role of community steward for journalists. She describes the application of that concept for citizens in eastern Kansas.