Tag: online identity

More words of wisdom from journo-bloggers

As I hope is obvious by now, this blog is intended to be a resource for journalism students, in addition to discussing online journalism and The Miami Hurricane. Here are three links that are very insightful:

paulconley: Three job tips for students (Paul Conley)

Teaching Online Journalism » Getting (and keeping) a job in journalism (Mindy McAdams)

BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » A diploma and a blog (Jeff Jarvis)

A phrase that I’ve seen on various journalism blogs is “if you’re reading this, you’re already doing something right.” I’ll echo that sentiment and emphasize that students need to go further.

Jeff Jarvis‘ post is a compilation of comments about journalism students and blogs. You obviously read blogs. That’s good. Read more. Keep reading. Different j-bloggers give different time periods to read blogs. I think you need to read enough to get a feel for it. That could mean a couple days or a couple weeks. Whatever you feel comfortable with, as long as you do it.

Weigh in: What are you doing to become a better journalist?

Update: I’m putting the finishing touches on my Top Ten List of Tips for Journalism Students. Yes, it’s so close to completion that I’m now capitalizing and italicizing it.

Poynting out one’s online identity

Mallary Jean Tenore wrote a great article on Poynter Online called “Journalists Develop, Dismiss Digital Identities,” which offers several perspectives on the topic from journalism professionals, young and old. Click the link or image (linked from Poynter) to read the article.

I thought the timing was great because in the past few months I have been more actively working to shape my online identity. For instance, I became very aware of the concept of the “digital legacy” after attending an ethics session by Poynter’s Kelly McBride at UM, during which she discussed this topic in reference to journalists and people named in articles. Paul Conley‘s remarks as part of a resume-writing panel at the national ACP/CMA in Washington, D.C. also spurred me to reevaluate my presence on the Web.

“A digital identity is your presence on the Web — the sites and accounts you register for and create that help determine who you are and what you do online,” Mallory Jean Tenore explains in the the article.

Though my online identity is something I am proud of, I wanted to even better represent myself and demonstrate my Web-savyy. Some ways I have molded it are through buying my domain name using GoDaddy, creating this blog, posting comments on other blogs and creating a LinkedIn page.

Bottom line: Anyone going to journalism or in journalism should be very aware of their online identity and be proactive in establishing and shaping his/her online identity.

Weigh in: What do you think about having an online identity? Do you do anything to shape it?