At Pace Law School, recent law grads entering the field on their own as “solos” can opt to do so on campus, with the supervision of professors and experienced lawyers and access to resources like office supplies and research tools.
The Pace Community Law Practice is the fourth so-called “Solo incubator” launched nationwide, according to the National Law Journal. The first was a program at City University of New York School of Law (National Law Journal):
The school offers low-cost office space in midtown Manhattan and staff support for up to two years to a select number of graduates aiming to establish themselves as solos or launch small firms. The program offers more than office space; participants have access to a large network of experienced solo practitioners who function as mentors, and they enjoy an internal support network among their colleagues in the incubator, which helps to reduce the isolation many solo practitioners experience.
Where is the “solo incubator” for journalists?
OK, journalism isn’t really a for-hire business (freelance assignments aside). The best work continues to be done by reporting and editing staffs working together at news organizations.
But as the idea of content as a product evolves, and the universe of potential employers of journalists expands, perhaps a “solo incubator” could become a hive of journalism activity that companies can approach to hire at will.
“Need two reporters, an editor and an artist for 10 days to complete a research project? Ours are sharp and well-directed.”
“Need a site publishing in one month but you don’t know how to find a staff? We can help.”
“Need an editor to help define your audience and design a coverage plan? Sure thing.”
The fellas at Contently are doing so already and may have beaten academia to the punch in many ways. CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism Entrepreneurial Incubator is the right idea, but limited to students. There’s room for an Ivory-Tower version of the “solo incubator” and there are enough recent, and not-so-recent J-school grads without a job or an office to hang out in all day.
It could also be a great hive of inspiration for journalists dedicated to freelance and research projects or those among us who are entrepreneurs to collaborate and share expenses (a la coworking at Hive at 55 and New Work City), plus get the guidance of experienced journalists and educators.
As news editor at TheLadders, where content was but a small portion of the product, I slipped into the habit of referring to readers as… USERS.
Editorial purists will surely gasp. The word user makes it seem too much like we’re producing a commodity product that must meet a customer demand and make a profit. We practice a calling, not a business, Right? Imagine if artists were asked to think of their audience as users. They’re doing so now. And likely gasping.
The New York TImes’s video gaming critic Seth Schiesel wrote yesterday about Bjork’s latest album Biophilia, which was released as an iPad app in which “the user (no longer merely the listener) takes control of a sound-creation tool, tapping pools of light to combine and mix tones of Gregorian complexity.”
Schiesel writes about the evolution it is for artists to “ fans the ability to mess around readily with a treasured creation” and the creative possibilities that might unfold. But there’s a simpler lesson for journalists: If artists, the purest of purists, can see their audience as users, so can you.
And it makes a difference in how we report and deliver the news.
I often put myself in the shoes of the reader and ask reporters and editors to do the same:
- “Would you read that story?”
- “Would you share that story?”
- “Would you be able to find the vital information on that page?”
- “Is this an information source you could apply in your work?”
- “Would you come back to this news site?”
By considering the reader a user, we might begin to take the steps to deliver not just the best content, but the content most in demand by the audience, in the most useful and accessible format.
The reader is user. I think journalists can accept that.
Wait ‘til they hear their producing a product. :-X
The New York Times’s Jennifer Seinhayuer profiled the Republican party’s evolved use of social media and shared this account of Brad Dayspring, communication director to House Majority leader Rep. Eric Cantor, firing off a Tweet to counter claims made just minutes earlier by President Obama:
Within seconds, Brad Dayspring, Mr. Cantor’s Rasputin of retort, was on the case, his fingers ripping across the keyboard as if individually caffeinated. “Obama says he’s open to any “serious #GOP idea,” typed Mr. Dayspring, the aggressive spokesman for Mr. Cantor, the Republican from Virginia who serves as House majority leader, in a message on Twitter. “Here are 15 jobs bills stalled in the Senate to get him started.”
A link from Mr. Cantor’s blog was quickly pasted in, the send button was hit, and Mr. Dayspring sat back slightly in his chair, pleased.
The Tweet:
What’s interesting is the final step, the one that brings it all home, literally. Dayspring linked the Tweet back to Cantor’s blog (a post job creation bills), where readers could dive deeper into the topic, float off into other topics and witness a more complete view of the majority leader.
It isn’t enough to engage in Tweets, status updates, checkins and video posts. You want readers engaging on your turf—your Web page—where you have built your own environment to drive the user experience, connect them to alternate social media channels, keep them consuming content or take some sort of action, be a purchase or a vote.
Content on our own turf is the key to social media engagement. Otherwise, you’re just another voice in the void.
