Blogger Howard Owens believes that the biggest need for news organizations today is to become more digital savvy. He recently offered top editors a plan to up the "digital literacy" of their organizations. It got a lot of attention as people began comparing this ideal to their own skill levels.
You may want to do the same. Here's is what the journalist of your generation needs to do to learn the new tools of the trade.
1. Become a blogger...and become a regular reader of five of six of the blogs in the fields you are interested in. Participate, leave comments and follow links.
2. Buy and start using a small digital camera. Take stills and video. Post photos on sites like Flickr or Buzznet.
3. Use the free video editing software that comes with your computer and edit the videos you take. Post them to YouTube. There are online tutorials for shooting and editing video.
4. Spent at least two hours a week for six weeks on YouTube. Search for topics that interest you and follow the trails . Pay attention to the most popular videos listed daily to see what interests people.
5. Join a social networking site. LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook.
6. Use social bookmarking. Set up del.icio.us for yourself and use it every day. Check out Digg and Mixx and similar sites.
7. Start using RSS. Use it to keep up with the news of the day and the blogs you read. Make sure your blog as an RSS feed.
8. Use a cell pone with text messaging.
9. Learn to twitter...this technology could change information dissemination
10. Create a Google Map mashup. (Google this and use online tutorials)
11. Think about what your job will be like in 10 years. What will media be like in five years. How will news reach young readers in the next generation.
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