A Favor, A Question and Thanks

Posted on 17. Oct, 2007 by David Cohn in What's Next?

To all the participants in the Networked Journalism Summit,

We have one more very important favor to ask:
We want to know what you’re working on next.

Please respond to this post with a quick description. Or a long description. But please do tell us. (Check the “What’s Next” category of blog posts to see some responses already).

We think the most important benefit of the Summit was sharing best practices and lessons. We vow to keep sharing that with all of you. But for us to follow up, we have to know what you’re up to.

This doesn’t need to be anything grand and glorious. It needn’t have come from the Summit. It can just be something you want to look into, experiment with, play with. As I posted today at the Summit blog, I was delighted that one of our number was inspired by WNYC’s beer survey and plans to ask readers to find the price of a Bud six-pack. That may seem small but it’s not, for it’s a step toward mobilizing the audience to collaborate; it’s a cultural shift; and it’s something that can actually get done. So whatever you’re looking to do next, big or small, please let us know.

We’ll post what you tell us on the Summit blog at www.newsinnovation.com. And we will follow up in a few weeks or months, whatever is appropriate, so we can share best practices and lessons again. We’ll also post this letter on the Summit blog; please feel very free to share and converse in the comments there. The more you continue to share with everyone, the
better.

That was the favor. Now the New York question (paraphrasing Ed Koch): How’d we do? Please be blunt. This was our first such event and we need to learn from this. Tell us what you didn’t like as much as what you liked. What do you wish we’d done more of or less of? How were the sessions? Was the hall time useful? Anything.

And finally, the thanks: Speaking on behalf of me, David Cohn, CUNY, and I’m sure the MacArthur Foundation, I can’t thank you enough for participating in the Summit. What impressed me most about the day was the spirit of collaboration among all of you — your generosity sharing your experience, lessons, questions, and dreams. I’ve heard this from many people who were there — they were gratified to find other people swarming around the same topic.

It is our mutual challenge to keep that collaboration on collaboration going.

We’ll also let you know when we post video and audio from the event.

And soon I’ll start posting some thinking and discussion leading up to our next event on new business models for news. Please do join in on that urgent topic as well. We’ll let you know the date and details when we know them.

Again, thank you all.
Jeff Jarvis
David Cohn