I Like this iMedia

Western Kentucky is working on an interesting concept, a convergence certification for graduates they're calling iMedia. The basic idea is to make sure that the journalists leaving the Potter School have the multiple platform balance required to function in the networked media.

It's a work in progress, but if it gains ground it could be a new framework that might allow j-school to avoid becoming another anachronism from the 20th Century like evening newspapers, network telecast news and college lecture courses. (Couple of track backs: creative destruction in j-school & thoughts on j-school.)

I've said it several times before, but it bears repeating: j-school has to find a way to convince the rising generation it has something to offer. I was asked what tools did I think were important for the future journalist. The honest answer is I don't know -- because anyone who thinks they know what the key hardware, software or paradigm will be that far out is kidding themselves. Think back five years ago. Had anyone even thought of the concept of social networking having an impact on media? Political commentary on-line was some kind of circus act that wouldn't replace the serious work done by real magazine journalists.

Here's what I do know:

The generation that has lived with the answers at it's fingertips needs the grounding that comes from a liberal arts education. Less specialization and more Renaissance. This touch-all-formats approach WKU suggests will do that within the J-school.

Even if they aren't journalists, a program like iMedia has a chance to create the kind of media awareness course that should be replacing, or at least retooling, the Comm 101 classes all across America. The media is DIY -- and we need to give lay people the tools to know what's good and what's BS.

I'm stealing from myself, but I firmly belief this: What separates the articulate programmer and the clever bystander from the journalist – j-school.