Convergence Week to Promote Web Journalism

UT's School of Journalism and Electronic Media will be celebrating the increasing importance of Web journalism during Convergence Week with events designed to encourage, inform and focus students on their future in the world of digital media, said Dr. Jim Stovall, a JEM professor.

The events include guest speakers, a panel discussion open to the public, a dinner, individual meetings with virtual adjuncts and a pizza lunch for TNJN staff, virtual adjuncts, faculty and students. The week's activities are to celebrate $50,000 in grants from the Scripps Foundation, which has allowed the school to hire three virtual adjuncts during the Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 semesters, said Stovall, the creator of the student-run news Web site, the Tennessee Journalist.

"These virtual adjuncts are professionals working in the field of online media and are charged with assisting on-campus course instructors through real-time online class lectures and discussions, critiques and reading assignments," Stovall said. "I think students are reacting very positively to those who are professionals and who bring their immediate experience into the classroom. We have seen a number of students get inspired by our virtual adjuncts."

Convergence Week Event Schedule

Thursday, Feb. 21

11:10 a.m. - JEM 411 Managing News Web Sties, guests Peggy Collins and Staci Wolfe, 316 Communications

1:30 - 3 p.m. - Panel discussion: Getting a Job in the Online World, at the Black Cultural Center, featuring Peggy Collins, editor and producer, MSNMoney.com; Staci Wolfe, senior Internet Marketing Manager, Lucasfilm; Patrick Beeson, project manager, Scripps New Media; and Katie Granju, senior online producer, WBIR-TV. The event is open to the public.

6 p.m. - Dinner, University Center ballroom
Speaker: Bob Benz, partner, Maroon Ventures
Disruptive Journalism: A 21st Century Strategy for News Coverage

Friday, Feb. 22
Morning, individual appointments with virtual adjuncts

11 a.m. - Pizza lunch for TNJN staff, virtual adjuncts, faculty, students in Communications Building, room 264