First off, what? The title of this post and this introduction -- "journalism is about people not technology?" Sure journalism is, well... about the people. But today, I am not studying the people. I am not learning how to dig for interesting stories. The majority of my classes are based on technology. Whether that be backpack journalism or social media marketing, I aint studyin' the people. I'm studying what my future basically holds: technology. (Which miiight be over exaggerating considering that I am a journalist. I know the importance of being a journalist and studying journalism as well. So maybe I just think that both people and technology are in the core of journalism. Can we compromise?)
Which brings me to my next point -- "Recognizing you are part of a new information ecosystem, aka "the future," is the steeper hill to climb." This sentence on the other hand, I agree with. Not technically that you have to recognize that you are scaling that mountain. But instead learning the techniques on how to scale. I must recognize that my future career isn't definite and that I may have to adjust... daily. Just in order to survive out there. (Not that I think my future is filled with savages who are out to haunt the journalists of old. Whatever. I am being dramatic. But you said we could use voice. And apparently, for me that just means a lot of parenthesis.)
Which brings me to the statement, "is can be difficult not to hope that the current state of flux is only temporary." What? Like, what? I know, I know journalists used to be the shiz. But HEY! I am excited for where this is going. I am excited to work jobs that don't exist yet. And I am excited for that innovation. One of my favorite quotes of life is, "life begins right outside of your comfort zone." Yes. And that comfort zone is not where I am going to be stuck in journalism. Which is why, "the key to survival is reinventing what we do" is a new favorite quote of life.
But um, "how do I prepare myself today for a job that doesn't currently exist?" I really don't know. I guess you learn to just be innovative. In the classwork I do now, I should think of a new way to complete assignments. In my work at the Universe, I also think that one incredibly helpful way to prepare yourself the innovation of technology is learning about technology. My minor is DGHTS: Digital Humanities and Technology. I am learning how to code both front and stack. Not because I want to be a programmer for the rest of my life. But! If I can keep up with the digital side of... well, the world.... then I can keep up in my future profession. It'd be better to be the girl who knew something than to be the girl who knew nothing, right?
