Imagining the Journalist of the Future: Technological Visions of Journalism Education and Newswork

Digitization has resulted in great uncertainty for journalism, leading to disruption of business models, revenue streams, media distinctions, and production practices. This uncertainty has led to many articles, reports, blog posts, and general commentary discussing the future of both journalism and the skills required by journalists to succeed in this environment. This essay analyzes these discourses, focusing specifically on the nature of technology as the sole determiner of journalism’s future, with interventions aimed at journalism education and the structure of newswork. An idealized notion of the technologically adept journalist, ready to usher in digital stability, emerges as the object of these debates and, thanks in large part to the limited scope and ahistorical character of digital discourse, obscures more persistent, systemic critiques of technology and journalism.     

“Not like that,not for that,not by them”: social media affordances of critique

This paper has two objectives: to explicate the sociotechnical conditions that facilitate critique on social media platforms (specifically: Tumblr); and to operationalize a “working theory” from Foucault’s conceptualization of critique. We analyze resistant practices observed (in ethnographic study) in a Not Safe For Work (NSFW) community on Tumblr, arguing that the potential for critique arises there at the intersection of platform architecture and use cultures. Specifically, we show how critique emerges from shared practices of ethics, most visibly enacted through what we call voluntary vulnerability and paying it forward. This potential for critique is arguably at risk with Tumblr’s recent NSFW ban.     

Designs of duty: Using exhibits to build partnerships

Exhibits in academic libraries are drivers for outreach. Many exhibit programs center on national traveling exhibits often because they are well done and already completed. The only input necessary from a host institution is space and a small amount of time to put up the exhibit. Locally made exhibits create a stronger connection to the community, but they are more expensive in terms of time for research and creating the exhibit, and money for printing. The adage “many hands make light work” accurately describes the local exhibit creation process when multiple groups come together. Partnerships between libraries to share exhibit content broaden the Pool of exhibit possibilities and raise awareness of exhibit programs for all partners. In this case, an exhibit at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that focused on veterans and their service-related tattoos was picked up and built upon by Eastern Illinois University. This case study covers multiple libraries, both academic and public, sharing an exhibit about veterans and their tattoos, providing outreach opportunities to veteran and service member populations at all participating libraries     

The secret identity of a biology textbook: straight and naturally sexed

While education communities have well defined commitments to protect their learners from oppressive instructional materials, discourses of science education are often left unexamined. This analysis/critique employs queer theory as a perspective to look at how one widely used textbook in Ontario schools conceptualizes notions of gender and sexuality. Results indicate the use of discourses that promote exclusively heteronormative constructions of sexuality along with sex/gender binaries. Challenging such oppressive misconceptions of sex/gender and sexuality is discussed.     

Considerations for the Occasional Project Manager

Performance improvement professionals who occasionally manage projects can benefit from applying the discipline of project management. This article offers a checklist of proven techniques that lend themselves to most projects. Many techniques are applicable even in organizations lacking a project management culture. These techniques do not assume formal project management training. The checklist draws on common elements identified through a review and analysis of key sources that outline the ingredients for project success, such as communication, stakeholder engagement, executive support, and risk management.     

Producing the docile body: analysing Local Area Under-performance Inspection (LAUI)

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of the Office for Standards in Education (OfSTED), declared a ‘new wave’ of Local Area Under-performance Inspections (LAUI) of schools ‘denying children the standard of education they deserve’. This paper examines how the threat of LAUI played out over three mathematics lessons taught by a teacher in her first year in the profession. A Foucauldian approach is mobilised with regard to disciplinary power and ‘docile bodies’. The paper argues that, in the case in point, LAUI was a tool mediating performative conditions and, ultimately, the docile body. The paper will be of concern to policy sociologists, teachers, school leaders, and those interested in school inspection.