From left: Leonard Witt, William Harnisch, Ruth Ann Harnisch, Dr. Daniel Papp

Kennesaw State University awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters to Ruth Ann Harnisch, a philanthropist whose foundation has supported cutting-edge approaches to gathering and disseminating news.

The honorary doctorate ─ the 14th awarded in Kennesaw State’s 49-year history ─ was bestowed today during the university’s commencement ceremony for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Harnisch, a former journalist with more than 30 years of experience in print and broadcasting, is president of the New York-based Harnisch Foundation, which in 2009 awarded $1.5 million to establish the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State.

“Kennesaw State University is pleased to award this honorary doctorate to Ms. Harnisch,” said Kennesaw State President Daniel S. Papp.  “In so doing, we are recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of an exceptional person, known nationally as a philanthropist who truly has made a difference, as well as a ground-breaking journalist.”

A self-described “recovering journalist” and “donor activist,” Harnisch is a proponent of creative philanthropy that produces sustainable social change.  She founded The Harnisch Foundation in 1998.

Harnisch said she was drawn to the idea of funding the Center for Sustainable Journalism after reading blogs by Leonard Witt, Kennesaw State’s Robert D. Fowler Distinguished Chair in Communication and the center’s executive director. The center is designed to research and develop ethical and sustainable new ways to produce and distribute news.  It is home to the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, the only national news website covering juvenile justice. In March, the center announced that it will begin publishing Youth Today, a nationally distributed print and online newspaper targeted to professionals in the youth services field.

“The honor of working with Len Witt and his team is reward enough,” said Harnisch, whose foundation supports other experiments in producing and distributing news and information, as well as collegiate journalism programs. “While I am pleased to receive the honorary doctorate, Kennesaw State’s innovative, cutting-edge experiments in new ways of delivering high-quality information are what is important and what I hope everyone will notice. The Center for Sustainable Journalism is making strides as a leader in a thoughtful conversation that is important for our nation to have about juvenile justice.”

Witt attributes the Center for Sustainable Journalism’s important work to Harnisch’s “intellectual, inspirational and financial support.”

“Thanks to her visionary work, the center can have a lasting impact on the way journalism is practiced and also on the way our most disadvantaged children are perceived,” Witt said.  “She is truly deserving of this special honor.”

Harnisch started her career at the Buffalo (NY) Courier-Express and worked 17 years as a columnist for the Nashville (Tenn.) Banner.  She hosted a radio talk show on WLAC-AM and worked 15 years as a television news reporter and anchor for Nashville’s CBS affiliate.

Harnisch’s career expanded to include her interests in philanthropy and professional coaching.  A certified master coach, Harnisch was a founding funder of The Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School’s McLean Hospital. The institute is an outgrowth of the grant-making Foundation of Coaching, which Harnisch created with David Goldsmith in 2006 to support academic research in the coaching field.

In addition, Harnisch supports the “Ideas Worth Spreading” mission of the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) community. She is a founding funder of the TED Fellows program, which brings together world-changing achievers, and a co-founder of SupporTED, an independent program offering pro bono coaching and mentoring to the TED Fellows.

Harnisch is a member of Women Moving Millions, a philanthropic initiative of women who give at least $1 million dollars to non-profits benefiting women and girls. She also holds a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Baruch College in New York.

The Center for Sustainable Journalism is looking for a highly-skilled, qualified employee to lead online production, web development and digital strategy for YouthToday.org and the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (JJIE.org) – national publications covering various aspects of youth issues, policy and industry news. The successful applicant will be a self-starter with strong time-management and organizational skills, possess a working knowledge of journalism processes and applicable ethics, and must be proficient in related technologies. He/she will be responsible for preparing Center for Sustainable Journalism and related projects’ content for web distribution in a timely manner, maintaining web operations for all CSJ and JJIE online real-estate, and coordinating SEO and other digital strategies to drive readership in conjunction with print products and various departments. The successful candidate will demonstrate an understanding of design, usability, innovative content delivery and online community management as they pertain to a digital-first newsroom. This role will coordinate with the JJIE.org Editor and the CSJ’s Marketing and Logistics Manager to support the respective objectives of each strategy, department and mission.

Responsibilities:

• Maintain CSJ and JJIE web properties, including the delivery of all online and multimedia content, in conjunction with print and other deadlines.
• Work with the editorial and development team to ensure the community platform (ex. forums, blogs, moderation tools) influences the roadmap to monetizing the project.
• Implement digital marketing and online community strategy, coordinating with key team members across the organization to ensure effectiveness.
• Leverage existing and emerging social media channels and properties for newsgathering and fact-checking purposes. Train editorial staff as necessary.
• Act as an advocate of the Center in the brand’s community and as the advocate of the community within the organization, engaging in dialogues and answering questions where appropriate.
• Supporting graphic design work for the CSJ and projects as needed.
• SEO, keyword and other digital research to ensure effectiveness of digital strategy, as needed.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree and two years experience in news or PR organization with a digital-first model, or equal combination of education and experience.
• Creative, diplomatic, cool under pressure and fantastic interpersonal skills.
• Strong time management and organizational skills.
• Basic understanding and execution of design principles.
• Advanced knowledge of the field of journalism, specifically surrounding issues related to juvenile justice and youth.
• Ability to effectively communicate information and ideas in written, verbal and visual formats.
• Good technical understanding and can pick up new tools quickly.
• The ability to work nights and weekends as needed.
• Working knowledge of:
  • HTML and CSS. Javascript, Actionscript, ColdFusion markup language a plus
  • Adobe Creative Suite
  • Adobe Lightroom
  • WordPress CMS and Headway theme
  • Final Cut Studio video editing software
  • MAC and Windows OS
  • Digital research and newsgathering practices
  • Social media platforms and application

Send cover letter, resume and applicable work samples to info@youthtoday.org by May 1, 2012. PLEASE include “Online Producer” as the subject line.

KENNESAW, Ga. — The Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University will begin publishing Youth Today immediately.

“Having Youth Today housed at Kennesaw State University is a perfect fit,” said Ken Harmon, KSU provost. “We have undergraduate and advanced degree programs in compatible areas, including journalism, social work, criminology, conflict management, educational leadership and other health and human sciences, all of which can provide best practice training and research to advance the Youth Today mission.”

Leonard Witt, executive director of the Center for Sustainable Journalism, said the addition of Youth Today to the center’s publishing portfolio is an excellent extension of the work it does.

“We now publish the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, JJIE.org, the only entity to cover juvenile justice every day with professional journalists, so this is a natural addition to the work we do,” Witt said. “We will be able to get Youth Today back to its full potential, while expanding the JJIE.org reach at the same time.”

Financial challenges almost led to the demise of the subscription-based newspaper Youth Today, which was founded in 1984, but Witt says it is now posed to be better than ever at Kennesaw State University.

“The board has been working hard to deal with the organization’s financial challenges and to ensure the survival of Youth Today,” said Brant Houston, board chair of the American Youth Work Center, which is Youth Today’s umbrella organization. “We are pleased that Leonard Witt and Kennesaw State have agreed to produce Youth Today and we are confident that under their stewardship the publication will be a success.”

John Fleming, JJIE.org editor, who now will provide editorial leadership for both publications, said, “Our children are our country’s most treasured resource. The people who serve them must have a trusted source of high quality information, which has been the hallmark of Youth Today. Now that legacy will go forward into the future with an added dose of investigative reporting.”  

Additional updates coming soon.

Twitter has been great because it adds a value to my life I just can’t get from other services. Where else can you just poof have a conversation with a major CEO, or managing editor, or a long-revered photojournalist? Professionally it’s been great. Heck, I even landed my job at the Center for Sustainable Journalism on Twitter.

But, I’ll admit, with all the junk floating around I find it laborious to sign on, check someone’s feed and do a through evaluation of their personality traits every time I get a “new follower” update in my inbox.

Honestly, I’ve gotten to the point that I can tell pretty much everything I need to know about you from the graphic in my e-mail.

My primary use of Twitter is for professional development and staying connected with others in my field. I have a few friends, but I’m just not the ‘let’s live tweet the season premiere of XYZ’ kind of guy.

With that said, the little graphic that ends up in my e-mail is basically your cover letter. You are tasked with convincing me (and everyone/anyone else) that you’re actually worth following. Here’s how to do it:

1. Make the link between your profile name and you obvious.
   Sorry FernGuyz87, but after a while I WILL forget your name was George from that conversation we had 10 months ago. Make the connection between who you are and/or what you do with your name. If you get a good, widely-known name that may be worth keeping (I’m facebook.com/multimediajournalist, for example), but otherwise go with your real name or an easy to understand – and short – abbreviation. Not doing this can show a lack of attention to detail.
2. Tell me what you do and offer some insight into your personality or life, quickly.
   Bio box time. Give your title, or perspective title, who you are, and (indirectly) why you’d be interesting to follow. The point, I think, is to have fun with it a bit. Twitter is more informal to platforms like LinkedIn, allowing users to have normal, day-to-day type communications and get to know some interesting people that may not have otherwise met.
3. Are you a follower or leader?
   I hate to sound like a marketer, but your ratio of the number of people you follow compared to the number of people who follow you does matter a bit. Don’t go follow 800 people when only 60 people follow you. It says much more if you have 60 followers and only follow 20 people. Big numbers aren’t the most important things.
4. You’ve only sent four tweets… ever?!
   Seriously? You’ve only sent four tweets? Well, if you are a real person, you should use it more. Honestly, following you probably wouldn’t add any value to my day. The main thing is, though, that is a quick indicator that you’re looking at a junk, spam or bot account. If you’re new to the game play around and talk to some random people before you try and get a follow back from your idol. You may only get one shot. On that note, the best way to get followers is to, well, tweet a lot. Go figure.
5. How many mutual friends do we have?
   If you do everything else right then I don’t put much weight on our mutual friends. Twitter is great for meeting new people. But if I’m still a little weary I’ll check this box out. Obviously, the more friends we mutually follow (and that follow each of us) shows you’re a cool cat and we can be friends.

So, that’s my advice for optimizing you profile to get more follow-backs. What’s yours? Oh, if you want feel free to follow me on Twitter

In the social media world things tend to change quickly. A year may as well be a decade, or at least it seems. Videoinfographs.com has put together a great, engaging video infographic with the tweet, liked and +plus-ed trends of the year. One of the most interesting? More people are now on Facebook than own cars in the world…

With new years right around the corner one has to wonder what’s in store for 2012. With this brief look at the year past we say cheers to the futures.

Developing an online presence for professional development can no longer afford to be an after thought. Increasingly companies are turning to web and social media sites when looking for perspective employees or considering applicants during the interview process.

The same report by Career Xroads found more than a quarter of hired job seekers found their new position based on professional referrals. Fortunately, many possible referrers are online too, greatly enhancing our abilities to stay connected and expand our established networks.

Social media sites are a great way to do this since they’re designed for person-to-person interactions. In the end, however, social media may just be a part of your overall web persona.

LinkedIn, the only social networking site set up specifically for professional networking, is a good place to really expand your network, showcase your talents and leave a digital footprint that appeals to perspective employers. With more than 100 million professionals on the site, and 44 million of those being in the United States, LinkedIn is a strategic platform to accelerate your career goals – but only to the extent you’re willing to maintain your presence on the site.

Creating a half-completed profile, posting unclear or grammatically incorrect information or showing that you don’t understand how to use the platform can be detrimental to your job efforts.

These five tips should help you build, enhance or expand your LinkedIn job-hunting tactics and push you one step closer to that dream job.

1. Complete your profile:
   We mentioned this briefly above, but it really is important. Fill out all relevant information that is RELATED TO THE JOB you’re after. Consider omitting unrelated experience unless it adds credentials toward the position you’re after. Upload a professional photo and keep the content of your profile professional and well edited. Personalize your URL.
2. Work your connections:
   LinkedIn offers a number of ways to connect to your existing address books online and find existing connects. Use these to get started. Ask close connections for recommendations of your work. Try NOT to connect with people randomly. Those tactics may work well on Twitter or Facebook, but LinkedIn is about developing a real, tangible network of industry connections. With that said, don’t be shy about asking for an introduction to someone you’d like to meet through a shared connection. Most experiences I’ve had with this have been very positive.
3. Build your reputation:
   So you’ve tapped out your personal network and run into another hurdle in your job hunt. Now what? LinkedIn offers a number of groups around industry and other topics. These can be a great place to meet people in the field, show off your knowledge and possibly catch the eye of an industry recruiter.
4. Update your profile:
   Think of your LinkedIn profile as your online resume. Get someone (friend, career advisor, anyone really) to spell-check your work. Connect your other social and other web sites to your profile, along with basic contact information like an e-mail address. Make yourself easy to find, understand and appealing to busy recruiters and others tasked with the hoopla of hiring. Extras, such as multimedia elements or embedded slideshows can add a bit of flare to your efforts.
5. Share often:
   Compared to Twitter and Facebook, conversations on LinkedIn tend to be a little slower-paced, taking place over the course of days instead of seconds and minutes. Many people sync their LinkedIn profile with other, more active sites such as Twitter or a blog RSS feed. This isn’t a bad idea, but make sure your content is relevant and professional. Also, consider the size of your following on LinkedIn and their usage patterns so you don’t overwhelm them with updates.

Really, these are kind of the basics, but they tend to get overlooked. Feel free to add your advice below. If there’s a big enough response we’ll do an intermediate, or more-focused, post on leveraging LinkedIn for job hunting.

Up next, the five reasons you don’t get followed back on Twitter.

The Public Insight Network (PIN), a platform that helps journalists and citizens reach beyond PR professionals and media pundits to connect with experts and influencers within the community they serve, will basically serve the same function, but with the added ability to raise money from the communities PIN connections help forge.

For the time being at least, not much will change for Spot.Us or PIN. Here is an excerpt from the e-mail Spot.Us sent to community members early yesterday:

For the moment the functional changes to Spot.Us are minimal. Our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy will be updated along with reporter contracts on December 1st and we encourage you check back then (don’t worry, the changes are Kosher to Spot.Us’ values and ethos). I will remain at the helm but working with PIN to hand over certain responsibilities (this will be the last year I file our taxes!). We will remain on a credit system which means if a story doesn’t reach its goal you’ll receive credits back in your account and you can use those to fund a different story. Over the next few months, we’re going to be gradually integrating Spot.Us and PIN in a manner that pushes forward our vision for a media that is responsible and responsive to the public’s needs. It’s going to be freak’n awesome!

It seems like a solid idea. PIN and Spot.Us are connecting dots for journalists, pooling critical resources like sources and funding in a single place. It will be interesting to see how the collaboration/merger evolves.

Spot.Us brings a community of more than 12,000 members (about half of which have actually donated to a story) to PIN’s network of more than 120,000 sources. Presumably, the Spot.Us aspect of the company should see considerable growth and increased engagement as story pitches find their way in front of a larger pool of experts and community members interested in the topic(s).

The Public Insight Network is operated by American Public Media, the largest owner and operator of public radio stations in the United States.

Photo credit: Jules Brelaz

Competing for attention in the digital age is no easy task, and it takes a keen business sense to be successful. While journalists are good at journalism, what many of these start-ups lack is the business skills to find sufficient revenue to remain sustainable. Just 69% of respondents to this survey even have a business plan, and just 13% ranked their senior management team at the top in business skills.

And it seems that nothing too innovative is being done  (yet) by way of generating revenue. The highest ranking revenue streams are foundation grants, individual donations, and advertising. There is hope, however. The vast majority of respondents are optimistic that the journalism-heavy organizations can be successful in a business environment.

It will be interesting to see where these organizations are in a year.

Here is the full study.

Computational Journalism is defined as the application of computation to the activities of journalism such as information gathering, organization, communication, and dissemination of information, while upholding values of journalism such as accuracy and verifiability.

I am publisher of our Center for Sustainable Journalism’s Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, JJIE.org.
We are only folks covering juvenile justice with professional journalists everyday. People apparently like what we are doing because we have 31,000 unique visitors a month and about 2,000 page views a day. Still we think we are only scratching the surface of our full potential.

How can we use computational journalism or the very smart crowd at Georgia Tech to help us answer these questions?

Can computers reach out and pull in this kind of information for us as we just sit back and watch it happen:

• Who is professionally covering juvenile justice?
• Who is interested in juvenile justice?
• Who is writing about it, producing content, but is not a professional?
• Who is studying it?
• Who is affected by it?
• Who works in the juvenile justice space?
• Who is simply interested in the topic?

Once we identify all those individuals in those groups how can we make them aware of what we are doing and bring all their energy, thought and production into the JJIE.org?

Then how might we provide added value to them that they might support us financially?

Got any answers, let us know. Thanks.