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#Wjchat debuted last week with the general question “What is the job of a web journalist and what skills do you need?”
In its second week, the chat will take a more specific turn: geekspeak. Greg Linch of Publish2 will moderate the chat tonight after accepting an invitation from #wjchat organizers. He’ll focus on journalism and coding in the weekly web journalism Twitter chat.
Linch said he wanted to talk about relationships between journalists and coders in the newsroom and what journos and coders can learn from each other.
I asked him a few questions through email in advance of the chat. Below is an edited version of our conversation.
Why did you choose to talk about coding?
I thought the intersection of coding and journalism would make a good topic, generally, because of the widespread interest in this area and, specifically, because the previous chat started to scratch the surface. So I thought it might be good to delve deeper and bring together a group with more diverse skill sets and experiences, including coders.
Do you think it’s an important thing for journalists to understand? Why?
I think it’s important for journalists who don’t have a technical background to better understand what might seem like wizardry and alien tongues. That’s not to say every journalist needs to be a programmer. What we need to do is look at the landscape as an equal plane of journalists who use different tools to do their jobs.
At a fundamental level, first there must be a mutual respect and appreciation for what everyone does. Next, they need to be able to communicate and collaborate. These three steps are also a good launching point for non-coding journalists to start learning skills.
That said, I don’t think there’s a set ladder to climb — there are various ways to starting learning to code, including jumping in on your own.
What’s your hope in discussing the topic?
My goal is to have a constructive conversation where participants offer original, insightful comments based on their experiences. I hope to keep the conversation moving forward and not rehashing old silly arguments. Instead, the focus is what we can all learn from each other, brainstorm ideas, share tips and keep the discussion going beyond a one-time chat.
I know why I’m involved in #wjchat. Why do you choose to be involved in it?
I’m involved with #wjchat because I think there’s a lot of potential to learn from one another. Generally, I don’t think Twitter is the best platform for such conversations because of the nature of the medium, but I think it’s important to help in any way I can and encourage others to do the same.
#Wjchat is tonight from 8 to 10 p.m. EST. You can see what people are saying about the chat
here.
2 Comments
February 17, 2010 at 11:43 am
[...] Portfolio What inspires you? #Wjchat preview: A Q & A with moderator Greg Linch [...]
February 17, 2010 at 12:56 pm
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by greglinch: @emilymonacelli wrote a #wjchat preview http://bit.ly/bSr6Ca and did a Q&A with me about the topic http://bit.ly/aY5EIV...