Jay Small's blog

I promised several folks I'd share the slides from my presentation Tuesday at America East in bucolic Hershey, Pa.

Done.

Update (10:28 a.m. ET 5/1/09): Apologies to anyone who tried to download the presentation up to now -- I messed up a permission setting such that you could not see the link. It should be working now.

I commend to you Steve Yelvington's detailed roundup of lessons learned and organizational advice from mergers of print-focused and online-focused content organizations. One of many key points:

"Done right, it's a big win. 'Convergence is, overall, a huge help to innovation,' said one online producer. A senior editor agreed: 'It's a monster plus. Convergence puts you in a position to succeed.' But, he continued, it only opens a door, and you have to walk through it. 'It doesn't guarantee success. That comes from leadership and teamwork. But it puts you in a far better position to head in one direction as a team.'

Ever-industrious Tim Harrower, working on a new edition of one of his textbooks, recently asked me some questions about journalism, online and the intersection of the two. My replies follow. I know he asked others in online media, so I hope maybe some of those folks will share what they said, too -- start of a new meme, perhaps?

On to the Q&A:

Question: Most journalism students are intimidated when professors tell them that, if they want to become reporters, they'll have to write stories, shoot video, narrate slideshows, record podcasts and create Flash graphics. But really, how realistic is that?

I attended RevenueTwoPointZero last Saturday, spent most of my time working with the amazing ad hoc team focused on marketing solutions for small and medium businesses, wrote a hasty summary, then came back home and said nothing more about it.

That silence does not indicate lack of interest -- far from it! Alan Jacobson and Matt Mansfield did a super job putting together the roster, despite my gripes and doubts through the planning. We accomplished much in little time.

Quick takes from Day 1 at NAA MediaXChange in Las Vegas:

• Old friends? Fewer. Attendance is down, no way to hide it -- besides, some of my closest acquaintances have fully or partly left the newspaper end of digital media. I spoke to one friend who said he was here mostly just because his company's executives wanted to make a good showing for NAA to support the industry.
• Old friends in new jobs? More, some by choice, some by necessity.

... how any company that provides expensive, business-critical software as a service via the Web (aka Web services) can refuse to offer a service level agreement to customers -- or act like no one ever asked before.

That is all.