conferences

Fear -- and hope -- in Moscow

Looking over the agenda for the 13th World Editors Forum, which will be held this summer in Moscow, Jeff Jarvis reacts: "I smell fear." Well, I do too. Not everywhere, but in many newsrooms there's a real fear of citizen journalism, ranging from a concern that it will somehow undermine quality and credibility to a paycheck-centered fear that publishers are conspiring to lay off reporters in favor of unpaid citizen labor.

Connections 2006, Orlando

Some weeks you're the windshield, other weeks you're the bug. I feel like I've had one of those weeks. Tomorrow morning I'm heading to Orlando for the Connections conference, the annual get-together of the Newspaper Association of America New Media Federation. Here's hoping it'll be a windshield week. I'll be saying goodbye to the NMF board (my last term is up), handing out some awards, and moderating the "buzz session" in which the attendees are the program.

Stockholm in April, Moscow in June

I'm a sucker for international travel, so I've signed on to speak at the Citygate Forum in Stockholm at the end of April, and at the World Editors Forum in Moscow in June. In both cases I'll be talking about the new, participatory, Web-powered participatory community interaction thing ... and avoiding the baggage-laden "citizen journalism." And I won't mention "witness contributors."