One feeling I’ve never been able to shake in this class is that we’re in uncharted territory.  The area of journalism covered by Toolkit is like Jello that hasn’t set yet.  Everything about it still way too fluid from the technology to the practice.

My other classes at UF in the practical matters of journalism have been based in what actually happens in the field.  However, with Toolkit, I know that the newsrooms are figuring out what to do with new media at the same time we are trying to prepare ourselves for careers.  To be honest, it’s a little disconcerting, and it makes me want to have the option of taking this class again in two years and again two years after that and so on and so on.   But then again, that’s probably why I’m drawn to it.  To appreciate new media, you have to be willing to accept that there’s always something newer coming down the pike.

That being said, I think as this class earns its legs, there’s a real need to have some of the material from it bleed into the other classes in journalism schools.

Over the semester, I’ve thought about some of my undergrad classes and how they would have better prepared me for the journalism world if they’d introduced some of the collection methods we’ve talked about this semester.

For instance, I don’t think I would appreciate Soundslides as I do had I not taken literary journalism.  Understanding how the elements of a style can be used to breathe life into a true story is vital to seeing why some of the Soundslides Mindy has shown us this semester resonate with us.

Other classes I’ve thought about are reporting and editing.   Everything we learned in reporting class about collecting good information,  and editing class about how to pick the information that pops, seemed SO much more vital when making a Soundslide.  Maybe this is because of the limited about of time in a Soundslide.

I’ve also found myself envious of classes that will come after us.   Although, I wouldn’t have wanted not to be taking this class at this time.   I know it’s the kind of class that will get better as technology advances and as the professionals feel out what they want from graduates.  I kind of like having a seat in the middle of all of it to see what’s to come.  I wouldn’t have wanted to miss it.

More than all of the academic studies that go with other grad classes, this class has succeeded in making me think about what kind of journalism I’d like to see practiced in the future.   As groovy as I think Soundslides are, I also think there’s a case to be made out there for the written story.  As we culled out content to fit into Soundslides, I really, really missed how using words and the space that goes along with a written story to go more in-depth.   It worries me a little bit.  This is going to seem like a snooty print-major comment.  But as print journalists take up learning some of the ways of broadcast journalists and we teach audiences to expect this form of journalism from us, I fear the loss of the depth and details that come with a written story.

For me, I think that’s what I’d like best to see resolved as we continue to sort out what goes into a journalist’s toolkit.  Well, that and how to carry all cameras, recorders, mics and mic stands around with us.  It sure was a lot easier to tuck my pen behind my ear and shove a reporter’s notebook in the back pocket of my jeans.