At the end of this message is a description of an interesting initiative.
I would like to talk about this more at our meeting later in the week --
especially whether WATPA wants to get involved and, if so, which school
districts we might wish to work with.
Thanks,
Norm
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http://www.schoolwire.org/asp.htm
ASSOCIATED STUDENT PRESS: the missing link
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Executive Summary:
This initiative creates the nation's first free electronic associated press
for
all K-12 newspapers and broadcasts. Student journalism programs represent
the
nation's largest network of community-based news organizations, yet each
now
publishes in near isolation. This initiative enables students nationwide
to use
inexpensive Internet technology to collaborate, research and report
on-line, but to
deliver their stories on paper or on air so as to reach school community
members on
both sides of the digital divide.
The initiative includes these complementary components that will enable
journalism programs to grow, if they so choose, into dynamic, responsive,
community
publications:
* a web-based ASP "wireroom" enabling students to see and publish each
others' work
* a customized toolbox that gives students easy. helpful tools and links to
journalism organizations, news, technical assistance, and regional source
phone
books
* a student intern-designed webcrawler that creates (JavaSoft has offered
assistance) the first self-updating comprehensive list of student papers
and
broadcasts
* a pilot mentoring program of professional journalists who assist students
by e-mail
* periodic "virtual press conferences" with newsworthy national figures
Most such services are now either unaffordable to most schools or
unavailable altogether. This non-profit program has been the subject of
stories in
USA Today and on NBC, resulting in hundreds of inquiries nationwide and a
student
intern program. Started by a former Los Angeles Times staff writer, it
has outgrown
its volunteer footing. High-profile demonstration projects have shown its
feasibility.
ASP will work vigorously to develop public/private new media business
models not only to make ASP itself "sustainable," but to seek new revenue
streams
for student journalism programs individually, to encourage the growth of
new
programs, and to advocate for universal access to basic communications
tools for all
student journalists.
Active and open partnerships with journalism associations, universities,
school districts, non-profits, news organizations, technology companies,
and are
anticipated. An advisory board made up of working journalists, educators,
and
technology executives is in formation. It is intended that this service
will ultimately
be worldwide, with multilingual editions that serve U.S. immigrant
student families
and student news operations abroad.
As visual and text-based journalistic formats converge in the 21st century,
ASP will offer student broadcasters, writers, photographers, artists,
editors, and
computer programmers a chance to work together to create whole new media
formats
with tools developers will find it worthwhile to provide for testbed
purposes in a
youth market.
Associated Student Press is a non-profit in formation represented fiscally
by
Technology Resources in Elementary Education (TREE), a 501.(c)(3)
95-4331968.
Cowles Media Foundation has become ASP's first founding sponsor. The
Annenberg
School of Journalism has selected ASP as a pilot project for its first
high school
on-line journalism institute summer, 1998.
The Needs: A Host of Inter-Related Opportunities
It is the premise of this initiative that student publications and
broadcasts
constitute an enormous underdeveloped resource which, if linked, could
benefit
individual students while simultaneously informing and vitalizing whole
school
communities.
The nation's largest network of community publications is made up of school
newspapers produced by high schools, middle schools, and even elementary
schools.
Today, these publications function virtually autonomously -- some
brilliantly, some
barely surviving. Student journalists rarely see each other's work, and
meet
colleagues only if they can afford trips to conventions held by active,
but regionally
fragmented student journalism associations nationwide. A few forays into
student
news associations have been attempted in the past, but technology was
primitive,
funding was almost non-existent, and there was no nation-wide consensus
as to need
or mission. Today, extensive input is being sought from students and
advisers, as
well as journalism organizations and professional journalists to ensure
ASP meets its
goals simply and effectively.
Student journalists are in a pivotal position to act as translators for
their
readers and, as a network, to fill critical information gaps. They are
typically early
technology adopters who, even in poor schools, use computers to lay out
the
newspaper. Most can now -- or soon will be able to -- receive information
on-line,
then turn around and publish their stories on paper or on air so as to
help inform
administrators, teachers, parents, and students left on the shoulder of
the information
superhighway.
Student journalists are a highly motivated, self-selecting cross-section of
the
student body. Many are idealistic girls and minorities whose budding
journalism
interests should be encouraged and cultivated by corporate media
organizations. But,
too often they reap little attention -- good or bad -- from adults. By
failing to elevate
their goals - sometimes even to notice their contributions -- we as a
society miss out
on an self-generating school-to-work training opportunity that could
develop
precisely those skills needed by 21st century workforce managers and
community
leaders: literacy, critical thinking, and technological fluency. Studies
show that
college students who worked on school newspapers achieve higher grades in
college
than other students -- no matter what their majors or career goals --
because they
know how to work collaboratively, meet deadlines, write clearly, and
understand
multiple points of view.
The intense commercialism of the Web is threatening to undermine these
diverse, school-based journalism programs. To expand local content,
corporations
are increasingly marketing teen sites that pay student writers, bestow
titles upon
them, or offer prizes as contest rewards. While these sites may be
market-appropriate, the wholly forseeable result is a teen-age brain
drain away from
school-based programs. ASP does not seek to compete with responsible
student-developed news product and is especially supportive of
community-based
youth newspapers that have filled inner-city voids. Nor will it replace
programs; it is
a communications system that links content-makers.
Nonetheless, a real danger exists that school newspapers, many of which are
foundering financially, will follow the path of high school sports
programs, with the
standouts sponsored by high-profile companies and the rest left to
struggle as they
can under the guidance of overworked and under-compensated advisers. It
is a goal
of this project to facilitate independent reporting, writing and Internet
skills by
students so as to support advisers rather than burden them. It should
also be pointed
out that, as schools go on-line, many do so without clear guidelines. ASP
will point
out that journalistic traditions of responsible content,
information-assessment
techniques, and adherence to the First Amendment can serve to ease this
transition for
all schools.
Clearly, this program will benefit mainstream media and society at large by
increasing the pool of diverse and highly qualified future journalists.
It will directly
benefit universities by delivering journalism majors who not only know
how to use
technology as a reporting tool, but who have experience in taking on
issues outside
their campus walls. It should also inure to the benefit of corporate
technology
sponsors that will find it in their interest to offer cutting-edge tools
to students as a
testbed.
ASP should also help education and community advocates that develop
campaigns to get students to vote, to stay in school. Few of these groups
think to
inform school newspapers of their efforts. Instead, advocates struggle to
"get the
word out" by seeking coverage in mainstream media -- which are simply not
set up to
meet the needs of hundreds of different communities -- and which many
students and
community members never see anyway. The result is a churning of problems
in poor
school communities and a failure to involve those who have the most at
stake: the
students themselves.
A single concrete example demonstrates how this program might help
improve school communities. In the spring of 1997, Superintendent of
Schools
Delaine Easton informed every California school principal by mail that
schools
could qualify for 50% discounts in telecommunications; all they had to do
was apply.
At last count, barely half had done so. What might have happened if
student editors
had been informed of that news story? If they had conducted an on-line
press
conference with the superintendent and published it in their papers?
Would such
inaction have been tolerated at so many campuses?
PROGRAM ELEMENTS
Associated Student Press
The wireroom that is the heart of the ASP will be an on-line list of
constantly
updating stories, broadcasts, and images submitted by student journalists
or their
advisors. Much in the manner editors currently read an Associated Press
wire,
students will be able to peruse each others' work and download any
content they
wish to re-publish. They may also upload their own work for republishing.
Students
will also be encouraged to collaborate independently. This means an
editorial
cartoonist from one school might illustrate an editorial written by a
student far away,
or that two or more students will be able jointly report a single trend
story.
Upon joining ASP, students and advisers will be asked to read and sign
agreements requiring them to adhere to standard journalism ethics and
permissions
practices. ASP will be automatically notified when material is copied for
reprint so
students may learn which papers carried their work. Though the Associated
Press is
not formally involved in this project, it is a model in that it
encourages all members
to work together without requiring any of them to alter their individual
styles,
standards or missions. Specialized wires, such as regional and sports,
will be
developed.
This ASP website will be for its users only; a simple, user-friendly,
password-protected cgi-based program with appealing graphics designed for
functionality.
Database
Unlike professional journalists, students can't simply call up each other's
work on a computer or send for clips from the library. The goal here is
to provide a
Nexis-style search engine that will dynamically update all content on all
student
newspapers worldwide. This is an enormous job, but not a cutting-edge
technical
challenge. Partnerships will be sought with commercial companies to help
shoulder
this burden.
In the meantime, upon launch, a site-based search engine will enable
students
to search all stories submitted to the Associated Student Press wireroom.
Student Toolbox
This is a working interface that indirectly suggests ways for students to
improve and enhance their reporting, their reach, and their skills.
Included are links
to: virtual press conferences, education action sites, a threaded student
discussion,
freeware and software sites that encourage creative use of the web, and
other tools
now being developed. Students will be encouraged to contribute their own
tools to
this box, and their contributions in this arena, as in others, will be
noted.
Emphasis will be on simple, workable links that can be used by most school
computers. An example: Opera, a Finland-based company that makes
streamlined
browsers that run easily on 386 computers, has agreed to donate 100
copies to
student editors. Efforts will be made to notify ASP members of
inexpensive, useful
tools.
Virtual Press Conferences
Working with appropriate partners, the Associated Student Press will seek
to schedule on-line "press conferences" with figures of national interest
to student
journalists and their readers. These may include public officials,
athletes, authors,
artists, professors, inventors, community leaders, business executives.
To participate,
students submit questions electronically, but write stories that later
appear in school
newspapers or broadcasts. Stories may also be submitted to the ASP
wireroom.
A demonstration project featuring FCC Chair Reed Hundt was held at the
spring, 1997 convention of the Journalism Education Assn/National Student
Press
Assn. DemocracyNet, which broadcasts Congressional hearings on-line, has
also
indicated its interest in working with ASP.
The Associated Student Press Annual Project
This project, targeted for year two, should become a named annual effort
developed with such partners as PBS, the Center for Investigative
Reporting, IRE, or
major university journalism departments. It will encourage students to
work together
with media professionals to gather detailed data, photos, anecdotes,
video, etc. that
can appear in a mainstream media documentary or publication. Topics might
delve
into an issue ignored or superficially treated in the press. One example:
TV ratings
systems, do they work? Another: the impact of the $2.25-billion Universal
Service
subsidy for school technology. Who's applying? Are funds equitably
distributed?
What sorts of technologies are schools choosing? Are students benefiting
from them?
Could students, using dynamic database software, produce a web-based
story
showing our nation's "crumbling schools?"
For more information:
Laurie Becklund
voice. 213-856-4223 or 888-213-NEWS
fax. 213-856-0673
becklund@earthlink.net
Temporary ASP logo designed by Trey Csar,
Editor-in-chief, The Predator,
Boca Raton Community High School