A program of the Knight Chair in Journalism, the UNESCO
Chair in Communication at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin
Thanks to all the researchers who submitted papers or abstracts for ISOJ 2012. You will be notified the status of your submission by mid-February 2012.
Welcome to the 12th International Symposium on Online Journalism!
The ISOJ 2011 was held at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center on The University of Texas at Austin campus, on April 1-2, representing an impressive line-up of journalists, media executives and scholars from around the world.
Check the full program of the conference. In the coming weeks, videos and slide presentations from the two-day event will be posted here.
By: Lauren Abram, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
The use of social media in the realm of journalism was a topic at the 12th Annual ISOJ. One research panel, All About the Tweet and More, got right to that point.
The panel included Cindy Royal and Dale Blasingame of Texas State University, Carrie Brown of the University of Memphis, Marcus Messner of VCU, and Elvira Garcia de Torres of Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera, Spain.
Read More >>
By: Nikki N. Kim, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
Beyond News Routines, Beyond News Consumption, an ISOJ panel chaired by UT-Austin's Tom Johnson, worked as a smooth transition from Friday’s panels on cutting-edge innovations of news industry.
The research panel included Ahmed El Gody of Orebro University, Sweden, Angela Lee from University of Pennsylvania, Jonathan Groves of Drury University and Carrie Brown of University of Memphis, and H. Iris Chyi, Monica Chadha, Ingrid Bachmann, Summer Harlow, and Brian Baresch of UT Austin.
By: Faiza Hassan, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
Former online editor of the New York Times and ex-CEO and President of National Public Radio Vivian Schiller delivered they keynote address that kicked off the 12th International Symposium on Online Journalism.
The symposium, which ran from April 1-2, hosted an array of journalists from all over the world at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center in Austin, Texas.
Glenn Frankel, the director of the school of journalism at the University of Texas, briefly introduced Schiller. Frankel called NPR a "disgrace" for firing and publicly humiliating Schiller.
By: Zach Miller, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
ISOJ speakers addressed innovative and effective ways to work with the community and have them happily work with the news.
VG Multimedia editor-in-chief Espen Hansen presented ways the in which his site excels with community needs right when they need it.
When the Icelandic volcano sent massive clouds of dust disrupting air travel, the site acted quickly to help the community. They created a page focused on getting people home.
By: Wendy Rubick, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
Warren Webster, president of Patch Media, spoke on the rise of hyperlocal Patch.com Saturday afternoon.
"To point to Vivian Schiller's point 'Is this real journalism?' We say yes," Webster said, adding that local editors had an average nine-year background in journalism.
By: Oscar D. Gomez, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
The 12th ISOJ with the research panel, Beyond the Conversation, Beyond Engagement.
Chris Kabwato, from the School of Journalism and Media Studies of the Rhodes University at South Africa chaired the panel that included C.W. Anderson, from the College of Staten Island (CUNY), Alfred Hermida, from the UBC Grad School of Journalism in Canada, Seth Lewis, from the University of Minnesota, and Kang Hui Baek and Mark Coddington, from the University of Texas at Austin.
Jim Brady, former editor of TBD.com and WashingtonPost.com, set the tone for a professional panel on engaging the audience at #ISOJ by saying they were going to stick to time and leave plenty of time for questions.
First up was Espen Egil Hansen, editor-in-chief of VG Multimedia, Norway. He started by stating that he tells his journalists to spend a minimum of 10% of time interacting and engaging with readers.
The afternoon keynote at the ISOJ was by Warren Webster, president of Patch Media.
Depending on who you listen to, Patch is or isn’t journalism. But it is hiring journalists and has a presence in 800 US towns. It has 50% penetration in these markets and is growing in monthly visits by more than 40%.
The percentage of traffic from AOL is fairly small compared to other traffic, said Webster. Rather people are finding Patch sites through Facebook.
The Patch president likened Facebook to having a newspaper box on the street corner.
With social recommendation becoming an increasingly important way that people get the news, the final research paper at ISOJ looked at how news travels on social networks.
The research paper by Brian Baresch, Dustin Harp, Lewis Knight and Carolyn Yaschur from the University of Texas at Austin surveyed 78 US Facebook users and the links they shared.
By: By Lara Berendt, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
Today's panel on the sustainability of the nonprofit online journalism model sparked a lively discussion that included journalism education, news business models, credibility, and collaboration.
Lisa Frazier of The Bay Citizen, the Texas Tribune's John Thornton, and Gustavo Gorriti of Peru's IDL-Reporteros each spoke on the solvency of their publications and their outlooks on the future of the nonprofit online news model.
The research presented at ISOJ by Jonathan Groves, Drury University and Carrie Brown, University of Memphis, looked at the Christian Science Monitor’s transition from print to web.
For the paper, the researchers spent three weeks in the newsroom, watching how journalists worked and talking to them about journalism.
The Monitor started in 1908 as a daily newspaper distributed by mail and switched to web-only daily in March 2009, with a print daily.
By: Elizabeth Blancas, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
Based on an extensive analysis of 19 newspaper websites in Latin America (some 2,300 articles), UT Austin doctoral students Summer Harlow and Ingrid Bachmann honed in on the multimedia features of each site, the interactivity options and engagements, and the promotion of participatory journalism.
They found that less than a fifth of the stories contained links to other information and few sites offered citizen engagement beyond reader comments or contact information.
Should new outlets continue to press toward digital innovations? Yes, but perhaps not without more though, according to Dr. Iris Chyi of the University of Texas at Austin and Monica Chada, a doctoral student at UT.
"The web is not a primary revenue driver," Chyi said, speaking during the second Saturday panel of ISOJ. "Instead, the majority of revenue continues to come from print editions."
By: Sam Bohmfalk, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
Madanmohan Rao, an influential Indian writer and media consultant, spoke Saturday on the effects of mobile media and nine other trends in the emerging markets of Asia and Africa.
According to Rao mobile media in the political arena is making headway. From Egypt to India, citizens are advocating for more freedom and using social media and news sites to make their voices heard.
The first panel on day two of the ISOJ tackled one of the big questions in journalism – is nonprofit journalism online sustainable?
“We don’t know,” said Lisa Frazier, President & CEO, The Bay Citizen, one of the new startups in this area.
The Bay Citizen has a clear civic mission to provide local news and, secondly, to stimulate innovation in journalism, with 27 people working in editorial and innovation.
By: Annika Erdman, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
Cindy Royal, who first attended ISOJ the year before she started UT's doctoral program in 1999 and hasn't missed one since, moderated the final ISOJ panel session Friday.
Royal, who earlier tweeted, "This is event has grown so much in 12 years! @rosental announcing new journal! @ Opening Session #isoj http://gowal.la/p/cUBr #photo," said she keeps up with friends from the symposium on Twitter, which is fitting for the panel she guided (All About the Tweet and More).
By: Casey Vaughn, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
CNN.com vice president and managing editor Meredith Artley spoke Friday on how CNN embraces its audience and the future of journalism by going beyond breaking news.
Artley said that while stories about Lindsay Lohan and missing snakes were interesting, people wanted more than fluff. Stories coming out of the tragedy in Japan, she said, show audiences understand and want to interact with the news.
By: Lacey Elick, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
Jim Gerber, director of content partnerships with Google, opened a panel discussion of the challenges to paid news content by citing three critical areas: (1) sustaining traffic while bringing in and maintaining advertising without alienating consumers; (2) managing access and revenue models; and (3) selling across multiple platforms.
Gerber then focused on how Google's recently launched One Pass could be a tool for publishers to address these challenges. One Pass provides access to multiple news platforms for one set fee.
The first research paper at ISOJ from Tanja Aitamurto, University of Tampere, Finland, and Seth Lewis, University of Minnesota, looked at processes of innovation.
Presenting the paper, Lewis highlighted the challenge facing news organizations today: keeping up with modern demands for R&D while finding new sources of revenue.
In the session on paywalls at the ISOJ, Jorge Meléndez, vice president for new media, Grupo Reforma (Mexico), explained how the newspapers have had paywalls since 2002.
The newspaper sites were free for the first two years. But they realized there was a very small online advertising market so the group just did it. Part of this involved an active strategy to convert newspaper subscribers online.
By: Lacey Elick, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
Mark Medici, Dallas Morning News' director of audience development, discussed the implementation of a Dallas Morning News pay option: subscriber content.
Companies cannot fail to innovate, Medici said, otherwise they fail. So the Dallas Morning News is trying to innovate by empowering and understanding their consumers.
Just days after The New York Times paywall went live, media executives gathered at the 12th International Symposium on Online Journalism to discuss the merits and challenges of charging for newspaper content in an environment where readers are used to accessing online news for free.
The panel, “Paywalls: Charging for News Content. Does it Work?,” opened ISOJ with presentations from Jim Gerber, director of content partnerships for Google; Mark Medici, director of audience development for the Dallas Morning News; Jorge Meléndez, new media director for Grupo Reforma in Mexico; and Eivind Thomsen of the Schibsted Media Group in Norway.
In her talk “Reasons to be Cheerful: An Optimist’s view on the State of Digital Journalism,” Vivian Schiller gave seven reasons to be optimistic about where journalism is headed.
Schiller, who resigned her post as NPR's CEO last month after gaffes at NPR on her watch, gave a keynote address at the 12th International Symposium on Online Journalism, which began today.
By: Sean Beherec, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
For the first time in the 12-year history of the International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ), the research presented at the conference will be available in e-book and traditional printed form.
Rosental Alves, Knight Chair in Journalism and UNESCO Chair in Communication at the University of Texas at Austin, announced the ISOJ journal during his opening remarks Friday.
By: Wendy Rubick, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
The president of Patch Media will discuss the building of a platform for neighborhood news and information at the International Symposium on Online Journalism on April 2.
Warren Webster heads Patch Media, a division of AOL that is responsible for Patch.com, a network of hyperlocal news sites. He will give his keynote address starting at 1:30 p.m.
By: Joe Holloway, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
Nonprofit news organizations have been popping up on the Internet in the past couple of years, but the growing concern is: Will these news sites sustain their operations once foundation grants and donations run out? This topic will be dissected by leaders of nonprofit journalism sites from the United States and Peru at the online journalism symposium on April 2.
By: Faiza Hassan, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
Veteran media executive and online journalism expert Vivian Schiller will kick off the International Symposium on Online Journalism with her keynote address set for 8:45 a.m. on April 1.
By: Rebecca Adams, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
The hotly debated topic of charging for access to online news will be addressed during a panel titled "Paywalls: Charging for news content. Does it work?" on the first day of the online journalism symposium.
Chaired by Tim Lott, vice-president/audience strategy at The Austin American-Statesman, the panel gets underway at 9:30 a.m. on April 1 and features a range of opinions from Norway and Mexico, as well as from representatives from Google and The Dallas Morning News.
By: Casey Vaughn, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
The vice-president and managing editor of CNN.com will engage participants at this year's online journalism symposium with a keynote address titled "Beyond breaking news."
Meredith Artley, in charge of a website considered to be the top provider of mobile news in the United States, according to Nielsen, will give her address starting at 1:30 p.m. on April 1.
By: Sam Bohmfalk, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
Prolific Internet consultant and author Madanmohan Rao will deliver the keynote address to kick-off the second day of the symposium on online journalism. Starting at 9 a.m. on April 2 Rao will talk about "Redefining Asia, Redefining Media."
Rao, from India, has edited three book series: "The Knowledge Management Chronicles," "AfricaDotEdu," and "The Asia Pacific Internet Handbook." The latter book discusses how the people of Asia are adapting to Internet technologies, such as wireless, and are perhaps better at it than users in Europe and North America.
By: Jordyn Davenport, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
The potential of innovations for news organizations will be tackled by the first research panel of the online journalism symposium, starting at 2 p.m. on April 1.
The panel, called "Examining news innovations," will feature six research projects and be chaired by Amy Schmitz-Weiss, from San Diego State University. The featured papers discuss changes in every aspect of the news process from education to newsroom structures to distribution methods.
By: Annika Erdman, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
The spread of hyperlocal journalism websites across the United States is a hot topic in the media world, one that will be addressed by an industry expert on the second day of the online journalism symposium.
Warren Webster, president of Patch Media, will give a presentation titled "Building a platform for neighborhood news and information." His keynote address, which starts at 1:30 p.m., kicks off the final afternoon of the symposium.
By: Lauren Abram, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
The first day of the online journalism symposium ends with a panel, called "All About the Tweet and More," which will focus on social media research.
Led by chair Cindy Royal of Texas State University, the panel will explore the ever-changing social media landscape, including the fast-paced world of Twitter.
By: Elizabeth Blancas, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
The social media revolution has completely and forever changed the way news is distributed. During a time when social media has become of vital importance for news organizations to engage readers, the online journalism symposium presents a panel titled “Engaging the communities with the news,” at 2 p.m. on April 2. Representatives from The New York Times and The Washington Post will be present.
By: Lara Berendt, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
Austin venture capitalist and Texas Tribune co-founder and chairman John Thornton will bring his business savvy and zeal for sustainable journalism to this year’s panel discussion on the nonprofit online news model.
By: Sean Beherec, UT Austin Multimedia Journalism Student
The future of newsrooms and how readers consume the news will be two of the topics addressed by a panel of researchers at the International Symposium on Online Journalism on April 2.
The panel, titled "Beyond News Routines, Beyond News Consumption," will feature six papers addressing the evolution of newsrooms, interactivity and trends, and the future of news consumption. Prof. Tom Johnson, from the University of Texas at Austin, will chair the panel which starts at 11 a.m. at the AT&T Conference Center.
With less than a month before the 12th International Symposium on Online Journalism, Rosental Alves, the Knight Chair in International Journalism and the director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin, gives us his impressions on the event.
In this interview, which was shot with an iPhone 4, Prof. Alves talks about the main topics to be covered this year and the evolution of the ISOJ series since they started in 1999.
The 12th International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ) generated a record 50 submissions of academic papers from a variety of universities and countries, confirming the growth of ISOJ’s reputation as a world-class conference. Twenty-two papers were accepted for presentation April 1–2, 2011, at the event hosted by the University of Texas at Austin.
The ISOJ has become one of the most competitive and prestigious international conferences in the field of online journalism for researchers from around the world. The papers submitted are selected in a blind review process by judges from different universities and countries.
Registration has opened for the 12th International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ), taking place April 1–2, 2011, at the University of Texas at Austin. Journalists, media executives, and academics from North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe, will participate in two days of panel discussions, which feature keynote addresses from executives of NPR, CNN.com, and Patch.com.
Participants will discuss many facets of online journalism, including innovations in the industry, economic models, technology and design, social media, nonprofit journalism models, and community engagement with the news.
Thank you for visiting the Web site of the International Symposium on Online Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. You will find here a unique and rich repository of information on the progress of Online Journalism, with comments and insights from professionals and scholars who have been working on the frontlines.
Since 1999, editors, producers, executives, and academics from around the country (and lately from around the world) have gathered in Austin every year (except 2000) to discuss the evolution of this new genre of journalism. The Symposium has been a small, but very intense conference that serves as a barometer for the state of Online Journalism.
