I anticipated that maybe a couple of dozen people might show up. So I was a bit nonplussed when I came on stage — really an altar — and saw at least 200 people seated in the church’s pews to hear our panel.

My message was that if the public doesn’t step up and start to support journalism, it was going to disappear and our democracy was in trouble. I repeated a line I have given before: If you the public don’t find enough value in what we do, then why should we do it?

I pay for my haircut and every other service, so why not pay for journalism? The days of advertisers paying for your journalism is waning, if not over.

So who in the audience, I asked, will step forward and help save journalism? The answer was the 25 citizens who filled out forms saying they were ready to help. We at the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University will meet with these 25 citizens and anyone else interested in advancing the cause of sound journalism. Maybe this is the beginning of a national citizens’ movement to advance high quality, ethically sound journalism. We will see.

I must tell you, I have seen indications of this coming. In casual conversations I have had with people, a fair number of them realize that journalism is in deep trouble and they are afraid, as am I, of a world without journalism.

Remember the proverd: Mighty oaks from little acorn grow. If you want to be part of our pioneering effort, get in touch. Be part of our charter meeting which I will be call in early October.

By the way, I shared the panel with Leon Levitt, Vice President of Digital Media at Cox Newspapers, which owns the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Hank Klibanoff, coauthor of The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle and the Awakening of a Nation, who until recently was the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s managing editor.

It’s the beginning of what we hope will be a long-term partnership between AT&T and our department. Indeed, if you look at our Journalism Doctor Telepresence Reporting Experiment proposal in the Second Round of the $5 million Knight News Challenge, you will see we have two very able AT&T advisors on that project.

Not only will the lab be serving our department’s 900 students, but I also reached an agreement with the Cobb Housing Inc. YouthBuild today to provide Digital Media Entrepreneurship Training for 20 youths. They will be getting a second chance to earn high school degrees with the prospect of moving onto post-secondary education.

I want those students to spend some time in our Digital Media Lab so they get a look at college life, but also as a first step to start a Citizen Media Lab School right here at Kennesaw. As I said, it has been a very good day for the Department of Communication and our Journalism and Citizen Media concentration at Kennesaw State University.

In that game, there was no one way to win. Each player decided on his or her individual formula for success based on what combination of money, fame and happiness was most important to that individual.

So it is with individual journalists of the future. Everyone gets to make up his or her own formula. There will be no one path. Life might be similar to that for musicians who come to Nashville. Everyone comes there with the idea of being the best, but alas some people end up playing the lounge scene, even though the pay is small. They are driven by their passion as are would-be actors in New York. They wait on tables or find more creative ways to have multiple streams of income so they can pursue their passion.

Harnisch believes there will be equally passionate people who are storytellers, who are curious about the world in which they live and who have an unstoppable passion to share what they learn with others. That passion is as old as the folks who did the cave drawings.

Here are some questions I drew from speaking to Harnisch:

1. What are your creative options for producing high quality, ethically sound content?
2. How will you get that content as widely distributed as possible and made universally available?
3. How will you create multiple streams of income so you can produce that high quality, ethically sound content?

Of course, the real message here is that journalists will have to start thinking more like entrepreneurs and will have to take more control of their personal futures. Jeff Jarvis’ CUNY conference New Business Models for News will be addressing the topic in October. The Poynter Institute is having a by invitation only meeting in November entitled: Who Will Pay for the News: A New Look at Consumers, Advertisers and Patrons, Baruch College in New York City is planning a journalism business models forum in early 2009. And Baruch, Poynter and I, via my Fowler endowed chair at Kennesaw State University, are looking to have a journalism jobs pre-convention conference at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) convention next August.

So, the discussion, thanks to people like Ruth Ann Harnisch, is moving from hand-wringing to looking for new business and career models for individual journalists because this is no board game, it is the real thing.

tenure-track Assistant Professor of Communication with a focus on Journalism and Citizen Media at Kennesaw State University.

Of course, anyone qualified is encouraged to apply, whether or not you will be at the AEJMC convention.

Here is the job description:

Kennesaw State University invites applications for a nine-month, tenure-track Assistant Professor of Communication with a focus on Journalism and Citizen Media. Qualifications include an earned doctorate degree (completed by August 2009) in communication, mass communication, or a related field.

Responsibilities include teaching required writing courses, contributing to the teaching of other communication courses, performing service duties, and maintaining scholarly productivity. Core courses in Journalism and Citizen Media include: Writing for Public Communication, News Writing and Reporting, Advanced Media Writing, and Multimedia Visions of Community. Excellence in teaching and mentoring students is expected.

The Department wishes to provide an inclusive learning environment to prepare students for personal and professional success in an increasingly multicultural and global society. Candidates are, therefore, encouraged to address in their application how they can contribute to the diversity of the community.

To apply:

…send a letter addressing your qualifications for the position; current curriculum vita; teaching evaluations; statement of teaching philosophy; sample syllabi; names, addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses of at least three references; and transcripts to:

Leonard Witt, JCM Search Committee Chair
Kennesaw State University
Department of Communication
1000 Chastain Road, MB #2207
Kennesaw, GA 30144-5591.

For a detailed description of the university, college and Department of Communication, please visit our home page at www.kennesaw.edu.

Last year SoCon07 was a big success and we were astounded by those numbers: 96 on Friday and about 200 on Saturday. This year, looking at the numbers we are about 150 percent more astounded.  When we started planning for SoCon08 I was thinking there might be Web 2.0 conference fatigue, apparently not in Georgia. One more interesting fact, last year Saturday was free, this year we are charging $15, mostly because we felt if people had to pay something, they would be more likely to show up. It is easier on the conference planners and helpers which include in alphabetical order: Lauren Booth, Jeff Haynie, Sherry Heyl, Timothy Moenk, Sean O’Leary, Barbara Vinning and me Leonard Witt. Apparently, that fee did not deter many from registering.

One figure which I am not sure of yet. Last year as the conference ended late Saturday afternoon, just six of use came to the Marietta Town Square for a evening pub crawl and dinner.  This year 72 folks say they want to join us. After a day and half of networking, we will see how many want to soldier on into Saturday night. Any how, last night, which was Saturday, I had to visit the different possible venues on the Marietta Town Square. Rough duty going from pub to pub, but alas here I am on Sunday typing away.

Finally, here’s another social networking, social media, Web 2.0 message. We did no advertising. It was all word-of-mouth via our various online networks. Does that mean we know all of these people? Heck no, but we all know some of them and they know some others. After next Saturday, everyone’s social network will be increased, fortified and energized. Welcome everyone to the world of Web 2.0 and SoCon08.  

He healed our sick hospitals and anemic health care system and all but rose the lame, struck down by diabetes, from their wheelchairs  — and he did it with narratives, stories, examples and explanations that had just enough common sense logic to make them seem doable.

And for all of that, he deserved page three on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Metro page, with the headline that reads:

Former president skips Obama jabs in speeches 

Ah, if only he had taken even a tiny jab, certainly that would have pushed him to the front page of the Metro section and a nice round-house swing would have elevated him to 1A status. But no, he offered nothing more than a rousing speech for which hundreds of people, the Marietta Daily Journal said thousands, stood in line for more than an hour to hear. The wimp, the palooka. Thus not even a photo.

Okay, I get it, the hardcopy part of the newspaper only has so much room, the website will reflect the feeling of celebration. After all, this is Cobb County, Georgia, home of Newt Gingrich and Bob Barr, certainly one must ask: Where the hell did all these Democrats come from? I know that was a question people were asking in the line itself. 

The Marietta Daily Journal, the real hometown newspaper, did, in fact, run the story with big photos on Page 1A, and with a massive headline that reflected the mood of the crowd, and not the disappointment of the AJC reporter, with a line from Clinton’s speech:

Rebuild the Dream

The difference is that the AJC plays for a mass audience and apparently does not have a clue how to connect in new ways with small fragmented communities. Hence, they wait for the punch in the face or at least the hope of a head butt. A former President — for whom people waited not just an hour, but really for years to see in person — connecting with his tribe was a thing of beauty, which the AJC with its old ways of covering the news, basically ignored. But that ignoring, built out of ignorance of social media, is done at its own peril.  

Rather than wasting everyone’s time by burying a story on page three that no one will read, why not direct that energy to engage the hundreds of people who came to this event. Let them share photos, stories, which you play up for anyone who is interested. Do the same with the other candidates, with rock concerts, with demonstrations, but don’t just write about who is on the stage; instead be the indispensable catalyst for community building, bring your tribes back home just as Bill Clinton did last night at Kennesaw State University. Give yourself a punch in the face, wake up; find yourself the 100-mile-a-gallon news operation, raise up from your wheelchair, rebuilt your anemic ways…and tomorrow you will feel good about yourself just as Bill Clinton’s crowd feels good about themselves this fine Saturday. 

“How far we’ve come, Where we’re going” should impact the format of the conference.

It was my distinct impression that the social media landscape in Atlanta changed after SoCon07. Whereas before there didn’t seem to be much going on, afterwards there seemed to be an explosion of conversations about social media happening around the city. From Podcamp Atlanta, to the Social Media Club, to Startup Weekend Atlanta, to panel discussions about Web 2.0 at professional associations across the board, it seems Atlanta has come a long way in climbing the social media learning curve this past year.

I’ve heard similar stories from a number of other people who attended SoCon07, and even a few who were unable to but noticed a similar trend. Whether it was the catalyst, or just coincidentally within the right time frame, it’s clear that SoCon07 was held at an inflection point for these conversations.

And so a year later we’re coming together for SoCon08 to look forward, but I think it’s equally important to look back. As they say, in order to understand where we are going we need to understand where we’ve come from. This isn’t just about understanding how far the technology has come, it’s about understanding the collective story. As far as I know no one has the bigger picture of what’s going on here (yet), but we all have our own bits and pieces of the story to share.

Last year we had a great main session where we explored all kinds of ideas, stories, opinions, etc. This year I think the format should remain largely unchanged, but with the added focus on sharing our bits and pieces of the larger story. The theme “How far we’ve come, Where we’re going,” resonates not just as a feel good phrase, but as a guide for the main session. I think it should be divided into two sections: one retroactive, and one forward looking. Both sections should be given equal time. The conversation should be moderated such that we don’t stay on any particular topic area for too long, but explore a number of individual stories within different themes enough to see how well they resonate with the larger group.

What kinds of stories should we be airing about this past year? How social media has impacted our lived this past year personally and professionally. Personal stories regarding the rise of Twitter and Facebook. Stories about how our businesses have been impacted positively and negatively. Challenges we’ve faced. Conversations we’ve had. Meetings we’ve had and attended. etc.

As for where we’re going this next year? New events and initiatives that are being organized around and/or with social media. New business directions. Unexpected personal opportunities that are opening up. Areas of concern and trepidation. Larger trends in the tech industry. Larger trends socially. What would people like to see happen this next year? Plans, predictions, etc.

I think it’s perfect that Jeff is doing the opening for SoCon08 because of his unique view. He’s been active locally, as well as nationally, organized a number of events, but has also been steeped in the technology. As far as telling bits and pieces of the larger story go, he touches the social as well as the technical, and definitely has some great past events and future plans to draw from to set the stage for SoCon08.

 So that’s where we are headed in a general sense. Go to the SoCon08 site and register now.