OJR interview: "J-schools need to get way more technical"

The Online Journalism Review is running a fabulous interview with Adrian Holovaty, a 'journalist/programmer' as he calls himself. Holovaty is encouraging journalism schools to partner with computer science departments to help automate the three most basic tasks journalists do, namely:

1. Gather information
2. Distill information
3. Present information

"A graduate of a journalism school should be a master of collecting data -- whether the old-fashioned way (by talking to humans) or through automated means," Holovaty says.

I'm sorry to say that this idea would scare the pants off of most of my students. But I hope to help them understand the new realities of the journalism industry, and the new skills they will have to master to be successful. Wish me luck.