I agree with what Karl Schneider says in Falling Off A Blog: The Web Production Desk and not just because he's my boss.
Also because he's clearly bee thinking about it very hard (for the last nine months, since your last blog post, Karl ? :-) ).
What surprised me when I read it was the impression of just how different web production is from magazine production. I know that seems obvious, but the aims are much the same: to engage readers and to make it as easy as possible for them to assimilate meaning and/or information.
There's a huge gap between the two in terms of basic skills. I mean, a lot.
Journalism is a social process: we need to connect with our audience
-
Building an audience is a skilful dance, combining numbers, instinct — and
good, old-fashioned conversations.
1 comment:
I don't think the gap is as large as you might think. Production staff are used to adapting to new systems and software, following complicated procedures, working under severe time constraints, coming up with effective workarounds, communicating best practice and, of course, having an eye for both design and language.
All of these traits mean that production staff can quickly gain any specific technical skills they are lacking. But then, I am highly biased on this issue, and I am not underplaying the need for training and support either...
Post a Comment