TAKEAWAY: What an honor to receive the Medal of Honor for Distinguished Service in Journalism from the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism! AND: Adobe, WoodWing a marriage made in tablet heaven
46 years later at the University of Missouri
I am greatly honored to have received a Medal of Honor for Distinguished Service in Journalism at the University of Missouri Monday night. The award, which is presented yearly by the School of Journalism, went to 8 recipients this year.
The School of Journalism’s Dean, Dean Mills, and the University’s Chancellor, Brady Deaton,
presented us with the medals.
It was, indeed, an exciting day for me, and I was able to teach as a guest lecturer in two classes, one devoted to News Design and another to Digital Magazine Publishing. In addition, each of the Medal recipients taught a Master Class.
This visit to the beautiful campus of the University of Missouri reminded me of how much I enjoy——and miss—-the contact with university students and the excitement of exchanging ideas in a classroom.
As many of you know, I have had years as an academic, teaching at Syracuse University, University of South Florida and Miami-Dade College, as well as teaching as a visiting professor at many universities worldwide.
What is different about teaching a university course today?
First, what impressed me the most is the number of computers, iPads and other electronic devices in the classroom. In fact, very few students were doing any note taking through the old fashioned notebook and pen style. Instead, fingers moved rapidly on keyboards as the lecture went on.
I wonder how many of those students are really tuned in to the lecture, and how many are, well, connected, but not necessarily to the class presentation. In any case, these students had very solid and provocative questions at the end of the presentations, so I am almost sure they were listening——or multi tasking!
My Master Class took place at a large auditorium capable of accommodating in excess of 250 and it was packed, with as many Macs.
The best journalism school in the world
There is no doubt in my mind that the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism is the best in the world, something I knew well even when I graduated from high school and making my choice of a college to attend. Missouri was my number one priority, but as I told the audience upon receiving my Medal, as the son of recently arrived Cuban refugees, I did not have the money to attend, and the University of South Florida, which was a young institution at the time, offered me a scholarship, all expenses paid, in exchange for working on the staff of the student daily newspaper, The Oracle.
Last night, 46 years after I first dreamed of attending the University of Missouri, I stood there, humble and greatly honored, to receive this precious Medal.
It is a Medal I will treasure, and one that will inspire me to continue to try my best as I move forward with this amazing career in a field that equals none in the possibilities and satisfactions it provides.
My heartfelt thanks to the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism for this honor.
For more information about the Medal of Honor for Distinguished Service in Journalism:
http://journalism.missouri.edu/honor-medal/
Adobe news: Part 1
Upcoming service from Adobe that will make its desktop and tablet software available for subscription along with online collaboration services for a monthly subscription. Could well be how we’re using Photoshop and InDesign next year.
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud.html
Adobe news: Part 2
WoodWing Software, those guys in Amsterdam with whom we do work often, have announced an agreement with Adobe Systems Incorporated to integrate Adobe Digital Publishing Suite into the WoodWing Enterprise Publishing System and solely resell the Enterprise and Professional Editions of Adobe Digital Publishing Suite as a Value Added Reseller.
Many of our tablet clients have used WoodWing for their Tablet Publishing Solution. Now Adobe and WoodWing have agreed that WoodWing’s cross-media publishing system Enterprise and the content management application Content Station will include direct access to Adobe Digital Publishing Suite. I believe that this is a win win combo, providing for the many workflow and efficiency advantages that Enterprise offers, in combination with Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite tablet publishing support.
“WoodWing has been at the forefront of Tablet Publishing since early 2010,” Erik Schut, President of WoodWing Software explains. “As there were no other solutions available on the market at that time, WoodWing decided to develop an end-to-end solution to help publishers quickly take advantage of this new opportunity. Today, Adobe has an extensive solution to publish content onto Tablets. This is the right time for WoodWing to fully focus on its core activities, which is to streamline and optimize the editorial workflow. For the publishing, distribution and optimization of tablet content, we are going to rely on Adobe Digital Publishing Suite.”
Cross-media publishing will now become more efficient!
Of special interest today:
– Murdoch’s Tablet Newspaper Experiment The Daily Shows Some Promise
http://adage.com/article/digital/breaking-subscribers-murdoch-s-ipad-daily/230161/
– UK: Guardian tops list of emerging Facebook apps
http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/wire/8254
-Like them or not, the latest changes to Facebook offer big ideas for news orgs
http://www.niemanlab.org/2011/10/like-them-or-not-the-latest-changes-to-facebook-offer-big-ideas-for-news-orgs/
– Google Takes Page From Sunday Newspaper With New ‘Circulars’ Internet Ads
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-03/google-takes-page-from-sunday-newspaper-with-new-circulars-ads.html
– Amazon’s Kindle Fire launch means multimedia device market is leaving content publishers behind
http://www.themediabriefing.com/article/2011-09-30/amazons-kindle-fire-launch-means-multimedia-device-market-is-leaving-content-publishers-behind
– USA: Hands on with the Washington Post’s new Android app
http://gigaom.com/mobile/washington-post-android-app-review/