Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
Medill To Offer J-School Scholarships to Comp-Sci Grads
5/29/2007
The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University is making scholarships available to those with undergraduate degrees in computer science, as well as programmers and Web developers, under a grant that recognizes that the Web has become an essential media technology.The three-year, $639,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation would pay for "Knight News Challenge Scholarships" for students enrolling at Medill as early as September 2007. The money has been set aside to support people and organizations with innovative ideas for using digital news or information to build community, according to the foundation.
Scholarship recipients will need to meet Medill's normal admissions requirements for a master's degree in journalism. The school wants to use the scholarships is to attract a new type of student to one-year master's program.
"We believe there are programmers who want to do work that makes a difference to society's future," said Rich Gordon, associate professor and director of Medill's new media program. "We want the new scholarships to generate interest among computer specialists who want to make a difference and who might never have considered applying their technology skills to journalism."
Collaboration between computer science and journalism students will yield innovative ideas such as a Web service that allows readers to research the voting record or campaign contributions by individual legislators, for example, Medill officials noted.
"The skills and insights of technology developers are increasingly important to the analysis, delivery and accessibility of information needed in a democracy," said Gordon. "At the same time, the journalism skills learned at a school like Medill can produce ideas for applying technology in ways citizens will find relevant and engaging."
Read More:
Paul McCloskey is a contributing editor for the Campus Technology group of publications.
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
Recommended Reading
- Sun, Stanford Working To Archive History
In May in San Francisco, experts from leading universities, libraries, and research institutions around the world met as part of an ongoing effort to address a pressing issue: archiving the world's history, right up to today.
- The Quilt Coalition Rolls Out XO Communications for High-Capacity Network Services
The Quilt, a coalition of 28 regional network organizations, has added XO Communications Services to its authorized vendor list. The Quilt represents 200 universities and thousands of other educational institutions across the United States. With this new relationship, Quilt members can purchase XO's high-speed IP transit and network transport services at competitive rates.
- Wimba Classroom 5.2 Expands Classroom Capture Support, Adds MP3 Downloads
At the NECC 2008 conference in Texas this week, Wimba launched a new version of Wimba Classroom, the virtual classroom component of the company's Collaboration Suite. The new 5.2 release expands options for classroom capture and adds a variety of other functional and ease of use features.
- Automation Chimera: Education Is Not Management
The lure of automating workflow online so human intervention is minimized is continually reinforced in the minds of higher education administrators by examples of automated campus systems such as financials, student information systems, and other enterprise systems. But what's good for management is not always good for learning.
- Cognos Releases BI Software for Linux-based IBM System z Mainframe
Cognos, which IBM acquired in January, has released an update to its business intelligence software that will run on the Linux operating system on IBM System z mainframes. IBM Cognos 8 BI was being developed by the two companies prior to the acquisition, but assimilation of Cognos into IBM accelerated development.
- Facebook and Collegiality: A Serendipitous Social Niche
Facebook is a way to greet a colleague as if she or he is on your own campus: a wave at a distance, a hello at the corner burrito place, a honk as you both leave the campus parking lot. Informal collegiality has been extended over the miles.
