Photo caption: (L-R), Keith Herndon, visiting professor; Savannah Brock, Hayden Field, Bartosz Wojdynski, assistant professor; Brittini Ray, Erin Smith, Kathryn Harris, John Roark, Aashka Dave, Jennifer Sherer, Metro Atlanta Chamber; Janice Hume, Journalism Department Head; Kent Middleton, Cox Institute Director.
Students completing the requirements of the University of Georgia’s inaugural Mobile News Lab recently earned certificates of achievement from the Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC) in recognition of their innovative career preparation.
The Mobile News Lab in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication is sponsored by the James M. Cox Jr. Institute for Journalism Innovation, Management and Leadership. It was launched for students to research and develop newsgathering and reporting techniques designed specifically for smartphones and tablets.
Seven Grady students—competitively selected from dozens of applicants—made up the first cohort. They were Savannah Brock, Aashka Dave, Hayden Field, Kathryn Harris, Brittini Ray, John Roark and Erin Smith.
“Mobility has become an important fuel for creating a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in many industry segments and that is especially true in the news media,” said Jennifer Sherer, MAC’s Vice President of Business Higher Education, who led MAC’s affiliation with the Mobile News Lab project. “We are pleased to work with Grady’s Cox Institute in training future journalists about the exciting developments in mobile news.”
Keith Herndon, visiting professor of journalism who coordinates the Mobile News Lab, said lessons learned from the work of these initial “test pilots” will be applied to the next cohorts in Spring 2015 and Maymester 2015. “These initial students are truly pioneers in the field of mobile journalism,” Herndon said. “They took seriously the challenges confronting the news media and used this opportunity to research and test numerous options for disseminating news on these emerging platforms.”
Grady College faculty members Mark Johnson, senior lecturer, and Bartosz Wojdynski, assistant professor, also worked with the students. Louis Gump, former CEO of LSN Mobile and an active participant in MAC’s mobility initiatives, chairs an industry advisory group that has helped to develop the Mobile News Lab.
Mobile News Lab Research Report
About the Cox Institute
The James M. Cox Jr. Institute for Journalism Innovation, Management and Leadership prepares students and professionals for leadership roles in the news media. The Cox Institute was established in 1990 by the late Conrad Fink, a legendary journalism professor in the Grady College, as the Cox Institute for Newspaper Management Studies. It is named for the late James M. Cox Jr., who headed Cox Enterprises and Cox Broadcasting Corporation from 1957 until 1974.
About the Metro Atlanta Chamber
Everything we do at the Metro Atlanta Chamber is about building our economy and creating prosperity to help Atlanta thrive. We focus on helping small businesses and mid-size companies grow, helping entrepreneurs get started, and recruiting companies nationally and internationally in our key industries: bioscience, clean technology, health IT, mobility, supply chain and advanced manufacturing, and technology. In public policy, we tackle critical issues to support infrastructure and quality of life. For members, we offer 200+ events and activities each year. In sports, MAC’s Atlanta Sports Council has helped drive almost $2 billion in economic impact through sporting events over the last 10 years. Visit our website at www.metroatlantachamber.com.
