Amy Webb defines the leading edge of a field known for innovation. The digital media consultant, writer and adviser to numerous news organizations is engrossed in the intersection of journalism and technology.

Webb founded Webbmedia Group in 2005. The digital media consulting company helps businesses and media organizations adapt technology tools for everyday use. In 2009, under Webbmedia, she launched “Knowledgewebb.net,” which she describes as “an affordable solution to learning and training for everyone and anyone working in content.”

Before founding Webbmedia, Webb wrote about technology and business trends for publications, including the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Newsweek and The Economist.

The story of Webb’s entry into online journalism could only be described as kismet. Webb says a number of her friends were working in engineering and technology jobs. Her own work in technology, as well as her personal interest in the field, grew out of the people she knew. “Plus, I’m an insomniac, and I think that helps a lot,” Webb said during a recent interview.

At this year’s conference, Webb, who is a member of ONA’s board of directors, recast her popular “Ten Tech Trends” talk for a 2009 audience. Webb has given the presentation at the last three ONA conferences. She said she constantly revamps the talk—even down to the wire–to make sure she includes the most up-to-date information.

During the talk, she discussed the need to think about technology from a consumer perspective, rather than a reporter’s perspective and suggested new ways journalists should approach technology.

Here’s a list of the Ten Tech Trends Webb highlighted this year:

1. The “Real Time Web”
2. Lightblogging
3. Personalization
4. Interactive TV
5. Identity recognition
6. Augmented reality
7. User-generated sensor data
8. Mobilife
9. Geolocation 3.0
10. The “Internet of Things”

The overarching goal of the talk was to get journalists in any medium to be more forward-thinking in their integration of technology into their craft.  She applied this same idea of broad technological literacy in her opinion on journalism education.

Webb doesn’t think students should leave school having had an hour of Flash training or a short seminar on how to use Twitter. “That’s not what the marketplace needs,” Webb says.

Instead, she thinks journalism educators should focus on making students more aware of technology overall, rather than suggesting they learn a specific programming language or application. Webb calls it “teaching to the technology.” Webb is on the advisory board for Philadelphia-based Temple University’s journalism department.

Webb said she’s seen the challenges American news organizations face—staff cutbacks leading to more responsibility for individual staffers—worldwide. She says in all the news organizations she’s visited, journalists are coming to terms with the idea that they have to do more with less.

Nonetheless, she’s encouraged by the future of journalism and says news organizations like ProPublica and The New York Times have made encouraging progress integrating tech tools into investigative reporting. Webb says it’s key that journalists continue to learn storytelling skills alongside an awareness of technology, rather than attempting to become engineers or developers.

“Journalists should not be experts at coding,” Webb said. “Journalists should be experts at journalism and be able to have a conversation with coders.”

Search marketing experts Jennifer Groppone and Gradiva Couzin know a secret that Google and the big search engines don’t want you know. They call search engine optimization a hidden entity that search engines try to keep quiet—mostly because people can exploit it and boost their own rankings in search engine results.

A mysterious search-ranking algorithm determines organic search results—that is, results as they naturally rank. Groppone says we don’t know exactly what this algorithm looks at when ranking results organically. But she offered some educated guesses at actions bloggers and online journalists can take to optimize their site’s placement in organic search results along with some surefire ways to inadvertently sabotage those rankings.

How to improve your Web site’s rankings

1. Place keywords in the HTML title and divorce it from the article title if necessary. Some article titles can be too specific for search purposes and will never be found. Use more general keywords in the HTML title that describe the article to attract more hits.
2. Use text keywords in the URL if possible. Rather than a string of numbers leading to a Web page, use the HTML title in the article’s URL.
3. In article titles, use full first and last names, include proper names and locations; use numeric forms for numbers and include a meaningful descriptor. For example, use “Movie Review: ‘Up’ Flies High” instead of “’Up’ Flies High,” or include the word “Watch” if a video is on the page. Also, avoid abbreviations and alternate spellings.
4. Forget using Meta tag keywords in the HTML. Grappone says, “It’s not going to hurt you, but you’re wasting a lot of time on it.” Couzin adds, “Your time would be better spent doing something else.”
5. Get people to link to your site. Search engines will see this as a vote for your site. Links from “more credible” and “trustworthy” sites boost your ranking more. However, not all links are created equal. They must not be paid links and any link on pages behind a login, like Twitter or Facebook, won’t help rankings.
6. Track trends that people are interested in reading about right now. Use tools like Google Trends, Google Insight, Google AdWords, Facebook Lexicon, Twitter Streamgraphs and Yahoo! Buzz to find out what people want to see on your page.

How to destroy your Web site’s rankings:

1. Have excessive duplicate content. Consider using canonical tags in your HTML code to cut down duplicate content in URLs.
2. Violate search engine spam rules with your content.
3. Have text in other languages that can’t be read by English-dominated American search engines.

Austin Fast is a senior at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He is part of the ONA09 student newsroom.

When I arrived at the 2009 ONA conference in San Francisco, I was bombarded with an information explosion. After attending conference sessions, collaborating with mentors, and sifting through numerous new tools for journalists and communicators, here are five important and interesting things I learned during my time here.

How did Twitter get its name?

The name Twitter, made famous by the site where you can express a thought, share a link or break news in 140 characters or less, has found its way into the vocabulary of people worldwide. Millions of people send out “tweets” ever day—but just how did these new words make their way into everyday conversation?  Evan Williams, CEO Twitter, said in his opening keynote address that we “twitch” when our phone vibrates in our pocket, and birds make a chirping noise when they communicate. Twitter sounded better than Twitch and the brand evolved from there. Williams also joked, “It sounds better than ‘status updates.’”

The Future of Television

We all love to interact on our computers—click links, scroll through photos and buy merchandise. Soon we will have similar capabilities on our television screens. Amy Webb, founder of Knowledgewebb.net, said that some companies have already made strides to enable television audiences to click on a certain area of the screen—maybe a vase on a table in the latest episode of Desperate Housewives or Tony Romo’s football jersey—you will then be directed to their Web site or your Amazon account to purchase the product. Twitter and Facebook feeds can also be displayed on the side of your television screen.

How to find your way out of a paper bag–or Town Hall.

We have all relied on Google Maps or MapQuest to get us where we need to be. The next problem is getting to your final destination, for example, the office where your interview is inside a ten-story building.  Fear no more. Thanks to an evolving app called Micello, you will soon be able to navigate your way around office buildings, airports, college campuses and shopping malls using your mobile phone.

Digital Wallet

Starbucks has launched a new iPhone App that allows you to pay for your latte with your phone.  The new mobile Starbucks card displays a barcode on your iPhone that the Barista scans when you get to the counter. The app also allows for you to check your balance, add money using another credit card and view purchase history. Amy Webb says apps like this may be the new face of credit cards worldwide.

The power of photojournalists

When professional photojournalist Najlah Feanny set out to complete her master’s degree thesis project at Parsons School of Design in New York City, she never thought she would touch the lives of hundreds of foster kids nationwide. Originally Feanny wanted to create a portrait gallery of six teenagers waiting to be adopted. She wanted to use the Internet to put real faces to the national problem of teenage adoption. Feanny started her “Heart Gallery of New Jersey” photo project in 2005 by reaching out to the Division of Youth and Family Services in search of six names.  She received more than 300.  Unable to cut the list to six names, Feanny then recruited other photojournalists to help photograph each child. Her efforts yielded heart-warming results: 135 foster kids from the original 350 were adopted. Since then, Feanny has expanded the project to Do1Thing.org, a site dedicated to helping foster kids and homeless teenagers find homes. This project includes a nationwide day of service in which photojournalists and editors donate their time to produce stories about children aging out of the foster care system who face homelessness.

Lessons learned

As a student  immersed in new media and technology on a daily basis, I never thought that I would learn so much about Web technology and innovations in the news business at ONA09. I think it’s fair to say that I was a little overconfident upon my arrival. As I’m scheduled to return to the East Coast tomorrow morning, I find myself reflecting back on everything I learned during my time here. Not only did I discover new apps, Web sites and tools for journalists on the Web, I discovered what it really means to be a successful journalist. After hearing about Feanny’s story, I realized that journalism isn’t just about telling a captivating story or delivering news to the public. The Internet, together with journalism, gives us the opportunity to change lives and make a difference.

Lauren Gentile is a sophomore at American University in Washington, D.C. She is part of the ONA09 student newsroom.

Graphic by Nicole Fallek

In 1999, as the World Wide Web became the mainstay of information delivery, several working members of the online press came together to support the wave of digital media. Now, the 1,700 professionals and academics who make up the Online News Association are trying to figure out what’s next.

ONA members—whose principal livelihoods include gathering, producing and studying news for digital presentation—are celebrating their association’s 10th anniversary at the annual Online News Association Conference Oct. 1-3 in San Francisco.

Executive Director Jane McDonnell praised the association for being one of the first to recognize the potential of the Internet, and one of the only journalism organizations whose membership continues to grow.

“I think the beauty of ONA is we really had a head start,” she said. “A few small online journalism groups had started, but ours was really the first and most advanced.”

McDonnell drew a difference between “traditional” and “digital” media but said she believes that while the two may never form a complete circle, they are certainly gravitating toward each other.

“Traditional journalists are seeing more and more how valuable community journalists and bloggers are,” said the executive director, who has a long history in the worlds of digital journalism and nonprofit organizations. “There’s a feeling that we need to work together, not compete against each other, and that’s a very healthy thing.”

And this healthy collaboration has included multiple forms of media ever since the first ONA meeting took place in Chicago a decade ago, said past ONA president Douglas Feaver. “It was a good spectrum of both newspaper and electronic media,” he said. “Even all three TV networks were at that meeting.”

As independent journalists look to move their work online, ONA reaches out not only to them but also to technologists who have studied the trends and trajectory of online media. For McDonnell, this is the future of mainstream media.

“We definitely see the way journalism is shifting – it’s more like a tsunami at this point, moving very rapidly,” McDonnell said. “We’re pretty well placed to understand that and react to that very quickly.”

After 10 years of promoting that understanding, ONA shows no signs of slowing down. This year’s three-day conference  features workshops and presentations, a student newsroom and a range of speakers, including two headliners who have transformed the landscape of online media: Twitter CEO Evan Williams and BlogHer co-founder Lisa Stone.

For Feaver, a founding member of the association who now believes the most pressing issue facing journalism is creating a profitable online advertising model, the annual conference has always been the most effective platform for discussions on the future of media.

“There’s a lot of knowledge that is in a given room that not any one individual can possibly possess,” Feaver said. “At the conference, we all want to know that we’re in this together.”

For more information on the Online News Association and this year’s conference, visit www.journalists.org.

As a member of the Student Newsroom at last year’s Online News Association Conference, I energetically rushed around the hallways of the conference hotel, interviewing attendees on their favorite new technology trends and writing on the benefits of appealing to niche audiences.

I was champing at the bit to enter the world of online video production, and couldn’t wait to graduate and establish myself as a standout journalist. Now I’m here at the conference for the second time, less than a year from graduation. A lot can change in a year.

After spending several months in New York City as a 2009 Summer Fellow with the International Radio & Television Society, and discovering myriad jobs I didn’t know existed, I began to consider that perhaps online journalism was not the only career conducive to my interests. After all, I had always been interested in the prospect of going to law school, working in the non-profit sector, becoming a professor, working in public relations, working for a think tank and countless other possible careers.

At the opening reception last night, I discovered that honesty is definitely the best policy. When I told the first person I met, an online news editor, that my interest in online news was fading, only to be replaced with a multitude of other interests—including public relations—he offered to provide me with the contact information of friends he had in that field. When I told another online news editor about my eagerness to travel and to advance an array of social causes, he gave me even more suggestions I’d never considered, like working for a non-governmental organization. I also felt encouraged after meeting a college journalism professor, who told me he enjoys attending the Online News Association Conference because it allows him to better understand, and therefore teach, the rapidly evolving world of online media.

This sentiment hit at the heart of why I still enjoy learning about online media, even if I don’t eventually pursue it as a career: The malleable and unpredictable nature of online media is interesting to discuss and to analyze, and it affects all of us in profound, and sometimes unsettling, ways. I may be less interested than I was last year in pursuing a career in online news, but it was a reassuring and pleasant surprise to meet a number of online media professionals who encouraged me to think creatively and pursue my passions, while still applying the skills I’ve developed in my pursuit of an online journalism career that may never be.

Abby Selden is a senior at Belmont University in Nashville Tennessee

The dinner table talk about the future of journalism doesn’t involve a lot of optimism. Even some people in the industry are telling me I should probably go to graduate school instead of looking for journalism jobs. The news is filled with talk of furloughs, buyouts and hiring freezes, but I’m not backing off. Journalism’s been my passion for as long as I can remember, and I’m willing to work hard and be creative in order to get a job.

This is the time when I’m supposed to panic. I’m less than three months from graduation and I still don’t have a concrete plan. While the job hunt isn’t keeping me awake at night, I could still use a little direction. One of my goals for the Online News Association Conference was to have positive conversations about the way the industry is going and potentially meet my next boss.

As I spoke with different media professionals during my first day in San Francisco, I realized I had a lot to learn about networking and little reason to be scared of where I’m headed. When I conduct interviews for stories, whether print or broadcast, I’m in control and feel like I can handle any conversation. I’ve interviewed neo-Nazis in Missouri and presidential hopefuls in Ohio. With that in mind, I thought talking to working journalists would be easy.  Not so much. I found myself on the margins of a lot of conversations and not adding all that much value. Networking is supposed to be an exchange, but what do I have to offer someone who’s been doing this for years?

A professor pushed me to be persistent, have confidence in my skills and be willing to go anywhere.  A woman I worked with in a past internship challenged me to be more daring and willing to take risks in my work. It’s great advice, but to put it into practice, I actually need to find a job. When I spoke with an alumnus from Missouri, he told me that since he graduated in 2006, young journalists have gained more opportunities to enter the industry. He got hired at Stateline.org through persistence and a lot of luck.

Journalism isn’t dying; the way we practice it is just changing and I’m ready to change with it.

The clock’s ticking. I have 76 days until college graduation. Check back with me then to see where I end up.

Juana Summers is a participant in the ONA Student Newsroom. She’s a graduating senior from the Missouri School of Journalism.

The 20 students will bring a rich, varied set of multimedia skills and fresh perspective to ONA09 coverage, which will appear on the conference Web site, ONAConference.org. Mentored by working journalists and journalism professors, they’ll cover people, events and issues using a range of digital formats and styles, including interactive text and graphics, live blogging, slideshows, audio and video.

Under the direction of Committee Chair Sara Kelly of National University, the students will be getting right to work. In the weeks leading up to ONA09, they’ll give attendees a comprehensive preview, including interviews with conference presenters and speakers and details on session topics.

The high overall quality of our applicants this year made the selection process particularly challenging. Chosen from applicants across the United States and Canada, they boast an impressive combination of professional experience and academic credentials.

ONA09 Student Newsroom

Arlinda Arriaga, University of North Texas
Arlinda Arriaga attends the University of North Texas, where she is a double major in journalism and political science with a minor in social sciences. Born and raised in Dallas, Arlinda is the first person in her family to go to college. Her portfolio presents a diverse range of experience in print, radio and online media. She previously interned for the Dallas Morning News, the Denton Record-Chronicle and Us Weekly. She spent the summer as a reporter covering the education and grassroots organizations beats at the Hispanic Link News Service in Washington, D.C.

Amanda Ash, University of British Columbia
Amanda Ash is a Master of Journalism student at the University of British Columbia. Arts and culture reporting is her area of specialization, but music journalism is her forte. Amanda currently freelances for the Vancouver Sun, CBC Radio 3, the Edmonton Journal, Exclaim! Magazine, NIGHTLIFE Magazine and The Block Magazine. She has also interned with CBC Radio 3 and the Victoria Times Colonist. Read her blog at www.theindiefiles.wordpress.com, or follow her on Twitter at @AmandaAsh.

Devin Banerjee, Stanford University
Devin Banerjee is the president and editor in chief of The Stanford Daily, the daily newspaper serving Stanford University and the surrounding cities. He has also worked as a breaking news reporter for the San Jose Mercury News. Originally from the Los Angeles area, Banerjee has lived in the South Bay for the past two years.

Anna Bloom, University of California-Berkeley
Anna Bloom is entering her second and final year at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism after interning at MSNBC.com over the summer. Anna’s interest in pursuing multimedia reporting began when she launched the first video feature for the Park Record Newspaper in Park City, Utah in 2005. She is a very proud founding participant in UC Berkeley’s Ford Foundation Web sites, a project that endeavored to create six hyperlocal Bay Area news outlets online for the purposes of learning and exploring original ways to deliver the news to under-served communities.

Noah Buhayar, University of California-Berkeley
Noah Buhayar is a Oakland-based freelance reporter and multimedia producer. His work has appeared in the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, BNET and several other publications. In Fall 2008, he helped launch a Webby-award-winning ‘hyperlocal’ news site covering San Francisco’s Mission District. He is currently a candidate for a master’s in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley.

Nick Burns, University of California-Berkeley
Nick Burns is a New York City- and San Francisco-based writer and reporter. Specializing in health, style and beauty writing, he has contributed to The New York Times, Cargo, GQ, Details, ELLE Accessories, POZ, Out, and many more. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Nick earned a degree in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He currently studies New Media at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.

Amanda Dyer, University of California-Berkeley
Amanda Dyer is a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, focusing on multimedia and radio reporting. Prior to attending journalism school she covered education for a small newspaper in California’s Central Valley. Since then, she’s interned at KQED FM and National Public Radio.

Armand Emamdjomeh, University of California-Berkeley
Armand Emamdjomeh is a photographer who’s been seduced by the potential of multimedia and the potential it offers for online storytelling. Before becoming a journalist, he worked in international disaster relief and development with field experience in the response to Hurricane Katrina and the Palestinian Occupied Territories. He has experience shooting throughout the Middle East, and is currently a multimedia reporter and photographer for the Webby Award-winning website missionlocal.org.

Isabel Esterman, University of California-Berkeley
Isabel Esterman is a freelance photojournalist and a graduate student in journalism and Asian studies at UC Berkeley who is trying to reconnect with her geeky side. She is particularly interested in human rights, the environment and technology in the developing world.

Jessica Estepa, University of Nevada, Reno
Jessica Estepa is a storyteller and a self-described news junkie/social media addict at the University of Nevada, Reno. To pay the bills, she is the multimedia editor at UNR’s Insight Magazine, a part-time reporter at the Reno Gazette-Journal and an editorial assistant at the Online Nevada Encyclopedia. She likes to think that after graduation, someone will hire her to do online journalism. But don’t worry, she has a back-up plan (hello, “American Idol”).

Nicole Fallek, Towson University
Nicole Fallek is a senior at Towson University in Maryland. She is majoring in mass communications and plans to use her writing, photography, graphic design, Web development skills and internship with Metromix Baltimore to prepare for a career in integrated digital media. Nicole is interested in exploring the role technology plays in communicating information and how a variety of different media can be combined to creatively communicate an idea.

Austin Fast, Miami (Ohio) University
Austin Fast is a senior at Miami (Ohio) University studying journalism and international studies. He just returned from a summer internship in Pristina, Kosovo with KosovaLive – Kosovo’s only independent news agency. At Miami, Fast is editor-in-chief of The Miami Student and a member of the Men’s Glee Club. While not copy-editing the newspaper, Fast likes people-watching at Oxford’s coffee shop, stargazing on clear nights and going on road trips with good friends. He is from Haviland, Ohio.

Lauren Gentile, American University
Lauren Gentile is a Communications major at American University in Washington D.C. As a freshman, Lauren landed an internship at the Washingtonpost.com. Her work at the Post enabled her to learn more about digital media and Web-based video content. This fall she will be working for the AU athletics department shooting, editing and promoting video highlights and interviews for their newly designed website. You can read her internship blog at asavvystart.wordpress.com or follow her on Twitter at @lkg20.

Melissa Hale, Towson University
Melissa Hale is a social media enthusiast with an eye toward online news coverage. She is a mass communications major at Towson University with a concentration in journalism and new media. She interned at The Baltimore Sun, where she acquired knowledge of today’s multimedia. View her online portfolio at melissaahale.com.

Kate Kilpatrick, University of California-Berkeley
Kate Kilpatrick is a second-year multimedia student at UC Berkeley who loves covering subcultures high and low — from Major League Baseball wives to Mexico City street clowns. Her writing has appeared in Philadelphia Weekly, The Washington Post, Fader, Black Book, and Dazed and Confused.

Martin Ricard, University of California-Berkeley
Martin Ricard is a reporter with a print background who is pursuing a master’s degree at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism to become a multimedia reporter. His hobbies consist of Scrabble, listening to jazz and playing pool. He’s also been told he has an old soul, which he can’t argue with since he’ll gladly play an Outkast song one moment and Curtis Mayfield the next.

Abby Selden, Belmont University
Abby Selden is a senior journalism major and political science minor at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. She spent this past summer in New York City as an International Radio & Television Society (IRTS) Summer Fellow and interned with the PBS documentary series Wide Angle. Earlier this year, Abby completed an internship with WTVF News Channel 5 in Nashville and received two Videographer Awards, one Award of Distinction for her individual broadcast reporting compilation, and a second Award of Distinction for team video coverage of the 2008 presidential debate at Belmont University. She also won a 2009 Communicator Award for her individual reporting compilation. Abby regularly writes articles for the Nashville Mayor’s Homelessness Commission online newsletter, View from the Street. In 2008, she spent the summer as an editorial intern with Journal Communications Inc., in Franklin, Tenn., writing articles and editing online video, and spent the fall contributing to the CQPolitics.com election blog, The Report Card.

Juana Summers, University of Missouri
Juana Summers will graduate from the University of Missouri in December with dual degrees in Convergence Journalism and History. Most recently, Summers interned at the Austin American-Statesman in Austin, Texas. She was a Chips Quinn Scholar in Summer 2009 and participated in the New York Times Journalism Institute and Institute on Political Journalism in 2008. Summers hopes to pursue a career in political reporting.

Suzanne Yada, San Jose State University
Suzanne Yada is a journalism and business student at San Jose State University. She was a copy editor for a Central Valley newspaper for three years before she returned to school, and she also served as editor-in-chief for two local independent publications. She is now a social media strategist and steering committee member of The Public Press, an independent nonprofit news organization in San Francisco. She blogs and tweets about the future of the journalism industry at suzanneyada.com and @suzanneyada.

Natalie Yemenidjian, Pierce College
Natalie Yemenidjian is a sophomore at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif. She has been the editor of the school paper and the school magazine, and will launch the school’s first Internet radio station in the spring. Yemenidjian has won awards for writing and reporting, editorial cartooning, page design and multimedia reporting from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges as well as from Pierce College’s Media Arts Department. Current TV viewers “picked for TV” her multimedia story “Esha, Dressed in White.” Yemenidjian has also written for a community newspaper of the Los Angeles Times and is a columnist and special section editor for the Los Feliz Ledger. She will transfer to a four-year college in Fall 2010.

All college/university students who are actively pursuing a degree in journalism or who produce digital media as of the conference dates are eligible. Membership in ONA is not required. The approximately 20 available spots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, and a wait list will be maintained.

The ONA09 Student Newsroom immerses college students in a digital media environment by providing hands-on experience producing content for the ONA09 Web site — ONAConference.org — before and during the conference, and under the guidance of professional mentors. Students also have the opportunity to attend sessions, to network with attendees and to acquire new digital media skills.

Students selected for the ONA09 Student Newsroom will receive a free conference registration, entry to the Online Journalism Awards banquet and reimbursement for parking and local public transportation. ONA will provide roommate matching for out-of-town participants to stay at the conference hotel at their own expense. Students are responsible for transportation beyond what is outlined above.

In return, students must commit to attending all three days of the conference and will be expected to be at the conference venue — the San Francisco Hilton — early Thursday morning, Oct. 1, for coverage planning. Students also will tour a local media facility that day.

TO APPLY: Complete the ONA09 Student Newsroom Application using the latest version of Adobe Reader. Ensure information has been saved in the form before sending.

E-mail the application, a letter of recommendation (e-mailed by a faculty advisor), resume and relevant links to Sara Kelly, Student Newsroom Coordinator, at ONA09newsroom@journalists.org. Subject line: ONA Student Newsroom Application – [last name].

QUESTIONS? Direct any questions to Sara Kelly at ONA09newsroom@journalists.org.

The newsroom gives students the opportunity to work with educators and professionals on a one-on-one basis and connect with peers from other colleges and universities.

It’s a valuable experience for both students and newsroom mentors, as illustrated in presentation by the ONA08 student journalists below.

Applications for the ONA09 Student Newsroom are now open.