Kelley's Reflections on Senior Year

To be honest, I signed up for the Senior Colloquium in September of last year because a senior project seemed kind of cool, and I really didn’t want just another class; I was ready for a change. I had absolutely no direction when I stumbled into Professor Goldberg’s classroom, only a recently completed summer internship with NBC under my belt and a general idea that I wanted to do something journalism-related. In April, I’ve left with a passion, an expertise, a great friend and a feeling that in my own small way I’m a part of something important.

That seems like a tall order for one project. But I think I feel so enthusiastic because this project was truly the first time at Tufts that I’ve felt passionate about an academic issue. While I’ve always been moderately interested in my courses, nothing yet had grabbed me in the way that this project topic did. That said, even I have a hard time putting my finger on exactly why the future of journalism as a concept inspired me. I’ve had a long standing interest in communications, as evidenced by my extra-curricular activities and internships, both of which certainly provided me with vital background knowledge for this project. Of most assistance was an internship with the World Association of Newspapers, where I blogged about news in journalism for one of the association’s blogs, the Editor’s Weblog.

I give partial credit to Professor Sarah Sobieraj’s class, “Media and Society,” which encouraged me to think actively about the news media’s role in a wider democratic society. Professor Sobieraj also had us read Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody, which compelled me to consider the monumental impact that occurs when the press is no longer the sole disseminator of information and is instead in dialogue with its audience. We also read Lawrence Lessig’s Free Culture, where I was exposed to the potentially deleterious effects that occur when extremely strict copyright law strangles content sharing.

Having taken Professor Sobieraj’s course, I was able to situate the importance of the future of journalism in a larger contextual framework. Although the newfound publishing ability of the wider public and the preservation of what Lessig terms “free culture” are distinct from the future of journalism, they all relate broadly to important questions about the nature, quality and accessibility of information in our society.

I approached this project from a very academic perspective. I am fascinated by the business, social and technological questions related to the future of journalism, but I don’t want to pursue a career as a journalist. I might change my mind, but I think I prefer being an amateur future of journalism blogger. Not that that form of contribution can’t be meaningful; bloggers are increasingly filling the gaps left by the receding mainstream press.

Additionally, because the topic is so contemporary and undetermined, I was able to engage in a way that felt meaningful. A personal highlight was Barry Rafkind of Somerville Voices’ invitation, on our blog no less, to meet with other online journalists interested in founding an experimental investigative journalism venture in Somerville. I don’t know how committed to the project I can be with graduation on the horizon, but his invitation did show me the extent to which I have developed an expertise on the topic. Barry read our blog first before contacting us so clearly we were on to something.

The project also opened up to me a tangential area of interest: social media. As someone who grew up in international schools overseas and now has friends literally dispersed across the globe, I am particularly fascinated by social media because it offers the potential to connect irregardless of geography. Social media like Twitter is transforming journalism, but it is beginning to make broader fundamental changes in the way we communicate.

As for the actual process of completing the project, it has offered me incredible insight into the creative process. Our project looks nothing like it did in September, or even in December. It hasn’t been all roses, but it certainly has been an important experience. I am just thankful that I had Esther on my side. We worked extremely well together, kept each other motivated and always served as a sounding board for each other’s ideas. I’m extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished. And when you and your partner can get on a bus to New York at 6:30am, attend a conference (TVNewser Summit) on the future of television with some top television players, get back on a bus to Boston at 8:30pm and still make it out for a celebratory drink at 12:30pm, all without a hitch or a conflict of interest, you know you’ve found a genuine team player, and more importantly, a friend. Cheers to us.