5
CAREER CUES
The Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades
By Linda Shockley
I
was mesmerized the first time I
saw a virtual reality demonstration and unnerved by an augmented reality display – both
were so, well, real.
The difference between VR and AR,
I am told, is this: the former uses
computer-generated elements to
tell a story while the latter combines
computer-generated elements with
reality in the storytelling process.
And while these experiences
were initially disorienting, even
disconcerting, as one of my
colleagues reminded me they are
ultimately about telling real stories
in the best possible ways. Almost all
media outlets have entrepreneurial
units.
Before I graduated from high school,
the 1970 book Future Shock by Alvin
Toffler (which became required reading in college) quashed the notion
we’d be using typewriters, copy paper
and glue pots in the publishing process. Computerization was the way
forward and within a few years on the
job, I was using a computer to write
stories while still making pictures
with a 35mm camera and couriering
film to the photo bureau to process
and print.
Today in a Dow Jones version
of show-and-tell, I watched a
360-degree video about Fashion
Week on an iPhone then dove into
data on the stock market with a
headset. The cohort here working on
these ideas, products and apps is
called the Innovation Unit. And
as at most media, they are not
functioning in a silo but working
across departments. The emphasis
is certainly on digital and technical
skills enhanced by an open mindset
and new ways of thinking, which is
what Toffler said would be the most
important aspect of “knowledge
work” in the information age.
I experienced VR and AR projects
at the American Society of News
Editors conference at Stanford
University courtesy of some John
S. Knight Fellows last fall. I virtually
walked among Syrian children in a
refugee camp as they played soccer
or joined their families for meals in
makeshift shelters. The future is now.
Futurist Amy Webb makes the rounds
as a conference speaker, consultant
and altruistic adviser to college
journalism schools. Download her
report for 2016 and help your staffs
assess where your media program
can go or has already gone.
This brings me to a story about a
15-year-old high school freshman
from Pennsylvania who developed
an app called “Cardboard City
Explorer VR,” an open cartoon city.
The freshman, thought uncommitted
for now, tells the reporter he sees
his future career “in the intersection
between computers and finance.”
The implications for scholastic media
as well as for media careers are
promising.
Share how your journalists are telling
stories through data mining and
coding, virtual and augmented reality,
video, podcasting, apps and social
media.
Career Cues is a quarterly column by
Linda Shockley, managing director of
the Dow Jones News Fund. She joined
the Fund as assistant to the director in
1988 and was named deputy director
in 1992. She holds a bachelor’s degree
in journalism from the University of
Bridgeport in Connecticut. Before
joining Dow Jones, she worked as a
reporter, editor, bureau chief and city
editor for Gannett-owned newspapers
in Westchester County, New York. Reach
her at 609-520-5929, linda.shockley@
dowjones.com.