Weekly Mobile Lab Journal Entry #1
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2016
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2016
Today marks the end of the first week of my social journalism practicum at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism — even though summer vacation doesn’t technically end until Monday. I spent the majority of the day getting last-minute feedback from my colleagues and friends before putting the final touches on the revised proposal.
After speaking with Jan Schaffer, I was able to refocus and narrow the scope of the program. Now I might actually be able to accomplish my stated goals by the end of the semester. The first draft was way too expansive and ambitious considering the limited time and resources available before the end of the academic year. Limiting the scope of the proposal to the launch and documentation of the project will increase both the probability of reaching my goals and the likely quality of the deliverables produced.
Instead of trying to carry out all three phases of the mobile lab, I’ll use this semester to focus on a successful launch, a comprehensive grant selection process, and robust documentation of the project. This added focus will be especially beneficial when it comes to soliciting and incorporating feedback from media partners and the communities their serve, which is another insight I got from Jan Schaffer.
Increasing the amount and quality of the project’s community listening mechanisms is really the best way to ensure that the results of the project are truly in the interest of the community. Aside from the generally scattered nature of my writing, this was one of the biggest shortcomings of my original proposal.
I especially loved the ideas Jan had when it comes to securing additional funding and expanding our experiments to other local partners from around the country. If we can demonstrate a stable and useful model for conducting mobile publishing experiments, we might be able to secure a challenge or matching grant from organizations other than the Dodge Foundation.
Next week, I plan to begin designing the first round of community listening events and mechanisms by looking at available dates and reaching out to potential partners, attendees, and venues.