Section Editor Applications

Journalism Innovation
A Journal of Scholarly and Professional Debate


Call for Editors
Journalism Innovation: A Journal of Scholarly and Professional Debate is seeking editors for all sections of the journal. The online journal, which focuses on the impact of internet technologies on industry practices and journalism education, will launch in May 2009 and needs the assistance of section editors to work with contributors to each area of the journal.

Journal Sections
1. Research
Refereed research articles, composed in hypertext format and containing such elements as data sets, video, audio and interactive graphics, will be the heart of the journal. The editor in charge of this section will play a very important role in working with the editorial board members to ensure that articles are reviewed in a timely manner and that feedback is provided to submitters. The Research Editor will receive each contributor’s link to the research hypertext, select three reviewers with experience in that research area, and inform the journal editor if the article is recommended for acceptance, revision/resubmission or rejection.

2. Education
The Education Editor will be responsible for submissions that focus on journalism education, in both professional training and university settings. These submissions may include some original research articles, but most often will be pieces that provide teaching tips, instructional strategies or suggestions for curriculum development. The editor will work with a handful of journalism educators to review the submissions. Other tasks could include arranging audio/video interviews with educators and administrators and creating a “Top Journalism Innovation Educator” award.

3. Industry Examples/Practices
This editor will be a surfaholic, an online news junkie who will be providing the most frequent and timely updates to the journal website. Ideally, this editor will be or will have been in the online news industry. He or she will solicit links to outstanding examples of multimedia and interactive journalism from journal readers and will post those links on the journal website daily or weekly. As time passes, this editor will be responsible for archiving and organizing these links for easy reference. This editor may also conduct audio or video interviews with industry professionals about their packages or processes.

4. Technology
A journal that concentrates on the effect of technology needs to have a section that keeps readers informed about new technologies in journalism and about how old technologies are being used in new ways. The Technology Editor will be expected to produce some content about the latest software and hardware developments, in addition to soliciting and editing material from contributors. This section might include subsections, such as backpack reporting technology, mini-tutorials on some software (utilizing motion screen capture programs like Captivate), purchasing recommendations for those on a tight budget, etc.

5. Reviews/Scholarship Wiki
The Reviews Editor will be responsible for keeping readers up to date on what other academic journals and trade publications/websites are publishing. This editor should have ready access to the academic journals in the field, in addition to more industry-centered publications like CJR, OJR, AJR, Quill, etc. While the journal will encourage readers to submit reviews of books, research pieces and online articles, the Reviews editor will also be working with colleagues and other members of the editorial board to produce short evaluations of the latest scholarship and information in the field. Another job duty will be supervising a scholarship wiki, once it is established. The wiki will make great contributions to the field by providing reader-supplied annotated bibliographies of books and articles on convergent/online journalism published in the last 15 years.

Applications
Section editor applicants need not be current members of the journal’s editorial board. All applicants should email their vita and a letter indicating what section they are interested in supervising and how their experiences and skills qualify them to be an editor for that section. Applicants are welcome to indicate any second or third choices, with a brief explanation of why they are interested/qualified in those areas.

Send a letter and vita via email to Dr. Robert Bergland, bergland@missouriwestern.edu

Priority deadline: March 15. Editorial selections will be announced in late March.