At my student paper in the UK we are all unpaid volunteers. Is it any different in the States?
This is why (college) old media is failing
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Re: This is why (college) old media is failing
#22At my student paper in the UK we are all unpaid volunteers. Is it any different in the States?
The Daily Collegian gives "scholarships" (stipends) to all editors and some senior reporters. These stipends don't come close to a wage, but it's something. Giving something to all editors and some reporters and then giving nothing to a web developer is insulting.
Re: This is why (college) old media is failing
#23I don't see how this is different from the real world. I see lots of ads for "Unpaid Internships" that want extensive knowledge of the field and expect you to already have the skills and experience the internship is supposed to teach you.
Re: This is why (college) old media is failing
#24My University paper did something like this. They were looking for someone to do some website design and maintenance for them at $300 a semester, and I offered to help. Not because eleven dollars a week rewards the effort I would put in, but because I felt like helping my University fix their embarrassing web presence.
In the end, despite the fact that I had worked with them before, and came recommended by the CS department, they demanded a full resume and a burned CD with examples of previous work before they would even talk to me! They ended up with an English major who "had experience with Dreamweaver", and clearly didn't mind jumping through hoops for negligible reward :P
Re: This is why (college) old media is failing
#25Most college newspapers actually outsource the content management and hosting for their websites to a company called College Publisher (owned by Viacom). College Publisher takes 100% of the advertising revenue in exchange for hosting the site and providing a CMS for "free". It's a small but lucrative niche for Viacom. By not giving up 100% of its online advertising revenue, this paper is actually well ahead of its pe…
>By not giving up 100% of its online advertising revenue, this paper is actually well ahead of its peers.
Most colleges see very little in terms of revenue from advertising. They charge enough to cover expenses and wouldn't dream of changing their pricing to become profitable.
Re: This is why (college) old media is failing
#26Applicants need a working knowledge of ASP/ASP.net, MySQL, Movable Type, HTML/CSS and general web server experience. Knowledge of JavaScript, LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) servers, iPhone development knowledge, Adobe Flash/Flex is a plus.
I guess this is what PG meant when he said:
The pointy-haired boss has no idea how this software has to work, and can't tell one programming language from another, and yet he knows what language you should write it in.
Re: This is why (college) old media is failing
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm still a student at Penn State and I used to work at that paper. The demanded skillset has increased while the stipend has cratered to zero. ps: I'm aware of your accomplishments. You make the Penn State startup community proud! Best of luck with Xobni!
Part of the trouble is also that the decision makers in charge of adding staff and directing the digital version(s) of the Daily Collegian are not well versed in the technology themselves. They probably just copied and pasted the job post from last time and added in whatever new they needed, without knowing that these can be extremely diverse skillsets. "Let's make an iPhone app! Add it to the job description!" A lot…
This is true of many non-college newspapers even. It's changing, slowly, but many of the people in charge today started when linotype machines were the norm, and had been for the last 6 decades.
Newspapers are (still) not used to the modern pace of technology. My last job, the editorial system was more than 12 years old, and was still running on the original boxes 12-year-old dell boxes. Some had no USB ports, most had no sound cards.
Re: This is why (college) old media is failing
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
UNC, Daily Tar Heel.
who was it? I remember there was a guy from the Tar Heel very involved with CoPress for a while.
Andrew Dunn sat on our Board when we were a non-profit, and has been involved in the conversation about CoPress and college media since the beginning, but he's been the Editor-in-Chief
Re: This is why (college) old media is failing
#29My University paper did something like this. They were looking for someone to do some website design and maintenance for them at $300 a semester, and I offered to help. Not because eleven dollars a week rewards the effort I would put in, but because I felt like helping my University fix their embarrassing web presence. In the end, despite the fact that I had worked with them before, and came recommended by the CS dep…
It seems most senior staff for college papers (the journalism majors) think that they can very easily apply their expertise and authority of print journalism (most of what's being taught in journo programs) to the web. It doesn't work and creates insulting instances like your story.
Re: This is why (college) old media is failing
#30Applicants need a working knowledge of ASP/ASP.net, MySQL, Movable Type, HTML/CSS and general web server experience. Knowledge of JavaScript, LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) servers, iPhone development knowledge, Adobe Flash/Flex is a plus. I guess this is what PG meant when he said: The pointy-haired boss has no idea how this software has to work, and can't tell one programming language from another, and yet he knows…
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