Memo to J-School Students: Are there audience problems ahead?

Point: J-Schools are the ideal testbed for future audience behaviors.

Among the experiments this site is undertaking is exploring new concepts of "social networking" or connectedness between journalism students today and journalism students of about 30 years ago. Why 30-year veterans? This was the first generation of journalists to begin to see digital media technology invade newsrooms, and then emerge as new media platforms, especially the Internet. Today, J-Schools like the University of Missouri are about to launch new specialized study programs around Media Convergence. This is interesting and necessary, but an important trend will need to be an immersive part of the curriculum: The rise of the creation and sharing of personal content by media audiences as a replacement for consuming media from media companies.

Call it the Connectedness of Convergence. Stay tuned for concepts in connecting current and former J-Schoolers as a platform for experimentation in what audiences might look like in the future.