Rji-pivot-intros

In this step, participants at RJI Pivot Point Chicago briefly described their expertise and background, including keywords, what they hoped to have brought to the gathering, and what they hoped to "take away."

---

• Bill Densmore
  Who am I? -- I describe myself as a researcher on the future and sustainbility of journalism. Early career The AP, trade publishing, publishing weeklies in Berkshire county, starting a technology company, and NGO research. Key words: Information Trust Association, infovalet, paper to persona, attention age
  What have I brought? -- I bring years of surveying and convening the landscape and a fanatical desire to help pull the news industry together to sustain participatory democracy and communities.
  What do I want to take away? -- A role to play in a one or more collaborative projects.
  
  
• Peggy Holman
  Who am I? -- Co-founder Journalism that Matters, runs intreactive conferences with the whole system of journalism for about 10 years.
  What have I brought? -- Some insight into engaging with change upheaval and chaos.
  What do I want to take away? -- Connection into projects or at least a project where JTM can bring the kind of convening skills it has to help make a difference in envisioning the future of the industry -- to be way more than it is able to be.
  
  
• Al Stavitsky
  Who am I? -- Dean, RJ school, Univ. of Nevada
  What have I brought? -- An academic perspective on these questions; where journalism education fits in. Impact of digital transition in public media.
  What do I want to take away? -- What does engagement entail?
  
  
• Roger Gafke
  Who am I? -- 45th year on Missouri faculty next year.
  What have I brought? -- Emphasis on Journalists Creed idea of the public trust and how it is a continuing obligation.
  What do I want to take away? -- Ideas for research projects we can launch around the country.
  
  
• Tom Grubisich
  Who am I? -- columnist on Street Fight, the hyperlocal industry publication. He is micro -- tends to focus on specific project.Likes the word sensemaker.
  What have I brought? -- H ehas been concentrating on data, jouranlism and community and how to bring together.
  What do I want to take away? -- He wants to relearn how to do data and journalism and community better than he has in the past.
  
  
• Chuck Peters
  Who am I? -- President of Gazette Co., 130 years old owned by the same family whole time; tv and radio. The family wants to develop a new business model based on actionabl einformation in context.
  What have I brought? -- They have followed this path to the point where on certain topics they have to be more activist community builders -- thyey have picked education. If they dodn't take an activist role, who would
  What do I want to take away? -- Wants a framework to share with a few people in order to compare notes as going forward.
  
  
• Amy Garmer
  Who am I? -- Director, Journalism Projects, Aspen Institute. She manages followup work to the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy.
  What have I brought? -- Insights from their own work on info needs of community and thinking differently about communities ans inforamtion ecosystems.
  What do I want to take away? -- Better understanding of what kinds of innovative projects are going on the ground not just for collaborations but for relationships.
  
  
• Ben Huh
  Who am I? -- Runs Cheeseburger, a humor site. He and Mike Galligan have started Circa as an attempt to reimagine news for mobile devices for the 21st century.
  What have I brought? -- He would like to give by offering concepts that go too far.
  What do I want to take away? -- He wants to soak up the knowledge from this group.
  
  
• Larry Birnbaum
  Who am I? -- Computer science at Northwestern. He is looking at journalism and technology. Co-founder of Narrative Science, which automatically generates stories from data. Aimed at giving business folks actionable information.
  What have I brought? -- He hopes to be able to say something about what it takes to automate and scale editorial judgement.
  What do I want to take away? -- He doesn't understand all that well the values and experience of the jounralims community and hopes to learn more.
  
  
• Ted Anthony
  Who am I? -- Editor at large at The AP. He is studying how information moves around, how people consume it and how The Ap can use its resources without those frameworks.
  What have I brought? -- He is a generational interpreter. He has been inculcated with traditional jouranlism but clawing our ways around in this noew world. What do we port over; what do you leave behind.
  What do I want to take away? -- A sense of what storytelling is and means in the 21st century and how we can use that to inform people and also get them engaged.
  
  
• Jon Rust
  Who am I? -- Publisher of 17,000 circ. Paper and co-president of 19-daily and xx weeklies in small rural midwest communitieis. Current chair of Local Media Association and on the AP board and is chair of the technology committee and serves on executive committee. He sees small newspapers able to provide important community roles -- the need help with technology.
  What have I brought? -- Lots of time focused on revenue streams and operational revenue streams; lots of putting fires out; sometimes thinking about strategy can be tough in the daily grind. He brings perspective from small newspaper companies.
  What do I want to take away? -- Hopes to get some new thinking and some provocation from people who have been thinking about big and long-term issues.
  
  
• Matt Galligan
  Who am I? -- Co-founder if Circa. He is a technologist and product guy by trade. Inventign new ways to write, distribute and consume the news in a mobile environment.
  What have I brought? -- A unique perspective of what he is looking for. A contrarian world. Because he is not of this world. But I know what I like and what I don't like.
  What do I want to take away? -- A greater understanding of what goes on on the inside -- a 1.0 on the journalism world.
  
  
• Buzz Wurzer
  Who am I? -- Has spent 50 years in the newspaper business; with Tribune, Daily News and Hearst as corporate marketing director for newspapers. Large and small paper experience. We used to own customers; they are now in niche sites. Need some kind of shared user network with meaningful statistics. That sets up the oppoortunity through intelligent agents to set up a personal valet and market those profiles.
  What have I brought? -- He did all digital in the last years at Hearst and was president of the NAA New Media Federation, through 1995. He brings a marketing perspective to content. The good marketers in this business sell content, because that is what attracts the eyeballs. It's not content anymore, it is information. it is not an article, it is a topic that will cause engagement. He offers makreting perspective.
  What do I want to take away? -- Get a perspective on what a shared network could be, collectively. Media has been disintermediated from customers.
  
  
• Jerry Ceppos
  Who am I? -- Former newspaper editor turned J-school dean
  What have I brought? -- Can offer perspective on watching the collapse of Knight-Ridder newspapers.
  What do I want to take away? -- Hopes to get a perspective on research possibilities.
  
  
• Sheila Solomon
  Who am I? -- Lives in Chicago; started 35 years ago at Newsday and then Charlotte Observer and Chicago Tribune, as cross-media editor and recruiting and community engagement.
  What have I brought? -- Observations and lessons learned about what they did at the Chicago Tribune.
  What do I want to take away? -- Hopes get help with teaching this fall.
  
  
• Stijn Debreaour
  Who am I? -- Technologist at Source Media Group.
  What have I brought? -- Has only been in news industry 3-4 years. Offers an outsider perspective.
  What do I want to take away? -- Hopes to learn.
  
  
• Paul Edwards
  Who am I? -- A dean masquerading as an editor. He is editor of the Deseret News. In print one of the fastest-growing newspapers in the country.
  What have I brought? -- Perspective on what they are doing and all the mistakes they have made along the way.
  What do I want to take away? -- Wants to learn how to create the newsroom of the 21st century and develop the capacity of contemporary journalists.
  
  
• Luike Stangel
  Who am I? -- From the Internet. Raised $500K from MediaNews and developed two failed projects. Former journalists and technologist.
  What have I brought? -- Bringing experience as a technolgoist working with a journalism company.
  What do I want to take away? -- New ideas for a new project in the future.
  
  
• Jonathan Stray
  Who am I? -- Began as computer scientist; worked 10 years for Adobe and got a journalism degree in Hong Kong and was an AP editor in interactive. He is working now on the Overview Project, to help reporters make sense of extremely large document sets.
  What have I brought? -- A different perspective. "I don't read a newspaper on paper; I don't know of almost anyone who does." Skepticism of gatekeeper role.
  What do I want to take away? -- Hopes to learn what local journalism is about. Actionable infromation? Empowerment? I feel journalism should help people create the world that they live in.
  
  
• Brian Steffens
  Who am I? -- At RJI. Before that spent eight years as executive director of Newspaper Assn. Of America, 2,000 weeklies and very small papers. But has worked for Miami Herald, LA Times, Detroit News and others. Worked with startups. For small papers, what happens, how much self censorship is there because I have only one or two major advertisers? Need to look at local advertising so it doesn't get stolen by the Googles of the world.
  What have I brought? -- He has worked for about every piece of the newspaper industry, of every size.
  What do I want to take away? -- Figure out how to leave it all behind. For small papers, how do we remain free and independent? And how to we exercise leadership with advertisers, businesses and the public?
  
  
• Linda Fantin
  Who am I? -- Director of network journalism and innovation at American Public Media. Was 20 years with community weeklies in Wyoming and investivative reporter at the Salt Lake Tribune. She leads Public Insight Network.
  What have I brought? -- She thinks of her role as a steward and how to makejournalism more revalatory, relevant and transparent. She brings perspective as a media manager.
  What do I want to take away? -- Advice on providing leadership and organizational cultural change. She wants to be surprised.
  
  
• Tom Slaughter
  Who am I? -- Executive director, Inland Press Assn., 126 years old. Newspapers in every state except N.H., working on that. Family and independently owned newspapers.
  What have I brought? -- Hopes to give their perspective.
  What do I want to take away? -- Theories on how those papers can survive, sustain and grow.
  
  
• Alan Mutter
  Who am I? -- Feels like an AA meeting. A editor turned serial technology CEO. He consults to tech and media companies. Teaches entrepreneurism at Berkeley.
  What have I brought? -- Has been involved in startup business in every conceivable way. Has been in the whole Silicon Valley ecosystem -- hopes to contribute that perspective. Offered idea: There is a lot of thought about maintaining the institutions of journalism. Most of us are "preservationists." This exercise is about harnessing the power of the crowd. There are some very smart people here would would say, "Hey, what, read a paper? Who are you kidding?" We have to bring that perspective.
  What do I want to take away? -- Confidence and good ideas that we can bring forward and preserve theidea of journalism forever.
  
  
• Alisa Cromer
  Who am I? -- 25 years with alternative weeklies. Today she has a paid subscription site.
  What have I brought? -- She has to sell the story every week. What does your audience really need? That's the perspective I need.
  What do I want to take away? -- Hopes will be able to partipcation in the conversation about jouranlismrelevance.
  
  
• Brad Degraf
  Who am I? -- Sociative Inc. A media technologist from 20 years of computer animation. Company founded on core idea, an algorithm for merited social curation. Technology of social media is perfect for mediating a meritocracy. Originally conceived as a way to govern crowdfuding, but are applying it to the question of what should I pay attention to?
  What have I brought? -- Curating twitter with social mediation. He hopes to bring tools potentially but insight about how to embrace social curation, because you are going to have to -- that is what's disrupting this whole process. Without losing the wisdom that is journlism. We say we make wiser crowds.
  What do I want to take away? -- Opportunities to collaborate and new ideas.
  
  
• Jack Galmiche
  Who am I? -- Nine Network of Public Media in St. Louis. They host the St. Louis Beacon and have built out a new digital media center and teach storytelling there. And relationships with unvieristies.
  What have I brought? -- Perspectives of a changing public-media organization. Correlaries between legacy broadcast and daily print business. Share experieces around community engagement and collective impact. How can we be more than just a news provider?
  What do I want to take away? -- How might we better partner with others. We don't have control over partners. How do we invent way that we ccollaborate better with others for the sole service of providing better to our communjties.
  
  
• Martin Langeveld
  Who am I? -- 30 years in dailiy newspaper business in Western New England; left in 2008. Now blogs on his own and Nieman Journalism Lab. During those 30 years, and was always trying to figure out where the business was headed. He always realized the business was disruptible. He kept an eye on experiments.
  What have I brought? -- He brings an expertise with numbers, and the splash of cold water about how you make money. Raelism that saving a legacy industry may not be what we can ultimately accomplish.
  What do I want to take away? -- But if we can bring news to communities through some new model, maybe we can contribute some ideas to that.
  
  
• Rob Yarin
  Who am I? -- Frank Magid Associates. Research about the consumer. Started Newspaper of the Future program about four years ago; and worked with newsrooms about what their readers want. Advertisers are taking newspapers in th wrong direction. Bias is a big problem in newsppares today, and readers are really atuned to it.
  What have I brought? -- A real understanding of what the reader, consumer, user is looking for. And it is not clear cut and it is not pretty today. The have had a lot taken away from them. They are experimenting with communty pages -- 60-70 percent of readers arelooking aththem. He also offers multiplatform experience.
  What do I want to take away? -- Advertisers are taking newspapers in th wrong direction.
  
  
• Rich Forsgren
  Who am I? -- Erie is a unique experience. Started as a journalist and was forced ot become a technologist to solve problems that the IT staff couldn't solve.
  What have I brought? -- He has learned a lot about audience in the last five years. WE can't preach, we have to listen to what they have to say. Flip that and start doing it from a marketing perspective. It's about monetizing what we do, advertising, audience and how can we get there.
  What do I want to take away? -- A pratcical solution to the isuses we are trying to find going forward.
  
  
• Rachel Davis Mersey
  Who am I? -- Newly named media school. Was at the Arizona Republic and the NBC5 affiliate and did her Ph.D. work with Phil.
  What have I brought? -- Why do people use media products? What do they want that they don't even know that they want. Perspective on the research side -- the psychology piece.
  What do I want to take away? -- How to be part of solutions. Students do work that often goes nowhere. Wants to be part of a cog moving forward.
  
  
• Adam Powell
  Who am I? -- Ran NBC news and several things National Science Center multimedia engineering. Retired
  What have I brought? -- Three research projects in the last year. One with public service media broadcast and online; arts institutions and arts journalism; facing same issues we are talking abou there; third area is digital media in Africa -- it has to be SMS, free or almost free.
  What do I want to take away? -- Keep eyes ears open for three new research projects. Two are to look at what lab partrners are doing related journalism. Google: How do you do Pandora-like tayloring of news. Apple hiring someone to do work on experiential media from a hand-held device. U.S. govvernment starting expanded research on tayloring on-demand information to audio and hand-held devices. Agencies wiht a lot of money.
  
  
• Mary Ruddy
  Who am I? -- Software, large distributed an dhigh trust system. She is chair of Identity Commons, to fostering innovation in creating news systems that proptect peoples personal identiy over the internet.
  What have I brought? -- Advertising model is a legacy of the mass market. Now you can community 1-to-1 and personalize. As that transitoin takes place -- second lament -- Google and Facebook stealing all attention. But people are realizing Facebook and Google are not respecting their privacy. There is an opportunity now for the trusted journalistic organizaitons that have been part of peoples communjiteis to take a third approach which is to develop user-orieinted systems, to facilitate those peoples interested and develop in the exact oppositeof avertising.
  What do I want to take away? --
  
  
• Susan Leddick
  Who am I? -- Lives in Bozeman, Mont.
  What have I brought? -- She does this kind of work with a lot of different organizations facing many of same disruptive challenges. Hopes to be able to help us get where we want to get and produce something effective and useful and orchestrate theinteractions.
  What do I want to take away? -- Understsand this whole macrochange that is happening in so many industries and institutions in our culture.