From consumers to creators of media

Viking fans Brett Gardner and his mother, Tami Gardner, watch  a video on the
TC Rover TV with John Brewer and C.J. Sinner of TwinCities.com.
From Steve Buttry/The Buttry Diary

In the September/October edition of American Libraries, author Greg Landgraf highlights eight libraries and four museums awarded $100,000 grants to create digital learning labs and mentor teens to become creators and not merely consumers of media.

I see similar benefits in the open newsrooms and mobile newsrooms that are championed by Digital First Media. Two highlighted this week in Steve Buttry’s Buttry Diary are the Oakland Tribune’s community newsroom and the NewsVroom mobile community newsroom/classroom of Gametime PA, ydr.com, Smart magazine, FlipsidePA.com and the York Daily Record.

One month earlier, TwinCities.com’s TC Rover made its debut in the Twin Cities area.

This is an exciting time to be in the fields of librarianship and journalism -- and hands-on engagement is a place where these occupations naturally intersect. Both have an interest in promoting engaged and responsible citizenship.

Libraries (and newsrooms) are being reconfigured for 21st-century learning; in the same issue of American Libraries, Linda W. Braun describes the information commons, learning labs and makerspaces that are emerging in newly-opened spaces.