Summer-Fall 2001
Nora Paul Navigates New Media World
Photo by Diana Watters
NORA PAUL
Education
M.L.S., Texas Women's U, '75
B.A English and sociology, Texas Women's U, '74
Professional history
2000- Institute for New Media Studies Director
July 2000-May '01 New Directions for News interim director
1991-2000 Poynter Institute for Media Studies, faculty and Library Director
Other accomplishments
Online News Assoc., board member
Henbry award 1995, Special Libraries Association, News Division
Latest book
Computer Assisted Research: A Guide to Tapping Online Information, now in 4th ed.
Kudos
"Everyone who's ever worked with Nora says the same thing about her: She's a talented researcher, teacher, and organizer. And she knows everybody."
People keep calling this the 'information age.' It's not. Really, we're in the age of communication," says Nora Paul, inaugural director of the School of Journalism's Institute for New Media Studies.
Both the study and practice of communication are wholly different in the context of "new media," says Paul, a leading authority on new media whose book on the subject is now in its fourth printing. With the Internet, interactive television, wireless communication, and more to come, many of the shibboleths that have guided print and broadcast journalism and mass communication for decades have been discarded.
Even while journalism schools continue to teach the "basics" such as solid reporting and the ability to craft a story, technology is forcing the industry to reinvent itself from the inside out, she says.
"The idea that there even is a mass to 'mass media' is disappearing," says Paul, "That's one of the big struggles for mass marketers and mass media communicators dealing with how to get their message to increasingly niche audiences."
Conventional media gate-keepers are now bypassed, enabling people to go directly to the news source or to a product's manufacturer and to be more selective about what they see, even--with on-demand marketing and news delivery--to pre-select what they see, to filter out electronically anything that doesn't interest them. Publishers and editors who once determined "what's fit to print" for mass consumption now ask individual users what they want to see on their computer screens.
New media emerged before anyone knew what the market was, says Paul, and now organizations are scrambling to make sense of where they fit in. Local print media especially are having to rethink their place in the world of global communications, she says. Developing a Web presence is only the beginning; with global venture-media outlets knocking down communication doors, local operations must fully reconceptualize their place in the information universe.
To survive in such a climate, traditional news sources may need to realign their priorities to focus on local news, says Paul: "Frankly, why would I look for news about Eastern Europe in the local Twin Cities newspaper when I can go to the Web? By covering local issues in compelling and interesting ways, news agencies could really shore up their market and maintain themselves as an essential source of news."
The future of advertising on the Internet is still the "big question mark," says Paul. Trends show media organizations eagerly opting for high-quality multimedia experiences (rich media). But "industry analysts are still trying to determine the cost of creating rich media versus the return," she notes. And some are questioning the more intangible costs of heavily sponsored information sources, including the blurring of lines between information and advertising, journalism and commerce.
Regarded by industry leaders nationally as what one dubbed a "new media goddess," Paul is an old hand at new media. She bought her first modem in 1978 and has been using computers to access information ever since. A seasoned journalist, researcher, and news librarian, she now focuses on the delivery end of the communication process, or, as she calls it, "story-telling," looking at how new communication channels are reshaping both the medium and the message, both form and content.
The institute is positioned to help guide and reshape the way scholars, industry professionals, and the general public think about media and to help practitioners and consumers negotiate new media pathways. Beyond its role as an idea generator, the institute's most important role, says Paul, is outreach: "If I only work to support the teaching and thinking inside Murphy Hall, I won't be doing my job. The goal is to connect the research going on here with what the media industry needs to hear about and vice versa."
That attitude is paying off in the business community, where the institute has received rave reviews. Jen Alstad '92, cofounder and director of the Twin Cities-based Web design company B-Swing, says, "The University's focus on digital media is an important magnet, drawing together the people and organizations necessary to create new models."
That magnetic pull between academia, businesses, and the media industry is in part what brought New Directions for News, the nation's premier think tank for cutting-edge media, to the Twin Cities from the University of Missouri. Citing the "abundant talent and innovation in Minnesota news organizations," director Dale Peskin says Minnesota is an ideal location.
Paul couldn't agree more. "It's great to be a part of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where there's such energy, change, and inquiry about what the future could be," she says. And yet, she is quick to acknowledge, some things haven't changed and may never change--the need for good old-fashioned communication skills and the solid liberal arts grounding that "serves journalists well."
Her caveat to educators: "If you are worrying about how to get JavaScript training into your News Writing 101 class, don't. Concentrate on getting them to be good wordsmiths."