A lot of what I do (freelancing, newslettering, being a deep font of wisdom) depends on being in the know when it comes to data, tech and the journalism biz. One of the key ways I keep on top of it all is Source‘s biweekly OpenNews calls.
I know a conference call is not exactly anyone’s idea of a time-saver. But it’s an excellent way to keep on top of projects, jobs, funding, conferences – anything going on in the journalism world. A lot of the tools that I wrote about for TFR, I got from these calls.
Source and OpenNews are groups inside of Mozilla (I think, I’ve never really figured it out). They’re nonprofits dedicated to making journalism more tech-savvy and diverse, among other things, so they’re not trying to sell you anything.
And if all that didn’t convince you, it’s got to be one of the clearest, fastest routes to real cash money that you’re ever gonna find. Last week, they announced a new fund for helping people travel to events and conferences.
Source is one of the few groups that really puts its money where its mouth is when it comes to making journalism more diverse. Not just for American journalists of different colors and sexes, but also for people of different countries, languages and backgrounds. So it’s a project a lot of people on this list can benefit from, but we should also support (full disclosure, I wrote for them recently).
If you can’t tune in to the call, Source puts up the notes for every week. (See above.)
And if meetings IRL are more your thing, I’m sure many of you will be at the IRE conference next week in New Orleans. Don’t be shy, let’s meet up! It keeps us from having to sit alone during those two-hour lunch breaks.