It's been more than a decade since we started bandying about those three words, often as though they meant the same thing. They don't. Problem is, it's hard to find folks who agree on what newsroom convergence means.
In 2001, one journalist called convergence "the merging of the Internet with television and newspapers." A few years later, another followed a similar path. In a converged newsroom, "journalists from different media (TV, radio, newspaper, online) all share the same workspace ...," he said.
In 2003, three professors noted that "a standard definition of news covergence remains elusive," and they offered a five-step "Convergence Continuum" to illustrate the theoretical move to a converged newsroom. Two years later, several others wrote that the definition of newsroom convergence "is evolving as newsroom partnerships evolve." They added that most definitions revolved around media development of the "Inspector Gadget" model or examining which technologies could be applied on a job.
In 2008, two bloggers on media topics also followed the "media marriage" route and talked about idea and resource sharing in multiplatform newsrooms. And, a variety of definitions have been offered over the years by authors in the excellent Convergence Newsletter out of the University of South Carolina.
We, too, debated the meanings of those terms as we began planning a new space for our student media. And, even today, in the midst of our second year in the newsroom, the words help us understand where we were, where we are now, and where we might be in the future. Indeed, they form our "continuum," a timeline of progress and setbacks.
So, here's how we look at the terms in practical terms.
Shared Newsroom: Print, broadcast and online staff work in the same room, and they pretty much stay to themselves with little professional interaction or appreciation of each other.
Collaborative Newsroom: A step up the food chain. Staffers produce their own media products, thinking of the paper or newscast first and Web second. However, there is interaction and content sharing -- sometimes considerable -- between and among the legacy media and the Web site. Breaking news goes to the Web first, often accompanied by video and/or audio produced by the Web staff and the legacy media staff.
Converged Newsroom: The Web site most likely is the pre-eminent medium, or, if not, shares equal billing. Breaking news and important features and analyses, accompanied by multimedia, go to the Web. Staffers produce content for multiple platforms. It's more than collaboration; it's integration, and it involves skill sets and mindsets.
Students at Kent State call their new home the Converged Newsroom. That's not quite accurate, at least at this point. It's more of a collaborative operation. But, being that we started out two years ago as a Shared Newsroom, we're making pretty good progress. Even if sometimes it feels like a shotgun wedding.
so, things went smoothly from the start, eh?