Online media guru Amy Gahran comes to the CEJ

Using the web as a journalistic tool is about capturing the "Google juice" and participating in multi-media converations, but most importantly, it's about harnessing a tool we already (most of us anyway) are experts at using: your brain.

Amy Gahran -- blogger, new media consultant, online maven, kickboxer, and many other things -- gave an eclectic, lively, sometimes irreverent("I'll keep talking until someone shoves a sandwich in my mouth") intro to new media for the Ted Scripps Fellows at the CEJ today.

I know, I know, you're thinking, "Duh, I've already heard of Tiwtter, blogging, Flickr, YouTube, etc." Well, Amy had some great tidbits of information that really hit home, even for someone who already uses all of the above:

• Filtering out noise is a key social skill, and it's one that is key to working with new media
• The most important skills future journalists need to learn are business and team-building
• Look to join a conversation instead of starting one
• "Search engines, like it or not, are the arbiters of your future career."
• The power of new media is in its ability to document the creative process behind projects (books, longer for articles, music albums, films, etc.)

This last point really struck me, especially since I've been reading a lot about the writing process lately.

So, hopefully I'll be implementing some of Amy's tips on this blog. Perhaps those of you still hanging on (one? two? holla?) will notice...

Find out more:

• Amy Gahran's site: Contentious
• Amy Gahran's column at the Poynter Institute: E-Tidbits