From Laboratories to Media Labs: Proposal for Actualization in Journalism Learning

Resumo

This article offers to academic and journalistic communities conceptual parameters of the Media Labs (ML) as innovative education environments for journalism. Therefore, we show the origin of the concept and the first ML for journalism in the world; to define theoretical concepts - convergence, education and technology - for updating the practical training in journalism; to present cases workshops journalism courses - ECA-USP and fellowship programs in the United States and ESPM-SP – which created ambiences for labs at the university; and finally to consider the challenges and conditions for media creation labs with educational bias towards the formation of the contemporary journalist. The work was developed from the perspective and the way of exploratory research in order to gain greater familiarity and proximity to a subject still little explored or ordered more deeply, and the concern to take ownership of an experimental feature, to find cases journalistic education laboratories, the previous ML, using descriptive and case studies, detailing the initiatives within universities. The panoramic view of some models of practical journalism education to achieve their main goal is to propose the ML as updating the journalism education environments. ML Laboratories are investigating, through applied research, solutions to issues that combine technology and culture, hardware and software, academia and market. Commonly, ML has interdisciplinary employees and work to stimulate entrepreneurship, creative economy and innovation in language and communication processes. The most notorious ML of today is the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Founded by Nicholas Negroponte in 1985, develops interdisciplinary projects in technology, media, art, science and design. Already in journalism, the first media success lab was developed in the 90s, the newspaper group Knight Rider in Bouler, Colorado. Some of the major US universities have journalism courses develop similar experiences ML called in fellowship programs, classroom courses of medium duration, focused on updating journalists. The mission of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, for example, is developing journalists and projects for the advancement of journalism in the world.  The Knight Science Journalism at MIT offers a classroom network in a year, with classes and lectures all week. Your goal is to update the selected journalists on cutting-edge research in science, technology, engineering, medicine and the environment. Among its activities, the network KSJ specialized media analyzes on science and technology worldwide, conducts field work with the MIT scientists and organizes seminars between researchers and journalists. In Brazil, an initiative such as the Media Lab ESPM-SP focuses on innovation in media, entertainment, design, information and arts. Interdisciplinary projects are developed, how about hyperlocal journalism, aided by digital technologies. On graduation in journalism from ESPM-SP, for example, develops the Journalism Portal activity, an activity designed for the course students can experience the environment of a newsroom. Experimentally, the student has the possibility of coverage of events on campus, such as lectures, conferences, campaigns, among other activities, in addition to interviews and the development of external agendas. In conclusion, we realize that journalism laboratories should be encouraged, in addition to media companies, universities. The theoretical and applied concepts for the creation of the media labs and structural and financial limitations of universities and journalism market seem to be the solutions and challenges for the development of this format laboratory in Brazil.  Journalism schools perform interdisciplinary activities for a long time, but when they do, the dialogue between sciences occurs often for lectures and discussions or interviews in the reports of the students. There is not much time or institutionalized space for teachers and students from different fields work together. In recent years, entrepreneurship projects within the academy developed incubators, business ripening environments. Although interdisciplinary in sometimes are not as ML, where the experimental character prevails over product development. New cultural relations of production, transmission and reception of information should be encouraged within the journalism courses. Already they are, actually, but you can increase the flow of content and learning through the different platforms, tools and existing dialogue channels today.