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Three Ways to Always Learn in the Digital World

Published on by David A. Kennedy

Yesterday, Steve Earley and I crafted a post on Journalism Lives about the evolving nature of journalism jobs. The Labor Day post has proved popular with plenty of people viewing it and retweeting it.

We’re thrilled so many people have found it helpful and insightful. Steve Buttry, the Director of Community Engagement at TBD, shared a few related posts on landing a digital journalism job in the comments. That and another comment by Anna Tarkov inspired this post.

It jumps off of Buttry’s posts on landing your next digital journalism job and redirecting and rejuvenating a career. It’s my advice for making sure you’re always learning, and learning what you need to, to survive in the fast and furious digital world. You have to embrace your own story, and ensure it involves you always taking on the new and unknown.

It’s About Places, People and Projects

  1. Find places to teach yourself and learn. I love Lynda.com. I used it extensively in my grad program to learn things the professors couldn’t cover and/or didn’t know. I continue to use it and other tools to do the same thing now. Find communities that are passionate about what you want to or need to know. Listen and engage there.
  2. Create a side project or two (to implement those things you’re learning). Buttry touches on this in a way, but I have learned so much from developing, writing for and maintaining Journalism Lives. In such a short time span too! What’s your passion? What can you make from scratch? Let the possibilities guide you more than the limitations.
  3. Partner with good people (to learn more of what you want to know). I had the initial idea for Journalism Lives, but it certainly would not be what it is without Earley’s knowledge and passion. Thanks to him, the learning is always on. Find people you admire who know more than you, and work with them. You’ll have a lot to teach each other.

This is just what works for me. How are you always learning?

Image by Crissy Jarvis.


Tagged Learning