Retired secondary teacher and unionist. After teaching in Victorian schools from 1975, spent 8 years teaching in the Northern Territory: 4 in Katherine, followed by 4 in Maningrida, an aboriginal community in Arnhem Land. Now lives in Melbourne.
Global Voices author and blogger at TH!NK ABOUT IT, as well as his own blogs which can be accessed at Red Bluff Media http://www.redbluffr.com/.
Kevin asked the question: “What can we Melburnians do before the Earth Summit to ensure that real actions follow, not just agreements to more talking like those made at Cancun?”
Kevin asked the question: “Australian voters have a history of saying NO. How do we ensure that the next Republic referendum does not fail just because of the kind of pervasive negativity and division currently being experienced in our political culture?”
Kevin commented on Kevin's question: “Luis, Totally agree but how do we guarantee that independence of mind and originality can thrive in a media community dominated by infotainment and conformity? Who asks the really hard Qs in the mass media or tries to address them? We saw during the last Oz election that the Afghan war and climate change (as distinct from politics) were submerged by personality politics - in many cases the journalists' personalities.”
Kevin commented on Kevin's question: “Top of my list is personal integrity ( and how to maintain it), closely followed by teamwork. It's my privilege to be involved with mentoring young citizen journalists through the Activista Swarm project. Some of them will be the senior journalists of 2050. How would you help to guide those who want a 'career' in current affairs reporting? What do they need to know, what do they need to know how to do? What are the building blocks for adapting to change? But how do you enhance the best aspects of the profession in a mass media dominated by...”
Kevin commented on Kevin's question: “Compare 2050 with 1950: Will knowledge of IT code replace shorthand? What kind of literacy will be needed? Will the cub reporter be a multilingual, multimedia, multi-skilled auteur - producing written, audio and visual texts for a wide range of platforms? Will evolving technology such spell/grammar checker and translator, not to mention digital production, enable journalists to concentrate more on content? How will they gather their stories? What kind of human networks will be important? Or are these things just distractions from the...”
Kevin asked the question: “What skills will be essential for journalists in the newsroom of 2050?”
