Creating the Future
Take chances, Make mistakes, and Get messy
Working with and in the media field means that you have to adjust. Every. Single. Day. Technology is constantly evolving and changing, sometimes not always for the better.
Before recently, I’d never heard of a mobile innovation lab, but it seems like a tool that could be useful to budding journalists and creative types alike. Being familiar with technology and it’s advancements is crucial to growing in the media industry and being able to make a name for yourself amongst your peers and colleagues. Understanding media is just part of the battle though.
Designing your own technology that can become useful to others in your field can be a game changer. Your cell phone is already a massive tool that connects you to the rest of the world, as a journalist, we need to hone in to that technology with fierceness.
During this exercise, I kept thinking about what it must be like to work at BuzzFeed. BuzzFeed seems to have popped up almost out of nowhere. By creating interesting content and changing the way people use their phone, the company is now a powerhouse name amongst the media and creative field. They grab sometimes millions of people a day to their website and their content on Facebook, and I think they’re a perfect example of people who have mastered how to use social media and technology to their biggest advantage.
Innovation with technology and media is about so much more than quirky quizzes and celebrity gossip at your fingertips. It’s about understand where technology is going and what would be most useful for your audience to have easy access to. Through the exercise, I think the most important thing I’ve grasped is the important of trying anything and everything until it works. I’m brought back to the days of The Magic School Bus. Ms. Frizzle’s famous catchphrase was “Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy”, and that’s what I feel is essential in order to make changes that stick and have a positive impact on your field.
