Environmental? Well I’m a little crazy but I wouldn’t go that far…

Last week, a group of online journalism students from Birmingham City University were asked to meet in a cafe in Birmingham, armed with our fancy laptops and overpriced hand-held computer bricks with unlimited texts and a 3G network that barely works at the best of times, let alone in an underground coffee bunker. We were given the name of a social media ‘expert’ and told to go and find them for an in-person chat. Sian and I ran around the city with nothing but Twitter and our own intuition, eventually finding our hunted treasure for a brief meeting about his Urban Coffee company and how the use of social media can help businesses and people in general. The audioboo of said meeting is here.

So it makes sense, in the light of our hard work, that we have been punished rewarded with co-editor roles for Birmingham Recycled. As our specialised area is conservation (as opposed to conversation or constipation, the latter of which I could probably write a book on at this precise moment) we have been given the authority to lead the group on our respective seminar days (Sian on Mondays, myself on Fridays) which entails… well, I’m not quite sure, actually. What does an editor do, exactly? More to the point, what does an editor do when their knowledge on the topic at hand is limited at best?

It’s tough to psych yourself into something you know very little about. When there’s additional responsibility thrown on top of that, it makes it almost impossible to think about your next move. The environment isn’t on the list of conversation starters during my day (it’s rare to watch a mucky movie and wonder how eco-friendly the scenery is, for example) but that doesn’t mean I can’t learn and do a good job at this. Sian has already began working exceptionally hard on keeping her team up to date with new stories and potential leads, which leaves me with the unenviable task of keeping up which I shall begin with a vigour on Friday when I meet my team and ask them to join hands for a collective prayer of hope and, if not too much to ask for, a miracle or two.

By the end of the week, I hope that my outlook will have changed. With any luck, by Friday afternoon I’ll be able to blog once more about what has been discussed and concluded during our seminar. I shall keep you abreast of the latest developments both here and on Twitter. It’s a daunting task but one that has the potential to not only reflect well on Sian and I (on paper and in our grades) but also to develop our understanding and appreciation of conservation and social media, and that’s what this is all about… right?

Advertisement