A busy day of turtling at Open 09

So a busy first day at Open 09 yesterday discussing the future of the web and the future of journalism.

For the later we were asked three questions.

1.What skills will journalists need to equip themselves for in 2020.

2.How do we find independent quality journalism and

3.How should the media react to the ever increasing change of pace.

I don't pretend that for one moment we have solved any of these three points but some very interesting discussion which will feed into today's mega turtle.

For the first,it seems that journalists will have to think of themselves more as a brand,that they will have to operate more as a business and be equipped with greater freelancing skills.

There was also some discussion on the power of cooperation and possible journalists forming themselves into groups with which they can market a range of skills.

On the funding aspect,quite surprisingly the subject of micro payments was rarely mentioned.Instead the power of hyper local where small concerns unsaddled with the high costs of corporate media conglomerates could compete in a more level playing field.

As for how the media competes in the curent climate,well it was think strategic.Media has to act like any other business in a rapidly changing world.It's difficult when you are under pressure but decisons need to be taken at a higher level of plane.The rush to digitalise without thinking of the business model was held up as a classic example.

As for the future of the web,connectivity,democratisation and the ability to filter the ever increasing information were concerns that our group came up with.

Today all the group's conclusions will go into the "mega turtle" and from them a manifesto and a plan of action