University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds, writer of the popular “Instapundit” weblog, will come to Nashville in early May for a panel discussion on the role of weblogs in journalism, sponsored by the New Century Journalism program at Belmont University.
Reynolds, whose web site recently passed its 100 millionth page view, writes one of the most popular blogs about politics, current events and the news media. He will appear on the panel along with Rocky Mountain News columnist Linda Seebach, new-media pioneer J.D. Lasica, and Belmont University’s blogging coach Bill Hobbs, in a discussion scheduled for 7-8:30 p.m., Friday, May 6, on the Belmont campus. (Building location TBA).
In addition to being a law professor at UT, Glenn Reynolds writes law review articles, op-eds and books. His chief interest in writing and the law involves the intersection between advanced technologies and individual liberty. His Instapundit.com is one of the most heavily visited weblogs in the world. He writes for MSNBC.com and TechCentralStation.com.
J.D. Lasica is the founder of OurMedia.org, which describes itself as “a global community and learning center where you can gain visibility for your works of personal media.” OurMedia.org promises to “host your media forever – for free,” including “video blogs, photo albums, home movies, podcasting, digital art, documentary journalism, home-brew political ads, music videos, audio interviews, digital storytelling, children’s tales, Flash animations, student films, mash-ups – all kinds of digital works have begun to flourish as the Internet rises up alongside big media as a place where we’ll gather to inform, entertain and astound each other.”
Linda Seebach was a college mathematics professor before starting her career in journalism, and also had been the owner of a small printing business catering to the antique-car hobby and an English teacher at a university in Shanghai. She moved into journalism by way of the Minnesota Daily, the independent student paper at the University of Minnesota, where she did graduate work in linguistics, and later was an editorial writer and columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News and editorial page editor of the Valley Times in Pleasanton, Calif., before moving to Denver’s Rocky Mountain News. She frequently quotes bloggers in her column.
Bill Hobbs is leading Belmont University’s efforts at connecting with the world via weblogs, and also works in the university’s marketing and communications office as a writer and media relations specialist. He has been working in Nashville journalism since 1988, and has written news or commentary for a variety of publications including Nashville Business Journal, The Tennessean, Business Nashville magazine, Nashville City Paper, InReview and Nashville Life. In addition, he has written or edited for such other publications as the St. Petersburg Times, Corante.com, and New Country magazine, helped launch NetContent Inc., worked on a mayoral campaign, edited three business books and currently consults with large corporations on the use of weblogs as public relations tools.
The panel discussion is part of a much-larger three-day conference on blogging at Belmont May 5-7 called “BlogNashville,” sponsored by the Media Bloggers Association and hosted by the New Century Journalism program at Belmont.
For details on BlogNashville, please visit the BlogNashville web site at www.blognashville.org.
Related story: Bloggers To Get Journalism Training at Belmont Blogs & Media Conference
