N-Ost Russia This Week

A bit too sick to write a proper post or prepare the next podcast today. However I wanted to point out that this wednesday I’m leaving for a 5 day visit to Russia. Specifically to speak at the N-Ost International Media Conference in Rostov-on-Don, which is located in southern Russia, near the Black Sea.

Looking over the program, which is in German, I see that speakers include many Russian bloggers and journalists working in the world of new and old media.  Admittedly I don’t read any Russian blogs although I do read blogs by Russians and blogs by those who happen to be living in Russia. While I’m there I hope to be able to learn about their experiences, concerns, and projects. With any luck you’ll hear about it and perhaps from them directly on the podcast.

My talk, which will be held on Friday morning (and to my knowledge not streamed live) will be on Web 2.0 in Journalism, which means I’ll be talking about today’s web tools for journalists and how they help, hurt, etc.

I’m especially excited as this will be my first ever visit to Russia. While of course everyone thinks of cities like St. Petersberg or Moscow, I’m looking forward to experiencing a city that until recently, I knew nothing about.