“Respectfully Going Rogue” with Robert Hernandez
He traveled to Latin America, worked for some big name papers and, perhaps most impressively, understands JavaScript. I met Robert Hernandez, now an Associate Professor at USC Annenberg, at #wjchat – live edition! – in Boston at the ONA conference last year. He seemed like a positive, outgoing guy, so I skyped him a call – that’s a new phrase, trademarked! – and had a chat about how he got to where he is now, and what he sees as the future.
Hernandez explains that he spends most of his time just deciding what he wants to do in positions he’s been hired for. Because the web is so new and changing, he says he just “respectfully goes rogue” and advises young people hired in the business to do the same. All he asks is that you remember “there’s a difference between online journalism and journalism online. “The difference is that you can take a picture of the Mona Lisa and put it online…that’s art online. But online art is when someone takes JavaScript or J Query and uses it to express that art online…it’s the best of all mediums, plus some.” So, what I suppose he means is that one should create separate work for your website as opposed to just revising your for-air script to go on the web.
Hernandez says he’s where technology and journalism meet, and says vehemently that “one doesn’t direct the other, they need each other,” and that it’s all for the greater good.
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