Little did I know I’d become a journalist.

After a few semesters studying Java, C, C#, Objective-C, C++, systems architecture, machine learning, logic, etc. (to name a few), I learned that everyone around me wanted to build video games. I did not want to do that. So, as any sophomoric youth would do, I explored other options. I found writing. Then I found my college paper, The Exponent. I found journalism. And eventually I found that what I had learned from a foray in one of the top CS schools in the country — and a full semester as a declared mathematics major — was what I really wanted to do.

Upon graduation, I became an online editor for The Indianapolis Star. After six months I had programmed various tools, interactive graphics, data driven projects and more. I was promoted. Then I was promoted again. Then I went to Gannett Co. Now I am at The Washington Post.

I graduated four years ago this month.

I do not have a “Digital Journalism” degree. Or a computer science degree. Or simply a journalism degree. I have the following: Dual degrees in Professional Writing and Creative Writing, with a minor in Communication, Mathematics and Computer Science. Needed one more class for Spanish. Darn.

I fell into where I am by pursuing what I wanted to do and where I thought information was going. Very much in realtime. I didn’t wait for a program to develop. Or a guidance counselor to tell me what to take. I took classes outside of my core programs simply because I thought they were important. Advanced Linear Algebra? It’s come in handy when using Least squares in tricky automated layouts. Linguistic Algorithms? Worked wonders when using the Levenshtein distance to compare stories against each other to produce similar results for users.

I am writing this very much in response to New York University’s Computational and Digital Journalism course sequence. And many others I’ve seen pop up. I want to say, thank you!

Now, catch up.

For the longest time I was under the impression that universities were cutting edge. Researching industries and identifying what they would need in the future. This holds true for medicine, engineering, classic sciences. Hell, even music. But where was journalism?

The aforementioned studies have always been doing this. Always. Journalism is now, finally, catching up in the digital age. Yet, the journalists we need today. Right now. Are four to five years out. Maybe less if we’re lucky.

Yet, things are changing. I have met people, journalists like me. They do exist and they either followed similar paths to me or ambitiously learned on their own time while working the night copy editor shift. It was up to us though. We did not have clear direction. We do not carry degrees with “digital journalism” in them. We’re journalists.

So thank you, NYU. Thank you for realizing that Computer Science and Journalism belong together. Now, please find someone to teach it.

Step 1: Create Front Pages folder
Go to your account folder then to your Pictures folder and create a new folder called Front Pages. You will need to update the path in the first step of the automator script to reflect your account path to the new folder. See below.

Step 2: Open Automator script
Download the script here. Place the script wherever you would like. Now open the script and modify the place of your Front Pages folder. See above.

Step 3: Customize front pages
You can add and remove the URLs for each front page in the Get Specified URLs step. Either add them by hand or add bookmarks. Follow the same URL structure as you add new pages. Save the script. In order to have Automator perform this action at login you need to do a File > Save As and save the script as an Application. You can skip this if you don’t wish to update pages at login.

Step 4: Setup Screen Saver
Go to your System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver > Screen Saver. Hit the plus sign on the left and select Add Folder of Pictures. Navigate to the Front Pages folder you created and select it.

Step 5: Automatically update pages when you login

Go to your System Preferences once again. Under the Accounts section find your account and click Login Items. Hit the plus sign and add the frontpages.app application you saved to your computer. Do not add the frontpages.workflow script or Automator will simply open and won’t execute the script. This can be hit and miss on some systems. I’m trying to find a better background approach so look for an update to this post.

And that’s it! Enjoy.

Here’s a full screenshot of the script if you need a reference.

Note: The Growl notification option at the end of the script is optional. Feel free to remove it.

These are links and resources from a presentation Matt Mansfield, professor at Northwestern University, and I gave at the American Press Institute on “Designing the User Experience”. We focused on a brief history of design and how it is changing in the new media landscape.

Download our presentation as a Keynote file and as a PDF.

Links we mentioned:
The SND Toolkit.
Online News Association
Hacks and Hackers

Readability – Installation Video for Firefox, Safari & Chrome

Readability – Installation Video for Firefox, Safari & Chrome from Arc90 on Vimeo.

Survey: Print Publishers Capitalizing on Opportunities Offered by Mobile Market

Audit Bureau of Circulations

RockMelt: Your Browser Re-Imagined Video

http://www.rockmelt.com

Flipboard for iPad – The Social Magazine App

Flipboard for iPad

State of the App Industry 2010 Report

From ReadWriteMobile

The Mobile Developer Journey from App Design to Monetization (Infographic)

Also from ReadWriteMobile

iPad as the new Flash

From Jeffrey Zeldman

Applications we mentioned

The Washington Post for iPad
Allrecipes for iPad
The New York Post for iPad
Esquire for iPad
NPR for iPad
Untappd
Instapaper
Flipboard
RockMelt

The role is a very new position created under news design director Justin Ferrell. I will also be working along innovation editor Sarah Sampsel. Awesome people.

With one day on the job I’m already seeing great work on the horizon. The team is fantastic. The energy for change and new products is cranked to 11. And the intelligence of the team is top notch. But the most exciting thing is being back in a newsroom. It already feels like my days at IndyStar.com. Everyone has a common goal to put out the best news of the day and there isn’t as much abstraction. I like that.

I’m getting the orientation and settling in bits out of the way this week. Then Cas and I will be getting the final move done next week. After that, it’s ground, meet running shoes.

Stay tuned. It’s gonna be huge!

Feel free to check out the site to see what this deal is all about. I’m interested to see what the talks bring. Of course, I’m sure the iPad will be a hot discussion.

I’ll be taking the Acela train up this afternoon. The conference begins tomorow at 8 a.m.

Stay tuned for more.