How do you merge the culture of the programming environment with the culture of the newsroom? Part of a series on the “programmer/journalist” trend.

“You need to go do what you’re being asked to build,” he [Matt Waite] said. “Spend a night on the sports copy desk taking high school football scores and you’ll get an idea of what a football score taking app should do, no matter what the editor is telling you.”

Similarly, journalists would do well to sit with a programmer and watch their ideas get turned into an app.

Published: October 19, 2009

Publication: PBS MediaShift, a blog that tracks how new media — from weblogs to podcasts to citizen journalism — are changing society and culture.

Skills: Reporting, Writing