Visual Editors
Encyclopedia
Visual Editors is a 501(3) non-profit charity organized for educational purposesis a U.S. public charity that promotes journalism education via online forums, peer-to-peer sharing resources and offline training events held at universities and working newsrooms.
The 501(c)(3) non-profit was incorporated in 2004 by Chicago journalist Robb Montgomery
and is registered in the State of Illinois.
The group operates online forums, blogs and portfolio galleries as a virtual peer to-peer classroom. The group who use the charity's resources to study the latest visual journalism
, information graphics
and newspaper design techniques.
The not-for-profit also offers several blogs from established visual journalists like Charles Apple (U.S.A.), Alan Formby-Jackson (U.K.), TK Sajeev (India), Alejandro Banuet (Mexico) as well as many interactive teaching tools to help high school and college students and teachers study and share state-of-the-art journalism techniques. The site recently migrated from a PHP forums style exchange to the NING
platform.
The 501(c)(3) non-profit was incorporated in 2004 by Chicago journalist Robb Montgomery
Robb Montgomery
Robb Montgomery is a Chicago journalist, former newspaper editor, and founder of a social network for journalists, Visual Editors. He is a newspaper designer who worked on the 2003 redesign of the Chicago Sun-Times and 2005 redesign of The Baltimore Examiner.-Early life:Montgomery was born in...
and is registered in the State of Illinois.
The group operates online forums, blogs and portfolio galleries as a virtual peer to-peer classroom. The group who use the charity's resources to study the latest visual journalism
Visual journalism
Visual journalism is the practice of strategically combining words and images to convey information.-Universal:Visual journalism is premised upon the idea that at a time of accelerating change, often words cannot keep pace with concepts. Visual journalism incorporates ancient symbols that resonate...
, information graphics
Information graphics
Information graphics or infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics present complex information quickly and clearly, such as in signs, maps, journalism, technical writing, and education...
and newspaper design techniques.
The not-for-profit also offers several blogs from established visual journalists like Charles Apple (U.S.A.), Alan Formby-Jackson (U.K.), TK Sajeev (India), Alejandro Banuet (Mexico) as well as many interactive teaching tools to help high school and college students and teachers study and share state-of-the-art journalism techniques. The site recently migrated from a PHP forums style exchange to the NING
Ning
Ning is an online platform for people and organizations to create custom social networks, launched in October 2005. Ning offers customers the ability to create a community website with a customized appearance and feel, feature sets such as photos, videos, forums and blogs, and the service layers in...
platform.
Membership
The charity servers more than 1,400 registered members worldwide and these scholars and journalists World Editors Forum (Paris) frequently post and critique each other's portfolio of page design, information graphics and news illustrations. All of the content is user-generated and the effect of social learning networks was the subject of a 50-page Master's Thesis by journalism student Amanda Miller - "Online Communities’ Impact on the Profession of Newspaper Design, Master's Thesis, West Virginia University"Impact
Members of Visual Editors have written in forums hosted by the Poynter Institute that the networking impact and learning opportunities of the charity's Web site's have had far-reaching effects for many student and professional journalists.Focus of scholarly research
Ms. Miller's abstract explores the role of social networks in expanding learning opportunities for visual journalism working in newsrooms around the world.
Abstract
The importance of the Internet to visual journalists is increasing with every technological progression. Recently online communities have formed, creating a commonplace for creative professionals to meet and share visual work. This study focuses on the possible impact of these emerging online communities on the newspaper design profession. Interviews of newspaper designers who participate in online communities specifically focused on the profession unveiled current and important transformations occurring within the newspaper design profession. Additionally, this study expands on both offline and online community theory, giving qualitative insight into future studies which may focus on the Internet’s effects on various professions.