Jonah Kessel and Carmen Sisson discuss entrepreneurship and photojournalism

One of the classes I will be speaking to at the University of Iowa today is a “Global Images” course. I will be discussing changes in visual journalism in the digital age. Some of the differences I wanted to address are the necessities of multitasking, online promotion and entrepreneurship.

I asked two excellent visual journalists I know who are multitasking entrepreneurs with strong web sites, Jonah Kessel and Carmen Sisson.

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Our Washington metro site has a name: TBD

I love the new name of the Washington metro news operation I joined in February: TBD. Click that link to read more.

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Loryn Wilson joins us as a community host

I have hired five of six people for our community engagement team. Loryn Wilson will be a community host, joining Jeff Sonderman, Lisa Rowan and Daniel Victor, whom I already announced. I also have hired Mandy Jenkins as social media producer. We’re still working on hiring the mobile producer.

A graduate of George Washington University, Loryn is a veteran blogger, both on black girl blogging and on the Women’s Rights blog for Change.org. She used to work for the Center for Progressive Leadership, where colleagues say she guided more experienced staff members through unfamiliar social media waters. She served on the social media team for Becky’s Fund, an organization assisting survivors of domestic violence. She has been a panelist for programs discussing social media and digital communication.

I cringed when Laura McGann of the Nieman Journalism Lab quoted me Wednesday as saying that I’d have five of my community engagement jobs filled by the end of the week. Yeah, I had said it in a confident moment when she interviewed me Tuesday. But when I read it, I wasn’t sure I could actually get the hiring done. But with Loryn’s acceptance, our team is nearly complete.

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Daniel Victor joins our community engagement team

It may take a while for me to learn to call Daniel Victor, my newest staff member, Dan. I’ve followed him on Twitter so long that I just think of him as @bydanielvictor.

Dan’s the latest recruit to the Allbritton Communications metro news operation (which Jim Brady says will have a name soon, perhaps today).

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Syncing social tools (especially Foursquare) requires some thought

If addiction is the second stage of Foursquare use, I am still at stage one, curiosity. But at least I’m a curious Mayor.

Blogger Dan Macsai described the Five Stages of Foursquare Use — curiosity, addiction, socialization, greed, apathy — in a blog post. While it was amusing, he didn’t really address the factor that’s been getting lots of discussion recently on Twitter, which Brian Moylan addressed in If You Use Foursquare, You Are an Annoying Jackass.

I do use Foursquare, so perhaps I am an annoying jackass (for that matter, I might have been an annoying jackass long before I started checking in digitally). But I’ve adjusted how I interact with other social media on Foursquare, in hopes of being less annoying.

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Mandy Jenkins joins us as social media producer

I am delighted to welcome Mandy Jenkins of the Cincinnati Enquirer to our community engagement staff as social media producer.

Mandy helped me by long distance a year ago when I led a Twitter webinar for the American Society of News Editors. So I think it was appropriate that I received her email accepting my job offer during the final day of this year’s ASNE convention.

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A mobile-first project for your community on the go

I will be making a presentation to newsroom leaders Tuesday about the mobile-first strategy I have proposed and promoted in this blog.

I was pleased to hear Eric Schmidt tell the American Society of News Editors (that N in ASNE used to stand for Newspapers) in Sunday night’s keynote address that Google is taking a “mobile-first” view of digital opportunities. News organizations must do the same. Amy Webb of Webb Media Group also underscored the importance of mobile communication and location-based information at a Monday address to ASNE. I will attempt to follow by giving the editors advice and encouragement to start moving ahead right away with their mobile operations.

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Maya’s adoption becomes final in Iowa

Judge Terry Wilson with, from left, rear, Mandy, Maya, Matt, Chelsea; front, Whitley, Shay, Denzel, Ethan

An update on my great niece, Maya, from Haiti: Her adoption became final in Iowa yesterday.

Tony Leys wrote a great story in the Des Moines Register this morning, accompanied by Andrea Melendez photos:

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Our community engagement team is taking shape

Update: Since posting this, I have also hired Mandy Jenkins and Daniel Victor.

I got scooped on my own announcement. And I couldn’t be happier.

Over the last few days, I reached agreements with Jeff Sonderman and Lisa Rowan to take the first two positions on our community engagement team. As they were giving notice to current employers, I was notifying other candidates for the jobs. I asked Jeff and Lisa not to spread the word generally until I finished telling the other candidates. By the time I finished doing that, I was starting a full day of meetings and interviews (I have four more positions to fill).

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Yes, engagement is everyone’s job — and my job

I see I will be having a new colleague soon.

Voice of San Diego is hiring an Engagement Editor, which sounds a lot like my title, Director of Community Engagement. Whenever the position is filled, I will start networking with this new colleague. Maybe a couple more and we can form an association (FREE, Federation of Real Engagement Editors?) and start holding conventions. Any others out there I should be networking with already? Do social media editors count? (A Nieman Lab post says the San Diego job is more than social media, but I guess most social media editors would say that about their jobs, too.)

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