Three Syracuse University professors launched a Web site Tuesday to discuss, predict and find solutions on how the communications industry can thrive in a landscape turning to new media.

The goal of Navigate New Media, the Web site created by Larry Elin, Stephen Masiclat and Brian Sheehan, all professors in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, is to research, then discuss, the changing communications industry and help develop and implement new strategies to ensure success in all communications industries, from newspapers to film and more.

Navigate New Media has been in the works for about a year, said Elin, an associate professor in television, radio and film. Elin, Masiclat, an associate professor in magazine, newspaper and online journalism, and Sheehan, an associate professor in advertising, wanted to develop a site that would propose solutions based on research, rather than just present opinions like many blog sites do, Elin said.

Originally, the three professors hoped to write a book on the subject, Elin said. But in the end, they decided using the Internet would be best because it could stay current and report on the changes as they happen, rather than after the fact, he said.

‘It kind of made sense that what’s most disruptive (to the communications industry) is the Internet, (so) why not play to its strengths?’ Elin said.

In order to ensure comprehensively researched and well-written articles, the creators have developed a three-part approach they’d like to see in most articles, Elin said. The steps are description, prediction and prescription.

The description stage includes describing the actual problem by using facts and research, rather than just opinion. The next stage predicts where the changes are leading the industry. Finally, the prescription stage details ways the different industries can adapt to not only survive but succeed.

‘It differentiates us from a blog and opinion piece and from the sites out there that just reprint press releases from companies and studios, and it gives people something to talk about – it’s evidential,’ Elin said of the three-step process.

Experts and professionals from anywhere are welcome to submit ideas to the site, but they must go through Elin, Masiclat and Sheehan first. Professors in Newhouse specifically provide a good perspective on the issues Navigate New Media will cover because they have extensive experience in their respective fields, Elin said.

People who work in the industry are often too concerned with daily problem solving to take the time to analyze broader solutions, he said. Elin used Sheehan as an example of someone who worked in the field, as an executive of Saatchi & Saatchi, and now has a better perspective since becoming a professor.

‘Now that he is a professor, he also has the luxury of being able to lift his head up and look around and see something from a bigger perspective,’ he said.

kronayne@syr.edu

Published on March 3, 2010 at 12:00 pm