Keith Herndon Named an Atlanta Mobility Star for 2015
Keith Herndon Named an Atlanta Mobility Star for 2015
Keith Herndon, a visiting professor of journalism at Grady College, was named one of five Atlanta Mobility Stars at a luncheon at Mobility LIVE! Oct. 29.
Herndon was recognized for creating and leading Grady’s Mobile News Lab, which launched in Fall 2014 and has since trained 42 of Grady’s student journalists.
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“To have Grady College’s Mobile News Lab among the winners of Atlanta’s Mobility Stars speaks volumes about Professor Herndon’s currency in digital technology circles,” said Charles Davis, dean of Grady College. “The Mobile News Lab continues to innovate and inspire our students, and its centrality to the future of the news business is being recognized by the industry, as well.”
The Atlanta Mobility Stars award is presented by the Mobile Atlanta Task Force, consulting firm WNA and the Metro Atlanta Chamber to recipients who have made “a substantial, quantifiable impact in the past year creating and advancing adoption or innovative use of mobile technology, and has helped grow Atlanta presence in the center of the mobile world.”
In addition to Herndon, other recipients of the 2015 award include Jennifer Van Buskirk, President, Cricket Wireless; Cathy Farr, Senior Director, CNN Mobile and Emerging Technologies; Ronald Herman, CEO, Sionic Mobile; and Michael Zeto, General Manager, AT&T Smarter Cities.
The Mobile New Lab launched in partnership with CNN, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and LSN Mobile with support from the Metro Atlanta Chamber’s mobility taskforce. The program trains students for mobile newsgathering and storytelling using smartphones. It includes news photography and videography, and experiences in mobile design and presentation. Grady faculty members Mark Johnson, senior lecturer, and Bartosz Wojdynski, assistant professor, teach in the program, which has also featured training sessions and projects led by producers and editors at CNN, the AJC and other media organizations.
“With its Mobile News Lab, the Grady College is delivering on its mission to lead in the advancement of great journalism,” said Louis Gump, CEO of NewsON and also an adviser to the Cox Institute and chair of the Mobile News Lab's industry committee. “After seeing the opportunity, Keith worked closely with many people to realize the vision, both at UGA and within media companies. He has such a valuable combination of academic rigor and dedication to students, and now is enabling students to achieve their own potential through this program.”
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The Mobile News Lab is sponsored by the Cox Institute for Journalism Innovation, Management and Leadership, and the next lab will be a 10-week training session in Fall 2016 as part of the activities of the student chapter of the Online News Association/Society for Professional Journalists.
“Our smartphones have become the printing press, the cable and the TV antenna. It’s how most people get their news today. These devices also have become powerful tools for newsgathering,” Herndon said. “We operate the Mobile News Lab for students to go beyond the classroom to interact with professional digital journalists, to experiment with new ways of producing and displaying content and to consider how users consume news on these devices.”
In addition to his role at Grady College, Herndon is also active with the Technology Association of Georgia, serving on the Athens chapter board and also conducting research for the State of the Industry Report, a role he has had through his media and technology consulting practice for the past five years.
Herndon, who is a 1982 graduate of the Grady College, is in his fourth year as a visiting professor at Grady College. His courses have included entrepreneurial journalism, journalism ethics, managing news organizations and various writing reporting and classes. He was a business reporter at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution before becoming assistant business editor, deputy business editor and administrative editor. He also was a vice president in Cox Enterprises’ internet division before starting a media and technology consulting business. Herndon holds a master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma and earned his Ph.D. in media and information from Australia’s Curtin University.