"The computer just enables me to do my journalism, much like a pen...or a stylus...or a paintbrush..."

Gabriel Dance's lecture on multimedia journalism was insightful and extremely relevant and helpful in our class. You wouldn't have expected to hear a minute into the presentation that he originally got a degree in computer science without any consideration of journalism. And while 10 years ago, the two fields would have never been considered as being interrelated, the Internet has introduced a whole new world of possibilities for journalism and communication. Dance realized early on in his graduate career at UNC the potential in using computer skills and journalism skills together. It was neat to see the thesis project he did using Flash (and I'm almost tempted to ask for his help on Flash as one of my questions...ha). His section on usability in multimedia journalism was interesting - while you as the web designer obviously will know how to navigate and utilize the pages, you must also consider your audience and keep in mind that people can leave a website just as quickly as they came to it, so you have to make it as simple and understandable as possible. His discussion on user generated content was especially entertaining, and the idea of interactivity and a sense of "societal participation" in online journalism is such a refreshing change from the monopolistic control of news content that has been the standard for so many years.

I would like to ask Gabriel:

1. Do you think it is (or will be) essential for students who pursue a career in journalism to learn multimedia skills? Do you think it would be detrimental to a journalism student to not learn the skills necessary for online journalism and instead stick to the practices of traditional journalism (hard news writing, page layout/design, etc.)?

2. What is the biggest benefit of interactivity and user generated content on the web? What is the biggest drawback or challenge?