I taught a graduate course called Computer Programming for the Humanities at Georgetown University in the Fall semester of 2007. When I started teaching the course, I was apprehensive -- when I told a friend what I was teaching, the usually reserved fellow laughed out loud, and said, "Good luck."

This is a timely topic. The dean of a large and well-regarded journalism school told me that the question of how to teach technology to journalism students was the hottest topic in the field at the moment. Adrian Holovaty has written about the subject, too: J-schools, computer science and the bigger picture.

Of course, the question does not pertain to journalists alone. My class at Georgetown was for students of CCT (Communication, Culture and Technology). And even computer companies are asking the question. Just read this to learn what IBM is doing: IBM eyes programming for the masses .

Here's my current best thinking.

First, programming is the wrong word to use because the word programming encompasses such a broad range of activities, from writing Assembly, to C, to high-level languages like Python and Ruby, followed by mark-up languages (or data representation languages) like XML and HTML. With respect to journalists, it is important to understand that we are not training computer scientists, we are training journalists.

I also don't like the word technology because people use the word with respect to computers and the Internet with a certain meaning that isn't really constructive. You see, typewriters are a form of technology, too. So are linotype machines, paper and pens for that matter. Writing itself is a technology, too. Bearing that in mind, I sometimes struggle to wonder why the question of teaching technology is such a big one.

Come to think of it, I don't like the phrase online journalism either. In some quarters, the phrase online journalist is synonymous with blogger and, quite frankly, I think blogs and blogging will prove to be something of only superficial influence in the long run.

The question I am interested in answering is this: how best can you use emerging computer-mediated technology in the service of journalism. I've chosen these words carefully for a reason. The reason is this: many of the discussions of the impact of technology on journalism think of the technology primarily as a distribution medium, but the truth is that the technology available is applicable to many different aspects of the journalist enterprise. In a recent article in the Cutter IT Journal, I argued that the big deal about Web 2.0 (and Enterprise 2.0, and whatever else happens to be the phrase of the week) is not collaboration. It's about discovery.

The Internet can and does serve as a distribution medium, but that's just one small part of it. The Internet can be used to learn new things, too. It closes the loop between knowledge sharing and knowledge creation.

What interests me is how these tools can be used to create knowledge as well as how they can be used to distribute it. The reality is that all of the technology that is useful for publishing online is also useful for things like computer-assisted reporting.

I've gotten a little off track here. I'll have to finish this at a later time. Look for part 2 soon.