What is the J-Incubator?
The J-Incubator (short for "journalism incubator") is affiliated with the Online Journalism curriculum at Columbia College Chicago. It is a repository for experiments in online journalism, created by CCC students.
Why do you need a journalism incubator?
Because journalism is in a time of massive change and the only way to navigate those changes is to allow space for experimentation and the formation of new ideas. The J-Incubator is free web space for enrolled students, allowing them unfettered access to try new ideas, build working prototypes, and fail safely. Experimentation and learning from failure are key tenants of the J-Incubator. We believe that you learn best when you're making something real. As a result, all sites created and hosted on the j-incubator are accessible via the open web once they launch in prototype form.
That's great, but isn't journalism dying?
Not hardly. People want information more than ever, and the core values of journalism--accountability, verifiability, independence, and honesty--are at a premium. What's dying is a brief-lived (in the big scheme of things) concept that you could have a huge media company generating massive profits on a largely redundant product. But now? Now is a great time for new ideas. The J-Incubator is dedicated to helping to realize those new ideas and craft them into journalism's new reality. A more extensive explanation is available here.
Who runs the J-Incubator?
The J-Incubator is run by Daniel Sinker, a member of the full-time faculty at Columbia College. In a former life, he was the founder of Independents Day Media, and the editor and publisher of the influential underground culture magazine Punk Planet.
What happens to sites after classes end?
The purpose of the J-Incubator is to be a free space for experimentation by journalism students with the intention that the projects created here leave to become fully-realized websites. We encourage all students to continue to pursue their ideas.
How do I sign up?
Currently, classes are open to students enrolled at Columbia College Chicago. While most students are degree-seeking, Columbia does offer classes to students-at-large by the discretion of the instructor.
