Waite attends News Foo boot camp at ASU

Matt Waite, journalism faculty member at UNL, accepted a special invitation last fall. He was one of about 150 people to attend News Foo boot camp at Arizona State University.

The annual event, hosted by publisher Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media, is an invitation-only gathering. The gathering of forward thinkers from the world of journalism, technology and public policy met to discuss technology issues.

O'Reilly said the goal of his company is to "change the world by spreading the knowledge of innovators. Foo Camp has evolved into an important mechanism for finding those innovators."

Past News Foo attendees have included entrepreneurs and people who are pioneering technology and digital journalism.

Waite said he was invited to go based on his work with Politifact and digital journalism and his consulting firm, Hot Type Consulting.

"The conference is billed as an unconference," Waite said, "meaning there is no formal agenda and summary or report of the wisdom shared."

Steve Buttry, a 2010 News Foo participant, said, "The results will be seen over the coming months and years in the ideas, inspiration and connections that people come away with. Results are measured in actual change."
Waite said he wants to get feedback on the arrival of drone journalism or the use of drones and aerial vehicles in journalism as well as other digital topics.

Waite teaches reporting and digital product development at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has been teaching at the CoJMC since 2010.

O'Reilly has held Foo Camps at Google Headquarters, including Science Foo Camp, Collective Intelligence Foo Camp, Social Graph Foo Camp, the Health Foo and others. Google and the Knight Foundation at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications in Phoenix, Ariz., organize the Foo camps.