ProfNet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ProfNet is an online community of communications professionals made to provide reporters access to expert sources and a subsidiary of PR Newswire. ProfNet was founded in 1992 by Dan Forbush, then an administrator at SUNY Stony Brook.[1] The original pilot program operated on CompuServe.[1] After the university changed administrations in 1994, Forbush was unable to convince them to continue running the service.[2] Forbush privatized ProfNet in 1995 and sold it to PR Newswire in March 1996.[1] As a commercial service, ProfNet began charging institutions to participate.[3][4] By the end of the following year, the distribution list included 2,800 contacts, mostly affiliated with colleges and universities.[2] Other contacts worked at industrial laboratories like Bell Labs and societies like the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[5] Many contacts were spokespeople for their institutions, rather than subject-matter experts themselves.[6][7]

Between 100 and 200 reporters use ProfNet daily. Reporters and other professionals – such as meeting planners, authors, bloggers, publishers, government officials, and academic and corporate researchers – may connect with experts and speakers via four types of interactions: general queries, speaker queries, targeted queries, and roundups.

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Parsons, Paul; Johnson, Raymond B. (June 1996). "ProfNet : A Computer-Assisted Reporting Bridge to Academia". Newspaper Research Journal. 17 (3–4): 29–38. doi:10.1177/073953299601700303. ISSN 0739-5329. S2CID 116212827.
  2. ^ a b Kohlenberg, Leah (1996-12-01). "An online source of journalism sources". American Journalism Review. 18 (10): 14–16.
  3. ^ Orlans, Harold (1996). "Potpourri". Change. 28 (4): 6–9. ISSN 0009-1383.
  4. ^ Paskin, Janet (2009). "Man on the (Digital) Street". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2021-09-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ "ProfNet gets your questions out of the world's experts". Link-Up. 12 (3): 2–3. 1995-05-01.
  6. ^ Garrison, Bruce (1998). Computer-assisted Reporting. Routledge. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-000-10591-9.
  7. ^ Blum, Deborah; Knudson, Mary (1998). A Field Guide for Science Writers: The Official Guide of the National Association of Science Writers. Oxford University Press. p. 258. ISBN 978-0-19-512494-1.

External links[]


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