Is the newsroom of the future actually a physical room? Such was the nature of the question posed by Leonard Witt of Kennesaw State University while visiting the site for Duke University’s Next Newsroom Project.

Eight months after Duke launched the project to design the newsroom of the future, Chris O’Brien, one of the members of the research team, has concluded that a makeshift collection of servers and laptops will not suffice. A physical newsroom is a necessity.

While recognizing the value of technology to journalism, O’Brien’s research suggests the excitement and creativity fostered by face-to-face communication in the newsroom cannot be replicated with remote technologies.

“Mobile and virtual technologies can enhance, expand and deepen the work of journalists,” O’Brien writes. “But that still doesn't substitute the value of being in the same room.”

O’Brien offers the example of Silicon Valley. Though digital technology has made it entirely possible to start a technology firm outside of the Bay Area, most aspiring entrepreneurs still locate to the Valley due to the importance of physical interaction. O’Brien believes the same is true for journalism.

“For the newsroom of the future, then, to remain relevant, to continue to adapt, to become a place of innovation, there needs to be more human interaction,” O’Brien says.

Source: PBS.org through IFRA Executive News Service