Nora Paul: Director

Nora is the inaugural director of the Institute for New Media Studies. She came to the University of Minnesota in July 2000 after nine years at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Florida. At the Poynter Institute she led the programming efforts in the areas of news library management, computer-assisted research, and new media leadership. Prior to the Poynter Institute, Nora was the Editor, Information Services at the Miami Herald from 1979-1991 where she developed one of the early full-text electronic archives for news, brought in computer-assisted research, and created a fee-based news research service for the public.

Nora is the author of Computer Assisted Research: A guide to tapping online information, co-author, with Margot Williams, of Great Scouts: Cyberguides for Subject Searching on the Web, editor of When Nerds and Words Collide. Reflections on the Development of Computer Assisted Reporting, and co-authored with Kathleen Hansen, Behind the Message: Information Strategies for Communicators.

She was instrumental in bringing the journalism think tank New Directions for News to the University of Minnesota and served as their interim director. She is on the board of the Online News Association, the Institute for Cyberinformation at Kent State University, the American Press Institute's New Media Initiative, and the University of South Carolina IFRA Newsplex project.

She has an MLS from Texas Women's University and, after college, founded one of the first information brokerage services. She got her first modem in 1978 and has been accessing, studying, and explaining the electronic delivery of information ever since.

INMS Advisory Board

  • Janet Abrams: Director, UM - Design Institute. http://design.umn.edu/di/people.html
  • Don Brazeal: Assistant Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass
  • Communication. Don was the first online editor for Washington Post's Digital Ink.
  • Laurence Bricker: Creative Director for Popular Front, interactive design firm. www.popularfront.com
  • Steve Clift: Founder, E-Democracy. www.e-democracy.org
  • Rusty Coats: Director of New Media, Mori Research. Former Online Editor for the Star Tribune and for the Sacramento Bee. www.moriresearch.com/about/coats.html
  • Bob Collins: Online News Editor, Minnesota Public Radio. www.mpr.org
  • Bill Hanley: Executive Vice President, Programming, Twin Cities Public Television. www.tpt.org
  • Kathy Hansen: Professor and Director of the Minnesota Journalism Center in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She was one of the key architects of the school's "New Media Initiative." http://www.mjc.umn.edu
  • Lisa Helminiak: Vice President - Interactive, Larsen Design. www.larsen.com
  • Howard Liszt: Senior Fellow, School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Howard is the retired CEO of Campbell Mithun Esty.
  • Jim Ockuly: Senior Producer, Interactive Media Group at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. www.artsmia.org
  • Andrew Odlyzko: Director, UM - Digital Technology Center. Formerly Head, Mathematics and Cryptography Research, AT&T Labs. www.itdean.umn.edu/dtc
  • Nick Rogosienski: Vice President, Interactive Media, Star Tribune. www.startribune.com/company/ic/home/about/releases/rogosienski3-00.htm
  • Rex Sorgatz: Multimedia Director – Internet Broadcasting Systems – www.ibsys.com
  • Adam Veazie: Marketing Director, Dynamic Digital Design. www.dynamicdigitaldesign.com