This is my first attempt at Storify, a new digital tool to make stories by curating social media and to which I was introduced while attending the "Teaching the Craft of Writing (in the Age of Twitter)" seminar at Poynter in May.

It involves my first attempt at live tweeting, and its from the 2011 convention of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (aka Black Press of America) at the Drake Hotel in Chicago. Taken from the Rev. Al Sharpton's luncheon keynote and a discussion between Sharpton and noted academic Cornel West about the state of Black America and having the first black president in the White House.

Absolutely amazed by the feedback to this first Storify attempt, especially from the NABJ Digital Task Force and it getting cited on Richard Prince's Journal-isms, a blog about diversity in the media. All that has led me to seek to do more Storifys and even to update this attempt as coverage warrants. (See the added content at the end.)

The email from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) had announced a "late-breaking summer opportunity," a special pilot program, "Learning from the Pros, Bringing it to the Classroom." According to the announcement, three journalism faculty would get to spend two weeks this summer learning first hand how newspapers and broadcast stations use social media across multiple platforms – and then bring that knowledge into the classroom in the courses the person teaches in the coming fall and winter/spring semesters. Also, the program would enable someone from the media outlet to visit that professor's campus for five days as a guest lecturer who would also visit student media and or conduct a short workshop on a relevant topic.

I met the June 8 deadline. So, too, did 63 other educators, an impressive number given the two-week notice. Alas, I learned yesterday that I wasn't chosen to spend two weeks downtown at the Chicago Tribune or at The Oregonian in Portland. But the application process was still worthwhile. It forced me to do so something I have been meaning to for more than a year – create a curriculum vitae – and helped me focus on what I wish for my courses.

"My students, of course, use Twitter and Facebook," I wrote in my application. "But I want to teach them how it can and should be used for journalism, and not just for chatter. I want to teach them to love using social media to better find and present stories, to better gather information and gain sources, to better extend their own digital footprints. Most importantly, I want to improve my syllabi so my students produce well-crafted blogs and all forms of online journalism (videos, audio, photos, text, etc.)."

While studying the newspaper's websites, I paid close attention to their breaking news sections and blogs as well as their contests and forums. I also want to know more how these and other media companies employ mobile apps. This much is certain: if AEJMC offers the chance again next summer, I'll renew my application. I may also seek such an opportunity at a media company in Chicago or Milwaukee on my own. AEJMC Executive Director Jennifer McGill says the pilot program has inspired other educators who were not selected this time to do the same thing.

Finally getting to spend quality time with an iPad! My wife bought hers within weeks of the groundbreaking tablet's release by Apple in 2010, but she regularly takes it to work and keeps it close at home. I was this close to buying an iPad 2 when it came out in March, but economic priorities caused me to leave it in the store. Last week, however, I signed out an original iPad for the summer from the Diederich College's Wakerly Technology Training Center.

I have used my wife's iPad enough to know it works. But while she mostly uses hers to surf the Internet, read books from the iBookstore and play games such as Angry Birds, I am eager to find apps that help make me more productive and organized at home and at work. So I searched Google to see what I could find.

Wouldn't you know it, there's a great list – iPad Apps I Use Most Often – from my Diederich College colleague Gee Ekachai. "Dropbox is a must for transporting files from my laptop to iPad. Cannot function without it!" Gee wrote. I learned early my first semester back at Marquette that Gee knows her stuff, so I quickly downloaded Dropbox.

Searching for those recommended for those working in newsrooms, I also found 20 apps that play to the iPad's strengths, suggested iPad apps for journalists and seven must-have iPad apps for journalists. As for those suggested for those working in or served by the academe, there's 10 best iPad apps for college students, 10 must have iPad apps for students and teachers, five essential iPad apps for educators and five iPad applications I can't live without (and why). I also like this one, though it's not all about iPad apps, because it could be very useful: six top smartphone apps to improve teaching, research and your life. I had better get busy. I want to check them all out before before the summer ends and I am forced to part with my loaned iPad.