"Innovation Journalism" -- What Is It?

I'm planning to attend the 5th annual Innovation Journalism Conference at Stanford (one of my alma maters) May 21-23. What, you may well wonder, is innovation journalism? Looking at the conference program, it seems many people are wondering that too, including -- perhaps -- the organizers. The concept seems to cut both ways; about 50 percent of the presentations are about covering innovation, while the other 50 percent provide a forum to discuss the ways journalists, and journalism organizations (read: newspapers desperate to stench the bleed), can get on board with high-tech innovation. So, as expected, there are presentations such as "How to keep a critical perspective when covering innovation?" (Right up my alley.) But there are also presentations on how social media are changing the way people consume news, which would be of more interest to a Gannett exec than to me. It'll be interesting to see how all these perspectives collide.