This week Shannon Holt leads the discussion on college athletes and the new media. While college and professional athletes often receive extensive training on dealing with print and broadcast media, Holt says little has been done to prepare young athletes to avoid the dangers waiting for them in cyberspace. She says, for example, that seemingly innocent photos and comments in online communities such as myspace.com and facebook.com can lead to serious harassment charges or NCAA rules infractions.

Shannon was a graduate student this summer in my Online PR class. Before starting her new job today at the Northeast Conference, she was a Graduate Assistant at Rowan University for the Men's and Women's Swimming teams.

She has rounded up an impressive list of participants for this week’s discussion on new media media training. It includes:

Jared Winley, PR Manager from the New York Jets

Patrick Hite and Chris Graham, co-hosts of ACC Nation, an Atlantic Coast Conference radio talk program that offers both a blog and podcasts.

Josh Centor, coordinator of new media communications and author of the Double-A Zone, the official blog of the NCAA.

Patty Raube, Assistant Athletic Director/Compliance, Rowan University

Bob McComas, Slippery Rock Sports Information Director

Amit Shukur, the Division III National SAAC Representative from Kean University

Jon Churchill, Rowan University Football Graduate Assistant

Paul Gornovski, a Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Don Dunnington