I received a note from a friend the other day. He was checking in to see how I was doing — undoubtedly inspired by all the changes going on at The Post — and to tell me his own plight. In the last two years, he had transitioned from full-time employment to freelance. More recently, he had been let go from a contract position with an institution that in other times had been a picture of stability. He was wondering how he would pay the bills.

These days, his story is not uncommon. We’ve read the stories, monitored the blogs and been inundated by newsletters announcing layoffs, sales and bankruptcies. I hear from journalists all the time who are looking for work as the industry has atrophied — too many to sit comfortably on my own perch. And although I’m hopeful that news organizations will quickly reinvent themselves, I worry about what shoring up the bottom line will do to one of the most useful techniques of innovation: failure.

Indeed, news organizations must be sound businesses to survive, but in order to find a business model that works, in order to drive the innovation and create the tools that keep us relevant, in order to get ahead of the curve, we must create an atmosphere where failure is embraced. I’m talking about failing fast and moving on. Not the slow death march and embrace of things we know aren’t working. These days we have endless research and metrics at our disposal to allow us to laser in on the right targets. That said, it is only through our willingness to fail that ultimately we’ll be able to find lasting success.

Here’s to failure…

The New York Times reports that Hewlett-Packard and Arizona State University are joining forces to create a portable, flexible display. The new device has the potential to get your news on the go. Oh, wait, that’s what PDAs and cell phones are for. But, hey, if it brings extra eyeballs to the news, then I’m all for it.

On a side note, Arizona State University seems to be on the move these days. I have quite a few colleagues who’ve joined the faculty and staff there to work on innovative projects in journalism, including Retha Hill, who runs the new media lab at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication; Jody Brannon, who directs the Carnegie-Knight News 21 Initiative, Jason Manning, director of student media; and Len Downie, Weil Family Professor of Journalism.

The Online News Association conference is fast approaching. If you’re interested in new media — innovation, implementation or jobs — this is the conference you want to attend. I first became involved in ONA as a panelist for the ‘04 conference. Since then, I’ve been on the conference planning committee each year. Last year, I was elected to the organization’s board. My obvious bias aside, each year this conference offers panels and workshops that challenge those in new media as well as those thinking about it. This year, we’ve added a multimedia learning lab, where participants can learn new technologies and techniques. In addition, there will be a job fair, pre-conference workshops on video shooting and database reporting as well as other topics. That will be followed by two full days of workshops. Find out more about the conference at http://journalist.org/2008conference.