The high came about a week ago when I was part of a group of 33 technologists and journalists who gathered in a few small rooms in Chicago and did some cool stuff at BarCamp NewsInnovation Chicago. I’ve neglected to write about most of it due to some events that have occurred where I work.

And that brings me to the low point. On Tuesday, 14 fellow newsroom colleagues at The Gazette lost their jobs. Others in the company did to as the company restructures to be better aligned with the current economy.

I was driving in my car today doing what I do to forget about life. I was smoking a cigar and listening to some tunes when Billy Joel’s “Piano man” came on. It reminded me of a story I wrote when I worked that The Tribune in Ames, Iowa that published on April 2, 2003. You will recall the U.S began the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003. The words, I felt, were prefect for the time, and they might fit well here too. At least they did for me.

Six words uttered by Elton John and Billy Joel Tuesday night summed up what many in the capacity crowd at Hilton Coliseum were feeling.

“To forget about life for a while.”

That crowd wasn’t only from Mid-Iowa. Music fans from Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and Kansas were all a part of the 14,000-plus crowd who sang part of “Piano Man” as Joel and John listened.

“Sing us a song, you’re the piano man. Sing us a song tonight. For we’re all in the mood for a melody, and you’ve got us feeling all right.”

That song and those words ended an enthusiastic, high-energy three-and-a-half hour performance that had fat old men and college coeds dancing in the aisles side-by-side.

“It was unbelievable,” said Jeanne Skutnick of Omaha, Neb. “There are not words that can describe that ending. We all said what we were feeling. I cannot believe how great that was.”

Doing what many journalist do, a group of us from the newsroom went out and had a beer to toast those that we would no longer be working with. We understand the nature of the business, but it still sucks. There’s no other way to put it.

So take a few moments to smoke your cigar or whatever it is you do. But come back tomorrow. There’s still great journalism to be done and communities to inform and engage that depend on us.

We need more people in this industry like Amy Webb. If you haven’t heard about the 30-Day Newsroom Innovation Challenge which she announced on her site the other day, you have to check it out. It’s a fantastic idea.

And, remember, a while back when I wrote a post about kicking Rob Curley while he’s down. This is exactly the sort of thing he should be doing to avoid being kicked again.

Anyway, the point of the contest is to help one newsroom, free of charge, who is struggling to innovate. Webb is a consultant to online media companies and organizations and has been working in the digital realm for more than a decade.

It’s 4th of July weekend. In the spirit of unshackling the newspaper industry from the tyranny of outdated business models, I’ve decided to hold a contest. I’m proposing a 30-Day Newsroom Innovation Challenge. I’m willing to offer my consulting services to help a beleaguered newsroom through the process of innovation. I will meet with your newspaper’s publishers, editors, web-site and print-side staff and even your local readers. I’ll facilitate brainstorming sessions and devise a set of strategies that you can implement right away to help monetize your content and motivate what’s left of your staff. At the end of our 30 days together, we should hopefully have short-term and long-term plans for publishing your content and for stabilizing your resources.

She is doing this, it appears, in the wake of news about media companies making huge cutbacks in staffing levels, which she argues may not be necessary. She places a high priority on local reporting. But, like everyone else, she recognizes that the business model we all apply is not working and won’t work as more of us enhance  our digital presence.

I believe very strongly that if newsroom culture changed for just a month, to allow free-flowing brainstorming and fast-track implementation of new strategies, we might just find a workable business model that doesn’t necessarily involve scrapping entire sections of the newspaper or laying off a quarter of your staff.

The rules and how to enter the 30-Day Newsroom Innovation Challenge can be found here. Good luck.

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Last Thursday, downtown Cedar Rapids and some surrounding neighborhoods suffered the worst flooding in history. The Cedar River crested at an all-time high of 31.1 feet, several feet above projected levels.

The downtown area is pretty much gone. Several neighborhoods, including the historic Czech Village, sustained significant, if not catastrophic, damage.

To give you a sense of how high the water was here are two photos from downtown Cedar Rapids. The first is a normal day. The one on the right shows the river Thursday afternoon, a day before the crest.

You can see more photos from photographers Liz Martin, Courtney Sargent, Brian Ray, Jim Slosiarek, Cliff Jette and Jonathan D. Woods here.

My new boss, Steve Buttry, gives a breakdown of how The Gazette’s coverage unfolded and the obstacles the newsroom faced in getting news and information out with no power and transportation very difficult.

I’ll tell the story because I can’t take much credit. The outstanding performance you saw, read and heard this week at GazetteOnline and The Gazette was delivered by the staff I found here when I arrived Tuesday. I hope to have an impact here eventually, but a new editor pretty much has to play the hand he is dealt in terms of the staff’s ability to cover a story that is already unfolding. I was dealt several decks worth of aces.

The work done by this newsroom was simply remarkable. Everyone played a role, and everyone stepped up – and those word don’t come close to saying how great everyone was.

It is still a little early for me to put into words just how proud I am to have been a part of covering this historic event alongside the dedicated, professional journalists who reported and photographed this story.

I don’t yet know if the magnitude of the event or the aftermath has set in. The coming days, as I catch up on some sleep, should help.

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The video showcases Stony Brook University’s newsroom full of 30 Apple computer workstations, maps, flat screen monitors and an assortment of various other ‘cool’ tools.

This seems to be a trend. Last fall I attended the Networked Journalism Summit at the City University of New York’s Cuny Graduate School of Journalism, which also has an impressive newsroom.

The only problem I see is that ‘real’ newsrooms, like the one I work at in the Midwest, are nothing like the ‘cool’ newsrooms journalism students are using in college. I think that will be a problem when newspaper try and recruit new talent.

If you haven’t yet heard of The Next Newsroom Project be sure to check it out. It’s a group that began with the question: If you could build the ideal newsroom from scratch, what would it look like?

If you could build the ideal newsroom from scratch, what would it look like? We’re trying to help The Chronicle, the Duke University student newspaper, find an answer. Join our conversation. And visit “Newsrooms” to create a page for your newsroom.

The group recently released five qualities that the Next Newsroom should have, and I think they are right on. Among the buzzwords: innovative, flexible, adaptable, integrated, embracing the public and transparent.

I agree that the right kind of people are more important than the environment, but you also have to have a surrounding that fosters innovation, collaboration and spurs the free flow of information and ideas.

I kid some people where I work saying that the newsroom here looks just like the one in the movie “All the President’s Men” sans the typewriters. But it is true. And I have to stop writing now. I need a cup of coffee.