Rich Jaroslovsky, the founder of ONA, has described the first official conference in 2000 as a lunch at Columbia University to announce the winners of the Online Journalism Awards.<\/p>\n
This year, 2,800 attendees packed the Sheraton in New Orleans.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I\u2019ve seen ONA grow over the years, the reach and the enthusiasm of the organization amazes me,” Jaroslovsky said during a visit to the ONA19 Student Newsroom<\/a>. “There\u2019s so much doom and gloom in journalism, especially now, but folks at ONA are on fire for journalism.”<\/p>\n ONA turned 20 this year, and this year’s well-attended conference included sessions on machine-learning, website analytics and other innovations in online journalism. What began as an effort to gather together online “rebels” every year has developed into a conference filled with forward-thinkers and evangelists.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Osder, one of ONA’s founding members, called her colleagues “either the leaders or the misfits of the existing world of journalism.”<\/p>\n In 20 years, ONA has grown from a few dozens of intrepid digital pioneers to thousands of community members working together to make ONA and digital journalism better and better. #Happy20thONA<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/tllfG0cAsm<\/a><\/p>\n — Online News Association (@ONA) September 12, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n