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''The Conversation'' is an independent, not-for-profit media outlet that uses content sourced from the academic and research community. Since the Australian website's launch in March 2011,〔 it has expanded into five editions, with the addition of a United Kingdom (UK) version in 2013,〔http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/blogcollegeofjournalism/posts/Creating-journalism-from-academia-a-pilot-project〕 the United States (US) in 2014,〔http://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/index.html?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a&mode=premium&dest=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/opinion/sun-never-sets-on-andrew-jaspans-global-academic-conversation/story-e6frg9tf-1227117614430?nk=&memtype=registered〕 Africa in May 2015, and France in September 2015. ''The Conversations "global network", as it was described by editor-in-chief Andrew Jaspan, publishes all content under a Creative Commons license and, as of September 2015, reports a monthly online audience of 2.6 million users onsite, and a reach of 23 million through creative commons (republication ). The operating company The Conversation Media Group is a not-for-profit educational charity owned by The Conversation Trust. ''The Conversation'' is funded by the university and research sector, government and business. ==History== Jaspan first discussed the concept of the ''Conversation'' with Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor at The University of Melbourne, while editing ''The Age'' between 2004 and 2008. Shortly after Jaspan left ''The Age'', he was invited by Davis to review the university’s engagement with the public through its various knowledge transfer initiatives. Jaspan’s report recommended a new approach, whereby the university would communicate directly to the public through a news and commentary website. Jaspan envisioned the university as "a giant newsroom", with the academics and researchers collectively providing authoritative and informed content that engaged with the news cycle and major current affairs issues. In February 2009, Jaspan was introduced to Jack Rejtman, who had arrived in Melbourne from Los Angeles, US, where he led product strategy for the "US 2008 Election" website at ''Yahoo! News''. Jaspan discussed his newsroom concept with Rejtman, who was supportive. Jaspan and Rejtman met with Davis again in May 2009, with a proposal to extend the original concept beyond Melbourne University to include the broader research sector. After Davis expressed support for the extended concept, Jaspan introduced the idea to Chris Brown, a corporate finance specialist, who later became chairman of The Conversation Trust. In June 2009, Jaspan outlined the concept for a new media service to John Brumby, then Premier of Victoria, who was intrigued by the idea. In August 2009, Melbourne University and the Victorian State Government both agreed to provide a small financial contribution to facilitate the commencement of work on the website—these agreements were contingent upon the involvement of other organisations. The State Government then introduced the Commonwealth Government Department of Innovation into the process; in turn, the Department of Innovation proposed the inclusion of the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial and Research Organisation. Jaspan and Rejtman then hired Michael Morris, a leading member of the Ruby on Rails open source web developer community, to develop the proof of concept. In November 2010, Jaspan and Rejtman secured first-round funding to cover ''The Conversation''’s operating costs for three years. Initial funding came from the Commonwealth Government’s Department of Education, the Victorian Government’s Department of Innovation, CSIRO, Australian National University, University of Melbourne, Monash University, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), and University of Western Australia (UWA). Finally, The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) joined the consortium as a Technology Partner, while Corrs Chambers Westgarth joined as a Strategic Partner and agreed to provide legal services. The Conversation Media Group opened its Carlton office in November 2010. Jaspan hired Misha Ketchell in December 2010, whom he knew from ''The Age'', and they hired 11 professional editors who began working towards a launch date of February 2011—the beta site was launched to the public on 24 March 2011. In November 2012, Robert Johanson, the Chairman of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, became chairman of ''The Conversation''. In February 2013, Michelle Grattan left ''The Age'', where she was the newspaper's Political Editor, to join the University of Canberra as a professorial fellow, and to write for ''The Conversation'' as its Chief Political Correspondent—Jaspan and Grattan had worked together at ''The Age''. Both Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott praised Grattan during parliamentary sittings and wished her well in regard to her new role with ''The Conversation''. Jaspan confirmed the appointment of a Jakarta editor in early December 2013, which was the outcome of around 12 months work. At the same time, Jaspan also announced the appointment of a community manager and a multimedia manager for the website 〔 Speaking with the Australian media industry website ''Mumbrella'', Jaspan also shared his perspective on the growth of the ''Conversation'':
As part of the announcement of the US Pilot launch in October 2014, the ''Mumbrella'' website explained that both the Australian and UK websites adhere to "a charter that protects editorial independence, author sign off, author disclosure statements and a readability index set to an educated 16-year-old." At the time of the launch, a charter was being devised for the US website.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Conversation (website)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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