Jay Small is an interactive online executive with extensive professional experience in Web site and graphic design, using his consulting practice Small Initiatives as a platform for contract construction of online content.

Small runs his site from an approach that strives to focus on the experience of the customer.

“I define ‘customer experience’ as everything from a pleasing visual design to a fast, efficient user interface, and most importantly, real people behind it all to answer questions and provide support,” said Small.You'll find this a recurring theme with me: people, not technology, will keep the craft of journalism healthy and growing.Jay Small

Small is also the executive director of content and product development at the Scripps Interactive Newspaper Group, where he leads a team of user experience designers, marketing specialists, and technology developers involved in managing 15 newspaper-based Web sites. His team’s work can be seen in the design and layout of the Knoxville News Sentinel site and the Treasure Coast Palm.

Working with a "get things done" attitude, Small believes that a reliance on technology alone is not enough to keep journalism from becoming stagnant.

"You'll find this a recurring theme with me: people, not technology, will keep the craft of journalism healthy and growing. People, not technology, will create and grow the new businesses that pay, directly or indirectly, for journalism."

Small cites the early development of his interest in media to growing up in the third generation of “a family of small-town newspaper executives”, where he learned every aspect of the newspaper printing process from a young age.

"I worked as a carrier, operated the mail room addressing machine, and helped ink up and plate up the press," said Small. "I even helped field the calls at home at night when people didn't get their papers and my dad's name was the only one they remembered to call."

Small, along with other journalism professionals, are visiting the Howard H. Baker Center Wednesday, April 1, as part of the School of Journalism and Electronic Media's Public Conversation on Web Journalism event.