Dianne Lynch, dean of journalism at Ithaca College, gave a whistle-stop tour of the Internet generation and the implications for journalism at the Knight science fellowship symposium.

This is the new audience for news. They grew up in a world where the Internet has always existed and this has changed their social and cultural attitudes.

“The generation coming into adulthood has had a very different experience than we have had”, she argued. “Our audiences are changing and we are not as aware of this as much as we should be.”

It is important for journalists to understand how this Internet generation is different. Lynch pointed out they have grown up with no private spaces, no private lives and no expectation of privacy.

Partly this is because they have grown up in a world without solitude. The mobile phone, IM, Twitter means they never need be alone, at least virtually.

This generation has, argued Lynch, an expectation that they are going to be famous – at least more than half think they will be famous and not have to do anything for them.

But what really matters for journalists is understanding their attitude to who is an expert. Lynch explained how the research showed children create online personas and develop reputation on the web, regardless of their age.

This is important for journalists, who tend to assume they know more than their readers. However, said Lynch, the young do not share this perception.

Instead, she argued, online no one knows you are 12 and this generation is part of a world where knowledge equals practice, regardless of age.

This was one of the quotes she highlighted from her research: “I might be 13 but I know more than anyone else in the community about fan fiction.”

Provocative talk for a room, largely full of print journalists who are uneasy and a little frightened by the changes taking place in the media.

Hopefully they will realise that change is happening, and the choices are to embrace it or become increasingly irrelevant.