You’ve been a writer and editor, but all of this interactive media stuff is new to you.

Or perhaps you’re a new publisher, and you need to learn more about media Web sites and the Internet —fast.

Where would you turn?

These are common scenarios, of course. One of them, the first, happened with a friend and client of mine. She’s very smart, but the newspaper had only been operating a limited Web site, and she wasn’t involved. Now the paper is building a more complete site and wants it to be profitable. The task has fallen to her.

The best place for her to start learning is the Online News e-mail list. It’s free, and provides extensive collective wisdom from people who’ve been in the business a while and are willing to share their knowledge. In fact, to start researching this column, I posted the first few paragraphs to the group, and received some valuable input.

E-mail lists, sometimes called Listservs, which is a trademark, are cyclical. Online News is no exception.

Right now it’s in a slump. But following the threads is a great way to learn. Go to www.planetarynews.com to sign up, look in the left-hand navbar. You can also review list archives at that site, and choose between the digest edition of the list or the individual postings. Don’t worry; if it’s too much, you can always unsubscribe.

You should bookmark the American Journalism Review, www.ajr.org, and the Online Journalism Review, www.ojr.org. Both include solid articles and analysis of the issues in interactive media. OJR, particularly, includes several good columnists like Matt Welch and Ken Layne. AJR includes some fun sections, especially Take2, a look at print editing winners and losers.

The Newspaper Association of America’s sites, www.digitaledge.org and www.naa.org, also provide valuable insights, although some of them are password protected for NAA New Media federation members.

If you’re interested in online usability — how Web users actually relate to sites, and what sites do right and wrong — sign up at www.useit.com for a free monthly e-mail from usability expert Jakob Nielsen and the Nielsen Norman Group. Nielsen was distinguished scientist (his actual job title) at Sun Microsystems before breaking loose as a consultant.

Two first-rate sites linking to news about newspapers and interactive media are www.poynter.org/medianews, by Jim Romenesko, and www.newspaper-industry.org, with its companion site, www.inma.org.

The INMA site carries several strong weekly columns. The entire Poynter site is worth reading, although it’s more about journalism in general and education for journalists than it is about interactive media. For a similar, international view of newspapers, with a smattering of coverage of interactivity, see www.ifra.com, the site of the global newspaper technology organization.

For a couple of sites with general news and information about interactive media, check www.slashdot.com and www.redherring.com. Slashdot’s more than a little tough to follow. It calls itself “News for Nerds,” but it’s techie heaven.

The Industry Standard and Inter@ctive Weekend, two print weeklies, provide outstanding coverage about interactive media and online business. Both have companion Web sites. The print editions are mailed by paid subscription, but if you qualify they’ll comp you. Visit their Web sites at www.thestandard.com and www.zdnet.com/intweek/ for details.

That ought to get you started. Check all of these sites and publications regularly and you, like everyone else, will suffer from information overload. But if you read them diligently, within three months you’ll feel like you know as much as any “expert” when it comes to interactive media.

Heck, you’ll probably be one.