Marcie ALJ301

Mobile journalism is a huge journalistic advancement because it allows one journalist to do what, traditionally, three or four journalists would do. The mobile journalist, or mojo as it is known, collects information while taking photos, video and sound recordings to be used for a single purpose, when normally, you would have a journalist collecting information, a photographer taking stills, and possibly a videographer shooting video on the scene.

I am very thankful that I got the opportunity to be a mojo for a day at Deakin Waurn Pond’s Open Day. I not only got interviewing and reporting experience, but learned how to work a high-tech mobile phone and the online streaming site our videos were sent to. Here are a couple of videos:

It was an amazing experience and gave me a greater appreciation for what technology can do for journalism.

I have always been a little skeptical about pursuing the convergence aspect of journalism, mainly because I love tradition. But the one thing that has been repeated to me over and over in every journalism class I have ever taken is that aspiring journalists can no longer be specialists, but must be jack-of-all-trades.

Here is a link to the Deakin Waurn Ponds Open Day video taken by five Deakin journalism students: http://bambuser.com/channel/mojo88.

category: ALJ301     tags: Week 9

It is not surprising that, as the Internet has forged the way for personalization in everything, even the news, audiences have migrated from getting their news from traditional print to online. Even though I love the feel of holding a newspaper and sitting at the table reading it while eating breakfast, I cannot deny that the Internet brings an entirely new dimension to news reading.

One of the greatest things about the Internet is that it caters to instant gratification, which is what many, especially today’s youth, have become so accustomed to. Many worship advancements in technology that brought us DVR, TiVo, mobile phones with all the bells and whistles, Bluetooth, and Wifi Internet access.

The Internet not only allows for nearly instantaneous breaking news, but the integration of multi-media to complement stories that would otherwise be accompanied solely by photos in a paper, if even at all. We are no longer restricted to reading only the story and looking at a couple of pictures; we can click around on links, watch videos and listen to sound clips, in any order we choose. For news, the Internet means a break from the linear format readers have been beholden to for so long.

A short clip giving an overview of what multi-media journalism is.

category: ALJ301     tags: Week 7

The Internet has made so many new reporting tools possible that journalism really isn’t the same thing it was even five years ago. It’s a little scary knowing that change happened so quickly and that, with many more technological advancements to come, it will continue to change.

Current journalism students need to, at the very least, be aware of these new reporting tools and technologies to be even remotely useful in this new era of journalism. Knowing how to blog though, is definitely a must because so many tools are related to it. We now have moblogging, vlogging, micro blogging and podcasting, which take advantage of different media and put them to use for the basic act of blogging.

A short guide to blogging.

I had never heard of Technorati before this reading, but it just goes to show how much influence blogs now have. Being able to search through blogs all across the Internet is an amazing thing; it creates connections between individuals without regard to physical location and allows anyone interested to see what is on the minds of others.

For more information on the basics of blogging, head over to Master New Media’s How to Blog: A Beginner’s Blog Publishing Guide.

category: ALJ301     tags: Week 6

The Honolulu Advertiser, one of Honolulu’s two major dailies, has a section on its website called “My Advertiser” where readers can submit stories to be published on the site. When I first learned about it, I thought it was a rather inspired idea. Now that I know about how Oh Yeon-ho pioneered the OhmyNews model, I know where the idea came from.

It’s one thing for readers to be able to comment on stories written by staff writers, but a completely different thing for readers to become the writers. Not only does it offer the average citizen another outlet for community involvement, but it also forces them to think from the perspective of the publication when considering newsworthiness.

On the My Advertiser page, readers can choose the community they are interested in reading about so they don’t have to search through pages of articles (both staff-written and reader-submitted) that pertain to other communities. On the left above the ad are the links for readers to submit their stories and photos.

The My Advertiser publishing process is quite similar to that of OhmyNews where readers submit their stories and corresponding multi-media, the stories are read over and edited by Advertiser staff, then published to the web. Reader-submitted stories may also be printed in one of four Advertiser-printed community publications.

category: ALJ301     tags: Week 5

A big topic for discussion in every college journalism class I’ve taken is how Internet news sites will deal with the changing financial dynamics of the news business as more traditional papers make their way online.

Internet news audiences expect their news to be free because that is the way it has been since publications were put directly online instead of through an online service in the early ‘90s. Without revenue from a paid subscription, advertising seems to be the only major source of revenue for online news sites at the moment, and even that is oftentimes not enough. While this reliance on advertising revenue is understandable, there is concern over this because of the moral obligation news publications have to their readers not be beholden to their advertisers.

In a February TIME article, Walter Isaacson, president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, wrote that Henry Luce, a TIME co-founder, “disdained the notion of giveaway publications that relied solely on ad revenue. He called that formula ‘morally abhorrent’ and also ‘economically self-defeating’.”

So while free may be the future for some businesses online, I believe it will end up in disaster for the news business. I can’t say I believe that micropayments will work, but some other business model better make headway, and fast!

For more on Walter Isaacson’s online news business model ideas, read the TIME article, “How to Save Your Newspaper”.

category: ALJ301     tags: Week 4

When I learned about citizen journalism in my first college journalism classes, I admit that I was both angry and jealous that the average citizen could be deemed a “journalist”. Back then, I believed that “journalist” was a prized title for those who went out into the field to research a story, then returned to their desks to convey the story through words and photos. But traditional journalism is evolving because of advancements in technology, giving the average citizen access to resources that were once only in the hands of journalists.

One of the latest examples of this is from the June election protests in Iran. Neda Agha-Soltan became the face of the protests when two amateur videos of her death were posted on the Internet. The major US television networks (FOX, CNN, NBC, etc) quickly jumped on the story of her death, broadcasting the video along with what little information they had. The Iranian government had made many efforts to keep foreign journalists out of Tehran during the election, so without these citizen journalists, Agha-Soltan would probably have been counted as just another casualty of the protests, rather than become the face of it.

A video from Current TV with commentary regarding the 2009 Iranian election protests and the amateur video of Neda’s death.

Citizen journalists have become an essential part of journalism as we now know it. Those who do not understand that cannot survive in the business.

category: ALJ301     tags: Week 3

Despite being told that I should never judge a book by its cover, I did just that when I read the title of this week’s reading. I thought this piece would just reiterate what I’ve already learned about convergence so I wasn’t looking forward to it.

The first half of the reading contained information I had already learned in previous classes, but I was very interested in the second half. I had never really thought about the process of becoming a converged newsroom—in my mind, they just sprang into existence. I simply overlooked that there were so many factors that determine how easy or difficult the process is.

I would be surprised if many newsrooms attempting convergence now are encountering many of the problems explained in the text. Journalism and the expectations of the public have evolved so much that convergence is almost necessary to stay afloat in this business. I would expect that any organization(s) attempting convergence understand the importance of having such things as a focused strategy, unified newsroom, coordinating structure, and committed leadership.

One of the greatest merits of convergence is that is promotes greater understanding between the different types of journalists. I also had some “cultural suspicions” of broadcast and radio journalists before starting my journalism classes, but now understand that every aspect of journalism has its strengths and weaknesses which is what makes convergence so important.

For more information on the basics of convergence, there is a great map/chart and explanation on this blog: Jackie Hai’s Reframing Convergence in Journalism.

category: ALJ301     tags: Week 2