Future

The future of journalism is as uncertain as the past has been. With advancements in technology becoming more and more rapid the future of journalism is definitely difficult to predict and most past predictions have been proven wrong anyway. One thing i believe will stay certain is peoples thirst for information and knowledge, knowledge through power as they say. So because of this thirst i believe there will always be a role for journalism no matter what format it is in. When old methods of delivering news die out which they inevitably will new methods will be birthed. Journalists will have to change with the times but if they can manage to do so they will always have work because people expect to know whats going on around the world and journalists are expected to tell them what is going on. I believe that Australia is one of the slower developing countries when it comes to technology development, not by choice or financial position, but this should be taken as an advantage. We can look at the quicker developing countries and predict the trends for our country before they occur. If we keep an eye on countries like the US and Japan who are quite technologically advanced, we can predict our future and adapt for it. There is no telling what is on the horizon but there will always be a need for journalists because news is such a high demand market.

the future

Fast connections the key to the MoJo

Post meant for Group Blog – http://alj301mmj.edublogs.org/

Fast and efficient connections are the key to success in the new world of multimedia journalism. Broadband internet and the 3G mobile phone network allows for the rapid transmission of data, allowing news to be filed quicker than ever before.

Tech savvy users demand speedy access to data and want hassle free ways to upload content. With news gathering technology available to a mass market, anyone is potentially a multimedia journalist, or MoJo. Traditional media outlets realise this and have learned to embrace this. In Singapore, up to 85 per cent of Stomp’s content is gathered from users who capture news stories on their mobile phones. This has cemented Stomp as one of Singapore’s most popular news sites and provides coverage to stories that may otherwise be ignored. Stomp’s owners have also benefited through the ability to source more content for it’s traditional outlets.

The evolution of wireless internet provides journalists, professional and citizen alike, to overcome barriers and get published within minutes of an event breaking or data being received. There is no longer any waiting in traffic to get back to the office to file – it can be done on the road.

Twitter

I have just signed up to twitter and i don’t mind the concept of it, i think it could be quite an effective tool if used regularly. Its effecient because messages are brief and therefore updating is simple. I think its good if you want to let all your contacts know what you are doing, however i don’t think it is an intimate tool and is not an effective way of communicating with close contacts. Some may argue that using it regularly would eliminate this problem but i just dont think that is the case.

I enjoy the concept of coveritlive.com it is like an instant messenger device but it is also a blog that is permanently displayed for all to see. It is instantaneous and offers the same efficiency if not better efficiency then twitter.

I also had a look at the flowgrams website and watched the video tutorial and i think this is a very creative and interesting tool. It is all the media’s rolled up into one. Photos, text, captions, can all be combined to create a message with continuity rather then having to visit multiple sites to obtain information you can get it all with flowgram.

I think all 3 of these tools are very handy tools for journalists to have, i think flowgrams will get a lot of use by news corporations and cover it live and twitter will continue to have popularity among the general public and citizen journalists.

“Really Simple Syndication”: surfing the web through a barrel

 

When “surfing the net” for information on anything and everything, we almost need a butler to surf the web for us, to find the headlines we desire and hand them to us on a silver platter. That butler is the RSS.

RSS can either stand for “really simple syndication” or “rich site summary”. Its symbol is seen littered throughout the Internet

RSS makes it easy to read lots of sites – from weblogs to major news sites – in very little time.

You simply decide which websites or topics you want to track (similar to the Google search engine), tell your RSS reader, then it will continually download all the latest headlines for you, saving you time by collecting them in one place for you to read over quickly.

This tool is handy for a MoJo journalist on the go. It helps to access information quickly, and can allow users to filter out the rubbish.

Another new multimedia tool: Twitter

One of the big developments in late 2007 was the concept of live reporting/blogging via the web or mobile phone.

This form of super-fast blogging is limited to 160 characters per post (similar to SMS), and each post is known as a “tweet”. Again, a very handy tool for a MoJo journalist.

Links: 

RSS http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/001913.php

Pictures say more than words

The confrontational multimedia presentation of ‘Conflict in Crayon’ screamed heartache. This designed journalist story enhanced by significantly graphic displays and depiction of war was further enhanced by the nature in which the children were depicted. This war ravaged country, didn’t need the use of words to tell the story, and the old adage ‘a picture tells a thousand words’ certainly applied.

The extremely harsh imagery, but refreshing from a journalistic viewpoint, used the break from a conventional style of journalism into visual story telling said more words than even Shakespeare in his infinite wisdom could describe.

Whist ever spoken word did nothing for overall value of the multimedia journalistic story; imagery completely stole the show, and in many ways undermines the pure notion of the written word. Keeping to a visual consistency was the basis of the story the children’s drawings. Nothing is as scary as seeing the visions of young children depicted through what they draw. Blood, violence, terror……..war. This story caught exactly what it is that haunts these children’s minds, war.

Suddenly heartache was the only emotion that you could feel; therefore possibilities for adding to the emotions could have been could be the sounds of war. The hurt in your eyes would have matched the hurt in your ears.

Soundslides – let the pictures do the talking!

‘Soundslides’ is the latest addition to online content for news websites. Building on the concept of slideshows, ‘Soundslides’ adds audio to the visual experience, enhancing the way in which a message is conveyed.

Developed in the United States in late 2005, audio slideshows are beginning to takeoff as yet another addition to the multimedia world. Audio slideshows provide news websites another medium to report news and major events and allows for the development of the story in a non linear way.

The ‘Soundslides’ program is incredibly simple to use, requiring only basic instruction. Once photos and audio are saved in the correct formats (jpeg and mp3) the user simply uploads the content and the audio slideshow is ready in a matter of seconds.

This speed and efficiency allows content to be generated by journalists (who may not be comfortable with other software) within a rapid turnaround with the audio visual experience uploaded within minutes of the story coming to hand.

Where soundslides is most versatile is for setting the tone and atmosphere of a story. The right audio and pictures combined provides a compelling experience for the user who will receive a greater feel and understanding for the story.

Related links:
www.soundslides.com
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-7899-8616

The newsroom of the future is instantaneous thanks to the i-Mate Jasjam

The i-Mate Jasjam enables reporters to file stories wirelessly while on the go. The $1300-a-piece MoJo (mobile journalism) tool captures stills, video, and audio and can be used to rapidly file content to the editiorial team in the newsroom.

The Jasjam will empower newspaper journalists to stay ahead of the competition, to lead the race for reporting a breaking story before their radio and television reporter counterparts do. Still – and thankfully – the Jasjam is not intended to replace staff, or photojournalists for that matter. “If you want a terrific image, you still need a photographer taking pictures ”, says Mike van Niekerk, Fairfax’s online editor-in-chief.

The Jasjam’s real value is in helping reporters capture more breaking news and making this news available to the public immediately, in a variety of formats. Simply providing these devices to reporters helps them think in “platform-agnostic terms”.

The Jasjam will be the future for journalists. Eventually, reporters will file their story, in a variety of media. Editors sitting at the central hub will instantly receive it in the queue, and then dispatch it to the medium they deem appropriate. A few minutes later, the story will be online, complete with stills. Fifteen minutes later, the text will be updated with new information and briefly edited video with complement coverage.

Related links:

http://www.imate.com/showProducts.aspx

http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2007/09/fairfax_trains_all_reporters_t.php

Posted by refr