Digital Journalism-- What to expect?

Twitter Essay: The New York Twitter? Yes and No.

huskyfan88 — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:32:33 +0000

This quarter was my first time working with twitter and learning what it has been doing to the world of journalism. Before my introduction into the tool, I was already so used to Facebook that Twitter did not seem like that hard of an application to figure out how to use. I had a lot of complications with it at first, and quite honestly was not too big of a fan. However, over the course of learning about it more and working with it a lot, I have developed a respect for Twitter and would now agree that it holds something special in the future of journalism.

From what I have learned about it, Twitter is a social networking tool focused on allowing people to update each other with their lives on a second to second basis. Its technology is simple, being based around status updates to which can only contain 140 characters or less. The other part of the Twitter equation is following; people can follow each other without mutual consent (meaning that if you want to follow someone they do not have to agree to let you follow them), and get notified whenever someone they are following has published a new update. This equation can be confusing because those who use twitter (the Twitter community now includes businesses, artists, journalists, and news organizations as well) tend to update plenty of times each day, and if you are following a plethera of people, your twitter account will recieve hundreds to thousands of new updates on a daily basis. However, I noticed that once I got used to using the application, it proved to be useful in a couple major ways to the possible future of journalism.

As far as the future of news is concerned, Twitter will be a very successfull tool in that it allows people from anywhere in the world to update others on what is going on at that exact moment. What does this imply? Breaking News will now almost completely be covered by Twitter alone. If an earthquake happens somewhere halfway around the world, Twitter feeds of that incident will come out even before that information is registered in geological databases, which is long before any news organization would get that information out to the public. At this point in time, there are not enough people using Twitter, so the argument cannot be made that Twitter is the main news medium for reporting breaking news all around the world. However, it is probably safe to assume that at some point in the future, Twitter will have become popular enough so that enough people are tweeting around the world that almost any story that would normally be covered by news organizations are being covered by the citizens themselves! One might think that is the worst news that any journalist could here, because if there are no stories like that to report, and if citizens are already informed before reporters even make it to the scene, how will journalists even be around in the future? However, in my mind, the fact that Twitter is eventually going to take over breaking news is probably the best news a journalist could hear. Why? Because now journalists have a real opportunity to show their professionalism. I mean this because real journalism, in my mind, is not simply reporting what is going on: it is moreso the act of digging deep into a story, getting an interview nobody else could get; squeezing information out of sources that nobody else could get, and finally, using skills in writing or film-making to get that story out to the world. Journalists are authors with a hint of practicality- they are there to write compelling stories that have to do with what is really going on around us; they are not there to explain to us that something happened, but are rather telling us the significance of what happened. With a good method to charge people for the stories they write, journalists could even be better off now than they were before. News organizations can play into this by recruiting journalists in a similar way that any business hires their employees. So Twitter will essentially change the entire business model for journalism.

I sat in on a skype interview the other day with David Cohn of “Spot.us,” who gave me a great picture as to another way Twitter is shaping the new world of journalism. He shared a story about how he had to interview somebody about ten minutes after he found out that he would be doing an interview with them. He used Twitter to ask people what questions they would like to have answered, and within a matter of five minutes he had several Tweets with questions to ask his source. Twitter will be a great tool for offering journalists tips as far as things to write about or even directions to go with a story. It is in this way that Twitter will effectively connect the journalist with citizens.

Final Video Project: Raiders Softball

huskyfan88 — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 07:35:50 +0000

The story for this video centers around the Pi Kappa Phi IMA Softball team, who this year made a run in the playoffs and have proven everyone that they are a very good softball team. However, apart from the fact that they are good and are hoping to win games, the main reason each player on the Pi Kappa Phi team is out there playing is so that they can grow friendships with their very own fraternity brothers. It sends the message that IMA sports, especially for fraternities, is not all about the competition, but moreso the friendships that are made while playing. And even though these guys are not too competetive so as to leave friendships on the side, they are good enough that they actually have a real shot at winning the IMA championship.

My goals were mainly to get a good picture of a typical softball game for these guys. I wanted the story to center around them while they were on the field, so I took my camera out with me to one of the playoff games and did some filming of their warm-ups, actual playing, and sideline conversations. My main challege, however, was that I myself am on the team, so I wasn’t really able to get any shots of anyone out in the field (I was pitching whenever we took the field). It would have been nice to get some shots of grounders going to the shortstop, or a throw to first, etc., but I don’t feel as though it detracts from the story not having those clips in there.

I think I met my goals really well. The story is structured the way I imagined it to be, almost being an inside story of the team as they are making their run in the playoffs, kind of like you would see ESPN do with a sports team making a run in the playoffs. I feel as though the movie captures what IMA softball is like and the story paints a good picture as to how good the team is, but at the same time there is an element to it that goes inside with some of the players and shows some of the emotion that goes into playing a sport with good friends. If I was to do this over again, I think I would remove myself completely from the competition and focus on filming the entire time; I think that way I would be able to get some more clips to choose from. It isn’t a huge deal to me but I think it would have been helpful.

5 New Follows: Week 10

huskyfan88 — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:15:40 +0000

Here are Five recent journalism graduate students that I decided to follow. They are less removed than your average journalist, so I think they are a better resource for discovering the future of journalism:

1) Emily Ingram @emilyingram

2) Lauren Mitchell @laurenmitchell

3) Alana Taylor @alanataylor

4) Craig Kanalley @ckanal

5) Greg Linch @greglinch

Final Cut: Student-Created Program Helps Ease Registration Pain

huskyfan88 — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:21:01 +0000

My story starts around the fact that most students at the University of Washington have a very tough time registering for classes, mainly because classes at the UW are very confusing to coordinate, some have random restrictions on them that students don’t know about until they register, and some are full even when they appear not to be. This is especially hard for Freshman, who unlike the older students, don’t have any experience and are basically being fed to the Sharks when they go out to register for classes.

My story continues by introducing Matt Lawson, a freshman political science major at the University of Washington who learned of a valuable tool that has significantly helped “ease the pain” to his registration process. It is a program called the Visual Schedule Finder, and was created by a fellow UW student, Rylan Hawkins. The program’s selling point is that it is an interactive tool to help you pick out each class you want one by one, choose your desired time frame, and then get fast results with a reliable schedule. It eliminates many of the petty but very frustrating problems students occur on registration day which often lead them into unwanted schedules. Matt hopes that other students will eventually start using this program.

length: (2 min, 1 sec)

here is the link to the current video uploaded to YouTube: http://tr.im/mNH1

The problem with this is that YouTube only uploaded 1:50 out of the 2 min file. I’m sending a new one to Kathy, and hopefully that will be up soon!

My goals were to create a good news story around this topic but also to promote the Visual Schedule Finder program itself. I definitely had reporting challenges in the way, mainly in that I wasn’t able to line up an interview with Rylan Hawkins, the program’s creator. Other than that, it was hard getting a lot of b-roll shots that I felt did a great job representing the student body during registration time- I wasn’t filming during the registration season, so I wasn’t able to get any action shots of students doing so. I think that would have been a great thing to get if I was to do this project again.

Reflection: Registration Video Story

huskyfan88 — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:12:56 +0000

My story centers around the fact that registration at the University of Washington has become a very frustrating and painful experience for many students, especially the freshman who are relatively new to the college experience. The story begins by introducing the plain frustration regarding registration at the UW. The subject of the story, Matt, is then introduced as a student who has found a way to almost “beat the system of registration” at the UW by hearing from some friends about the Visual Schedule Finder- a user friendly registration program that was designed by one of UW’s very own students, Rylan Hawkins. The rest of the story is focused on some of the aspects of the visual schedule finder, including some clips from an interview I had with Matt. Closeups of the VS Finder are used to help explain the process, and the story concludes with Matt talking about how good of an experience he had using it. The question is then asked at the end of the story about whether or not the University will buy Hawkins’ program, or if other Universities will invest in it.

I would say my biggest challenge in filming was simply getting good close-up shots of the computer as Matt was using the Visual Schedule Finder. I only wish that the camera I had could shoot with better resolution so that it could pick up some of the smaller details on the computer screen, but the shot was important for the story so I had to go with whatever I could get. Another big challenge in completing the story was getting an interview with Rylan Hawkins himself. He is one of my friends, but between our schedules we weren’t able to set up a time and have an interview about the Visual Schedule Finder. It isn’t the end of the world that I didn’t interview him, and in my mind the story will still be very strong without his part, but I think it would have added a lot to get pieces of an interview from him to make the story as strong as possible. If I was to do the story over again, this is the main thing that I would make sure to do. I would also have preferred a higher quality video camera, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t necessarily the most important thing for this particular story.

5 New Follows

huskyfan88 — Mon, 25 May 2009 10:01:45 +0000

Here are Five New Journalists I chose to follow this week:

1) Steve Yelvington- great resource for digital journalism in particular, he is a multimedia strategist.

2) Steve Outing- another great resource for digital journalism, real interest in how technology is effecting the new age of journalism

3) Ben LaMothe- recent Journalism graduate

4) Adrian Monck- an ex-tv news reporter, great resource for digital journalism

5) David Cohn (Digidave)- I don’t know how exactly I wasn’t already following this guy, but he’s definitely another great resource.

Rough Script For Movie: New Way to Register?

huskyfan88 — Fri, 22 May 2009 08:23:17 +0000

1. The first clip I plan to use is a B-Roll shot taken at Red Square. I hope to open the story by saying, “at the University of Washington…” (10 seconds)

2. My second and third clips will also be B-Roll shots of students walking into Odegaard Library. I am continuing on from my “At the University of Washington” part by explaining that most students who register do so at Odegaard Undergraduate Library, because of its internet reliability and wide availability of computers, although this does not help students get classes when complications in their schedules may, and usually do, arrive (20 seconds)

3. My fourth clip is a close up of my subject Matt’s face. He is working on his computer. The voice over that will go with it says something along the lines of, “For some students, and this one in particular, a new student-made website has taken a lot of the pain out of UW’s registration process.” (10 seconds)

4. The next clip will cut to the interview (medium shot) I had with Matt, where he explained how registration has been tough for him in the past because the schedule finder UW provides would not work if there was as many as one errors in his schedule. (30 seconds)

5. The next clip is a B-Roll shot of students using the computers at Odegaard. The audio segment that will accompany it will explain how many students like Matt occur several problems with the registration process, ranging from their whole schedule going under because one class does not fit to simply not getting a class in time, even when they show up early for registration. (15 seconds)

6. The next is an over the shoulder shot of Matt using the computer (5-7 seconds)
7. This clip is a close up of the computer, showing the process of Visual Schedule Finder.

*Both 6 and 7 will be accompanied by a voice over that will introduce Visual Schedule Finder and exactly what it does

8. The next clip will also be a B-Roll shot of Matt showing me Visual Schedule Finder (15 seconds)

9. The last clip will be a cut of my interview with Matt where he will talk about what is so good for him with VS Finder and why he thinks everyone should use it. (20 seconds)

5 Tips for Reporting in the Digital Age

huskyfan88 — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:00:15 +0000

After reading the excerpt, here are five tips I came up with to survive as a reporter in the digital age

1. Be truthful. I don’t think this could be stressed any more harshly. If you copy and paste something, make sure that you are not making any alterations to the original work. You could a) violate copyright laws or even worse b) land yourself in a libel suit if the altered material defamed someone. Being completely honest is an important thing.

2. Always credit sources, and credit exactly what they said. In the case where one reporter should have pasted an entire article on e-mail instead of putting parts of it up there, it is important to just let everything be transparent to the reader. It is John Milton’s philosophy of letting the reader decide what is good or bad.

3. Be careful about all the information you put on a website or credit from another website about someone. Internet sites are one of the biggest mediums of mass media today, and any wrong information about something or someone could land you in a terrible place, and not just ethically.

4. Be sensitive about private information about an individual. Once something is put onto the internet, it goes extremely public. Make sure any information you are publishing about someone has been given consent first by the individual to whom you are writing about.

5. Be careful about what you use in a story. Make sure that pictures, especially, are ok to put in a story before you do so. There are a lot of copyrights out there, and people can tend to be very picky about those. Double check with the source to which you get a photo from that it is ok for you to use that for whatever reason in your story.

Journalism 2.0: Thoughts About Video and the Future of Journalism

huskyfan88 — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:09:44 +0000

It has been in my mind this entire class that the future of journalism would have something to do with video. The reason as to why I say that is that video is the best technology for really getting a story across to someone. If I had the choice of reading every news story I saw or watching it on video, I would definitely choose the latter. From my perspective, video is the best tool for a journalist to use.

I am, however, not entirely sure as to whether or not the video columns described in Mark Briggs’ “Journalism 2.0″ show what the future of journalism will be like. I appreciate his points about how almost anyone can upload videos onto sites such as “Hulu” or “Youtube,” but I am someone who still appreciates quality. There is no way to know exactly how credible a video that was uploaded by a “non-professional” might be. That is something I have always appreciated about sites such as the New York Times: their videos are always well-edited and very credible (because professionals are behind the work). That is a main concern I have with this recent buzz of youtube being the future of journalism.

At the same time I think the availabilty to upload videos wherever, whenever, and whoever you are, can come in handy quite often. People who were shooting video of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2009 just before it was attacked easily had the edge in that story. No news organization was there to film it, because, well, we haven’t yet figured out how to look ahead in time (I am confident that technology will be here in the next 20 years though. I am kidding, of course). So for breaking news and/or detailed footage of something (perhaps footage a soldier being tortured in Iraq as a POW), I have a soft spot for the “Youtube Age” because we have access to more detailed information that does not hide any truth.

Analysis of the Susan Boyle Story

huskyfan88 — Wed, 13 May 2009 08:20:43 +0000

The Susan Boyle story is extrodinary in that it sends a message that goes against today’s “pop-culture.” It also shows to me how important truth is from a journalistic standpoint. I think that almost any journalist would think that Susan’s story needed to be told to the world because of how uniquely amazing it is; a middle age spinster look-a-like who can sing like an angle is not the type of story anyone expects to hear. But its message is so important because it teaches all of us that looks should not be important for a singer. If anyone was to hear this story and watch her video, and still think that Susan Boyle did not deserve to make it big in the music industry, many would think of them as a pretty cold-hearted person.

The reason why this story is so good from a journalistic standpoint is that it conveys the truth of a particular situation, and asks a very good question: The truth is that Susan Boyle, a very unattractive person in many peoples’ eyes, is one of the most amazing singers of all time (you can’t deny that once you watch the video). The question that remains is thus, can she survive in today’s pop-culture while being fairly unattractive? The reader is forced to sit and ponder the answer to that after reading the story, and may not even come up with a perfect answer. Therefore the story is completely objective: it does not necessarily show a particular viewpoint to that question, but merely conveys truth to let the reader discover his/her own answer.