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April 17, 2009 • 2:21 pm 1

Awesome multimedia storytelling from Colombia’s Semana.com

The final panel of the day at the International Online Journalism Symposium at UT Austin in Texas looked at visual and multimedia story-telling on the web.

María Teresa Ronderos, Editor of Semana.com from Colombia showed some of the site’s impressive work in using multimedia to explore and explain different types of stories.

Semana.com put together an in-depth on the FARC rebels. It also sought to use multimedia to explain complex issues, such as a in-depth on paramilitary involvement in politics.

Ronderos also showed how Semana used multimedia to bring to life dry statistics about the number of people living on the streets of Bogota.

The site is also experimenting with using multimedia as profile pieces, where users click on the different parts of the body to learn different things about a person. Or using multimedia to reflect geographical information.

For her, this reporting rivals the traditional long-form print in-depth report.  Multimedia can make a difficult story accessible and journalists have to choose what works best in what medium.

Ronderos said we are creating new narratives, but, in her words, we are still in the stone ages.

Filed under: journalism, media, multimedia , ,

April 14, 2009 • 10:48 pm 0

The skills that online journalists need to succeed

This video interview with Alan Murray, executive editor of The Wall Street Journal Online, is timely for the j-schoolers graduating in a few week’s time and for the new crop of students getting ready to come to journalism school.

In the interview by Nieman Journalism Lab, Murray talks about what he looks for when in online reporters:

In the digital area, you do want people who can be very fast and are willing to, you know, post multiple times a day and to multitask.

An additional skill is know how to market your work, balancing “maximum search engine hits” and producing something that  “that’s uniquely valuable”.

Essentially Murray is talking about journalism plus.

Filed under: education, journalism, multimedia, social media , , ,

April 7, 2009 • 3:44 pm 1

Steve Pratt on CBC R3’s multiplatform strategy

The director of CBC Radio 3, Steve Pratt, spoke to my students taking the first-year undergraduate stream in New Media and Society at the University of British Columbia, about the station’s multiplatform media strategy.

(Watch the video in higher resolution at Blip.tv)

Filed under: CBC, broadcast, journalism, multimedia , ,

December 29, 2008 • 11:03 am 0

Looking back on 2008 and forward to 2009

As 2008 draws to a close, reviews of the year and predictions of the year to come are a common feature.

Poynter have put together a useful guide to multimedia projects that you may have missed in 2008. The list is US-dominated but also includes the award-winning Talking to the Taliban project by Canada’s Globe and Mail.

Minnesota Public Radio continues to make games for smart people. This year, with

Budget Hero from Minnesota Public radio showed how games can be used to make financial complexity accessible, while Storm Stories by the Spokesman-Review showed how to use maps as a story-telling tool.

On a different tack, ReadWriteWeb has compiled a list of predictions for the coming year. Among the predictions are a single sign-on across the web, Google losing market share and the rise of the uber blog.

What are you expecting for 2009?

Filed under: internet, journalism, multimedia, newspapers , , , ,

October 28, 2008 • 10:07 am 0

How to be a multimedia journalist

My latest column on PBS Mediashift looks at how to teach multimedia journalism in the classroom.

This means that journalists need to think on different levels as they conceive of a story and its treatment. It involves taking a multifaceted approach to a story and working out how best to tell it with the media available. The attraction for journalists is the ability to tell a story in multiple ways, making information accessible in ways that go beyond the standard news article in print.

Among the online resources I recommend is the tutorial by Jane Stevens on multimedia story-telling.

Another invaluable resource is a post by Mindy McAdams on making multimedia story decisions. To help the students, I created a PDF version of Mindy’s cheat-sheet (PDF).

Filed under: internet, journalism, multimedia , , ,

October 10, 2008 • 8:40 am 2

US newspapers lag behind in use of multimedia

US newspapers don’t appear to be making the most of multimedia. A study from Missouri Western State University presented at the Convergence and Society conference in South Carolina found that the US press lagged behind the UK.

The study, by Prof Robert Bergland, together with his students, Lisa Crawford, Sarah Noe, & Melody Ellsworth, studied 360 newspapers in the US, chosen at random.

Here’s what they found:

  • Video: 65% (97% for largest newspapers)
  • Audio: 52% (70% for largest newspapers)
  • Podcasts: 4%
  • Interactive graphics: 3% (7% in largest newspapers)
  • Photo galleries: 70%
  • Audio slideshows: 47% (70% in largest newspapers)
  • Games: 42%

The researchers said they were surprised by the low use of interactive graphics, attributing this to the complexity and steep learning curve of Flash.

The lack of podcasts was also surprising, with the researchers wondering if this had increased since the study was conducted in 2007.

Some of the use of multimedia seems heavily influenced by the available technology. The availability of a program like Soundslides makes it easy to create audio slideshows without needing to know any Flash.

It is unsurprising that the largest newspapers were more active in multimedia, as they are likely to be better resourced.

The Missouri Western State conducted a similar survey of UK newspaper websites this year and found that the British press was making more use of multimedia.

The question is whether the US media has caught up over the past 12 months, or whether there are other reasons that explain how and why the American press is behind the UK.

Filed under: journalism, multimedia, newspapers , , ,

September 13, 2008 • 9:30 pm 0

Spanish sites win international recognition at ONA

Spain made a big impresson at the Online News Association awards, picking up the two awards that non-English websites were eligible for.

Elpais.com took the newly created award for general excellence by a large non-English site. Its compatriot, Soitu.es, won the general excellence title for small site.

One is an example of how a print newspaper is reinventing itself online. The other is a an independent, web-only new site, just eight months old.

The two sites showcase the great online journalism taking place outside North America and a recognition by the ONA that the web does not end at America’s borders.

The nominees for the ONA awards were heavily dominated by US sites, but Canada’s The Globe and Mail, made an impact by picking up a trophy for its Talking to the Taliban special report. A French site, Geo, also won for its English language entry, The Hidden World.

As an international member of the ONA said, the international winners serve as advocates of the organisation’s new openness to the rest of the world.

It is now up to the new director of the ONA, Jane McDonnell, to ensure the organisation becomes a truly global grouping of the best in online journalism.

(The full list of winners was not up on the ONA site at the time of posting, but some of them are on AFP’s Mediawatch,  en Francais evidamment).

Filed under: journalism, multimedia, technology , , , , , ,

July 1, 2008 • 1:16 pm 5

Job description for the 21st century journalist?

A posting for an internship at The St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper and its website for a multimedia intern reads a lot like the job description for a 21st century journalist.

The ad reads:

This new position is for a multidisciplined and flexible multimedia journalist who can generate and execute multimedia ideas. Ideal candidates will be able to hit the ground running and juggle all types of content and content mediums on deadline assignments. One day you’ll be shooting breaking news photos and transmitting live from the scene, the next day creating a Soundslide feature on a local music festival, the next day shooting video of a political rally for the presidential election.

What is more revealing is the skills labeled as mandatory:

  • iMovie or Final Cut Pro
  • Audacity (or other multi-track audio editing programs)
  • Soundslides
  • Photo, video and audio content gathering and editing skills
  • FTP and remote transmission skills
  • Ability to turn high-quality projects quickly
  • Ability to write cleanly and create engaging, informative blog entries, captions, web teases and headlines

No mention of reporting, writing or interviewing skills, though perhaps these are taken as read.

Given the way journalism is changing, these skills may become pre-requisites to succeed in the media. I’m glad to say that we cover all of this in the Master’s programme at the UBC Graduate School of Journalism.

(Via the Innovation in College Media blog)

Zemanta Pixie

Filed under: education, journalism, multimedia, online ,

April 7, 2008 • 7:38 am 1

Video: The Telegraph’s road to change

Chris Lloyd, assistant managing editor of the Telegraph Media Group, reflects on a year of change at the newspaper.

Shot on a Nokia N95 at the Online Journalism Symposium in Austin, Texas

Filed under: journalism, multimedia, newspapers ,

April 5, 2008 • 10:11 am 1

UK news media battle for video eyeballs

Journalism panelOne of the big changes in the media has been a shift towards online video, particularly by newspapers, and this is emerging as a major battleground for audiences online.

Research by Neil Thurman and Ben Lupton of City University, London, showed that editors are keen to embrace new technologies such as video and see them as a part of the future of news.
Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: education, journalism, multimedia, video ,

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Alfred Hermida
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