ALJ301 assignment two

My final blog entry surrounds a website that to me has really reiterated the reason behind learning multimedia this semester.

Global Voices is extremely interesting and informative and with a tag line ‘the world is talking, are you listening?’ It shows how many are embracing new forms of media by blogging and being a citizen journalist.

Areas around the world are being heard and their stories being told, where in some cases mainstream media won’t touch.

We have seen that before in this forum and I think this way allows people to learn more about countries and the issues facing residents.

We have read throughout the semester about information overload when it comes to blogging and I have also discussed quality of news and accuracy. But it seems these have both been covered.

To have people on board to guide users through the global blogosphere is fantastic and what better way to find the news from a reliable source.

There must be a demand for foreign correspondents in print, television and online media to use this site to source information as a section has been set up specifically for this area.

But what reaffirmed the value of this site was the story in 2006 about a “two-day orgy of sexual harassment”. While not reported in mainstream media until bloggers started writing, it embarrassed the Egyptian government into taking a stand on the issue.

This demonstrates how powerful blogs and citizen journalism can be.

This week I delve into what has been acclaimed to be the best British site and that is rightly so.

It is clear why this website is marketed as the essential site for journalists and from now on it will be added to my favourites. There is so much information from employment, to tips for web writing and even the challenges and triumphs of media today.

What drew my attention immediately was the editor blogs. One editor comes to mind straight away in the field I work in, this editor hasn’t embraced technology and wouldn’t even consider writing his own comment through a blog.

WAN Amsterdam: What have newspapers done to build new audiences? is an interesting blog. Here Judith Townend raises the question about print, keeping the old readers but also introducing digital to build new audiences.

Interestingly, Verdens Gang newspaper in Norway has increase revenue while losing readers. I felt encouraged by the comment made by the CEO of the newspaper who said good journalism attracts attention on all platforms. He says don’t cut down on journalistic resources to cover the important stories.

How true this is, I know of situations where this has happened in a rural newspaper, where supplied content has been relied on to cover an extremely important issue in the community.

Sadly the cutting of journalistic resources has reflected on the coverage which is backed by one sided and poorly written editorial resulting in a community unsatisfied with the coverage.

It is not always about circulation, what matters is the editorial content and how that is extended through multi-media.

This week I visited Buzz Machine where media veteran, Jeff Jarvis looks at new media issues on the context of current events.

A blog I found extremely interesting is Citizen journalism ruins the world (again).

Here, Jarvis was asked by three reporters to defend the citizen journalism because of rumors that Apple’s Steve Jobs has been rushed to hospital which consequently sent the company’s share diving.

It comes back to the good old rumor mill and as a news organisation clarification is needed on the situation before the wrong news is spread.

Jarvis said to these reporters is it may not be about citizen journalism, but rather someone trying to game Apple stock. However, he goes on to say we need to recognise life is messy, the luxury of time was lost since 24 hour cable news was created and interestingly that mistakes, rumors and lies do get out and the public has to judge the news more skeptically.

He says rather than ignoring skepticism, we need to encourage it and educate people to think this way.

I think this is correct. More is available to read because of the citizen journalists and we need to question the news that comes across the internet, television or radio.

Another interesting one is where apologies were made to journalists that the fall of the American Journalism Review wasn’t their fault. Jarvis thinks it is saying the change wasn’t seen soon enough and the craft wasn’t ready for the transition.

This is really about new media and new relationships, something this unit has emphasized from the beginning. As Quinn would say, it is important to embrace the new technologies facing journalists, otherwise we will be left behind.

Arh the joys of technology and what it means for journalists in the future. This week’s reading, a piece by Stephen Quinn, explores how countries are trialing and adapting technology into the way their journalists operate.

Quinn also demonstrates more are embracing technology to become citizen reporters and provide news and information to websites and newspapers.

Mobile phones for text messages and phone calls seems only natural but it is clear phone companies have seen the dollars when it comes to introducing the internet into their mobile phone system.

Like surfing the internet, I am not into all this technology at the end of your finger tips, but it is obviously the way the industry is going.

As journalists in an ever competing industry we need to continue to keep up with the technology or we will be left behind. However, I think what needs to be kept in mind is information overload and time poor people.

But there are so many avenues to obtain news and be informed that journalists need to be aware of that, as would citizen journalists.

Although it does come back to quality and as journalists we need to find innovative and new ways to inform our community and bring in potential newcomers in a competitive market.

No newspapers or television news stations to refer to this week, it’s straight to videoblogs.

I have always thought video footage has been for those keen to keep all those happy memories on VHS, perhaps submitting some to Funniest Home Videos or even in the television crew profession, however, according to Jennifer Woodard Maderazo it seems everyone is in on the action of being a video producer.

It is the videobloggers or vloggers, who rely on moving images rather than words, who are part of this technological phenomenon.

With technology in mobile phones and cameras you don’t even need to have a video camera to be able to submit footage to YouTube or start up your own videoblog site.

Videoblogs have made me question a number of things here – journalism ethics and even professionalism but Jennifer has made me realise there is a place for videoblogs in society.

Alive in Baghdad, an example of citizen journalism, demonstrates the real issues being faced in Iraq. Going into areas news crews won’t and showing the hard angle, absolutely brilliant.

I feel there is a place for this vlog, allowing the world to try and understand the life of Iraqis in war.

While the other videoblogs Jennifer looks at are somewhat interesting and assumedly have their place in society, it does demonstrate that anyway can be part of this form of multimedia journalism.

As for me, I don’t think I’m too keen on that… but they say there is a first for everything!

I was really interested in this week’s reading by Stephen Quinn, ‘Citizen Journalism gets things done in Singapore’.

It is great to read that user generated content is making a difference in a country which I interpret to be very strict.

My observations have enabled me to realise more are using the different forms of technology to share their news and this reading really emphasised that. It is felt the introduction of Stomp by Singapore Press Holdings has done a number of things:

1. Enabled members of the community to share their views, opinions and ‘tip off’ media
2. While designed for the younger generation, even the older generations have embraced the technology to be able to participate in Stomp
3. Streamline news isn’t evident as the real issues facing the community are focused.
4. It’s an excellent example of grass roots reporting.

Who would have thought that introducing Stomp has seen the bonding of a community? And even the government have come on board to foster media innovation.

I feel that both of these actions are positive as it allows for more news to be extended out into the community and as Quinn’s examples show it has also seen changes being made to benefit the people.

It was interesting to read too, that people no longer go to a single source for information. I suppose the same could be said for journalists today, who seek many sources for their news article.

This week’s reading material delved into the new tools for reporting.

There is so much technology to embrace to stay in the media game and to me it really was amazing. From blogs, moblogs, podcasting and vlogs to even mobile phones for reporting (mojo) and twitter (super fast blogging).

As I have mentioned previously in this forum, there is more to reporting than knowing shorthand and being able to interview and put together a story.

I would imagine a couple of years ago students in this unit would have been writing about email and the internet. However, as the world embraces more technology it has resulted in the introduction of a number of other forms of multimedia.

I think these forms and surely the ones that are continually emerging will mean citizens are able to access more news and be more informed.

It also allows them to participate in journalism, even if it is as amateurs, where they can contribute footage and news items to television stations, newspapers and even radio.

Let’s face it, not all media can be where the action is happening, so these forms have allowed for them to cover more events and disasters while their viewers are ‘on the ground’. I know Channel 10 in Adelaide, South Australia will pay for video footage of events/disasters if they publish them.

Also interesting this week for me was the online reading about which is the best free photo gallery editor. It is obvious these tools have allowed people to embrace the ability to report in a variety of ways, one can only imagine how far it will all go.

The amount of new tools available for reporting was looked at in this week’s topic, New Tools for Reporting.

There is so much more to reporting than just taking notes down at an interview!

You always need to be mindful of where you source information from and how credible it is but now with blogging you have to be even more cautious.

Anyone can blog, as shown with the assignment for this unit, but the information if you refer to it has to be credible. It is amazing that companies pay people to blog about their own products, guess it is one way of knowing how you rate in the market place.

Moblogs are another example of a new tool for reporting and with many have their own mobile phone it is an easy option.

What comes to mind when I looked at video blogs is recent footage obtained from a student fight at a train station in Gawler, South Australia.

The footage, gained from a mobile phone, found itself everywhere and gave police the evidence they needed of the incident.

It also found the local high school needing to defend itself and local politicians calling for increase security at the stations.

This week’s reading looked at Proam with a case study

I never realised the history behind South Korea when it came to news being transmitted to the people. Amazingly the Government imposed restrictions, refused to renew licenses and even arrested reporters and publishers. The censorship of print and broadcast media became widely criticised with restricted news conveyed.

It is positive to see media ownership being separate from politics and government, and that is how it should be. Media owned by government and political parties will only convey one message to the people, you can’t deprive people of accessing news.

With an increase in the amount of people going on line, it demonstrates how keen they are to use technology and also be informed of what is happening in the world. It is a surprise though that South Korea has the world’s highest number of broadband connections per capita.

One man, Oh Yeon-ho with the backing of businessmen has been able to convey the news to the Korean community and acknowledge that every citizen is a reporter.

Being the first citizen journalism website in Korea’s mainstream media has given the ability to set the national agenda and demonstrates how much people want to be up to date with news.

It is amazing that citizen journalists are being paid for what they are producing and I feel it would get more members of the community thinking about what is happening around them and in the world. It shows the newspaper, albeit on line, is really owned by the community.

This week looks at business models for multimedia journalism where I looked at two readings “Make money around free content” in the Wired online magazine and “Free! Why $0.00 is the future of business” also part of online magazine, Wired.

One aspect that I knew before even analysing this week’s readings is that nothing is every free. Someone, somewhere is making money by the actions that may be promoted as ‘free’.

Fred Wilson in “Make money around free content” certainly demonstrated that to me when he put together a list of the amount of revenue models in the media industry. As a user of Google, I did realise this to some extent but all the other points on his list are amazing.

Who would have thought that these elements would in turn be revenue models? Even sites with pop up advertising would contribute in some form to revenue models and clearly it is a way to attract another market as more turn to the use of the internet to gain their information.

Stephen’s lecture this week also provided some interesting points, particularly with the use of internet for major news. He showed examples that demonstrated people want the up to date news as it happens.

Interestingly there is an increase in the amount of online advertising, but the figures show that people will turn to newspapers to still advertise. I think businesses are experimenting with new forms as they embrace technology and continue to reach their publics.