Berlin Wall project: a lesson in multimedia?

If you have been watching coverage of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, chances are you may have seen the multimedia project by City University graduates that they have dubbed "a documentary on online journalism".

As reported on journalism.co.uk, the Berlin Project, which was launched on the 5th November, plans to provide 7 days of initial coverage (till the 12th November) using a variety of tools, including audio service Audioboo, Twitter and mobile video service Qik.

The article states how the project will assess how free services can be used to create, consume and distribute multimedia reports.

The project has been partnered by Reuters who, according to team leader Alex Wood, have been using the team to cover more unusual stories surrounding the anniversary in a range of media.
The team previously collaborated to provide coverage of the G20 summit protests in April using Twitter and Qik.

G20 Live attracted more than 80,000 unique users to a site only built the night before, but the Berlin Project will be about more than using mobile and mixed media for journalism, said Wood.

"It's about connecting the dots [between different mediums]. It's all about context rather than just content," he added, explaining that how a reader of viewer watches the team's work will inform their choice of tool and medium for covering an event. The quality of video streaming offered by Qik, for example, would be used to cover events that might be watched back on mobile.

Think of it as a documentary on online journalism. For online journalism the rules aren't written, so we're trying a different thing."

Interestingly, the team have kept navigational features to a minimum in order to allow users to 'get lost' and discover new reports and features. Content will also be published on Facebook and Reuters.

Google Voice – Newsroom “Game Changer”?

Google’s new telecoms service could become the next big thing in the ‘digital toolkit’ for reporters.

According to Etan Horowitz, Google Voice is “a game changer for journalists” with many of its features helping to improve the way they keep in touch with sources, the public, and each other.

Writing on Poynter Online, the tech columnist for the Orlando Sentinel discusses some of the service’s key selling points and how they can help reporters.

Here are some examples of its main features:

* Google Voice allows users to select their own number.

* You can choose which phones (mobile phone, office landline, home landline, VOIP etc) ring when people call and set it to change at different times of day.

* Users can sort callers into groups and select different phones to ring depending on which ‘group’ calls.

* Incoming calls can be switched between phones.

* The ID of the caller is stated before you answer.

* If the caller is unknown, an automated message asks them to give their name which can then be heard by the user before answering.

* Voicemail messages are automatically transcribed and sent as an email.

* Incoming calls can be recorded and then accessed through the user’s Google Voice account.

See the Poynter Online article by Horowitz for more about Google Voice.

At present, the invite-only service is limited to users in the US.

Asylum Piece Wins Multimedia Award

A multimedia report revealing the plight of refused asylum seekers in the UK has won a photography award.

Still Human Still Here by freelancer Abbie Trayler-Smith has received first prize in the multimedia category of the Press Photographer’s Year 2009 competition.

The video uses still photos, moving images, text captions, audio excerpts from interviews and a soundtrack to tell the story of some of Britain’s most impoverished people.

All the elements work together to produce a captivating piece of photojournalism, which was posted to video-sharing site Vimeo four months ago.

Still Human Still Here - Refused asylum seekers in the UK. from panos pictures on Vimeo.

The report was produced by independent photo agency Panos Pictures and will be on view in an exhibition of all the winning entries at the National Theatre this summer.

Among the other 15 category winners were photographers from the BBC, Manchester Evening News, Getty Images and the Daily Mail.

[HT - HoldtheFrontPage.co.uk]

Music to Your Users' Ears?

Music is a powerful and pervasive part of our culture, and it offers an opportunity to add an extra kick to a visual story.

No, wait. Music can be emotionally manipulative, and it hurts credibility to attach it to journalists' stories.

The Poynter Institute's Regina McCombs recently offered some guidelines for online journalists who agree (or disagree) with both arguments:

* In general, you should not add music to what was gathered from the scene.

The authentic audio, video or photography gathered in the field is the most important storytelling material a journalist has. Adding material that was not gathered through the reporting process must be done with great caution and skill. Natural sound can be just as powerful.

The BBC is among the organisations that have decided against using music in news stories. "You are changing what you're representing, and if you're changing it, it shouldn't be there," said Fiona Anderson of BBC Newsgathering. "I think this whole issue of enhancement is really dodgy."

* In the rare cases in which you add music, it should be used to enhance or further the narrative, not to compensate for incomplete reporting.

Brian Storm of media production company MediaStorm says music works best when the photojournalism carries the storyline and contains the narrative -- not because narrative is missing. Music "doesn't make a piece work," he said. "All the elements have to be working. It's like another gear you have."

"Music can get in the way, it can control the pacing, it can put it on rails. It becomes like an amusement park ride, presented so you become passive," argues documentary editor Jonathan Menell. "It tells the viewer you're going to handle them and control the emotion."

* All stories are not equal.

Just as writers don't approach feature stories the same way as investigative pieces, the standards for adding music may vary within story genres.

In general, the American Press Institute says, the more serious or sensitive the story, the more careful you should be in using background music.

* Music is not a universal language.

A breathtaking aria to one person is grating noise to another. Because people's reactions to music are subjectively influenced by their personal tastes, music and mood, you can never be certain how you affect a story by adding a piece of music.

* You must understand the craft of scoring music if you add it to stories.

Most of us are not skilled in the use of music with video. As with photography and writing, incorporating music well requires a lot of craft, both in selecting the music and editing it.

McCombs offers several examples of how music can affect reaction to a story. The bottom line, she says, is that music should not lessen our stories nor be used to manipulate viewers' emotions. If you're considering adding music to any piece, you need to be cautious and thoughtful. And you must respect the integrity of the story.

Guardian Launches US Media Podcast

A new monthly podcast about the American media made its debut on guardian.co.uk last week.

Hosted by journalism professor Jeff Jarvis, Media Talk USA provides a view from across the Atlantic to complement the Guardian’s existing podcast on media happenings in the UK.

Jarvis, who is also a columnist on Guardian.co.uk, said the new podcast would “jump off the news to examine the state and fate of media with a variety of provocative guests”.

He noted that British listeners might find it a useful listen as they can “look at the wave of destruction overtaking US newspapers as the canary in the coal mine”.

The podcast features an interview with Arianna Huffington, who discusses the Huffington Post’s new investigative fund project.

Journalism professor Jay Rosen and Wall Street Journal reporter Elizabeth Holmes also make appearances on the inaugural podcast.

BBC To Share Online Content

The BBC is working on a syndication strategy which would see the broadcaster share content with online newspapers.

In response to a government report, the BBC said it is exploring ways to help newspapers in the future by sharing some of its online stories.

Press Gazette reports that the BBC’s submission to the Digital Britain report revealed that a plan to increase the number of links to newspapers from the BBC News site is also under consideration.

However, it is also noted that the strategy would be limited in scope during an initial trial period and “syndication would be subject to partners agreeing to appropriate terms and conditions”.

See Press Gazette for the full story.

Telling The G20 Story With Social Media

News reporting via Twitter and AudioBoo became the norm last week as journalists used social media tools to tell the story of the G20 Summit in London.

The majority of the mainstream media got in on the action as social media software provided an ideal way for field-based reporters to provide real-time updates on events at the summit and on the streets of the City.

According to BBC tech correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones: “It does seem as though just about everyone involved in G20 - from the politicians to the journalists, from bloggers to demonstrators - has been snapping, filming recording everything in site and uploading it to the web to share with the world.”

Several online newspapers provided coverage using CoverItLive blogs, including Times Online and Sky News.

On the Sky live blog, correspondents sent text updates and links to photos uploaded to TwitPic.

Meanwhile, the Times Online’s live blog featured embedded photos and eye-witness posts from members of the public.



On Guardian.co.uk, award-winning blogger Dave Hill posted regular updates to his London blog about the action on the ground at the Bank of England.

And the BBC offered multimedia coverage through its Live Map, which linked to geotagged video, text and photographic content.



The BBC also pulled together links to all its G20 related content on a Live Text Page which featured links to news articles and blog posts from journalists as they were published.

An abundance of content from citizen journalists appeared throughout the day on content-sharing sites such as Flickr, and a group of students from London’s City University used their mobiles and social media tools to provide extensive coverage of the street protests (HT – cybersoc.com).

For more on this, journalism.co.uk and the BBC’s dot.life blog have round-ups of how social media was used by the mainstream and alternative media during last week’s events.

Sun Launching Radio Phone-In Online

The Sun promises that its forthcoming online radio station will be “The Home Of Free Speech”.

Weekday phone-in show Sun Talk is set to launch next month with former Talksport DJ Jon Gaunt at the helm.

According to Media Week, the new show forms part of News International’s investment strategy in multimedia content.

Sun Talk will be transmitted live between 10am and 1pm and will also be available as a download during the whole week.

And the station has managed to pull in an impressive guest for the first live show - Conservative leader David Cameron.

The Sun says the opposition leader will be taking calls and email questions from Sun readers during the inaugural show.

Writing on the launch announcement page, Gaunt reiterates the show’s commitment to the views of the audience.

“This is the station for YOU where you will not only get expert comment, controversy and loads of laughs but also the chance to interact and have YOUR SAY - and say it how you want.”

Further details about Sun Talk can be found on thesun.co.uk.

[HT – Journalism.co.uk]

How To: Audio Slideshows

Creating successful slideshows is the latest topic in a guide to multimedia journalism from academic Mindy McAdams.

Her tenth blog post in the series – Reporter’s Guide to Multimedia Proficiency – provides an introduction to the Soundslides program and offers tips and tricks for producing effective content.

According to McAdams, Soundslides “is a simple tool that builds simple audio slideshows.

“That’s all. But that’s actually quite a lot - especially because Soundslides is almost ridiculously simple to use.”

She adds: “There are many examples of elaborate, cinematic Soundslides online, but even a print reporter can combine an interview and some on-the-scene photos to produce a story with both audio and images.”

The Reporter’s Guide to Multimedia Proficiency series has so far included posts on blogging and RSS feeds, effective photography, recording and editing audio.

Visit McAdams’s Teaching Online Journalism blog for the full post.

Audio Slideshows – Do’s & Don’ts

The secrets behind great slideshows are revealed by Boston.com editor David Beard.

Speaking to Poynter Online, Beard suggests that the basic ingredients required for an effective audio slideshow are “outstanding images, distinctive voices, pace”.

And he points out that despite the popularity of video, sometimes a photo slideshow with an accompanying audio track is the right way to tell a certain story.

For example, he says that it is sometimes the case with video that “the single best image of a subject may not come with the single best sound bite”.

He adds: “In the rush to Flip cams and upper-end HD video, we recognise that each story has distinctive multimedia platforms - and that in some stories, going old school still works best.”

But there are some pitfalls and here are some of Beard’s list of do’s and don’ts:

DO:

Vary the rhythm

Cut out any filler – with the photos or on the soundtrack

DON’T:

Include boring audio that drones on

Record someone simply reading aloud their story

Rotate the same photos in order to fill the audio time


Check out Beard’s handiwork on Boston.com, including this audio slideshow leading up to Barack Obama’s inauguration.

Trinity Titles Launch Multimedia JLR Campaign

Securing a future for Jaguar Land Rover is the aim of a new multimedia cross-title campaign from Trinity Mirror.

Newspapers in Birmingham, Coventry and Liverpool are taking part in the action, using both print and online outlets to gather support.

Each of the titles has a Support Jaguar Land Rover Now/Save The Motor Industry home page with links to innovative features including an interactive timeline on Dipity.



The campaign also has a Save Jaguar Land Rover Facebook group - which has attracted almost 4,000 members since its launch last week.



The Birmingham Post has also registered an online petition to save the company on Downing Street’s e-petitions page.

Audio and video is a key part of the campaign site, which boasts an exclusive video interview with prime minister Gordon Brown and with JLR’s chief executive.

Birmingham Mail editor Steve Dyson said that the campaign shows the combined strength of print and online products.

Writing on his blog, he noted that “together, the traditional printed editions AND the web can make the ‘press’ even MORE powerful.”

More information on the campaign can be found on the websites of the Birmingham Post, the Birmingham Mail, the Coventry Telegraph, the Liverpool Echo and the Liverpool Daily Post.

Podcasting For Beginners

If you want to begin the new year by producing your own podcasts, blogger Patrick Thornton has some tips on starting out.

Writing on the social network Wired Journalists, Thornton supplies some of the basics for anyone who’s new to the world of podcasting on areas including production and distribution.

He gives details on software such as audio editing tools like Audacity and the recording programme Audio Hijack Pro.

Thornton, who’s the author of the Journalism Iconoclast blog, also hands out some hardware tips for kit such as external microphones.

And keep an eye on Wired Journalists for the sequel to this post where Thornton will be offering tips on putting together an individual podcast.

Top Online Journalism Tools ‘08

Apple’s iPhone again tops the Online Journalism Review’s list of the best gifts for online reporters from 2008.

Topping this year’s chart is the new 3G version of the iPhone, a more affordable option in keeping with the list’s maximum price tag of $200 (£130) per item.



OJR writer Robert Niles explains his choice: “The iPhone comes closer than any other device to date to being the online journalism Holy Grail that many of us have envisioned.

“A single hand-held unit that surfs the entire Web, including audio and video, that allows you to update websites, to shoot photos and send them to the Web, to record and post audio, that supports e-mail and includes a phone, and that offers a GPS with maps and directions to help you find your way to wherever your reporting takes you.”

Niles’s list also includes the iPhone’s iTalk voice recorder, the Flip Ultra video camera (“for decent-quality video at a low price”), and the Voltaic converter backpack with solar panels to power hand-held devices.

And sneaking in among these digital tools is a more traditional gift for the online journalist – a subscription to The New Yorker.

View the full list on the OJR site and take a look at a round-up of last year’s chart here.

Guardian Selling Podcast Ads

The Guardian News & Media says it has become the first news organisation in the UK to sell advertising around its podcasts.

Press Gazette reports that the GNM is working with an American company to insert geo-targeted adverts at the point of download of audio recordings available on its website.

Head of audio Matt Wells revealed that The Guardian and Observer, which produce about ten hours of audio each week, recorded some 2.5 million podcast downloads throughout October.


“People are comfortable with the medium and we’ll be working with all the divisions in our commercial department to include audio as part of our multimedia offering,” said Helen Mayor, commercial development manager at GNM.

She added: “GNM has been researching usage, impressions and collecting information on audience to enable it to be much more prepared when we go into the market.”


[Picture – Annie Mole on Flickr.]

US Election Picks

Now that the dust has settled on the US election, here’s a guide to some of the online coverage that caught the eye of commentators, bloggers and journalists.

The Look

If you want to see how the digital media reported the votes as they came in, student Gary Ritzenthaler spent the night taking screen grabs of websites from around the world.

Blogger and academic Mindy McAdams writes that the PhD student from the University of Florida has made these images public on Iterasi, an online bookmarking service for pages as well as links.

And guardian.co.uk has a collection of images showing how the global online media reported Barack Obama’s victory.

Blogs

An overview of some of the most popular US election blogs was provided earlier this month by TimesOnline.

Although the article is about websites rather than purely about blogs, most of its 25 picks either are blogs or have their blogging sections recommended.

The effectiveness of the pro-McCain and pro-Obama bloggers is discussed in this article by Judith Townend on Journalism.co.uk.

Meanwhile, the BBC adopted a three-pronged blogging strategy with Gavin Hewitt providing updates from the Obama camp in Chicago and Matt Price blogging from the McCain campaign headquarters in Arizona.

North America editor Justin Webb completed the triumvirate by offering an overview of the results via his regular blog.

Multimedia

The effectiveness and accuracy of some of the media’s fancy maps have been discussed on The Information Aesthetics blog, and the Australian resource also has lots of links to some of the most innovative ones.

And alternatives to the usual raft of red/blue maps dotting the online media landscape have been offered up by Mark Newman at the University of Michigan (HT - Martin Stabe.)

While the Washington Post combined mapping with its Twitter, blog and video reports through the multimedia fest called TimeSpace: Election.

Users could view news from chosen locations and use the timeline to filter reports by date.



On the video and slideshows front, plenty of journalists in the US hit the campaign trail and polling booths to produce some great little packages.

In her round-up for Poynter Online, Regina McCombs points to an audio-visual piece from the Nashua Telegraph where voters were asked to sum up why they voted in one word.

McCombs also flags up a multimedia feature from the Star Tribune asking local politicians and activists what the Obama victory means to them.

While the New York Times contributed with its documentary – Choosing the President – which combines audio, video and some very flashy graphics to produce an effective overview of the election from party nominations through to November 5th.

And in the UK, election news videos produced by satirical outfit The Onion News Network were featured on Telegraph.co.uk after the newspaper struck a deal with myvideorights.com.

Social Media

How Obama harnessed the power of social networking websites like Facebook is discussed in this New York Times article (HT – Nigel Barlow).

And among the news outlets taking advantage of image-sharing websites was Sky News, which posted photos of its election coverage activities to its Flickr stream (HT Journalism.co.uk).

User-Generated Content

On a grand scale there was the YouTube-PBS partnership project – Video Your Vote, which encouraged the public to record their voting experiences.

While among the small but innovative UGC projects was the Word Train feature from the New York Times which asked users to submit one word to describe their current state of mind on election day.

The most common words were then displayed across the webpage and visitors could also choose to view words from a particular time period or from Obama or McCain supporters only.

Further Reading


There are lots of other round-up posts around the blogosphere, such as one on the Online Journalism Blog from Paul Bradshaw and this from Laura Oliver on Journalism.co.uk.

[Pictures from top - Jonathon Colman on Flickr and Shasti O'Leary on Flickr.]

Newspaper Launches Online TV Show

A web-based show dedicated to following the fortunes of a local football side has been launched by the Exeter Express & Echo.

Kellow’s Bootlaces is a 25-minute weekly fanzine show devoted to Exeter City, who currently stand eighth in Coca-Cola Football League Two.

Presented by City die-hards Barry Fulls and Graham Kirk, the show features chats about the latest game, news from St James Park, interactive polls, and features such as Player of the Week.



Previously broadcast on a local radio station, the three-part programme is also being made available as an audio download.

Editor Marc Astley told HoldTheFrontPage.co.uk he hopes that the Kellow’s Bootlaces microsite will bring a new audience to the Express & Echo brand.

He added: “The Kellow’s Bootlaces show was a must-listen for Exeter City fans and it has transferred to the net brilliantly.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing the response we get.”

The site also has profiles of the presenters and a Teletext-style service with City’s results and forthcoming fixtures.

Check out Kellow’s Bootlaces for the inaugural episode and the reason behind the name.

Story Process Laid Bare By Wired

Wired.com has opened up its editorial process to the public through a profile piece on film-maker Charlie Kaufman.

Visitors to the website are able to follow the evolution of the article - from the original idea and pitch through to the interview, writing, editing and design stages.

The “profile of a profile” is the brainchild of senior editor Jason Tanz and is based upon the idea of “radical transparency”.

Guest blogging on reportr.net, Tanz explains the notions behind the experimental piece: “At Wired, we’ve written about the notion of “radical transparency,” in which companies air their inner deliberations online and thereby create stronger relationships with their customers.

“When it came time to write my Kaufman profile, I suggested something similar: Let’s post everything that went into the pitching, writing, editing, and design of this story.”

So among the information shared with the audience via blogs are audio files with a “lightly edited” version of the full interview with Kaufman, edits of drafts, fact-checking notes and proofreading changes.

The blogs reveal the team of workers behind the finished article and each of them – from the writer to the photo editor to the designer – writes a post explaining their part in the process.

In addition, the main blog now has a full pdf version of the final article available for view several weeks before it will appear in print.

According to Tanz, the experimental profile is a way to bring journalists out from hiding behind “our objective voice”.

He writes: “We present ourselves as all-knowing seers, delivering the truth from the mountaintop, when really our product - like any - is the product of humans making decisions.”

Tanz concludes: “The underlying questions that we’re trying to address - how do we connect to readers and engage them in our process and our product - are ones we’re sure to keep asking.”

Newspapers Win Emmys With Multimedia

Two regional American newspapers have received Emmy awards for online documentary projects.

Journalists, videographers and production staff at the online arm of the Detroit Free Press won two Emmys in the New Approaches to News & Documentary Programming section.

The first was in the Arts, Lifestyle & Culture category for its multimedia feature celebrating 40 years of Aretha Franklin’s recording of Respect.

And it was a return visit to the winners’ podium after freep.com also took home the award in the same section for regional news coverage for “Pit Bulls: Companions or Killers?”

Meanwhile, the San Jose Mercury News was the winner in the Documentaries strand for News & Documentary Programming for its online video series Uprooted.

THE WINNERS:

Respect

“40 Years of Respect” represents a true labour of love from staff at freep.com as it tells the story of the song, of Aretha Franklin and of the links to the civil rights movement.

The project comprises text and video narratives, photo galleries (with some great archive images) and video interviews with artists from the time and contemporary musicians talking about its influence on them.



Users are also given their chance to get involved through the dedicated discussion forum and the song section where people can sing their own version of Respect with the best made available on the website.

The feature has some fun trivial aspects such as an interactive quiz, but the team also brings depth to the subject through video interviews with a sociology professor and with Franklin’s son.

“Nearly anyone will learn something about ‘Respect’ by watching this video,” said Nancy Andrews, managing editor for digital media and the project overseer.

Pit Bulls

Andrews also oversaw the Pit Bulls documentary, which outlines the potential downsides and upsides of owning one of the dogs.



The feature comprises interactive graphics explaining different dog breeds and video packages looking at issues such as dogfighting and abandoned dogs.

It also has an extensive images gallery with photos showing animal rescue officers at work.

Like “40 Years of Respect”, the pit bulls project has a long list of contributors and among them is reporter Ben Schmitt.

“You know, when you get into the print business, you don’t really think about the Emmys and that’s what makes this award so special,” he said.

Schmitt added: “It just shows that the Free Press is really on the cutting edge when it comes to telling stories in different ways and different mediums.”

Uprooted

Uprooted is a six-part video series showing the effects upon residents of a Californian mobile home park when they are forced to move when the park owners decide to sell to developers.



It took a relatively small team of four people (two executive producers, a producer/photographer and a reporter) to create the engaging and sympathetic videos.

Dai Sugano, Mercury News photographer and the project’s producer, said: “It’s a great honor to win for this new way of storytelling, and I hope to serve the community even better with this new approach.”

(Hat tip – The Digital Edge Blog.)

Emerging Technologies To Watch

Poynter Online recently published a list of ten exciting innovations in the news tech market.

Ellyn Angelotti compiled her chart during the recent Online News Association (ONA) conference and here are some highlights from her post “Taking Back 10 Emerging Technologies from ONA”:

1 – FriendFeed

Joining this website enables you to receive updates on the various social networking and media-sharing activities of your family and friends.

According to Angelotti, it’s “a great way to keep track of what’s going on in your virtual network without having to log in to each site individually”.

2 – Publish2

Free to join for journalists, Publish2 enables its members to share links to high quality news stories and post these on their own sites.

The site is a strong advocate of link journalism and aims to create a crowdsourced newswire for journalists.

Publish2 makes Angelotti’s list thanks to its recent significant overhaul which has led to improvements to its overall functionality.

3 – Foneshow

Already being used by several news providers, this distribution platform enables the audience to dial up audio news reports which can be controlled using the phone handset.

4 – Sekai Camera

Using an iPhone, this application allows users to view places around them and brings up information on things that may be of interest.

For example, when the user is in a shopping centre it could offer information on special offers on CDs, DVDs etc.

Here’s the video demo from YouTube that was shown to delegates at the ONA conference.



5 – 12seconds.tv

“It’s like Twitter for video,” explains Angelotti, adding, “only, instead of 140 characters you have just 12 seconds to record your video message using your webcam or phone.”


The full ten technologies to watch can be found at Poynter Online.

(Hat tip to Cyberjournalist.net.)