Media Show Revival - a media story about itself

We made it!

The clock struck, and this place we inhabit rotated through just another cycle, monumentally to many, called 2010.

Somehow, though you couldn't help wondering looking back thinking that person on the ward with a drip hanging, a monitor bleeping, called Meeja, was still in bad shape.

What a difference a day makes? Nada.

We've realised now that we prosumers are part of the game changing, so if Meeja is going to discharge from A&E anytime soon, it's going to be because of you, either as conscious media maker or consumer.

In retropsect, we'll probably look back and say the decade gone wasn't that bad. Historians tend to be a little kinder than media analysts.

The Media Show 17th Century

"You should have seen the calamity in the 17th Century", is the riposte, "Now that was wretched".

OK there was no film or traditional cinema, but that's relative. What was there was going through cataclysmic births and rebirths e.g. Literature - a cycle that hit a rich vein in the 1900s only to be blighted by two murderous wars.

We can thank fortune, so far, it's not come to that, though the sniff of Westphalia lingers.

I'm excited though.

Not because of the marketing ploy that a new decade should yield new paradigms.

This, though that will happen through a collective wisdom of crowds, but that this year above the last couple should mark a period of consolidation.

That's my key word for now "consolidate".

The Chinese are Coming, Er No, they've been here just unnoticed. Google reports in 5 years time the Chinese will dominate the web.

Media Consolidation

In essence, there's nothing much we don't know that could creep up from behind and do a "tango" - that's the multiple award winning slap [ yes really!] by the way, and not the dance.

There are many knows that we know and few unknowns that we're yet to know, though we also know that the unknowns are not known till we get to know them, then we're back in known territory.

Donald Rumsfeld, you are a bloody genius.

So we could trawl any number of the "follow" sites * e.g. Adam Westbrook, Mindy McAdams, Mike Jones Digital Basin, Koci's Multimedia Shooter, Grant's Videographer, Andy Dickinson, Journalism.co.uk, MediaStorm... and gain invaluable intel.

All the above and more* are givers - selflessly providing knowledge and inspiration, notwithstanding the emerging native talents edging into these Circles of Trust.

The end to the beginning of the Polymath

The issue at hand, momentarily then, isn't the lack of understanding - that was an issue pre 2005. The issue now is curating this vast knowledge on the one hand, and targeted selectivity on the other.

Being a polymath is still to be encouraged, but as I tip toed across 2009 units of length to 2010, the jack of all things is oscillating again back to greater specialisms.

Specialism is perhaps also the wrong word; more a greater comparative understanding of one field than the other, though the understanding of the weaker field may still come with high knowledge value.

2010 will be a period when the experiment leaves the lab, when the 1000s of blogs/tweets/meeja all doing the same or not perhaps seek greater interdependency.

We've already seen this defacto in blog rolls, but as the gathering of the likes of Wemedia indicates, and Journalism.co.uk's Rewired event will illustrate there's intel gathering of a kind whose impact exceeds the mundaneness of "just another event".

Forming Expert Tanks

Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, the Rand Corporation, TED - all started with a few then amortized their intellectual capital to what they are today.

Incidentally, whilst I'm talking about Journalism.co.uk. Britain's answer to Poynter (sorry Poynter) you've really got to tip your hat off to them. I say them, but it's barely a handful of people that drive that amazing site.

No small wonder, The Guardian keeps on poaching its staff.

So onwards and upwards, we're not cleanly out this recession, and Meeja's still feeling a bit poorly, but if we can court greater understandings, affiliations, cohabitations, unions, then 2010 onwards will be for the right reasons a turning point.

From my end, it kicks off in less than two weeks with "Collisions" - a brain storming collective of Artists gathering from around the world with Southbank Centre's Artists in Residence - which I'll write about in my next post.

Belated New Year tidings

+++
David
www.viewmagazine.tv
* apologies to the many sites that are equally brilliant

BBC Multimedia News Head interviewed by Viewmagazine.tv with unique global Video Blog

Immediate Release

1st February 2008.

The head of the BBC's recently launched multimedia newsroom has been telling Batten Award winning site, Viewmagazine.tv of the corporation's plans to be the best at multimedia journalism in a unique interview.

Lasting almost an hour Peter Horrocks spoke of the BBC's network innovators shaping new ideas, how it planned to drive a different brand of multimedia news and how he admired sites such as the New York Times.

He was speaking to Viewmagazine.tv's editor, David Dunkley Gyimah, at the BBC's headquarters in London.

Uniquely, Horrocks was also fielding video questions from a number of super bloggers, academics and journalists from around the world enveloping multimedia journalism in what's referred to as a Vlog Butterfly.

They included John Burke from the World Association of Newspapers based in France, Rob Montgomerry of Visual Editors in Chicago, Palesa Letlaka-Nkosi Head of Formats at the SABC, Blogger and lecturer Andy Dickinson, Jemima Kiss of the Guardian and Mike Jones of Digital Basin and The International Film School in Sydney.


Global Multimedia Journalism
"What the production demonstrates", says David, "is how small independent sites or bloggers interested in news and related subjects can join forces.

When I finally secured my interview with Peter, and you'll very rarely see videos of him, I had no other idea in mind than to contact people to ask them to field a question".

The whole thing took a matter of days: videos were posted which were processed and encoded in Flash, and then the site-build took over and the video promo.

David adds by default the project also flags up a discipline, he's been keen to promote called Integrated Multimedia Journalism, where one person, is responsible for producing, filming and editing a news feature and then taking over the coding in Flash and CSS - HTML design.

"I'd like to say a big thank you to Peter Horrocks of the BBC and to the many that participated", says David.

Some bloggers such as Katie M King of the Online News Association and JD Lassica were caught up with work so couldn't participate this time around.


Multimedia Vlog follow up
David is looking to produce his next Vlog Butterfly which he says could involve the director of one of last year's smash movies.

"I have been in touch with his personal assistant and it's just trying to find a convenient time" says David.

The authors of the questions are being posted their answers and a film showing the making of the video blog and visit to the BBC is now in the works, shot by one of David's ex students Don Omope.

David hopes to be talking about the Vlog Butterfly at a number of events including WAN in Sweden, Apple stores and in Berlin.

END
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Editor's Notes.
Vlog butterly here http://www.viewmagazine.tv/global_vlog.php
Promo for Vlog Butterfly can also be accessed from site

With use of pictures please credit Don Omope

ambitious global Vlog Butterfly

It was an ambitious idea, but when I finally secured the interview of the BBC's Head of Multimedia Newsroom, I had the idea in mind.

I contacted a few friends and colleagues around the world. If they could pose an idea to the head of BBC's News what would it be.

We oomed a bit, some were straight of the bat, but all chipped in.

Ahh but the question had to be on video.

Yet still they persevered and then eventually via FTP and send it, the videos came through.

Peter Horrocks gave me considerable time for the interview, and I'm grateful for that.

And he answered all the questions.

That was the fun bit.

Now I'm encoding the video and building the application in Flash.

It should go Live with all the interviews on Friday and if I can say so myself, some insightful questions yielding absorbing answers.

If you work for the New York Times, then you'll be pleased at a segment of our interview.

Thank you to all that participated and to those that did not make it this time.

A Vlog Butterfly is a wonderful way to extend the value of an interview both in video, ( the clips are being sent to the respective authors) and giving ownership to smaller sites competing for attention in this blog-theatre.

I'm looking forward to showing this at a number of conferences I'm presenting at including Apple, World Editors Association, Berlin and Cultural Exchange.

The film which shows the behind the scenes interview with Peter Horrocks as well as an indepedent film on multimedia in conjuction with Dominic from the Press Gazette should be completed at some point.

Promo on Blip

Click To Play

Promo now on Blip TV

Timeline history for producing clip in viewmagazine.tv

Produce clip in FCP> publish to AE> back into FCP> compress export> import CS3 Flash> add Preloader> Add photoshop image treated>export with new parameters>import into CS3 dreamweaver> FTP> check bugs> send out to Blip> facebook etc

View mag - back to basics

When it was first launched two plus years ago, it looked like this. BUT it was built in flash - and so was losing valuable SEO indexing.

Now I have taken the site back to it's original format, but strengthened the coding with CSS div tags, which should make it more easier for browsers to read.

The original concept, which was picked up by the UK Press Gazette in 05, is also resurrected.

And the colour, well black divides many people; its a closed colour, but does give some leeway to the idea of magazine journalism so users are expecting daily updates, as opposed to white which is instinctive in news paper journalism.

The Gazette then wrote this:

"Using View - now on its third quarterly edition - is like stepping into the sort of hi-tech world imagined in Steven Spielberg's science fiction movie Minority Report.

The site is made up of 64 pages and organised ostensibly like a conventional magazine - pages can be scrolled through sequentially if the reader wishes.

But the contents page also acts as a browser with click-through links to the various stories.

As your mouse icon hovers over pictures they burst into life, often with audio. And throughout the site, text reports are interspersed with video documentaries, audio interviews and other multimedia clips.

The site is put together with original video and audio created by Gyimah and other "backpack journalists" - people who are able to shoot, direct, edit and present documentaries and news reports using a digital camcorder, a laptop and the latest film-editing software."

In the coming weeks it'll feature more video showing the distinct differences between videojournalism across various strands, including IM6 Videojournalism highlighted by uber lecturer and super blogger Andy Dickinson on his blog recently.

The Outernet, Video hyperlinking in a multistrand interview and film, and pod-blogs will soon be evident.

MELD round up

Round up of MELD Sheffiled, Paul Egglestone behind the camera.
For moer information on MELD - a new concept bringing different disciplines together to create rich stories go here www.meldonline.org