Turning the corner- the wired journlalist

The "once it was all so simple" talk is redundant really.

For from the seeds of Camp VJs philosophy [ and we just about scratched the surface] is the notion of the ultra wired journalists.

How to mash up, filter, disseminate to, and aggregate shared interests and well as encouraging new participants; it sounds a heady mix, but it's that simple.

I've been thinking through this for eons and it part explains why my career is a series of jumps from one domain to another.

When I aquired my first powerbook in 99, I cut a piece tin which Channel 4's Jon Snow [ I was freelancing there at the time] remarked... "and that's broadcast quality. Wow?

Yep

Over at the Beep, the then head of foreign news showed interest after a meeting, but echoed a much chimed comment" "What exactly do you do?"

Radio, TV, the Net, building web sites, magazines, making commercials and promos, Compression technology, Flash, Director, media policy - all of which I might add now have congealed into my Phd studies.

And there were many many others, whom like me, would get confused looks.

And now?

Still confused looks, that anyone should know more than the prerequesite: what ever that is.

It's changing, changing, get over it, said Jeff Jarvis in an interview I had with him.

So to the media I ask what are you going to do, he concluded.

There are no limits now to what we may learn and what we need to learn. The market, a tumbling one, is fluid. Yes video will ride the crest, but it's also about the new judgement of news, info flows. The skill now is in being one of them.

Not a news hound, but someone concerned about news as a consumer, with an understanding how to let it go, until like the kite runner you artfully reel it in.

What is news?

It's about the workflow of a new discourse in news. We haven't yet scratched the surface I feel.

Take this device for instance - a bluetooth transmitter recorder that allows me to leave a message and for that message to find recipient blue tooths within a radius; hoping about before it finds its source. Now what if I talked about a random selection of news items, what if I talked about this here and a number of us had meta key words. That message would find its way onto my device - from the US and the likes [ yes welcome to the thought police]

The whole world will be noisily exchanging data by the second that anyone could use - one big telephone exchange, but I can key into dense words thus filtering what I want to hear between said or not recipients.

News is in itself a conversation. It's just some bright spark deems one conversation more laudable than the other, depending on constituents, time, money, primacy, value etc.

And what of the old world. Will it realy be that soon? Will this very laptop become redundant for something else.

What will the future of studies at a university be like?

A former chancellor and government advisor gives an amazing insight.

In the next few weeks I'm going to be collaborating with Sandy, a financial wizz in the city, whose ideas mirror my own. One of the first pieces should be an insight into the high risk of money management in a manner which we hope opens uo further debate about the way things were done

Iconic historic images/video must be free

2Couple of years ago at a lecture I played 15 minutes of a compilation of dramatic video from 911.

It was a 2 hour lecture; way, way too long for normal classes, but the pictures mixed to the sonorus score of Classical composer Shirley Thompson's New Nation Rising created a mood, you need not exercise yourself to imagine.

It's worth thinking, some to todays undergrads and media students may have been too young at the time of 911 to have seen or acknowledge its utter profoundness.

This week I'm fixed to talk to some secondary/High school pupils and while researching a project came across this quotation by Abraham Linclon.

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

Abraham Lincoln's Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862.

The "stormy present" gave me cause to pause and think about that september. The journal of the present often takes its cues from the past.

But alas I'm mad with myself.

I can't find the tape. It was a digital vid compilation. After a fruitless search, I got mader, but about something else, but related.

Video from one of contemporary history's most indelible news images is not freely available for use.

They reside in the library of news agents, who scooped up the rights soon after, and whose usage therefore will incur some cost by the minute.

This surely should not be the case.

Some images - a page in history - are just too precious to be owned by a corporation. In the same way great and historic pieces of art are available on display, though yes I'm not allowed either to do as I please with them, BUT i can aquire digital versions, sometimes free of charge.

There have been a llimited number of images that mark their own year zero in history. Haunting images from Nasa's flights to the moon are but one - and they've been made avaialble to use by the public.

Recently the BBC announced it was to make some its material available for mash-ups; the public to do knead,edit and produce their own versions.

The Net has spawned a common license, copy left, so for educational purposes no money changes hands, or at least it's token if anything.

Some images are just too important to be locked away. And if you're a philanthropist who believes that news and historic events e.g. collapse of the Berlin wall, End of World War II, the Atom Bomb, Tusnami should be there for generations, buy up the stock and release it on the Net.

And whilst you're at it it go to the agencies and do the same for 911. I have got some names and number of people to contact if you're interested.

Building a video production network - the pay some attention to contextual (archival) reporting

I couldn't tell you why I did it.

Perhaps it was the wow syndrome of actually reporting on air, for the BBC, knowing that sooner I'd have to seek other alternative empolyment, so this was effectively my electronic scrap book.

The Net was still incubating within universities; the web yet to see air, but where possible I tried to keep my reports.

Not any old reports, but those that gave some context to the present political and social ecosystem, by default you hear, as unless you set out from the get-go, few reporters might believe they're repoting something rather of great significance.

But when you look through the archives of even contemporary history, you can pull out some major moments.

In the UK, the Thatcher er, go back further to Wilson, further back, Eden.

Globally, the Watts Riots, the explosion of the LA riots, South Africa's elections, Bhuttos death and so on.


Contemporary sliced history
Within these events a great number of reporters, print and electronic, deliver a version of contemporary history.

However the reports we're likely to remember have some key elements: strong reporting and context that puts the then report into perspective.

Often the report builds in archive; archive that in some way is a narrative of old which trend extrapolates into the present.

An example: any mention of Jerome Kerviel's ( who is he?) is given greater depth alongside Liam Neeson (ah Gotcha).

And it's not that Mr Kerviel doesn't make scintilating reportage on his own, but the context of Neeson gives it a broader peg.

As a self contained report reflecting other nuances and events, it is a slice, however, slither of contemporary reporting history.

It's every reason why when there were riots in LA, Charles Wheelers reports from the 60s - Watts - gave substance- a bigger why, how, when.

It may well be when we calm down a bit over our excitement with video, that when generations look back, the small easy-to-watch hilarious video snaps on YouTube may still prove popular.

But for the many video outfits, newspapers and new broadcasters starting out, an idea of how things were against what they are now - say if this were 2015 - is what will have resonance with that news generation.

And that archive and contextual reportage, what the BBC instituted as a matter of course under its then 90s DG, and was given the title Birt's mission to explain, will be a major player.

Archive starts now.

If you're setting out you'd be ill-advised to ignore it, particularly when you look back 5 years on and realise THAT report, THAT issue, happened on your watch and you ignored it, never gave it the feature angle it deserved ( Call it the newsnight approach), never realised that you could do so much more than the snap news-in-brief we have become accustomed to.

David's Archive
Above pic shows an array of tapes within our studio with an assortment of tapes of a dizzying array of formats; each one possessing something I felt attached to decided was siginificant.

Some of David's most personable and memorable reportge in no order

1. Launch of Channel One ( dedicated VJ station) thought to challenge hegemony of TV News 94
2. South Africa election 94
3 Meeting Nelson Mandela -96
4. Tory education secretary Jackson trying to sell university fees -88
5. Unity 94 - gathering of Journalists of colour in Atlanta
6. Crime spree UK - Tory Minister Waddington on taxing parents for their children's misdeeds -91
7. 8 Days - UK's first regional journalists being trained in videojournalists -05
8 Interviewing Loius Farrakhan for an hour - 92
9. Gene (DNA) conference on breakthrough of gene mapping
10. San Antonio - Trust in the Media conference

Mi6 Videojournalism

Image from draft book

I have put together a draft for a book on videojournalism which covers a broad palette from working at the BBC in the 80s, looking at Vjism in the 60s; the dirty word in the UK media, Channel One TV; to the more up-to-date talking about modern forms of storytelling.

Story forms that include videojournalism gonzo, techniques and methodology on the Press Association course and exchanges with a number of outfits in South Africa, US, Berlin, Norway and the UK.

I'm soon to be in Bejing so am holding off til that leg

Part educational - a sort of how to without the clunk clink of it all - and part personal journey, it's about story, story, story with hopefully some interesting anaecdotes, some almost bordering on the absurd.

Example: always pack condoms on expeditions or foreign shoots, you'll never know when you'll need to protect your camera from sandstorms or rain - yep I don't bother with the rainproofs etc.

To date there's been, oh dear, near a 1000 journalists I have trained - loose count and that's going some way back.

If you'd asked me what I'd be doing when I left Applied Chem school I couldn't have told you this, so ( shrugging shoulders) sometimes I stop and become a wee bit amused.

But we're enjoying it which is why we do it, isn't it?

Here's an old draft of the front page which will undergo further changes.



WHAT IS VIDEOJOURNALISM ?

Videojournalism is an advance on television news production - a shift away from the predictable appproach television has stuck to doggedly since its inception.

It is next generation television: story telling in which you are not bound by the many constraints of traditional news production.

As a movement the form merges a graphical and photojournalistic stanza; a poster cover depiction of the moving image, where each shot matters, each shot counts.

If Capa lived to capture images on light weight, hi-tech cameras, he'd be the classic videojournalist and his dictum that if you're not close enough you haven't got the shot would still count.


**Broadband Era**

Vloggers, video bloggers will undoubtedly rule the net. Their short, sometimes idiosyncratic productions well suited for a medium where time is compressed and users' attention spans shortened.

Videojournalism is a sibbling of video blogging and citizen journalism.

It's a low entry, affordable and highly versatile discipline - which will not only alllow you to compete with television, but often beat it.

The first videojournalism station in the UK in 1994, which this author worked for, animated the industry.

It frightened some as well.

That's because our story composition, narrative and creative use of pictures were different.

The time it took to get the story on air or online was swifter.

Today, for newspaper outfits, magazine publishers, corporate PRs, creative agencies, the aspiring film maker, photographers who want to increase their earnings, video journalism offers a powerful visual solution.

All you'll need is a small lightweight HD camera and PC with film editing software - all highy affordable - and an enquiring mind.

From short news pieces you'll leap to lengthier features and THE FORMAT, before breaking that rule.

And you'll learn all this in a short amount of time.


**Meeting the Web 2.0 Challenge**

And what's more you'll go on to embrace the newest form of videoojournalism Mi6 (Integrated multimedia 6 ways)

From your shoot you'll be able to publish 6 ways, the audio for podcast, stills, multimedia, video, a promo and of course your article.

And you'll find videojournalism will sharpen your video blogging skills or what television calls the piece to camera ( UK) or stand-up (US).

If nothing YouTube has shown us video nations we're driven by video.

As a videojournalist your instinct for visual story telling will heighten. As an organisation you'll increase traffic to your site.

As a manager you'll look at the bottom line and realise the cost and returns from your new venture more than square up.

Videojournalism isn't cheap, but it's a resource you can ill afford.

Be part of the visual video revolution.


ref: posted in Videojournalism Today
*Multimedia posting
* Film site -Multimedia Film released in January
* Trailer for Mi6 Videojournalism
* Scott Rensberger and Claudio Von Planta Two of the many accomplished VJs around the world.
* Amusing little ditti - made in 99 Featuring Dany Glover - as one of his producers working at ABC News South Africa in 1994
* Flash promos circa 99 for Lenox Lewis, Chatham House among others The beauty of these were their file sizes around 200k and interactivity