J2150: Recap

I’m going to take this space to talk about what I think of J2150 overall: what I learned, what I liked, what I would change, and more. Going into the class, I was very excited to take on the course content. I’m in the Convergence emphasis area, so I had a hunch I would be very involved and interested in the class. Unfortunately, my semester didn’t go as well as I would have liked, but as always, hindsight is 20/20.

The most important lessons I learned had to do with how to tell a story. Never before had I actually had to go out and interview people, and create a news story. I wasn’t in newspaper in high school, and I picked journalism simply because I enjoy the news, and I was a decent (English) writer. Being forced to go out of my comfort zone, and invade people’s space and time for interview, was very helpful in my progression as a journalism student. Not to mention, I became much better (but still not as good as I’d like to be) using the tools necessary for multimedia journalism, such as photoshop, Final Cut, the cameras, and the voice recorders.

I did enjoy the lectures, although they seemed disorganized and haphazardly scheduled. While I didn’t feel like I learned many concrete skills, it was great to be exposed to such wonderful pieces of multimedia journalism, and to hear from so many successful and interesting journalists. I do, however, think that the attendance policy and lecture engagement need to be changed. Also, try and get a better lecture hall next year. Middlebush sucks.

At the end of the semester, I wish I had more time to work in lab with the toos we were using, so that I could ask questions in real time, instead of emailing or watching (terribly tedious) Lynda.com videos. I also wish that the lectures related more closely to whichever project we were working on in lab. And finally, I wish I hadn’t taken J2150 in the same semester as J2000. That was not my best choice ever.

All in all, it’s a vital class that every journalism student should take. It just needs a few tweaks to make it more effective.

What Blogging Taught Me

The weekly blogging shouldn’t have been particularly challenging. There were no parameters set for what we needed to write about, and so long as a post presented some cogent thoughts, there was no length requirement. At times, it left me wondering, “what’s the point of this again?”

But towards the end of the class I realized that the blogging transcends the lesson of learning to tell stories through different mediums. The regular blogging and Tweeting worked to indoctrinate us into an attitude of constant publishing, the defining characteristic of the 24-hour news cycle.

It forced us to be constantly thinking about ideas for posts, to be on the lookout for interesting news stories that we could Tweet, and think about how we could make our own stories about them.

Blogging also gives journalists an outlet to be less formal, and ignore AP Style. It allows you, if you would be so inclined, to tell stories in a much more creative fashion. For me, blogging was a venue for me to critique and comment on various trends in journalism, and speak my mind about what we’re learning in lecture and lab.

Since I already have an established blog (http://www.bureaublog.wordpress.com) I’ll most likely delete this account once J2150 is over. I have taken away from it, however, the mindset that I need to publish more often. I truly can grow my skills as an author, journalist, and student by blogging more often, and help develop my personal brand – an invaluable asset in today’s media landscape.

Commenting and Gamification

Earlier in the semester, Keith Pollitte came in and gave a talk on some cutting edge technologies. In a previous post, I discussed with great enthusiasm the future of augmented reality. Today, I have a much more tangible topic to discuss, one that I believe could have a tremendously positive influence on the news, and the business of the news.

Gamification is the process of taking everyday activities and using technology to make them seem like games. One hugely successful example of this would be Foursquare, which allows it’s users to check in to physical venues, and in the process, earn points, badges, and mayorships, all of which can lead to specials at the venues themselves, ranging from discounts to free t-shirts.

Oddly enough, these essentially worthless achievements have an exceptional compelling power to get people to act to gain more achievements. In the virtual world, where people can’t actually meet you and see you and learn about you through interaction, these statistics and statuses let us judge other peoples’ expertise and experience. In a comment section on the news, people are basically interpreting and arguing over the topic a story brought up. I envision a third party commenting platform that basically synthesizes the Disqus platform and the Huffington Post platform, by rewarding people with badges and statuses based on the stories they read and comment on, how many “likes” their comments receives, etc. This way, they are compelled to participate in a much more valuable and thoughtful way with the news, instead of filling comment sections with worthless garbage. Not only that, but the interactive nature of the comment system will ensure that they spend more time on the news website, giving advertisers more access, and making more money for the news company in the first place.

This is an idea that is just in its infancy, but one that I want to expand upon and build a prototype for, before every news organization develops their own system like HuffPo, eliminating any hope for a universal system. Just another way in which technology is further improving the future of the news!

The Masters and Technology

The past few days, I’ve been glued to all the screens around me, caught up in the thrill and aura of the Masters tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in August, Georgia. Widely regarded at the most prestigious of the PGA Tour majors, the Masters is the culmination of everything that makes the sport of golf amazing. The fact that I hardly play golf, and still can’t ignore the tournament, is a testament to the power of the Masters.

What interests me the most this year, however, is that most of my Masters watching hasn’t been on television. While ESPN picked up the broadcast rights for the first three rounds (I believe CBS has exclusivity to broadcast the final round), much of their coverage has been replaced with Sportscenter segments and the opening week of Major League Baseball. This led me to find an alternative  - thankfully, the Masters had a perfect solution. An iOS app.

I was doubtful that the app would be very interesting, or even effective, at covering the tournament, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. It’s the perfect event guide and information tool. Whether you’re at the tournament, using it to supplement your experience, or at home, using it to look up quick facts and information while viewing the main broadcast, or relying on it as your only source of coverage, say, when you’re in class; it excels.

I believe that this app paves the way for the future of event-based apps, especially in sports. It gives me up to the minute interactive scorecards, alerts whenever my favorite golfers are live at certain holes, flyovers of each hole as well as course maps and information – it has everything, right at my fingertips. I can’t wait to try and experiment with creating apps later on in my Convergence sequence, as this has given me inspiration for everything from Volvo Ocean Race apps to virtual guides to Indy Car and F1. The possibilities are endless, especially as technology and information are further integrated into our lives.

Interactive News

One of the reason I wanted to study journalism in the first place, was because the industry was failing and in dire need of innovation. Media and communications are undergoing serious revolution, mostly involved with interactivity and social media. Unfortunately, journalism has been behind in the trend and is failing to fully incorporate social media into the product. Simply displaying Tweets with a sponsored hashtag, or opening up a comments section online, are not going to make any progress in shifting the paradigm of the news. It is my goal, that through my education, I can create an entirely new manner of experiencing and interacting with the news.

I also know that if I’m going to stick with Journalism, I need to find an emphasis area that I’ll be passionate about, and genuinely enjoy putting forth the effort needed for my ideas to be successul. I know I’m not going to succeed with reporting – not only am I garbage at interviewing, I simply take no pleasure in investigative pieces or phoning up sources. Sure, it’s a cool accomplishment to get a contact that will give you a really cool angle, but that doesn’t happen often enough to keep me interested.

So, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about what I want to do with my Journalism career, both academically and professionally. Before coming to Mizzou, I had wanted to be an architect all my life – I still harbor that desire. But unfortunately, Mizzou doesn’t have a strong architecture program. Thus, I want to find a way to combine my strengths in design with my strengths in writing and interest in the media. This has led me to the idea that I need to study how people interact with the news, not only electronically, but also physically.

I believe that information technology and social media can help to augment reality, but not replace it. I want to find ways for people to consume news, that makes them enjoy it and relish it, and I feel the best way to do that is to mimic reality as much as possible. I also want to revolutionize newsrooms and broadcast studios to help humanize the journalists and foster more real world conversation about current events – and I’m not about to stop with a cheap out studio audience.

This post has been a little bit ranty, but if it were perfectly concise, I wouldn’t have anything to say. That’s the point. I’m here to learn and develop my ideas, and this is only a very basic thesis for what I want to do with my life, not for four years, but for the rest of my life.

The Possibilities of Augmented Reality

Last week, I gushed over the presentation by Keith Pollitte on some cutting edge technology that could greatly impact the journalism and media world. At the time, I had trouble thinking of specific instances when some of the technology, specifically the augmented reality being pushed by Aurasma, could be used. That all changed after watching a promotional video from the America’s Cup (which is widely regarded as the most important sailing championship series in the world, and has been run since before the modern Olympics). The current edition of the races features boats that have are more closely integrated with technology than ever before, and as a product of that, a massive stream of invaluable data.

The technology was originally developed for graphical overlays on television broadcasts – imagine aerial views of the race course with information relevant to each boat displayed in real time on screen. This is ground breaking in and of itself – constant monitoring of the boats provides more compelling reasons to watch the race on TV, as well as demonstrates how to educate viewers who don’t fully grasp the concept of sailboat racing. Yet, none of these address how Aurasma could get involved.

Imagine watching the races from a boat, on the dock, or on the beach. You could open up the smartphone app, point it at any of the boats screaming by, and have a infographic pop up right alongside the yachts that gave all sorts of statistical information on the race. Velocity Made Good, Bearing to the Mark, Speed, Elapsed Time, Differentials, Wind Angles, Tidal Flow…there’s a astronomical amount of data that yachtsmen consider when making decisions, and sharing that data with the fans would be a huge step not only for sailing, but for sports in general.

The America’s Cup Event Authority has already taken a huge step by making the data accessible to the public. They expect and encourage third party organizations to develop uses for the data, from games to the augmented reality concept I discussed. This could be a huge step forward not only in media presentation of sporting events, but in terms of broadcasting. Instead of forcing people to watch a broadcast from a single location, they information and presentation they receive could be tailored to their exact preferences and location, and potentially done without the presence of any news anchor. Augmented reality is incredibly cool technology just waiting for creative people to adopt it into their projects. Can’t wait to see more of it in the coming years.

Oh yeah, don’t forget to cheer on Jimmy Spithill and Oracle Racing in the America’s Cup match finals in September 2013!

Guest Lecturer: Keith Politte

In lecture this week, Professor Rice brought in one of his colleagues as a guest lecturer. Keith Politte is the manager of the Technology Testing Center at the Reynolds Journalism Institute. This means that technology companies often reach out to him to preview the latest in developments that relate to the future of journalism. In his lecture, he focused on three major recent developments: HTML5, Gamification, and Augmented Reality.

HTML5 is a new “language” being developed for the Internet that will allow for much more immersive media experiences on the web. Gamification refers to the strategy of using games to convey a point. Augmented Reality is, in my opinion, the coolest of the three. It is the name for a field of research on using algorithms that allow camera sensors to see the world and watch for images that cue a certain program.

It’s hard to imagine how this might help journalism, but it’s easy to imagine in the strategic communications department. Imagine car windshields integrated with a sensor that responded to street signs or billboards. Perhaps an update to the Foursquare app that would allow you to point your camera down the street and watch as tips popped up in the air in front of the door. Or looking further, having the camera built into contact lenses that made the entire world an interactive computer screen, like something out of a science fiction movie.

I can see using geolocation to alert users when they are near a point of interest, something like a location where a news story happened, and taking out their phone to project a multimedia presentation of a news story that was cued by the scenery of the location.

Regardless of how it’s used, the technology is incredibly cool. Keith Politte’s job is one of the reasons it’s so cool to be a student at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. We get to play with the coolest, most cutting edge technologies out there!

The Rigors of Missouri Journalism

It’s widely known that the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri is one of the top in the entire nation. The most recent rankings, in fact, had Mizzou placed at the fourth spot, a slight slip from previous years ranked at one and two. The school’s reputation is something the students love to brag about – for good reason. It does confuse some outsiders though – how can a school as relatively non-selective as Missouri have such a top notch Journalism school? Though my classes this semester (J2000 & J2150) I am beginning to learn just why the school has built up such notoriety over the decades.

The courses are intensely rigorous.

The school is able to ensure they have the best students by only letting those who excel under pressure graduate with the prestigious degree. They weed students out through the prerequisite introductory classes, including the class that requires that I write this blog, Fundamentals of Multimedia Journalism. What all of the classes have in common, is an astounding amount of coursework. Whether it’s the main projects of the class, small weekly quizzes, discussion board assignments, or technology training, they simulate the professional environment where everything isn’t laid out in a neat and orderly manner. In the real world, assignments and obligations come at you from every angle. This ican be very intimidating for a student, and inevitably, only the best are able to endure the rigors of the academics at the school. Thus, molding the best graduates possible.

I’ve certainly struggled with my journalism classes this semester. I did not anticipate the workload – and I’m paying for it. Hopefully, though, I’m able to take a step back and reset myself. The only way I’m going to succeed here is by putting in the work. Guess it would have been the same way had I been an architecture student. I’m quite the glutton for punishment.

Obstacles to Access

I ran into an unfortunate situation with my story proposal while attempting to do the audio project. It seems that, even if you are an altruistic student just trying to make a grade, people aren’t always inclined to give you their time. When a primary source, someone you were relying on to get content for your story, fails to cooperate, the whole pitch can go downhill very fast. That must be one of the most frustrating aspects of being a professional journalist – gaining access to sources who simply don’t want to give you the time of day. It is, however, an important lesson to learn early on in a journalist’s career.

While the situation was quite an obstacle, it also gave me the opportunity to see how well I can react and respond, and come up with a new story idea in a pinch. Instead of focusing on the architects responsible for most of the development in downtown Columbia, I’m switching focus entirely – to something I have plenty of access to. My new pitch will focus on the ins and outs of daily life as a fraternity president; specifically, Mark Flower, the president of Sigma Phi Epsilon.

At first, I had concerns that there wouldn’t be enough visual content or quality ambient sound to pull off a successful multimedia story, but some outside-the-box thinking led me to a few ideas that could produce compelling images and immersive sound. Not to mention, the facilities available for interviews are perfect – the president conducts most of his business in a conference room in the house. My ideas thus far have centered around the precedents set by the White House photographers – scenes of executive meetings, details of paperwork, a wristwatch, or a pen, and portraits of the president sitting in front of the chapter. I don’t want to ruin the upcoming pieces, however, so I won’t spoil any more of my plan.

Yes, this has been a tough break, but it also will allow me to produce a more powerful story, as well as test my reaction to difficulties. It seems odd that for a profession so reliant on facts and the truth, that there can be so much uncertainty regarding the production of a story. It’s far more difficult to create excellent work when you have to rely on other people with little vested interest. That’s why journalists need to be so versatile and persistent – otherwise, they simply wouldn’t have any success. I’m looking forward to perfecting those skills. Oh, and never dealing with snobbish small-town architects ever again.

Getting Over Awkward: The First Interview

My apologies for the absence – I’ve been terribly busy with this semester of classes (especially those in the Journalism school!). This week we made progress on our project; specifically the audio portion of our multimedia project. Before the next lab section, we’ll need to have interviewed one of the main sources for the story we proposed at the beginning of the semester. My story, as I’m sure you remember, is focused on the proliferation of residential housing in downtown Columbia, Missouri. I plan to interview an architect from the local firm Peckham and Wright, who designed the Brookside Apartments on Tenth Street. While I’ve sat in and met with architects multiple times, especially when I was applying for architecture schools, I’ve never interviewed anyone from a journalistic perspective; let alone an architect.

So, this is the first time I’ll be interviewing someone, and to be honest, I’m very nervous. Interviewing is not simply conversation, as I wish it was. Interviewing is an inherently awkward situation to be in; as most people have literally zero experience being interviewed. Even though most professional journalists are quite accustomed to interviewing complete strangers, and peering into their personal lives with specificity they rarely experience, I am simply a student, and I haven’t gone through the practice they have.

Thus, I am rightfully nervous. Yet, this is exactly what I need to be looking forward to at the Missouri School of Journalism. This is what the Missouri Method is all about: trial by fire. As difficult as it will be for me to interview someone, with the right preparation and mindset I’ll be just fine. And further, I’ll have the experience that sophomore students at Syracuse, Columbia, Northwestern, or USC rarely get. Of course I’m being biased by saying that, but the point stands: the Missouri Method is the only way to force me into doing what I’m nervous about. I’ll be overcoming barriers that will help me throughout my academic and professional careers. At some point, I’ve got to turn my apprehension into excitement.

And that’s exactly the mindset I’m adopting to get ready to interview this architect.