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| Courtesy of http://www.schneideroptics.com/ |
Not so! As technology improves so do the coating on lenses. So take care when you see 'multi coated' on the packaging. Here's a good over view of what's new today.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Are All Multi Coated Filters Equal?
Not so! As technology improves so do the coating on lenses. So take care when you see 'multi coated' on the packaging. Here's a good over view of what's new today.
Looking Forward to 2013
I have taken a year off to relocate to Singapore and now that I am more or less settled with all the logistics and moving done, I am back at my laptop penning photography thoughts and ideas.
Perhaps a few quick recollections of 2012 would set the stage for 2013.
With all that travelling in 2012, I have come to depend on my snappy portables ... namely my iPhone and point & shoot cameras. The big boy's toys were for a while in separate places transiting between Honolulu and Singapore. They are all safe now in a dry cabinet (an absolute necessity in high humid Singapore)!
While using the iPhone, I learned of and learned to use new photo Apps (which I'll do a review of some of my favorite ones in the next posting). Being on the road so much has also increased my need to use social media tools to keep in touch with my friends.
That said, I still managed a solo exhibition at the Canon USA Gallery in Honolulu. It's a very rare opportunity and I am extremely happy to have shown my photos there for the whole month of November.
Prior to this showing was another photo exhibition where I contributed two photos in support of a Singapore GLBT youth outreach event in the photographic print medium.
And before the year's end, I had begun conceiving a new project that pays tribute to the great art masters of the modern art world! I am currently doing test shots and researching with the help of an art historian friend from Korea. This is a long term personal project and will take a year or two to complete.
The more immediate project is to complete the layout and design of the photo book which I have already started.
I am excited about 2013 and the possibilities it will bring.
Perhaps a few quick recollections of 2012 would set the stage for 2013.
With all that travelling in 2012, I have come to depend on my snappy portables ... namely my iPhone and point & shoot cameras. The big boy's toys were for a while in separate places transiting between Honolulu and Singapore. They are all safe now in a dry cabinet (an absolute necessity in high humid Singapore)!
While using the iPhone, I learned of and learned to use new photo Apps (which I'll do a review of some of my favorite ones in the next posting). Being on the road so much has also increased my need to use social media tools to keep in touch with my friends.
That said, I still managed a solo exhibition at the Canon USA Gallery in Honolulu. It's a very rare opportunity and I am extremely happy to have shown my photos there for the whole month of November.
Prior to this showing was another photo exhibition where I contributed two photos in support of a Singapore GLBT youth outreach event in the photographic print medium.
And before the year's end, I had begun conceiving a new project that pays tribute to the great art masters of the modern art world! I am currently doing test shots and researching with the help of an art historian friend from Korea. This is a long term personal project and will take a year or two to complete.
The more immediate project is to complete the layout and design of the photo book which I have already started.
I am excited about 2013 and the possibilities it will bring.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Photography That Heals
Photography is not just about capturing a beautiful image or recording an event, it can build self awareness, build self confidence, and most importantly a tool for healing.
Two significant projects that inspire me are:
"We’ve all been there: not having the words to express what we feel. Kids in war zones know this too well.
Brian McCarty had a thought: what if cameras were the key to teaching kids how to tell their stories?
He traveled to Jerusalem, the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to find out.
Brian asked kids to draw what they’ve seen, and then recreated the scenes in a photograph with toys. He found that a combination of play and art therapy was a powerful and life changing way to give kids a voice.
Photographers often turn to their camera when words just won’t do. Turns out kids are no different."
"In Calcutta, there are over 10,000 women and girls who live and work as prostitutes. In 1997, New York-based photographer Zana Briski moved to Calcutta to live with these women and document their lives through photography.
While living in the brothels, she developed relationships with their children and after recognizing their fascination with the camera, began to teach them basic photography.
77th Academy Awards Winner.
Born into Brothels, by Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski, is the winner of the 77th annual Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, Born into Brothels is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes. Zana Briski, a New York-based photographer, gives each of the children a camera and teaches them to look at the world with new eyes.
The film, released by THINKFilm, premiered theatrically at the Film Forum in New York City in December 2004. It has since opened in over one hundred theatres nationwide. It premiered on HBO/Cinemax on Tuesday, August 16th, 2005.
The photographs taken by the children in Born into Brothels are available for purchase in the Kids' Gallery, and as a signed limited-edition portfolio, or as a compilation in our companion book. 100% of proceeds from sales of the children's prints go directly to support their education and well-being.
The film is now available on DVD."
Monday, October 10, 2011
Editorial Lighting - The Minimalist Way by Thomas Park
This is a great article written by Thomas. He shows you and explains how he got his shot using minimal lighting in a less than ideal setting.http://dpreview.com/articles/7670130459/editorial-lighting-the-minimalist-way-
More about Thomas - http://thomasparkphoto.com/
Model: Ira Z
All images©2011 Thomas Park
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Remotely Control Your DSLR With Your SmartPhone/Tablet for $8.52
For $8.52 you can tether control your DSLR using your Android phone/tablet and shoot remotely.
 |
| Photo courtesy of www.dpreview.com |
DSLR Controller by Chainfire, is the first and only app that allows you to fully control your Canon EOS DSLR from your Android device with only a USB cable. No computer or laptop required, no root required, only a compatible mobile device, a compatible camera, and the right USB cable.
This has been found to work with EOS T2i, T3i, 50D, 60D, 7D, 5DmkII and 1Dmk4.
More about it here - https://market.android.com/details?id=eu.chainfire.dslrcontroller
Friday, August 5, 2011
Is Your LCD Monitor Showing The Correct Colors?
I chanced upon this monitor testing site that is worthy of sharing.
If you care about your images, you need to care about the condition of your monitor (s). Monitor quality factors like: Contrast, display settings, clock and phase, sharpness, gamma, black level, white saturation, gradient, inversion, response time, viewing angle, contrast ration, and subpixel layout. It sounds a whole lot of scary! The good news is, monitor calibration is fairly easy.
Here are LCD monitor test pages that will help you judge and correct the image quality seen on your monitor. Follow the step by step instructions provided by Lagom and you'll be closer to getting the most out of your LCD monitor.
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/
If you care about your images, you need to care about the condition of your monitor (s). Monitor quality factors like: Contrast, display settings, clock and phase, sharpness, gamma, black level, white saturation, gradient, inversion, response time, viewing angle, contrast ration, and subpixel layout. It sounds a whole lot of scary! The good news is, monitor calibration is fairly easy.
Here are LCD monitor test pages that will help you judge and correct the image quality seen on your monitor. Follow the step by step instructions provided by Lagom and you'll be closer to getting the most out of your LCD monitor.
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/
Photoshop for Digital Photography
Photoshop Skills acquired:
. Basic Setup, Workflow, and Fun with Filters
. Rotating and Cropping
. Black and White photos
. Layers and Levels
. Retouching with Cloning and the Healing Brush
. Curves, Color Balance, and Hue/Saturation
. Resolution, Image Sizing and Sharpening
. Using Text and other graphics to Create a Promo Piece or Greeting Card
What you will need:
. Digital Camera
. Computer or Laptop with Adobe Photoshop or Elements
Course Times:
An 4 week course. Once a week. 1.5 hour sessions.
Group size minimum 3, maximum 5.
Private one-to-one instruction also available.
Location and dates to be determined based on group preference.
Course Price:
Group - $150.00
Private - $250.00
Please contact me at 808.3878899 for more information.
www.mafotografix.com
. Basic Setup, Workflow, and Fun with Filters
. Rotating and Cropping
. Black and White photos
. Layers and Levels
. Retouching with Cloning and the Healing Brush
. Curves, Color Balance, and Hue/Saturation
. Resolution, Image Sizing and Sharpening
. Using Text and other graphics to Create a Promo Piece or Greeting Card
What you will need:
. Digital Camera
. Computer or Laptop with Adobe Photoshop or Elements
Course Times:
An 4 week course. Once a week. 1.5 hour sessions.
Group size minimum 3, maximum 5.
Private one-to-one instruction also available.
Location and dates to be determined based on group preference.
Course Price:
Group - $150.00
Private - $250.00
Please contact me at 808.3878899 for more information.
www.mafotografix.com
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Neutral Density Filters (ND)
Neutral density filters are very useful for photographers that like manual control in bright light.
The filter filters the amount of light coming into the camera, making long exposures, depth of field, and other effects easier to do, like those dreamy shore scenic photos which appear to be shot at dusk or sunrise but were actually shot in the middle of the day!
There's a the ultimate guide to Neutral Density filters - http://www.redbubble.com/people/peterh111/journal/4421304-the-ultimate-easy-guide-to-neutral-density-filters
However, do note that, like everything else, not all filters are made equal. Here's an example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brentbat/2372603825/
Hyper Prime Lenses
These are 'super' wide lenses that are made for ultra low light photography ... their f-stop hover around the f1.0 range, Besides being quite rare (many are out of production) and a challenge on the wallet for many, you'd wonder how challenging it is to focus manually at such a shallow DOF.There are two great reviews on one such lens, which is a new production, called the Noktor 50mm f0.95 (!) - http://www.slrmagic.com/ (p/s: take their product survey and select the camera mount you want them to make.)
Lens Reviews:
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2010/03/03/the-noktor-50-f0-95-lens-review-diary/
http://philipbloom.net/2010/03/10/review-of-noktor-f0-95-hyperprime-50mm-lens-for-micro-four-thirds/
Currently this lens works on these cameras without the need for any adaptor:
Panasonic: Lumix DMC-G1, DMC-G2, DMC-G3, DMC-G10, DMC-GH1, DMC-GH2, DMC-GF1, DMC-GF2, AF-100, AF-101, AF-102, and AF-103
Olympus: PEN E-P1, PEN E-P2, PEN E-PL1, and PEN E-PL2
Sony: NEX-3, NEX-5, NEX-VG10, and NEX-FS100
Saturday, July 9, 2011
The Useful Canon Lens Specifications and Accessories Table
When you are shopping for a lens, don't only read the reviews, and check prices, also make sure to read the Canon Lens Specifications and Accessories Table. There's valuable information like the number of shutter blades for smooth bokeh and the minimum focusing distance. This distance is important. If you notice, many of the fast primes do not focus close. Close should be like 0.8ft or 0.25m, especially for wider lenses.
Sample:
Here's the link to download the complete pdf table. When new lenses come out, hopefully Canon will keep this table updated -
Sample:
Here's the link to download the complete pdf table. When new lenses come out, hopefully Canon will keep this table updated -
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Alien Looking Duo Flash Mount for Macro Photography
Here's the specs from Fotopro:
Fotopro Arca Compat Macro Duo Dual Flash Mount 2 Shoes
Metal plate is 140mm (5.5") long.
Includes: 2 x 1 /4"-20 cap screws, 1 hex safety screw and allen wrench.
Permanent articulated arms will hold up to 1.5lbs (.7kg) each
and can be adjusted to any position.
Arms are 12" (30cm) in length (including the ball head)
Each shoe is mounted on a metal ball head with lock
Fotopro is a China company that creates a host of very competitively priced products. Namely camera support systems
www.fotopro.cn - tip: use google translate to read the pages.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Highly Recommended Lenses for Canon EOS Cameras
So once in a while you have this urge, this craving, this NEED to buy a new lens!
You've got a problem!
But don't worry, there are many photographers who are just like you and that's why there are so many different lenses for sale. The REAL problem is which lens to buy? How to hide it from the Mrs? How not to be so obvious ... how not to break the bank, well at least not too badly.
Here's a list that will help you (it helped me) - reproduced courtesy of BobAtkins.com
Canon EF 135mm f/2.0L USM - Rating 9.8, price $900. Not cheap, but a really outstanding lens.
Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM - Rating 9.6. A very good lens indeed for "only" $650. The highest rated low cost "L" series lens.
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro - Rating 9.6, price $470. Highest rated lens under $600. Very sharp and gives 1:1 magnification.
Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM - Rating 9.5, price $1000. Highest rated EF-S series lens and one of the highest rated of all zooms.
Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM - Rating 9.5 and Canon EF 100mm f/2.0 USM - Rating 9.4, Two very reasonably priced ($350-$400) fast short telephoto lenses which are ideal for portrait work.
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM - Rating 9.4, price $550. A highly rated zoom and the cheapest "L" series lens.
Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f2.8 XR Di-II LD Asph. IF - Rating 9.3, price $450. Very highly rated "general purpose" lens for APS-C sensor cameras. God wide to short telephoto range at a constant f2.8 aperture.
Canon EF 300/4L USM - Rating 9.2, price $700 (used). One of my favorite lenses and (if you can find one) a great telephoto that's affordable (and works great with a 1.4xTC too!).
Canon EF-S 10-22/3.5-4.5 USM Rating 9.1, price $690. An excellent lens which doesn't appear in the above lists because it's too expensive for the $600 list and the rating is 0.2 points too low to appear on the absolute best list. However a 9.1 rating is very good and the price is still affordable.
Sigma 50mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro - Rating 8.9, price $270. A high ratings/low cost for a 1:2 50mm macro lens.
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM - Rating 8.9, Price $550. A very good telephoto zoom with very effective Image stabilization.
Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical IF - Rating 8.5, price $390. A well regarded lens at 1/3 the cost of the Canon 24-70/2.8L (rated at 9.1).
Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 (Rating 8.5, price $170) and Canon EF 35mm f/2.0 (Rating 8.7, price $230). Either one makes a good "normal" lens on an APS-C sensor DSLR.
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II - Rating 8.5 , price $100. Clearly the best bang for the buck.
Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM - Rating 7.8, price $230. A good solid zoom for a very reasonable price. [Now discontinued].
You've got a problem!
But don't worry, there are many photographers who are just like you and that's why there are so many different lenses for sale. The REAL problem is which lens to buy? How to hide it from the Mrs? How not to be so obvious ... how not to break the bank, well at least not too badly.
Here's a list that will help you (it helped me) - reproduced courtesy of BobAtkins.com
Canon EF 135mm f/2.0L USM - Rating 9.8, price $900. Not cheap, but a really outstanding lens.
Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM - Rating 9.6. A very good lens indeed for "only" $650. The highest rated low cost "L" series lens.
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro - Rating 9.6, price $470. Highest rated lens under $600. Very sharp and gives 1:1 magnification.
Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM - Rating 9.5, price $1000. Highest rated EF-S series lens and one of the highest rated of all zooms.
Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM - Rating 9.5 and Canon EF 100mm f/2.0 USM - Rating 9.4, Two very reasonably priced ($350-$400) fast short telephoto lenses which are ideal for portrait work.
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM - Rating 9.4, price $550. A highly rated zoom and the cheapest "L" series lens.
Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f2.8 XR Di-II LD Asph. IF - Rating 9.3, price $450. Very highly rated "general purpose" lens for APS-C sensor cameras. God wide to short telephoto range at a constant f2.8 aperture.
Canon EF 300/4L USM - Rating 9.2, price $700 (used). One of my favorite lenses and (if you can find one) a great telephoto that's affordable (and works great with a 1.4xTC too!).
Canon EF-S 10-22/3.5-4.5 USM Rating 9.1, price $690. An excellent lens which doesn't appear in the above lists because it's too expensive for the $600 list and the rating is 0.2 points too low to appear on the absolute best list. However a 9.1 rating is very good and the price is still affordable.
Sigma 50mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro - Rating 8.9, price $270. A high ratings/low cost for a 1:2 50mm macro lens.
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM - Rating 8.9, Price $550. A very good telephoto zoom with very effective Image stabilization.
Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical IF - Rating 8.5, price $390. A well regarded lens at 1/3 the cost of the Canon 24-70/2.8L (rated at 9.1).
Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 (Rating 8.5, price $170) and Canon EF 35mm f/2.0 (Rating 8.7, price $230). Either one makes a good "normal" lens on an APS-C sensor DSLR.
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II - Rating 8.5 , price $100. Clearly the best bang for the buck.
Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM - Rating 7.8, price $230. A good solid zoom for a very reasonable price. [Now discontinued].
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Being Discreet is a good thing with Puleme Backpack Inserts
This I have to share with you guys.
It is cool to have a 'camera' type branded bag or backpack but at times it is better to not be so obvious ... especially if you're traveling. I'd rather let people think its a regular backpack than scream: "THERE"S A DSLR IN HERE !!!"
You can easily turn your regular backpack into a camera bag with this smart insert called Puleme Backpack Inserts. There are others like it and they come in all shapes and sizes to suit your needs be it a backpack or a shoulder bag.
To purchase just Google and they are all over the web.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Introduction to Canon Speedlite Flash Photography - Course Outline
This is a beginner's course in Speedlite flash photography. If you already have a fairly good grasp using your Canon DSLR and want to venture into the world of off camera flash photography with one of Canon's Speetlite flashes, this is the course for you. Start understanding your flash and learn how to use it creatively.
Course Outline:
Week 1 - Control and Modes
. Basic Flash Operations
. Exposure Modes
. Flash Exposure Compensation
. Sync Modes
Week 2 - On and Off Camera Flash
. The Importance of Shadows
. When On-Camera Flash Works Well: Fill Flash
. Moving One Speedlite Off-Camera
. Creating Dramatic Shadows
Week 3 - Modifying Flash Output
. Making The Speedlite Appear Larger
. Modifiers That Make The Speedlite Appear Smaller
. Change The Color Of A Speedlite
. Limit What The Speedlite Illuminates
. Speedlite’s Built-In Modifiers
Week 4 - Shoot out.
What you will need:
. Canon DSLR
. Canon Speedlite 430ex or 580ex
Course Times:
A 4 week course. Once a week. 2 hour sessions.
Group size minimum 3, maximum 5.
Private one-to-one instruction also available.
Location and dates to be determined based on group.
Course Price:
Group - $150
Private - $250
Course Outline:
Week 1 - Control and Modes
. Basic Flash Operations
. Exposure Modes
. Flash Exposure Compensation
. Sync Modes
Week 2 - On and Off Camera Flash
. The Importance of Shadows
. When On-Camera Flash Works Well: Fill Flash
. Moving One Speedlite Off-Camera
. Creating Dramatic Shadows
Week 3 - Modifying Flash Output
. Making The Speedlite Appear Larger
. Modifiers That Make The Speedlite Appear Smaller
. Change The Color Of A Speedlite
. Limit What The Speedlite Illuminates
. Speedlite’s Built-In Modifiers
Week 4 - Shoot out.
What you will need:
. Canon DSLR
. Canon Speedlite 430ex or 580ex
Course Times:
A 4 week course. Once a week. 2 hour sessions.
Group size minimum 3, maximum 5.
Private one-to-one instruction also available.
Location and dates to be determined based on group.
Course Price:
Group - $150
Private - $250
Friday, May 6, 2011
Lens reviews for Canon cameras
These are two very good websites that I refer to for lens reviews for Canon cameras:
http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/
There are others but I like their format and their range of lenses reviewed.
Right now, I'm exploring going all manual, including lenses. And the Samyang lenses look rather interesting and even tempting for their price point as well as quality.
Several new Samyang releases here:
http://dpreview.com/news/1105/11050505samyang35mm8mm.asp
http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/
There are others but I like their format and their range of lenses reviewed.
Right now, I'm exploring going all manual, including lenses. And the Samyang lenses look rather interesting and even tempting for their price point as well as quality.
Several new Samyang releases here:
http://dpreview.com/news/1105/11050505samyang35mm8mm.asp
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Beginner's Digital Photography and Adobe Photoshop - Course Outline
This course is open to anyone with a digital camera but is best suited to beginners with a DSLR who want to know how to go beyond using the camera's 'Auto' mode and getting more out of their investment. It will also introduce the powerful yet indispensable photo enhancing software Photoshop which is the darkroom for all digital photographers.
Photography Skills acquired:
. Selective Focusing
. ISO, F/stops (Aperture), and Shutter Speeds
. Understanding Lenses
. White Balancing
. Understanding Flash Photography
. Understanding Macro Photography
. Basic Do's and Don'ts in Picture Taking
. Simple Rules of Composition
. Shopping for Accessories and Other Photo Gear
Photoshop Skills acquired:
. Basic Setup, Workflow, and Fun with Filters
. Rotating and Cropping
. Black and White photos
. Layers and Levels
. Retouching with Cloning and the Healing Brush
. Curves, Color Balance, and Hue/Saturation
. Resolution, Image Sizing and Sharpening
. Using Text and other graphics to Create a Promo Piece or Greeting Card
What you will need:
. Digital Camera
. Computer or Laptop with Adobe Photoshop or Elements
Course Times:
An 8 week course. Once a week. 1.5 hour sessions.
Group size minimum 3, maximum 5.
Private one-to-one instruction also available.
Location and dates to be determined based on group preference.
Course Price:
Group - $300.00
Private - $450.00
Please contact me at 808.3878899 for more information.
www.mafotografix.com
Photography Skills acquired:
. Selective Focusing
. ISO, F/stops (Aperture), and Shutter Speeds
. Understanding Lenses
. White Balancing
. Understanding Flash Photography
. Understanding Macro Photography
. Basic Do's and Don'ts in Picture Taking
. Simple Rules of Composition
. Shopping for Accessories and Other Photo Gear
Photoshop Skills acquired:
. Basic Setup, Workflow, and Fun with Filters
. Rotating and Cropping
. Black and White photos
. Layers and Levels
. Retouching with Cloning and the Healing Brush
. Curves, Color Balance, and Hue/Saturation
. Resolution, Image Sizing and Sharpening
. Using Text and other graphics to Create a Promo Piece or Greeting Card
What you will need:
. Digital Camera
. Computer or Laptop with Adobe Photoshop or Elements
Course Times:
An 8 week course. Once a week. 1.5 hour sessions.
Group size minimum 3, maximum 5.
Private one-to-one instruction also available.
Location and dates to be determined based on group preference.
Course Price:
Group - $300.00
Private - $450.00
Please contact me at 808.3878899 for more information.
www.mafotografix.com
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Saturday, February 5, 2011
Beginner's Digital Photography and Adobe Photoshop
I've will be launching a private 1-on-1 coaching program in March for beginners who want to learn how to use their digital cameras and how to edit their photographs using Adobe Photoshop.
It will be an 8 week program. 1 hour, once a week session. Lots of hands on.
You will need your own digital camera and Adobe Photoshop program.
So stay tuned, I will announce the program schedule next week.
It will be an 8 week program. 1 hour, once a week session. Lots of hands on.
You will need your own digital camera and Adobe Photoshop program.
So stay tuned, I will announce the program schedule next week.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Will Video Kill The Still Photography Star?
After years of fits and starts, it seems that the much heralded convergence of still photography and video finally is on the verge of happening. Will you be ready for it?
In 2003, I sat in a movie theater in Los Angeles, Calif., and watched a huge collection of still images from 1980s Hollywood come to life on the screen. The movie, The Kid Stays in the Picture, is a documentary about movie mogul Robert Evans. The directors, Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgan, portrayed the photographs by employing a pan-and-scan technique made popular by Ken Burns in his epic documentary The Civil War 13 years earlier. But they added a unique twist to the Ken Burns effect. Some of the photographs in their movie had a contrived 3-D effect similar to what you’d see if you looked through a kid’s View-Master viewer. That, combined with the compelling narrative by Mr. Evans himself, resulted in an extraordinary motion picture comprised primarily of still images. I wish I knew then that I was looking at a harbinger of the next evolutionary step of the photography industry.
The Youth Of Today:
Veronica Wilson is a young, talented, up-and-coming photojournalist whose work I caught wind of about six months ago. Recently, Miss Wilson e-mailed me a link to what I assumed would be an online gallery of the photographs of a story she just finished shooting for an East Coast newspaper. It wasn’t—it was an audio interview of the subject of the photographs playing over a slideshow of the images—a multimedia piece. I could feel the hairs on the back of my purist photographic sensibilities start to stand on end. As I watched her presentation, it was obvious that the piece was solid and the photographs themselves were fantastic. I quickly realized that there was little difference between what Miss Wilson had done and what I lauded as great moviemaking in The Kid Stays in the Picture. A few days later, I came across a similarly styled photojournalism/multimedia piece on the widely read news website for the BBC. Miss Wilson wasn’t trying to set a new trend; she was competing with an existing one. (For more on this issue, check out the article “Photojournalism In The Age Of YouTube” on the DPP website—go to www.digitalphotopro.com/business/photojournalism-in-the-age-of-youtube.html.)
Multimedia Societ:
Survey your own online viewing experiences to understand how the audience for your work has evolved their expectations. If you find viewing a slideshow of an airplane landing in the Hudson River with a soundtrack of the dialogue between the pilot and the tower compelling, you’re not alone. Conversely, if you feel that adding a soundtrack to your own images would diminish the value of your photography, you will be alone.
The rookie generation of shooters like Miss Wilson already are indoctrinated with this multimedia way of thinking because of their very early exposure to the Internet. What they’re bringing to the table, unfettered by any predisposed idea of the traditional definition of a photographer, is exactly what contemporary commercial clients want to see available to them for their advertising campaigns. What they don’t have when compared to a veteran photographer is experience. However, in the shadow of technological prowess, the currency of experience will devalue rapidly unless those with it apply it to what’s shaping up to be the next era in our industry.
24 fps:
Three years ago, wedding shooter William Henshall declared to me that wedding photographers were going to one day shoot high-definition video in their SLRs and pull frames from the footage for the photos. Even if he was right, I was confident in my skepticism that this practice would never spill over into the commercial world. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Last July, rumors started circulating that a few photographers were being asked to shoot catalogs with the RED Digital Cinema camera. The video would be used for, among other things, web snippets in the same vein as a YouTube video, and the images for the print publication would be pulled from the footage. At the time, corroboration wasn’t readily available. However, when I revisited the assertion for this article, I was able to get verification of the trend from two high-profile photographers’ agents who asked for anonymity. “In the last six months, several jobs were lost because of the video issue,” said one agent. The agents I spoke with were protective about which photographers were affected. But the trend is clear: Video now is a requirement for landing gigs.
The wedding world is changing, too. Mr. Henshall told me recently that the traditional, 30-minute wedding video with the schmaltzy soundtrack was being replaced with the three-and-a-half-minute, tightly edited YouTube-style video of the highlights of the wedding with a rocking soundtrack. Although this style of video has typically contained stills with transitions much like Miss Wilson’s presentation, Mr. Henshall assured me that high-definition video frame-pulls were just around the corner.
To get my head around the radical changes that I was uncovering, I tried to embrace the concept. I’ve worked in both still and motion, but in the latter format, I’ve almost always directed and rarely ran the camera. To me, applying a still photography discipline to a motion-capture device is counterintuitive. Photography at its philosophical soul is the “decisive moment.” How in the hell am I supposed to react to click a button with a video platform?
...I think this is a brilliant turn of events for photographers. It’s going to open up our industry to a broader horizon of creativity and wealth of new possibilities in terms of usage-rights income.
I brought the question to Jaron Presant, the director of photography who has shot many of the commercials I’ve directed. He theorized that the shutter-release button will evolve into an electronic flagging device, marking the frame of the digital video that the operator feels is the “decisive moment.”
After thinking about it for a few minutes, I bought into it. I could work this way. Much as a smoker in the process of quitting needs a pencil to hold in his fingers while chewing nicotine gum, I need to reactively push a button when I see a scene I like. If I have that, I don’t really care how I’m capturing the image as long as I’m getting the quality I’m seeking. And that’s the small levee holding back the wave of widespread adoption of the frame-pulling workflow. While the images are usable for some situations, they aren’t good for everything in advertising. In order to compress the visual information enough for effective throughput to the recording media, the effective size of the image sensor needs to be diminished, resulting in a lower-quality still frame as compared to a single-image capture. But that limitation quickly will be overcome. This growth phase is an ideal time to learn this style of shooting for the new era of photography. If we don’t, our industry will have to contend with a new group of competitors.
Red-Headed Stepchildren:
The entertainment industry has always seen photographers as red- headed stepchildren—we’re family, but only by marriage. The border between the two fields has always been crowded with photographers looking over at the cinema side. Rarely do you find a DP looking back the other way; it would be considered a step down.
As video capture for stills (VCS) rapidly becomes a reality, DPs already are buzzing about moving in on our territory because work in their genre is diminishing with the current lousy economy. It will be a turf war about who’s more qualified to shoot the new technology. Having played on both sides of the fence, my vote goes to the photographer. We’re used to having every millimeter of our shot scrutinized. A DP has the luxury of hiding mistakes in the flow of the motion. Unfortunately, that point will be relevant only to the academics. Unless we present ourselves as capable of motion, clients will start looking at reels instead of portfolios.
Another advantage we have is the fact that we’re directly involved with the client. DPs are shielded from clients by a production company and a director. As you well know, dealing directly with clients, bids and politics is a skill unto itself that can come only from experience.
Telling Stories To Get A Gig: The Treatment:
To win a commercial, a director has to submit a treatment to the client. This is a one-page story of the execution of the boards drawn by the art director. This demonstration of your creativity is crucial to getting a commercial gig. It’s like a mini-screenplay written in a narrative format.
The treatment is becoming more commonplace in advertising photography, as well. The same pitch that you use when you speak to an art director to try to win a photography job should go into your written job description. Getting into the habit of defining your vision in a short one- or two-paragraph narrative will put you in brilliant shape for the changes that are coming to our industry.
Phew!
While a lot of people may have seen this sea change coming, very few could have predicted how fast it would be on top of us. Personally, I think this is a brilliant turn of events for photographers. It’s going to open our industry to a broader horizon of creativity and a wealth of new possibilities in terms of usage-rights income. Because whether it’s still or moving, you own it until you license it. Most of all, I love the fact that this will put a chasm-sized line of demarcation between us and the pedestrian public who call themselves photographers—because the new definition of photographer is one based much more on skill than on luck and access to digital stuff.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Louis Lesko is a freelance photographer, director, writer and frequent Digital Photo Pro contributor. He’s looking forward to the future of multimedia. http://www.digitalphotopro.com/business/will-video-kill-the-still-photography-star.html
In 2003, I sat in a movie theater in Los Angeles, Calif., and watched a huge collection of still images from 1980s Hollywood come to life on the screen. The movie, The Kid Stays in the Picture, is a documentary about movie mogul Robert Evans. The directors, Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgan, portrayed the photographs by employing a pan-and-scan technique made popular by Ken Burns in his epic documentary The Civil War 13 years earlier. But they added a unique twist to the Ken Burns effect. Some of the photographs in their movie had a contrived 3-D effect similar to what you’d see if you looked through a kid’s View-Master viewer. That, combined with the compelling narrative by Mr. Evans himself, resulted in an extraordinary motion picture comprised primarily of still images. I wish I knew then that I was looking at a harbinger of the next evolutionary step of the photography industry.
The Youth Of Today:
Veronica Wilson is a young, talented, up-and-coming photojournalist whose work I caught wind of about six months ago. Recently, Miss Wilson e-mailed me a link to what I assumed would be an online gallery of the photographs of a story she just finished shooting for an East Coast newspaper. It wasn’t—it was an audio interview of the subject of the photographs playing over a slideshow of the images—a multimedia piece. I could feel the hairs on the back of my purist photographic sensibilities start to stand on end. As I watched her presentation, it was obvious that the piece was solid and the photographs themselves were fantastic. I quickly realized that there was little difference between what Miss Wilson had done and what I lauded as great moviemaking in The Kid Stays in the Picture. A few days later, I came across a similarly styled photojournalism/multimedia piece on the widely read news website for the BBC. Miss Wilson wasn’t trying to set a new trend; she was competing with an existing one. (For more on this issue, check out the article “Photojournalism In The Age Of YouTube” on the DPP website—go to www.digitalphotopro.com/business/photojournalism-in-the-age-of-youtube.html.)
Multimedia Societ:
Survey your own online viewing experiences to understand how the audience for your work has evolved their expectations. If you find viewing a slideshow of an airplane landing in the Hudson River with a soundtrack of the dialogue between the pilot and the tower compelling, you’re not alone. Conversely, if you feel that adding a soundtrack to your own images would diminish the value of your photography, you will be alone.
The rookie generation of shooters like Miss Wilson already are indoctrinated with this multimedia way of thinking because of their very early exposure to the Internet. What they’re bringing to the table, unfettered by any predisposed idea of the traditional definition of a photographer, is exactly what contemporary commercial clients want to see available to them for their advertising campaigns. What they don’t have when compared to a veteran photographer is experience. However, in the shadow of technological prowess, the currency of experience will devalue rapidly unless those with it apply it to what’s shaping up to be the next era in our industry.
24 fps:
Three years ago, wedding shooter William Henshall declared to me that wedding photographers were going to one day shoot high-definition video in their SLRs and pull frames from the footage for the photos. Even if he was right, I was confident in my skepticism that this practice would never spill over into the commercial world. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Last July, rumors started circulating that a few photographers were being asked to shoot catalogs with the RED Digital Cinema camera. The video would be used for, among other things, web snippets in the same vein as a YouTube video, and the images for the print publication would be pulled from the footage. At the time, corroboration wasn’t readily available. However, when I revisited the assertion for this article, I was able to get verification of the trend from two high-profile photographers’ agents who asked for anonymity. “In the last six months, several jobs were lost because of the video issue,” said one agent. The agents I spoke with were protective about which photographers were affected. But the trend is clear: Video now is a requirement for landing gigs.
The wedding world is changing, too. Mr. Henshall told me recently that the traditional, 30-minute wedding video with the schmaltzy soundtrack was being replaced with the three-and-a-half-minute, tightly edited YouTube-style video of the highlights of the wedding with a rocking soundtrack. Although this style of video has typically contained stills with transitions much like Miss Wilson’s presentation, Mr. Henshall assured me that high-definition video frame-pulls were just around the corner.
To get my head around the radical changes that I was uncovering, I tried to embrace the concept. I’ve worked in both still and motion, but in the latter format, I’ve almost always directed and rarely ran the camera. To me, applying a still photography discipline to a motion-capture device is counterintuitive. Photography at its philosophical soul is the “decisive moment.” How in the hell am I supposed to react to click a button with a video platform?
...I think this is a brilliant turn of events for photographers. It’s going to open up our industry to a broader horizon of creativity and wealth of new possibilities in terms of usage-rights income.
I brought the question to Jaron Presant, the director of photography who has shot many of the commercials I’ve directed. He theorized that the shutter-release button will evolve into an electronic flagging device, marking the frame of the digital video that the operator feels is the “decisive moment.”
After thinking about it for a few minutes, I bought into it. I could work this way. Much as a smoker in the process of quitting needs a pencil to hold in his fingers while chewing nicotine gum, I need to reactively push a button when I see a scene I like. If I have that, I don’t really care how I’m capturing the image as long as I’m getting the quality I’m seeking. And that’s the small levee holding back the wave of widespread adoption of the frame-pulling workflow. While the images are usable for some situations, they aren’t good for everything in advertising. In order to compress the visual information enough for effective throughput to the recording media, the effective size of the image sensor needs to be diminished, resulting in a lower-quality still frame as compared to a single-image capture. But that limitation quickly will be overcome. This growth phase is an ideal time to learn this style of shooting for the new era of photography. If we don’t, our industry will have to contend with a new group of competitors.
Red-Headed Stepchildren:
The entertainment industry has always seen photographers as red- headed stepchildren—we’re family, but only by marriage. The border between the two fields has always been crowded with photographers looking over at the cinema side. Rarely do you find a DP looking back the other way; it would be considered a step down.
As video capture for stills (VCS) rapidly becomes a reality, DPs already are buzzing about moving in on our territory because work in their genre is diminishing with the current lousy economy. It will be a turf war about who’s more qualified to shoot the new technology. Having played on both sides of the fence, my vote goes to the photographer. We’re used to having every millimeter of our shot scrutinized. A DP has the luxury of hiding mistakes in the flow of the motion. Unfortunately, that point will be relevant only to the academics. Unless we present ourselves as capable of motion, clients will start looking at reels instead of portfolios.
Another advantage we have is the fact that we’re directly involved with the client. DPs are shielded from clients by a production company and a director. As you well know, dealing directly with clients, bids and politics is a skill unto itself that can come only from experience.
Telling Stories To Get A Gig: The Treatment:
To win a commercial, a director has to submit a treatment to the client. This is a one-page story of the execution of the boards drawn by the art director. This demonstration of your creativity is crucial to getting a commercial gig. It’s like a mini-screenplay written in a narrative format.
The treatment is becoming more commonplace in advertising photography, as well. The same pitch that you use when you speak to an art director to try to win a photography job should go into your written job description. Getting into the habit of defining your vision in a short one- or two-paragraph narrative will put you in brilliant shape for the changes that are coming to our industry.
Phew!
While a lot of people may have seen this sea change coming, very few could have predicted how fast it would be on top of us. Personally, I think this is a brilliant turn of events for photographers. It’s going to open our industry to a broader horizon of creativity and a wealth of new possibilities in terms of usage-rights income. Because whether it’s still or moving, you own it until you license it. Most of all, I love the fact that this will put a chasm-sized line of demarcation between us and the pedestrian public who call themselves photographers—because the new definition of photographer is one based much more on skill than on luck and access to digital stuff.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Louis Lesko is a freelance photographer, director, writer and frequent Digital Photo Pro contributor. He’s looking forward to the future of multimedia. http://www.digitalphotopro.com/business/will-video-kill-the-still-photography-star.html
This might be old but the information is still very relevant ...
The Convergence Newsletter
From Newsplex at the University of South Carolina
Vol. II No. 1 (July 7, 2004)
http://www.jour.sc.edu/news/convergence/issue12.html
Exploring the Meaning of Media Convergence
The purpose of this newsletter is to provide an editorially neutral forum for discussion of the theoretical and professional meaning of media convergence.
We welcome articles on any topic directly related to media convergence, including academic research or information about convergence experiences in your newsroom. We also welcome information about conferences, publications and related links.
Holly Fisher
Editor
convergence-editor@mailbox.sc.edu
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Feature Articles
Newsletter marks first anniversary
New roles in converged newsrooms
Multiskilled journalists are prepared to tell stories in many forms
Newsplex announces 2004 technology picks
Five steps to a convergent news lab
Election Connection covers conventions
Newsplex News
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Conference Information
Digital Revolution Conference
Digital Story Master Class
Society of Professional Journalists National Convention
Convergence: The Tour
Convergence for Teams: Visions & Values in Action
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Announcements/News
Writing a book about convergence?
Online newspapers tempt readers
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---------------Feature Articles
Newsletter marks first anniversary
One year ago this month The Convergence Newsletter was introduced as a new source of information and ideas about the expanding field of convergent journalism. That first newsletter contained information on the IfraNewsplex and its Affiliates Program, convergence and diversity, as well as updates on conferences and seminars.
Since then, the newsletter has addressed changing roles in newsrooms, reported academic research on convergence and profiled those who have gone through convergence training at Newsplex. The Convergence Newsletter now has more than 500 subscribers, including students, journalists and educators around the world.
I have to admit when I took over as editor of the newsletter in January I knew convergence was a trendy journalism buzzword, but I had to do a great deal of research in order to bring myself up to speed with developments in the teaching and practice of convergent journalism.
A newspaper purist, I have often snubbed my nose at the idea of producing anything that might be considered broadcast journalism. My experience with this newsletter has made me change my tune, and I am seeing the value of using pictures, video and the Web to tell a story.
In May I spent a couple of days sitting in on a seminar at Newsplex for journalism professors. They were immersed in new technologies and the concept of doing journalism for print, broadcast and the Internet.
They soaked up the information like sponges. I likened them to first-year journalism students hungry to absorb as much as possible about their craft. We could barely tear them away from their computers at lunchtime they were so immersed in their work. Had you walked in uninformed you might have thought a huge story had just broken in Columbia, S.C.
They scurried about putting together packages on the State Farmer’s Market, a colorful place within walking distance of Newsplex. Using the newsroom roles—storybuilder, newsresourcer, multiskilled journalist and newsflow editor—these experienced journalists and professors produced story packages that included writing for the Internet with a video component. They left the seminar excited and eager to share these new techniques with their students.
I understand how they feel. I, too, get excited learning new skills that will enable me to share the news with a larger audience in a variety of media. Even the purists have to realize technology has changed us. By embracing convergence, we can make journalism better. We can tell our stories in different ways and bring even more detail, information and news to our readers, viewers and Internet surfers.
I hope you enjoy reading each issue of this newsletter and that it contributes to your learning about convergence and how best to use it in your newsrooms and classrooms. As we embark on our second year, we will be looking at ways to make this newsletter even better. Your feedback is valuable, so please feel free to e-mail me with comments, suggestions and story ideas. As always, we welcome your article submissions.
Happy converging,
Holly Fisher
Editor
convergence-editor@mailbox.sc.edu
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New roles in converged newsrooms
Editor’s Note: In this issue we conclude our series looking at the four new roles in a converged newsroom as developed by IfraNewsplex director Kerry Northrup. Over the last three issues, The Convergence Newsletter has looked at the role the storybuilder, the newsresourcer and the newsflow editor have in a newsroom. The storybuilder supervises all aspects of an individual story, coordinating the reporters, photographers, and other personnel assigned to a story in the gathering of information and the distribution of the stories produced across media. The newsresourcer combines writing, editing and news judgment with the best of librarianship and information management to manage the wealth of information coming into the newsroom. The newsflow editor focuses on the content of a story rather than the delivery method. Similar to a managing editor or producer, the newsflow editor makes sure all elements of the story work together to create the best product. Our series wraps up this month looking at the multiskilled journalist.
The most important characteristic of these new roles is that they do not necessarily reflect individuals or specific positions in a newsroom. Rather, each of the four represents a new set of responsibilities and activities in a newsroom. In Newsplex training, individuals are assigned to each role, but, in newsrooms, the roles may overlap across individuals or may be split, with two or more people combining to serve the role.
As you read these articles, please keep in mind that there may be other emerging roles that also should be profiled. If you have identified any other new roles, please let us know so that we can address those in a future edition.
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Multiskilled journalists are prepared to tell stories in many forms
By Dr. Augie Grant, Associate Professor, College of Mass Communications and Information Studies, University of South Carolina
The most recognizable new role in convergent newsrooms is the multiskilled journalist. This term describes reporters who are skilled at interviewing, collecting audio, video and still images, editing those images, and writing stories for delivery across multiple media.
By definition, a person who is assigned to do two or more of these tasks is a multiskilled journalist. Focusing on these tasks, however, ignores the most important role of the journalist in a converged environment: To be able to look at a story to determine what materials need to be gathered for the various media that might be used to disseminate the story.
Consider everyday situations: The first one on the scene of any breaking story needs to be able to capture as much information as possible, including pictures, videos, interviews, etc.—with the ability to clearly deliver the story right away. Freelancers have long carried this combination of skills onto the battlefield and into remote regions, sometimes being a sole witness to a story that can and should be delivered across media. Even mundane coverage such as routine city council meeting can be shared more widely if one or more of the reporters attending delivers a roundup for a radio newscast after (or before!) filing the story for the next day’s Metro section.
The first skill of the multiskilled journalist is therefore to look at all the opportunities a story represents for each of the media fed by the journalist. In practice, that means the ability to identify all of the elements of a story, including interview sources, photographic subjects, video opportunities, etc.
The next skill is the ability to tell the story in the appropriate format, ranging from an inverted pyramid for newspapers to a linear, broadcast narrative. Writing across media may be one of the most difficult skills to master, but the task is made easier by the presence of story builders, editors, and others who can help refine the story for presentation.
Multiskilled journalists must also have photographic skills, with the ability to capture both still and video images. This does not mean each reporter must be an authority on photography and other technical skills, but it does mean that, in the absence of a photographer, videographer or audio engineer, the multiskilled journalist is capable of capturing the images and sounds that will help tell the story.
Time is a critical variable for multiskilled journalists. On the scene of a story, they need to know which medium needs to be fed first—the Internet, the radio station, the television broadcast, or the newspaper. It’s not unusual for a journalist working for an organization such as CNN to feed a live television report, record a follow-up report, rewrite the script for the Web site, and then do a feed for a radio network, all in the space of an hour or two.
In my experience, the most exciting part of the roles training we provide at Newsplex is watching experienced journalists and academics who have just been introduced to multimedia reporting take on this role, delivering pictures and sound along with text. The technical skills are absorbed and practiced almost automatically as focus remains on the story and how to deliver it across each medium.
Few topics in convergent journalism have generated as much debate as the “multiskilled journalist.” This position is sometimes referred to as the “backpack journalist” and the “one-man band,” with each of these terms implying that one person can take on the roles formerly filled by two or more individuals. (Martha Stone and Jane Stevens have shared an interesting point-counterpoint on this subject in the Online Journalism Review. “Backpack Journalism is here to stay” by Stevens at http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1017771575.php and “The Backpack Journalist Is a ‘Mush of Mediocrity’" by Stone at http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1017771634.php)
There are certainly a few journalists who are accomplished photographers, but the norm is not—and will never be—a person who has mastered all the skills related to gathering information. Indeed, many news directors/editors say they do not expect every journalist to do everything. On the other hand, the norm in converged newsrooms is likely to be that all journalists will share a basic set of technical skills to enable them to be more effective in gathering information for distribution across media when necessary or desirable.
That brings up the issue of equipment. Electronic newsgathering equipment, from digital cameras to laptop computers and cell phones is becoming more compact and less expensive, making it easier to equip all journalists with cameras, recorders, and other tools that contribute to the process of gathering news. Multiskilled journalists must know basic equipment operation and composition in order to use this equipment, but there is not a need for them to be masters of each craft. (It may also be argued that photographers and audio engineers need basic writing and interviewing skills as well!)
The lower cost and small size of the cameras and other equipment used by these “backpack” journalists enables an organization to equip all of their journalists so that breaking news is more likely to be captured any time, any where. (See the related article on Newsgear later in this newsletter.)
Again, the primary concept of the multiskilled journalist is not the mastery of a particular set of skills but simply the mindset that the information being gathered will be distributed through a variety of media, with recognition of the individual elements that must be captured in order to bring the story to the consumer.
From a practical perspective, there are few job listings today that require all of the skills discussed above. But when choosing from available candidates, hiring decisions will more often than not favor reporters who bring additional skills to the newsroom. That’s perhaps the best reason for making sure our graduates are ready for converged newsrooms.
The multiskilled journalist is the most traditional of the four roles in a converged newsroom that are being explored in this series (http://www.jour.sc.edu/news/convergence/index.html). Other roles are certain to be identified as converged newsrooms proliferate, and these four existing roles are certain to change over time. The multiskilled journalist—the eyes, ears, arms, legs and voice—remains at the heart of any conception of converged journalism.
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Newsplex announces 2004 technology picks
Journalists interested in convergence enjoy learning about how to write for the Web, how to package stories and the benefits of telling the news across multiple media. But they also enjoy learning about the “toys”—those gadgets and gizmos that have reporters abandoning the notebooks and pens of yesterday and taking up the laptops and camera phones of the 21st century.
Each year Newsplex Director Kerry Northrup scours the land of technology armed with $10,000 and a desire to arm a backpack with all the tools a journalist would need to cover a story for multiple media.
The 2004 Backpack Edition includes:
*Toshiba Portege M200 Tablet PC with a full-size keyboard and good battery life, making it a great tool for the multiskilled journalist.
*Apple iSight Video Conferencing system makes desktop video conferencing easy for bureaus and source interviews.
*Sony DCR PC330 Camera’s high quality captures broadcast quality video and still pictures at newspaper quality.
*Archos AV320 Video Recorder is an all-in-one digital media tool used for Web-quality video, print stills and audio compatible to Mac and PC.
*Nokia 6600 Imaging Phone can provide audio and video for breaking news as well as low-resolution streaming video over high speed networks.
*DaKine Pod 1 Urban Backpack is rugged, stylish and durable, which makes it a great case for everything a multiskilled journalist wants to tote around.
*Canon BJC-55 Portable Printer has high-quality printing capabilities and an optional replacement for the ink cartridge turns it into a scanner.
*Visioneer Strobe XP100 Scanner is extremely portable, allowing reporters to scan documents and image at the news site.
Also included in this pack is Serious Magic Visual Communicator Pro, a simple software suite that makes packaging of news stories easier and less expensive than a full-scale recording studio.
The entire list—including descriptions, Web links and prices—is available at www.newsplex.org.
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Five steps to a convergent newslab
By Dr. Augie Grant, Associate Professor, College of Mass Communications and Information Studies, University of South Carolina
Since we began publishing this newsletter a year ago, the most frequent question I’ve received from faculty is, “What software and equipment do I need to put in a convergent newsroom?” Here’s a brief summary of the way I most often answer that question:
1. First and foremost, make sure more attention is paid to curriculum than to tools. The underlying philosophy of delivering news across media is much more important than any specific tool. For example, you can use standard Microsoft products available in almost every writing lab, ranging from Word and PowerPoint to Windows Moviemaker to do almost all the jobs that need to be done if you don't have the resources to equip a lab.
2. The acquisition tools come next. You have to be able to record still pictures, and your options range from expensive digital cameras to inexpensive camera phones. You have to be able to record audio and video, again with options ranging from simple audio cassette recorders and still cameras to broadcast-quality video cameras. You need to be able to generate graphics—almost any graphics program will do, but you have to have one (most people are using Photoshop today because of its versatility).
3. Editing tools are next. You need to have a tool to edit pictures (Photoshop, again). Video can be edited on a range of programs from imovie and Windows Moviemaker to FinalCut Pro and Avid Newscutter. Your best video editing option is the tool you are already using in your broadcast news sequence, although it is easiest to teach the basics of video editing on imovie or Moviemaker. Word is an adequate text editor, but the newsroom software you are already using in your broadcast and print newsrooms works as well.
4. Finally you need to package the content for delivery. Visual Communicator is the best package for non-broadcasters to use in creating "broadcast-like" packages, but you should check with your broadcast faculty first to get them on board. The quality of Visual Communicator is low, but the output is perfect for the Web. You also need a Web editor, either Dreamweaver or GoLive, depending upon what is used in the rest of your operation. (I do not recommend FrontPage or Word for Web page editing.)
The key throughout is to have a clear picture of what you see as the output of your convergent newsroom, and then make sure the tools are there to teach the process of gathering, editing, and delivering the content needed across all the media. In my opinion, enabling students to experience each part of the process is more important than providing the highest-quality output to individual media.
This response is based upon the process of adapting Newsplex training to teaching environments. In my discussions regarding convergent newslabs around the country, I’ve seen many other approaches. If you would like to provide a different answer to this question, we would love to include your thoughts in a future edition of The Convergence Newsletter. Please email your thoughts to convergence-editor@mailbox.sc.edu.
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Election Connection covers conventions
By Randy Covington, Director of Advancement/Instructor, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina
Student journalists from around the country this summer will use photo phones to cover the Democratic and Republican National Conventions as part of the Election Connection, an innovative project funded by Cingular Wireless and coordinated by the IfraNewsplex at the University of South Carolina.
The students will cover official events, protests and human interest sidebars. Their images and text will be posted to a mobile weblog at www.RUCingular.com/election. Cingular is underwriting the cost of the project, including providing stipends to participating student journalists.
For the Democratic Convention in Boston, the Election Connection reporting team will include four students from the University of South Carolina, two students from Emerson College and two students from Northeastern University.
At the Republican National Convention in New York, four reporters will come from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and four others will come from the University of California at Berkeley.
The work will be overseen by faculty members from the University of South Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications. It will be edited in Newsplex, a newsroom of the future in Columbia, S.C., that is jointly operated by the USC journalism school and Ifra, the German-based press consortium.
To cover the fall presidential election, Cingular anticipates expanding the program to include other journalism schools, though details are still tentative.
The Election Connection initiative follows an earlier partnership among Cingular, TextAmerica, Newsplex and USC. Student reporters used photo phones to cover the South Democratic Presidential Primary, posting their pictures and reports to a mobile weblog (http://scprimary.textamerica.com).
For more information, contact Randy Covington at Randy.covington@sc.edu or (803) 777-6898. Or if you are going to be at the AEJMC Convention in Toronto, stop by the Newsplex booth.
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---------------Newsplex News
By Julie Nichols, IfraNewsplex Projects Director
Steam’ – Summer has arrived in South Carolina with strong sun, high temperatures and dramatic thunderstorms. Although life on campus has slowed down for the summer, the Newsplex staff is busy as ever with professional training and preparation for the upcoming coverage of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.
The most recent trainees in residence were participants in Ifra’s Backpack Journalism course. Attending from the Finnish publishing group Ilta-Sanomat were managing editor Kari Ylanne, news editors Iina Artima-Kyrki and Timo Paunonen, staff reporter Tuomas Näveri, and sports writer Rami Tuisku.
Joining them from London was Paul Roberts, production operations specialist with BBC Training and Development, and broadcast news executives Rich O’Dell, president/general manager, and Mike Garber, news director of WLTX-TV in Columbia, S.C., and Darren Richards, news director of WFMY-TV in Greensboro, N.C. The seminar concluded with a special backstage tour of CNN for the broadcast group hosted by the delightful Marianna Spicer-Brooks, director of news standards and practices for CNN News Group. Also addressing the group about convergence at CNN was Manuel Perez and Annic Jobin of CNN.com.
John Stevens, telecommunications manager for the IT Division at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, visited in June as well. John was on a 45-day tour of the United States, gathering information on the latest developments in journalism school technology for use in the design of a new building for the journalism program at Rhodes.
The Newsplex staff was delighted to hear that he’d been directed to Newsplex over and over again during his travels. We wish him the best of luck with the project, and can’t wait to hear about the results.
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Newsplex at the University of South Carolina Web site: http://newsplex.sc.edu
For information about our Academic Affiliates, visit www.newsplex.org/affiliates.shtml
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---------------Conferences
A Conference on The Digital Revolution: The Impact of Digital Media and Information Technologies
Oct. 14-16, 2004
Location: University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C.
The purpose of this conference is to provide a scholarly examination of the attributes and implications of the digital revolution, including discussions of social influences, media practices, integrated information systems, cultural issues, legal implications, information needs and effects upon consumers. A showcase of convergent media practices will run concurrent with the academic conference. Paper presentations will address theoretical and practical examinations of digital photography, video, information archives, telephony, consumer electronics and information infrastructure. The agenda for the conference will be published in the August issue of this newsletter.
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A Showcase of Digital Media and Information Projects and Practices
Oct. 14-16, 2004
Location: University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C.
The purpose of this showcase of digital media and information projects and practices is to provide a venue for scholars and professionals experimenting with digital media and information technologies to demonstrate their systems, processes, experiments and innovations. This showcase is the demonstration component of The Digital Revolution: The Impact of Digital Media and Information Technologies, an academic conference exploring practical, theoretical, phenomenological, critical and/or empirical approaches to digital media and information technologies.
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Digital Story Master Class
July 26-30, 2004
http://www.mediacenter.org/04/Digitalstory/
Reston, Va.
Geared toward online content managers, editors, directors, visual and graphic designers, and senior producers for any Internet site where compelling content is critical to success; traditional print and broadcast journalists who want to learn new ways to communicate with online audiences. Attendees will learn ways to push the creative, journalistic limits of the Internet to serve audiences better and an understanding of the latest trends and state-of-the-art tools in online story-telling and interactive communications.
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Society of Professional Journalists National Convention
Sept. 9-11
New York City, N.Y.
http://www.spj.org/convention_preses.asp
Convergence 101 is one of the sessions presented as part of a pre-convention training program Convergence 101 will look at ways to ground convergence in good journalism and how to plan a multimedia story. The full convention also will have sessions on convergence, including blogging tools and a look at the best convergence models in journalism.
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Convergence: The Tour
Oct. 19-22, 2004
http://www.mediacenter.org/04/Convergence/index.cfm
Location: TBA
Visit three of the most fully converged multi-platform newsrooms in the world in this convergence tour hosted by the American Press Institute. Meet executives and rank-and-file staffers who “do” convergence, see firsthand what convergence is all about and learn what it takes to build a converged news operation. Attendees will gain a better understanding of the costs and benefits of the various convergence models and of the nuts and bolts of structuring a convergence partnership. Tuition is $2,100 or $1,890 if you register by the Aug. 19 early-bird deadline.
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Convergence for Teams: Visions & Values in Action
http://www.poynter.org/seminar/seminar_view.asp?int_seminarID=3128
Oct. 24-29, 2004
St. Petersburg, Fla.
A Poynter Institute program
Companies are eager to build and discover ways to share their journalism on television, radio, in newspapers and on the Web. But many fear they will damage their core values or water down their reputation for excellence. Converged newsrooms need a practical plan that will help them strengthen their journalism, maintain their standards and reach more people. You will see the plans and best practices of other converged newsroom around the country. As a team, you will evaluate your own convergence efforts and make specific plans to move forward and you will get feedback from your newsrooms about what is working and what needs work in your convergence plan. You also will explore the ethics and leadership issues that arise when newsrooms converge.
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---------------Announcements/News
Writing a book about convergence?
The Convergence Newsletter will be publishing an article in the August issue about books that address the subject of convergence. If you have written or are in the process of writing a book about convergence and would like The Convergence Newsletter to feature your book, contact Holly Fisher, editor, at convergence-editor@mailbox.sc.edu.
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Online newspapers tempt readers
Source: BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk)
By Peter Feuilherade (June 1, 2004)
The number of newspaper websites around the world has doubled since 1999, a study has found.
There has been a tremendous boom in the consumption of online editions.
Timothy Balding, director general of World Association of Newspapers said web audiences for newspapers have grown by 350% over the last five years.
He was addressing editors and executives from hundreds of newspapers who are meeting for the society's annual congress in Istanbul this week.
The rapid growth of broadband in many countries means people are spending less of their leisure time watching television, preferring to surf the web instead.
This led to more visits to newspaper web sites, according to research by the World Association of Newspapers and ZenithOptimedia presented at the Istanbul gathering.
Read the full story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3767267.stm
From Newsplex at the University of South Carolina
Vol. II No. 1 (July 7, 2004)
http://www.jour.sc.edu/news/convergence/issue12.html
Exploring the Meaning of Media Convergence
The purpose of this newsletter is to provide an editorially neutral forum for discussion of the theoretical and professional meaning of media convergence.
We welcome articles on any topic directly related to media convergence, including academic research or information about convergence experiences in your newsroom. We also welcome information about conferences, publications and related links.
Holly Fisher
Editor
convergence-editor@mailbox.sc.edu
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Feature Articles
Newsletter marks first anniversary
New roles in converged newsrooms
Multiskilled journalists are prepared to tell stories in many forms
Newsplex announces 2004 technology picks
Five steps to a convergent news lab
Election Connection covers conventions
Newsplex News
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Conference Information
Digital Revolution Conference
Digital Story Master Class
Society of Professional Journalists National Convention
Convergence: The Tour
Convergence for Teams: Visions & Values in Action
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Announcements/News
Writing a book about convergence?
Online newspapers tempt readers
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---------------Feature Articles
Newsletter marks first anniversary
One year ago this month The Convergence Newsletter was introduced as a new source of information and ideas about the expanding field of convergent journalism. That first newsletter contained information on the IfraNewsplex and its Affiliates Program, convergence and diversity, as well as updates on conferences and seminars.
Since then, the newsletter has addressed changing roles in newsrooms, reported academic research on convergence and profiled those who have gone through convergence training at Newsplex. The Convergence Newsletter now has more than 500 subscribers, including students, journalists and educators around the world.
I have to admit when I took over as editor of the newsletter in January I knew convergence was a trendy journalism buzzword, but I had to do a great deal of research in order to bring myself up to speed with developments in the teaching and practice of convergent journalism.
A newspaper purist, I have often snubbed my nose at the idea of producing anything that might be considered broadcast journalism. My experience with this newsletter has made me change my tune, and I am seeing the value of using pictures, video and the Web to tell a story.
In May I spent a couple of days sitting in on a seminar at Newsplex for journalism professors. They were immersed in new technologies and the concept of doing journalism for print, broadcast and the Internet.
They soaked up the information like sponges. I likened them to first-year journalism students hungry to absorb as much as possible about their craft. We could barely tear them away from their computers at lunchtime they were so immersed in their work. Had you walked in uninformed you might have thought a huge story had just broken in Columbia, S.C.
They scurried about putting together packages on the State Farmer’s Market, a colorful place within walking distance of Newsplex. Using the newsroom roles—storybuilder, newsresourcer, multiskilled journalist and newsflow editor—these experienced journalists and professors produced story packages that included writing for the Internet with a video component. They left the seminar excited and eager to share these new techniques with their students.
I understand how they feel. I, too, get excited learning new skills that will enable me to share the news with a larger audience in a variety of media. Even the purists have to realize technology has changed us. By embracing convergence, we can make journalism better. We can tell our stories in different ways and bring even more detail, information and news to our readers, viewers and Internet surfers.
I hope you enjoy reading each issue of this newsletter and that it contributes to your learning about convergence and how best to use it in your newsrooms and classrooms. As we embark on our second year, we will be looking at ways to make this newsletter even better. Your feedback is valuable, so please feel free to e-mail me with comments, suggestions and story ideas. As always, we welcome your article submissions.
Happy converging,
Holly Fisher
Editor
convergence-editor@mailbox.sc.edu
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New roles in converged newsrooms
Editor’s Note: In this issue we conclude our series looking at the four new roles in a converged newsroom as developed by IfraNewsplex director Kerry Northrup. Over the last three issues, The Convergence Newsletter has looked at the role the storybuilder, the newsresourcer and the newsflow editor have in a newsroom. The storybuilder supervises all aspects of an individual story, coordinating the reporters, photographers, and other personnel assigned to a story in the gathering of information and the distribution of the stories produced across media. The newsresourcer combines writing, editing and news judgment with the best of librarianship and information management to manage the wealth of information coming into the newsroom. The newsflow editor focuses on the content of a story rather than the delivery method. Similar to a managing editor or producer, the newsflow editor makes sure all elements of the story work together to create the best product. Our series wraps up this month looking at the multiskilled journalist.
The most important characteristic of these new roles is that they do not necessarily reflect individuals or specific positions in a newsroom. Rather, each of the four represents a new set of responsibilities and activities in a newsroom. In Newsplex training, individuals are assigned to each role, but, in newsrooms, the roles may overlap across individuals or may be split, with two or more people combining to serve the role.
As you read these articles, please keep in mind that there may be other emerging roles that also should be profiled. If you have identified any other new roles, please let us know so that we can address those in a future edition.
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Multiskilled journalists are prepared to tell stories in many forms
By Dr. Augie Grant, Associate Professor, College of Mass Communications and Information Studies, University of South Carolina
The most recognizable new role in convergent newsrooms is the multiskilled journalist. This term describes reporters who are skilled at interviewing, collecting audio, video and still images, editing those images, and writing stories for delivery across multiple media.
By definition, a person who is assigned to do two or more of these tasks is a multiskilled journalist. Focusing on these tasks, however, ignores the most important role of the journalist in a converged environment: To be able to look at a story to determine what materials need to be gathered for the various media that might be used to disseminate the story.
Consider everyday situations: The first one on the scene of any breaking story needs to be able to capture as much information as possible, including pictures, videos, interviews, etc.—with the ability to clearly deliver the story right away. Freelancers have long carried this combination of skills onto the battlefield and into remote regions, sometimes being a sole witness to a story that can and should be delivered across media. Even mundane coverage such as routine city council meeting can be shared more widely if one or more of the reporters attending delivers a roundup for a radio newscast after (or before!) filing the story for the next day’s Metro section.
The first skill of the multiskilled journalist is therefore to look at all the opportunities a story represents for each of the media fed by the journalist. In practice, that means the ability to identify all of the elements of a story, including interview sources, photographic subjects, video opportunities, etc.
The next skill is the ability to tell the story in the appropriate format, ranging from an inverted pyramid for newspapers to a linear, broadcast narrative. Writing across media may be one of the most difficult skills to master, but the task is made easier by the presence of story builders, editors, and others who can help refine the story for presentation.
Multiskilled journalists must also have photographic skills, with the ability to capture both still and video images. This does not mean each reporter must be an authority on photography and other technical skills, but it does mean that, in the absence of a photographer, videographer or audio engineer, the multiskilled journalist is capable of capturing the images and sounds that will help tell the story.
Time is a critical variable for multiskilled journalists. On the scene of a story, they need to know which medium needs to be fed first—the Internet, the radio station, the television broadcast, or the newspaper. It’s not unusual for a journalist working for an organization such as CNN to feed a live television report, record a follow-up report, rewrite the script for the Web site, and then do a feed for a radio network, all in the space of an hour or two.
In my experience, the most exciting part of the roles training we provide at Newsplex is watching experienced journalists and academics who have just been introduced to multimedia reporting take on this role, delivering pictures and sound along with text. The technical skills are absorbed and practiced almost automatically as focus remains on the story and how to deliver it across each medium.
Few topics in convergent journalism have generated as much debate as the “multiskilled journalist.” This position is sometimes referred to as the “backpack journalist” and the “one-man band,” with each of these terms implying that one person can take on the roles formerly filled by two or more individuals. (Martha Stone and Jane Stevens have shared an interesting point-counterpoint on this subject in the Online Journalism Review. “Backpack Journalism is here to stay” by Stevens at http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1017771575.php and “The Backpack Journalist Is a ‘Mush of Mediocrity’" by Stone at http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1017771634.php)
There are certainly a few journalists who are accomplished photographers, but the norm is not—and will never be—a person who has mastered all the skills related to gathering information. Indeed, many news directors/editors say they do not expect every journalist to do everything. On the other hand, the norm in converged newsrooms is likely to be that all journalists will share a basic set of technical skills to enable them to be more effective in gathering information for distribution across media when necessary or desirable.
That brings up the issue of equipment. Electronic newsgathering equipment, from digital cameras to laptop computers and cell phones is becoming more compact and less expensive, making it easier to equip all journalists with cameras, recorders, and other tools that contribute to the process of gathering news. Multiskilled journalists must know basic equipment operation and composition in order to use this equipment, but there is not a need for them to be masters of each craft. (It may also be argued that photographers and audio engineers need basic writing and interviewing skills as well!)
The lower cost and small size of the cameras and other equipment used by these “backpack” journalists enables an organization to equip all of their journalists so that breaking news is more likely to be captured any time, any where. (See the related article on Newsgear later in this newsletter.)
Again, the primary concept of the multiskilled journalist is not the mastery of a particular set of skills but simply the mindset that the information being gathered will be distributed through a variety of media, with recognition of the individual elements that must be captured in order to bring the story to the consumer.
From a practical perspective, there are few job listings today that require all of the skills discussed above. But when choosing from available candidates, hiring decisions will more often than not favor reporters who bring additional skills to the newsroom. That’s perhaps the best reason for making sure our graduates are ready for converged newsrooms.
The multiskilled journalist is the most traditional of the four roles in a converged newsroom that are being explored in this series (http://www.jour.sc.edu/news/convergence/index.html). Other roles are certain to be identified as converged newsrooms proliferate, and these four existing roles are certain to change over time. The multiskilled journalist—the eyes, ears, arms, legs and voice—remains at the heart of any conception of converged journalism.
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Newsplex announces 2004 technology picks
Journalists interested in convergence enjoy learning about how to write for the Web, how to package stories and the benefits of telling the news across multiple media. But they also enjoy learning about the “toys”—those gadgets and gizmos that have reporters abandoning the notebooks and pens of yesterday and taking up the laptops and camera phones of the 21st century.
Each year Newsplex Director Kerry Northrup scours the land of technology armed with $10,000 and a desire to arm a backpack with all the tools a journalist would need to cover a story for multiple media.
The 2004 Backpack Edition includes:
*Toshiba Portege M200 Tablet PC with a full-size keyboard and good battery life, making it a great tool for the multiskilled journalist.
*Apple iSight Video Conferencing system makes desktop video conferencing easy for bureaus and source interviews.
*Sony DCR PC330 Camera’s high quality captures broadcast quality video and still pictures at newspaper quality.
*Archos AV320 Video Recorder is an all-in-one digital media tool used for Web-quality video, print stills and audio compatible to Mac and PC.
*Nokia 6600 Imaging Phone can provide audio and video for breaking news as well as low-resolution streaming video over high speed networks.
*DaKine Pod 1 Urban Backpack is rugged, stylish and durable, which makes it a great case for everything a multiskilled journalist wants to tote around.
*Canon BJC-55 Portable Printer has high-quality printing capabilities and an optional replacement for the ink cartridge turns it into a scanner.
*Visioneer Strobe XP100 Scanner is extremely portable, allowing reporters to scan documents and image at the news site.
Also included in this pack is Serious Magic Visual Communicator Pro, a simple software suite that makes packaging of news stories easier and less expensive than a full-scale recording studio.
The entire list—including descriptions, Web links and prices—is available at www.newsplex.org.
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Five steps to a convergent newslab
By Dr. Augie Grant, Associate Professor, College of Mass Communications and Information Studies, University of South Carolina
Since we began publishing this newsletter a year ago, the most frequent question I’ve received from faculty is, “What software and equipment do I need to put in a convergent newsroom?” Here’s a brief summary of the way I most often answer that question:
1. First and foremost, make sure more attention is paid to curriculum than to tools. The underlying philosophy of delivering news across media is much more important than any specific tool. For example, you can use standard Microsoft products available in almost every writing lab, ranging from Word and PowerPoint to Windows Moviemaker to do almost all the jobs that need to be done if you don't have the resources to equip a lab.
2. The acquisition tools come next. You have to be able to record still pictures, and your options range from expensive digital cameras to inexpensive camera phones. You have to be able to record audio and video, again with options ranging from simple audio cassette recorders and still cameras to broadcast-quality video cameras. You need to be able to generate graphics—almost any graphics program will do, but you have to have one (most people are using Photoshop today because of its versatility).
3. Editing tools are next. You need to have a tool to edit pictures (Photoshop, again). Video can be edited on a range of programs from imovie and Windows Moviemaker to FinalCut Pro and Avid Newscutter. Your best video editing option is the tool you are already using in your broadcast news sequence, although it is easiest to teach the basics of video editing on imovie or Moviemaker. Word is an adequate text editor, but the newsroom software you are already using in your broadcast and print newsrooms works as well.
4. Finally you need to package the content for delivery. Visual Communicator is the best package for non-broadcasters to use in creating "broadcast-like" packages, but you should check with your broadcast faculty first to get them on board. The quality of Visual Communicator is low, but the output is perfect for the Web. You also need a Web editor, either Dreamweaver or GoLive, depending upon what is used in the rest of your operation. (I do not recommend FrontPage or Word for Web page editing.)
The key throughout is to have a clear picture of what you see as the output of your convergent newsroom, and then make sure the tools are there to teach the process of gathering, editing, and delivering the content needed across all the media. In my opinion, enabling students to experience each part of the process is more important than providing the highest-quality output to individual media.
This response is based upon the process of adapting Newsplex training to teaching environments. In my discussions regarding convergent newslabs around the country, I’ve seen many other approaches. If you would like to provide a different answer to this question, we would love to include your thoughts in a future edition of The Convergence Newsletter. Please email your thoughts to convergence-editor@mailbox.sc.edu.
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Election Connection covers conventions
By Randy Covington, Director of Advancement/Instructor, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina
Student journalists from around the country this summer will use photo phones to cover the Democratic and Republican National Conventions as part of the Election Connection, an innovative project funded by Cingular Wireless and coordinated by the IfraNewsplex at the University of South Carolina.
The students will cover official events, protests and human interest sidebars. Their images and text will be posted to a mobile weblog at www.RUCingular.com/election. Cingular is underwriting the cost of the project, including providing stipends to participating student journalists.
For the Democratic Convention in Boston, the Election Connection reporting team will include four students from the University of South Carolina, two students from Emerson College and two students from Northeastern University.
At the Republican National Convention in New York, four reporters will come from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and four others will come from the University of California at Berkeley.
The work will be overseen by faculty members from the University of South Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications. It will be edited in Newsplex, a newsroom of the future in Columbia, S.C., that is jointly operated by the USC journalism school and Ifra, the German-based press consortium.
To cover the fall presidential election, Cingular anticipates expanding the program to include other journalism schools, though details are still tentative.
The Election Connection initiative follows an earlier partnership among Cingular, TextAmerica, Newsplex and USC. Student reporters used photo phones to cover the South Democratic Presidential Primary, posting their pictures and reports to a mobile weblog (http://scprimary.textamerica.com).
For more information, contact Randy Covington at Randy.covington@sc.edu or (803) 777-6898. Or if you are going to be at the AEJMC Convention in Toronto, stop by the Newsplex booth.
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---------------Newsplex News
By Julie Nichols, IfraNewsplex Projects Director
Steam’ – Summer has arrived in South Carolina with strong sun, high temperatures and dramatic thunderstorms. Although life on campus has slowed down for the summer, the Newsplex staff is busy as ever with professional training and preparation for the upcoming coverage of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.
The most recent trainees in residence were participants in Ifra’s Backpack Journalism course. Attending from the Finnish publishing group Ilta-Sanomat were managing editor Kari Ylanne, news editors Iina Artima-Kyrki and Timo Paunonen, staff reporter Tuomas Näveri, and sports writer Rami Tuisku.
Joining them from London was Paul Roberts, production operations specialist with BBC Training and Development, and broadcast news executives Rich O’Dell, president/general manager, and Mike Garber, news director of WLTX-TV in Columbia, S.C., and Darren Richards, news director of WFMY-TV in Greensboro, N.C. The seminar concluded with a special backstage tour of CNN for the broadcast group hosted by the delightful Marianna Spicer-Brooks, director of news standards and practices for CNN News Group. Also addressing the group about convergence at CNN was Manuel Perez and Annic Jobin of CNN.com.
John Stevens, telecommunications manager for the IT Division at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, visited in June as well. John was on a 45-day tour of the United States, gathering information on the latest developments in journalism school technology for use in the design of a new building for the journalism program at Rhodes.
The Newsplex staff was delighted to hear that he’d been directed to Newsplex over and over again during his travels. We wish him the best of luck with the project, and can’t wait to hear about the results.
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Newsplex at the University of South Carolina Web site: http://newsplex.sc.edu
For information about our Academic Affiliates, visit www.newsplex.org/affiliates.shtml
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---------------Conferences
A Conference on The Digital Revolution: The Impact of Digital Media and Information Technologies
Oct. 14-16, 2004
Location: University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C.
The purpose of this conference is to provide a scholarly examination of the attributes and implications of the digital revolution, including discussions of social influences, media practices, integrated information systems, cultural issues, legal implications, information needs and effects upon consumers. A showcase of convergent media practices will run concurrent with the academic conference. Paper presentations will address theoretical and practical examinations of digital photography, video, information archives, telephony, consumer electronics and information infrastructure. The agenda for the conference will be published in the August issue of this newsletter.
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A Showcase of Digital Media and Information Projects and Practices
Oct. 14-16, 2004
Location: University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C.
The purpose of this showcase of digital media and information projects and practices is to provide a venue for scholars and professionals experimenting with digital media and information technologies to demonstrate their systems, processes, experiments and innovations. This showcase is the demonstration component of The Digital Revolution: The Impact of Digital Media and Information Technologies, an academic conference exploring practical, theoretical, phenomenological, critical and/or empirical approaches to digital media and information technologies.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Digital Story Master Class
July 26-30, 2004
http://www.mediacenter.org/04/Digitalstory/
Reston, Va.
Geared toward online content managers, editors, directors, visual and graphic designers, and senior producers for any Internet site where compelling content is critical to success; traditional print and broadcast journalists who want to learn new ways to communicate with online audiences. Attendees will learn ways to push the creative, journalistic limits of the Internet to serve audiences better and an understanding of the latest trends and state-of-the-art tools in online story-telling and interactive communications.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Society of Professional Journalists National Convention
Sept. 9-11
New York City, N.Y.
http://www.spj.org/convention_preses.asp
Convergence 101 is one of the sessions presented as part of a pre-convention training program Convergence 101 will look at ways to ground convergence in good journalism and how to plan a multimedia story. The full convention also will have sessions on convergence, including blogging tools and a look at the best convergence models in journalism.
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Convergence: The Tour
Oct. 19-22, 2004
http://www.mediacenter.org/04/Convergence/index.cfm
Location: TBA
Visit three of the most fully converged multi-platform newsrooms in the world in this convergence tour hosted by the American Press Institute. Meet executives and rank-and-file staffers who “do” convergence, see firsthand what convergence is all about and learn what it takes to build a converged news operation. Attendees will gain a better understanding of the costs and benefits of the various convergence models and of the nuts and bolts of structuring a convergence partnership. Tuition is $2,100 or $1,890 if you register by the Aug. 19 early-bird deadline.
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Convergence for Teams: Visions & Values in Action
http://www.poynter.org/seminar/seminar_view.asp?int_seminarID=3128
Oct. 24-29, 2004
St. Petersburg, Fla.
A Poynter Institute program
Companies are eager to build and discover ways to share their journalism on television, radio, in newspapers and on the Web. But many fear they will damage their core values or water down their reputation for excellence. Converged newsrooms need a practical plan that will help them strengthen their journalism, maintain their standards and reach more people. You will see the plans and best practices of other converged newsroom around the country. As a team, you will evaluate your own convergence efforts and make specific plans to move forward and you will get feedback from your newsrooms about what is working and what needs work in your convergence plan. You also will explore the ethics and leadership issues that arise when newsrooms converge.
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---------------Announcements/News
Writing a book about convergence?
The Convergence Newsletter will be publishing an article in the August issue about books that address the subject of convergence. If you have written or are in the process of writing a book about convergence and would like The Convergence Newsletter to feature your book, contact Holly Fisher, editor, at convergence-editor@mailbox.sc.edu.
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Online newspapers tempt readers
Source: BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk)
By Peter Feuilherade (June 1, 2004)
The number of newspaper websites around the world has doubled since 1999, a study has found.
There has been a tremendous boom in the consumption of online editions.
Timothy Balding, director general of World Association of Newspapers said web audiences for newspapers have grown by 350% over the last five years.
He was addressing editors and executives from hundreds of newspapers who are meeting for the society's annual congress in Istanbul this week.
The rapid growth of broadband in many countries means people are spending less of their leisure time watching television, preferring to surf the web instead.
This led to more visits to newspaper web sites, according to research by the World Association of Newspapers and ZenithOptimedia presented at the Istanbul gathering.
Read the full story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3767267.stm
NPPA's Convergence '10 Will Challenge, Teach, And Inspire.
Workshops planned for Convergence '10 will cover still photography, videography, multimedia, editing, storytelling, and the equipment and software used by today's cutting-edge visual journalists.
Special emphasis will be placed this year on online visual journalism, as well as the business and revenue side of the industry for both freelance and staff visual journalists.
"We've spent more than a decade teaching ourselves how to do online visual journalism. It's time to learn how to make it pay," said Mark E. Johnson, a photojournalism lecturer at the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Johnson is the chair of this year's Convergence program.
"Convergence '10 will address best practices in newsrooms, we'll look at how to do what we do so that we can do it better, and we'll open up a conversation with the business side to talk about how our skills will help our news organizations or further our freelance efforts."
Online registration is now available at www.nppa.org/convergence. Convergence '10, billed as "One Event, Countless Opportunities," will be centered at the Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston, SC.
Since 2005, Johnson has been rebuilding the photojournalism emphasis at his university to include audio, video, and online journalism. He's been a leader in the journalism department's efforts to modernize the school's curriculum and to prepare the next generation of journalists through the creation of new courses and online news sites run by the students. He is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and during his career he's worked as a photojournalist and editor up and down the East Coast.
"We are very lucky to have Mark working on Convergence '10," NPPA's executive director said. "In keeping with the successful and popular model laid out at last year's Convergence event, Mark is planning a line-up of practical, new skill-building and bottom-line improving workshops of substance that will help our attendees to go out and immediately compete in today's economic environment. We will, as always, be adding the awesome visual presentations from some of this year's award-winning visual journalists, but we learned from last year's event that attendees want a balance of both inspiration and application from our workshops."
"If you've never done video, we'll show you where to start – from hardware to software to where to point the camera," Johnson said. "If you've already done that, we'll show you how to do better daily online journalism. If you've been doing that for a while, we'll dive more deeply into video and audio editing software to really put a polish on your work. If you manage a group of people who do these things, we'll talke about resource allocation and coaching creative people. If you do it on your own, we'll talk about using social networking to find new revenue sources. It's time to make innovation pay."
Included in this year's plan are some workshops that are a longer format and meant to be more intensive, addressing technical, technique, and business issues. There will not be separate tracks for still photography, television video, and multimedia, but a "matrix" of workshops that will occur more than once so that attendees can mix and match their desired course of study to fit their individual needs, Straight said.
"Just like last year, we are aiming to challenge attendees in a classroom setting that requires active participation instead of just sitting in a lecture or watching a slideshow," Straight said. "While there will be some outstanding presentations that are meant to inspire, what we really want to do is to give people experience and skills that will help them to do their job successfully."
Some of the speakers and topics Johnson has confirmed for Convergence '10 include:
Sean Elliot, NPPA vice president and visual journalist at The Day: Navigating the Downturn, a panel presentation on succeeding in the new economic realities of the industry
Damon Kiesow, managing editor/online at the Nashua Telegraph: Managing a Multimedia Newsroom, Free (or Cheap) Tools for a Mobile Workflow; Going Mobile - Trends in Content Creation and Delivery; Mind Your Metrics - Measuring Success and Progress
Steve Masiclat, professor at Syracuse University, on search engine optimization for Video; Going Granular - The Third Screen is Now the First Screen, looking at mobile technology
Stanley Leary, NPPA Business Practices chair: Pitching Multimedia to Corporate Clients
Jim Biddle, Apple Certified Trainer and professor at the University of Georgia: Multiple high-level Final Cut Pro sessions including ones on Color, Soundtrack and Compressor.
Special hotel rates at the Francis Marion Hotel will also be offered to attendees and will be available on the Convergence '10 Web page, Straight said. "In an effort to make this as affordable as possible for people to attend, given the challenging economic climate, NPPA also announced that its prices will remain the same as 2009. This is only possible through the generous support of Convergence '10 sponsors Canon and Nikon."
NPPA's annual Awards Program, where the organization's annual top honors and awards from the recently-judged 2010 Best Of Photojournalism contest are presented, will be held at the conclusion of Convergence '10.
NPPA's Convergence '10 is officially sponsored by Canon and Nikon. For more information, please see www.nppa.org/convergence.
http://nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2010/04/converge.html
Special emphasis will be placed this year on online visual journalism, as well as the business and revenue side of the industry for both freelance and staff visual journalists.
"We've spent more than a decade teaching ourselves how to do online visual journalism. It's time to learn how to make it pay," said Mark E. Johnson, a photojournalism lecturer at the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Johnson is the chair of this year's Convergence program.
"Convergence '10 will address best practices in newsrooms, we'll look at how to do what we do so that we can do it better, and we'll open up a conversation with the business side to talk about how our skills will help our news organizations or further our freelance efforts."
Online registration is now available at www.nppa.org/convergence. Convergence '10, billed as "One Event, Countless Opportunities," will be centered at the Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston, SC.
Since 2005, Johnson has been rebuilding the photojournalism emphasis at his university to include audio, video, and online journalism. He's been a leader in the journalism department's efforts to modernize the school's curriculum and to prepare the next generation of journalists through the creation of new courses and online news sites run by the students. He is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and during his career he's worked as a photojournalist and editor up and down the East Coast.
"We are very lucky to have Mark working on Convergence '10," NPPA's executive director said. "In keeping with the successful and popular model laid out at last year's Convergence event, Mark is planning a line-up of practical, new skill-building and bottom-line improving workshops of substance that will help our attendees to go out and immediately compete in today's economic environment. We will, as always, be adding the awesome visual presentations from some of this year's award-winning visual journalists, but we learned from last year's event that attendees want a balance of both inspiration and application from our workshops."
"If you've never done video, we'll show you where to start – from hardware to software to where to point the camera," Johnson said. "If you've already done that, we'll show you how to do better daily online journalism. If you've been doing that for a while, we'll dive more deeply into video and audio editing software to really put a polish on your work. If you manage a group of people who do these things, we'll talke about resource allocation and coaching creative people. If you do it on your own, we'll talk about using social networking to find new revenue sources. It's time to make innovation pay."
Included in this year's plan are some workshops that are a longer format and meant to be more intensive, addressing technical, technique, and business issues. There will not be separate tracks for still photography, television video, and multimedia, but a "matrix" of workshops that will occur more than once so that attendees can mix and match their desired course of study to fit their individual needs, Straight said.
"Just like last year, we are aiming to challenge attendees in a classroom setting that requires active participation instead of just sitting in a lecture or watching a slideshow," Straight said. "While there will be some outstanding presentations that are meant to inspire, what we really want to do is to give people experience and skills that will help them to do their job successfully."
Some of the speakers and topics Johnson has confirmed for Convergence '10 include:
Sean Elliot, NPPA vice president and visual journalist at The Day: Navigating the Downturn, a panel presentation on succeeding in the new economic realities of the industry
Damon Kiesow, managing editor/online at the Nashua Telegraph: Managing a Multimedia Newsroom, Free (or Cheap) Tools for a Mobile Workflow; Going Mobile - Trends in Content Creation and Delivery; Mind Your Metrics - Measuring Success and Progress
Steve Masiclat, professor at Syracuse University, on search engine optimization for Video; Going Granular - The Third Screen is Now the First Screen, looking at mobile technology
Stanley Leary, NPPA Business Practices chair: Pitching Multimedia to Corporate Clients
Jim Biddle, Apple Certified Trainer and professor at the University of Georgia: Multiple high-level Final Cut Pro sessions including ones on Color, Soundtrack and Compressor.
Special hotel rates at the Francis Marion Hotel will also be offered to attendees and will be available on the Convergence '10 Web page, Straight said. "In an effort to make this as affordable as possible for people to attend, given the challenging economic climate, NPPA also announced that its prices will remain the same as 2009. This is only possible through the generous support of Convergence '10 sponsors Canon and Nikon."
NPPA's annual Awards Program, where the organization's annual top honors and awards from the recently-judged 2010 Best Of Photojournalism contest are presented, will be held at the conclusion of Convergence '10.
NPPA's Convergence '10 is officially sponsored by Canon and Nikon. For more information, please see www.nppa.org/convergence.
http://nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2010/04/converge.html
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