If Wednesday was rather uneventful, then Thursday was certainly eventful.  The first part of the day went far more smoothly than Wednesday.  My video question for the day was "What do you think of requiring labels on energy drinks?"  I got a lot of responses as well as a lot of good responses, which doesn't happen often.  I was able to finish all the video shooting within a half hour, which has never happened before. 

Heading back to Dole I was ready to edit my video after returning the camera.  Then the power went out.  O.K. the first time all of the power didn't go off so I was still able to add a picture to a story online.  This lasted for about a half hour and then the rest of the power went off. 

Unfortunately the second time the power went out, I had just put my D.V. tape into the machine, so I was not able to get it out.  I waited in the dark doing nothing for twenty minutes and then decided to leave, not knowing how long it was going to take to get the power turned back on.  Most everyone else had also left by this point, except for Dick who stayed to shoot some intense b-roll of blackened classrooms. 

What can I say, I saw the light and gravitated towards it.   

It is amazing how quickly time flies. It feels like just yesterday "Uncle" Rick and I were tallying up the grades and getting ready for the winter holidays. There were some interesting developments over the fleeting moments of the winter break. Foremost among them was the addition to the newsroom of two Nokia N93 phones.

These phones are a mobile journalist's dream-come-true and could push us from the relatively-new world of "backpack" journalism into the new era of the "pocket" journalist. At least that is the buzz. We'll see what you, the bloggers (and you, the viewers!), have to say about that. You have all semester to write about that.

I am looking forward to hitting the ground running with this Nokia project and all the work that this semester will bring to the newsroom and our burgeoning online producers. What Nokia project, you say? All in good time.

I promise to try to keep the "buzz" in check with some folksie anachronisms along the way. Are you ready for it? You will hear more buzzwords than you can shake a stick at, but would you really have it any other way?

As my first semester as Multimedia Newsroom Coordinator comes to a close, I thought it a good time to point you, our loyal viewers, to a smattering of our blog posts that I will tentatively call our Best of Fall 2006. I say tentative because "best" is a nebulous term. Below, you will find some of the best writing, best blogging (not necessarily the same thing) and most contentious of our posts. Each story is linked to its original post, so feel free to comment there or on this post. Your feedback is always welcome.

We will not have any new content to publish until the end of January when classes resume. Until then, please peruse our archives and check out our sister-site, tv.ku.edu. Whether you enjoy the holiday season or shout "humbug" at the falling snow (fingers crossed!), meet us back here in January!

Without further ado,

The Best of Fall 2006

Bizarre postcards from Beirut

Posted by Stephen Lynn on August 24, 2006 6:13 PM | Permalink

The usual disappointment settled in when I first read about "Reutersgate."

"It was an honest mistake; I probably would have missed that, too," I thought. After I learned that the dark plumes of smoke hanging over Beirut were enhanced by Photoshop, I realized I was part of the problem, along with Reuters and the New York Times.

I haven't yet acquired enough technoknowledge to determine whether someone had doctored the photo. Sure, I know that Tom Cruise would die if he took the 20-foot plunge on a motorcycle like his character did in Mission Impossible. Anyone could tell that the film's producers used special effects. But the subtlety of the changes in the smoke photo required a trained eye.

Not to mention the blatant photo fabrications, which even casual readers pegged as fakes.

The problem goes deeper. The news media's excessive cost cutting has decreased the quality of journalism. How can these lapses in judgment occur when the industry boasts 20 percent profit margins? The news media certainly have the money to hire technologically savvy workers.

Tim Rutten writes that a year ago, Reuters decided to save money by consolidating all three of its operations into one photo desk in Singapore. Washington D.C.-based Reuters employees refused to relocate to the Southeast Asian country, where they would have earned a fraction of their former salaries.

Recently, the freelancer sent the sham photos from his laptop in Lebanon to a Reuters' photo desk in Singapore where employees reviewed them and added cutlines before they were sent to news organizations throughout the world. Shareholders may be receiving sizable dividends, but at the expense of quality journalism.

And whatever happened to employee background checks? Problem is, it's harder to manage freelancers.

Reuters could have avoided the embarrassment if it had doled out the dough for some decent, fulltime correspondents. But I guess I'll have to deal with the news media's ineptitude until I'm willing to stare at photos in Singapore for $18,000 a year.

I may be lonely but at least I'm real

Posted by Heidi Fedak on September 21, 2006 8:41 AM | Permalink

I have a confession to make.

I don't have a Facebook page or MySpace account.

Yes, it's true: I am a social anomaly, a MySpace misfit, a Facebook-less freak. Feel free to take a moment (or more) to ponder the extent of my social isolation.

Better?

I could try to bombard you with excuses for why I've ignored an entire online genre (I'm too old; the users, too young; I don't have time; I don't know how).

But the truth of the matter is this: I've bought into blogs, perused plenty of podcasts, enrolled in the school of RSS. Yet Facebook, MySpace and others of their ilk have failed to garner my limited attention because those platforms not only exploit personal connections, they make it tough to tell fact from fiction.

I don't care about Lonelygirl15 or a blog written by a body spray.

I will not succumb to viral marketing disguised as social networking. I will not bow to "the man," especially if I can't tell whether he's made up or real (no offense, Mr. Murdoch).

Like many others, the real Rupert sees the value (and by value, I mean revenue) in social networking sites, such as MySpace, Buzz-Oven, Xanga and Facebook. And, as a one-time marketer, I see it, too.

I just don't want to be part of it … at least, not on the receiving end.

I like my advertising – and my friends – straight up. Word of mouth is one thing. Word of mouth by way of money, mystery and make believe is another.

Uncle Rick was right

Posted by Daniel Berk on October 19, 2006 9:08 AM | Permalink

I'm going to take a risk here. I'm admitting I may not have had the best intentions when I signed up for this class. I mean, I knew it would probably help me in the long run, but my main motivation was just to get my second advanced media done, and be able to graduate in December.

Well, after listening to Uncle Rick lecture week after week, I'm realizing more and more, that this was a solid class selection and could help put me over the top.

As Rick said last week, I drank the Kool-Aid. I'm realizing how big of a part the web, blogging and multimedia journalism in general is going to play in the future of journalism.

I'm a print guy, through and through. I've tried other areas of journalism, in front of the camera, behind the microphone on radio, but I've always been the most confident behind a computer typing my story on a strict deadline. In fact, my good friend Jimmy Chavez used to say, after a game there wasn't a better thing in the world than sitting in the press room and just listening to everyone type away and get there stories in. The sound of the writers pounding away on their computer was priceless.

Well, it is priceless, but it's not enough. I'm working now for the Topeka Capital Journal, and loving every minute of it. But, combined with the learning experiences from that newsroom combined with Uncle Rick's lessons, I know I need to expand. There's a lot of people out there like me. I like to think I'm special, and my mom has always told me I am, but I know I need something to seperate myself from the rest of the "special" sportswriters.

I think about the newspaper business and realize, especially in sports, If Terrell Ownens, a star player in the NFL, overdoses on pain killers at 7 a.m. in the morning. No newspaper in the country is going to have that story untill it's old news. All day long people will watch about it on television, or go to espn.com, but by the time the newspaper comes out 18-20 hours later, does anyone still care?

This is where I become "extra special." Not, all of those guys I'll be competing against have online producing skills. Not, all of those people have experience with the web. But, guess what, I drank the Kool Aid, and I like it. I'm seperating myself everyday.

A couple weeks ago, I said who knows, maybe I'll be the next Sports Guy. Well, guess what, I am going to be the next Sports Guy. Except, it's a whole new generation of the Sports Guy. I'm going to be the multimedia Sports Guy. That's right, print columns, web producing, behind the mic yelling at sports fans in the morning, in front of the camera for live web updates.

I drank the Kool Aid and I want some more.

Podcasting is stupid.

Posted by Michael Phillips on November 7, 2006 3:40 PM | Permalink

While there are people that would like me to eat my words on podcasting, I'm not ready to concede defeat just yet.

Two years ago, when I was first introduced to the concept, I called it stupid, and said it would never catch on.

The principle is that people will download updated content, transfer it to their iPod, and then listen to it within a very short timeframe. I guess this a cool idea, but its no more than that, a toy in the window of a store that looks fun but is boring after about 15 minutes.

What problem does podcasting solve? What feature does it bring me that I find useful in my daily life? I just don't see it.

Now, it's taken off. Big time. But I can't see a long-term future in podcasting, and certainly not in podcasting-for-profit. The whole thing still has that appealing new-car smell to it, but in a few years, the audience will taper off and what's left of podcasting will return to normal mp3 files, like the rest of the world is using.

Another thing I find misleading is the projection that there is significant growth still to be found in the podcasting market. The statistic on the left shows that as the number of people using iPods increases, podcast listeners will grow with it. I think that podcasting is the sort of thing that only appeals to the early-adopter crowd, and when the late adopters come around on purchasing iPods, they will not become curious and check out podcasting.

Perhaps I'm just extremely cynical, but I see no future in podcasting. My iPod is now five years old, and I still find it useful without hooking it up to the latest podcast content.

It's so long and goodbye for me.

Ah the memories. Like our first go at a breaking news story with the robbery at Emprise Bank. Or the gruesome coverage of a squirrel who jumped to an untimely death and took out power for most of campus. Or the time that Adam, Jimmy, Rylan and I covered the Boardwalk fire in the wee hours of a Sunday morning. Good times, good times.

I will truly miss the Multimedia Newsroom and working with the students, faculty and staff. I learned a lot about journalism, new media, and myself in the three years I have been at the J-School.

I look forward to seeing where we go with new media. IMHO, this is an exciting time to be a journalist, the world is changing, technology is evolving and our jobs as communicators, data miners and information managers are more important than ever. As young journalists in 2006, we tend to forget where we came from, how hard journalists have struggled and how important the First Amendment is to democracy and our society. If you find yourself ever wondering why you want to be a journalists, stop and look at history.

This is my last post on eHub, but I will still be around, lurking...reading your posts. Goodbye and good luck.

Professor Rick Musser was honored with the John Katich Creativity Award on May 17 in the Stauffer Multimedia Newsroom.

Musser was recognized for his role in establishing the Stauffer Multimedia Newsroom, creating and teaching the Online Writing, Design and Production class, for speaking on convergence, chairing the News and Information track, obtaining a grant for his summer advanced media class, and other projects in which he has shown leadership and creativity.

Laura Katich, John Katich's wife attended the ceremony. John was on the faculty from 1986 until his death in October 2001. He was head of the radio-television sequence from 1990-1997, taught media sales and management, and was instrumental in creating KUJH-TV.

A plaque listing Musser and future recipients of the award has been displayed outside the Multimedia Newsroom.

It's Stop Day. The newsroom was mostly dead. Mostly. Except for the online producers who were in the training lab scrambling to put the finishing touches on their final projects.

Final projects are never easy; as the stress mounts, tempers fly and people's feelings can get hurt. In the end, this group of students proved they have what it takes, IMHO, to survive in a multimedia world.

I'm proud of the work they did. Proud of the way they learned to work together. I believe this class builds character. It inspires and motivates students. I like to think that when they finish this class, and graduate, they leave the J-School knowing just a little bit more than they did when they started.

Next week, the online producers will present their projects on promotions, blogging, user-submitted content and newsroom assets to the dean as well as fellow students, faculty and staff. Thanks to Katie L.'s great suggestions for project topics, I think we will see some exciting new changes in the newsroom and online. Check back for excerpts from the class presentation after May 17.

As many of you know, I attended the annual Radio-TV News Directors Association convention this week in Las Vegas. This is the first of several posts summarizing highlights of the convention.

Even some major market stations (e.g. KRON-TV, San Francisco) are adopting the one-man-band mode of newsgathering. So a seminar on the subject attracted a large audience. The panel covered both the "how-to" and the pros and cons. Some interesting highlights:

• The newest label for these single-person crews is "backpack journalists." As to the question of whether it's sexist to call them one-man-bands, Angie Kucharski, chair of RTNDA, was quoted as saying it's okay with her. Thus it seems to be the unofficial RTNDA policy that it's acceptable. Certainly is easier to say than "one-person band."

• One of the panelists from Greensboro, NC, where they use one-man bands a lot, just lost one of hers to Denver, where she will continue to work solo at KUSA-TV. The ND attributed the person's success to the fact that every day she made it a challenge to do something that people would think she couldn't do.

• When they graduate to working with a photographer, former one-man bands become better reporters because they better appreciate how to work with video.

• One downside is that one-man bands don't get a chance to hone any one skill.

• Another downside, on the practical side, is that shooting breaking news one-man-band does not allow any time to gather information--you're too busy shooting.

• Another downside: you don't have a second set of eyes to see things you need to shoot, so it's easier to miss something.

• One issue in using one-man bands is safety. Some of the panelists said they have rules against sending people out alone on certain stories. A couple of them, from coastal areas, said they never send out a person alone during a hurricane, for instance.

Tips:

• To white balance, tape a piece of paper to a light stand and put it where you're shooting.

• To frame a standup, put a light stand--adjusted to your height--where you're going to stand and use it to frame and focus.

• To guarantee good framing on standups, shoot several takes. After the first one, put a notepad, or something similar, on the ground where you're standing. Check your first take. Use the notepad as a reference to adjust your shot left or right.

• In shooting interviews, shoot a little wider than you normally would. Liimit on-camera interview to things that need to be on camera. Interview for facts and general information off-camera. Don't let interview subject hold his/her own mic. Check your shot once or twice in the middle of the interview to make sure it's still framed ok. Pick out bites (in your head) while you're shooting the interview.

(On the subject of standups, not just those shot solo, one ND said he doesn't want to see reporters with nothing in their hands, and doesn't like walking standups that don't go anywhere--the walk to nowhere, he called it. He said, "Take me somewhere, show me something.") Bottom line: The panel agreed that in the perfect world there would be no one-man bands. But they also agreed that if you really want to you can do excellent stories working alone.

"Cameras are sometimes angled clumsily, or are ill-focused, or the sound is a little off. News pieces that are shot well often lack acceptable editing, or writing, or both."

Sound like a quote from one of my critiques of a KUJH-TV newscast? But noooooooo. This is from an article in SF Weekly (2006-04-12) describing the newscasts on KRON-TV in San Francisco (one of the nation's largest markets, obviously). KRON, once the NBC affilliate with an outstanding reputation in news, is now an also-ran independent that recently switched to one-person bands (mostly) -- the first major-market station to do so. (I might add, "and hopefully the last," but I'm sure it probably won't be.)

I just received the judges'comments on our KAB awards entries. It is interesting to note that THE most common criticism of our pieces was "bad lighting" on soundbites. The judges also noted bad audio, bad soundbite framing, and the use of autofocus. Does any of this sound familiar?

Interestingly, they had mostly positive comments about shooting, reporting and story structure.

But this makes it clear: You will have a tough time winning awards if your stories aren't technically "clean."

We wanted to make sure everything was up and running smoothly before we patted ourselves on the back... but folks, we're doing it! KUJH-TV News is providing video podcasts of the nightly news. Now, we just need to get the word out.

You can subscribe to the KUJH-TV podcast through iTunes and/or Google.

Thanks to the wizardry of Katie (sorry folks, she has already been promised to The Spokesman Review after she graduates in May), we have a fully-functioning feed and a slick little branding image to boot. The best part is, it's not rocket science. Creating the podcasts is no harder than exporting video from Final Cut. In fact, Final Cut has a pre-configured setting for podcasts. Voila! It's an extra 30 seconds to export both the .MOV file for the web and the .M4V file for the podcasts.

Today, one of the reporters asked if it was hard to "get" a video podcast. No, it's not hard at all. Click on our subscription link for iTunes and/or Google and the feed will automatically download the latest stories. Most people probably don't have a clue what to do with a podcast. This is where the diffusion of innovation theory kicks in. It will take time for people to become comfortable with video podcasts.

The same reporter also wondered why he should download the video podcasts. Katie had a quick and thoughtful explanation. "It's time-shifting. You can watch whenever you want, regardless of when the show is broadcast. It's not the novelty of having it on the iPod that makes podcasting successful, it's the fact that you can tune in whenever you want."

I'm not convinced that video podcasts are "all the rage." Not today, anyway. But tomorrow they might be, and now that we've learned how to do it with the nightly newscast, it will be easier to experiment with other content. Look at TiVo, for example. It took awhile to catch on, but now all the kids are doing it. Who wants to rush home to watch Lost when you can TiVo it or buy it from iTunes and watch it whenever you want.