After my news shift this Friday I met with Patrick who set me up with a sweet $500 Nokia N73 to film my citizen journalism assignment. I asked for little instruction with the device and encountered my first bit of trouble when I couldn't even figure out how to turn it on. (A quick phone call remedied that situation.) After I finally got the thing turned on, I experimented with it by filming my dog, fish, and roommates. Having a firm grasp on the capabilities of this gadget I proceeded to carry it with me the entire weekend waiting for inspiration to strike.
Inspiration didn't strike until Sunday when I realized I needed to record SOMETHING in order to get the project done. Then I remembered something in Lawrence that really irked me. Traffic signals. More specifically the traffic signals at the intersections of 9th and Vermont St. and 8th and Vermont St. The two are never synchronized, and the first driver in line can never make the green light at 8th St. when heading north and going the 20mph speed limit.
I had the idea to highlight this problem for my first vlog, but quickly realized the large GL camera were not designed to be operated while driving. But the Nokia N73 on the other hand...
The camera phone worked out exactly how I had hoped. It was easy for me to operate while driving, and was portable enough for me to do everything "on the spot" without the need of a tripod or microphone. You can judge the quality of the film yourself.
The only problem I have with the phone was the difficulty of downloading the media. The video files are saved at a tiny aspect ratio, and when I imported them into FInal Cut I couldn't increase the size. I ended up having to use iMovie, a program I had touched before.
It is possible that these phones will have a place in the future of journalism. I think I have proved they can be used by real people to bring light to a problem, no matter how small, that effects citizens. The only downside is the compatibility of the phone with current technology, something I'm sure will give newsroom directors many headaches.