Multimedia journalism - first impressions and lessons learned

Working with multimedia is far more interesting than working with just a single meduim. Last year I specialised in Radio and by the end of the year i found myself getting bored with it. It became monotonous going out getting a story, editing it, playing it. By working with multimedia it creates so many dimensions to the story. I really enjoyed working with the visual part of it. As a former radio student it was awesome to see a story coming alive visually. I can see now that so much of what we see can give so much information about something that sound might not necessarily show.

But I did grasp how using different mediums complement one another and give added meaning. The photostories needed sound in order for them to have some sort of meaning or relevance. Sound also plays a powerful role in how something visual is represented. For instance the hypnotist photostory by itself with no sound just looked like a bunch of people hypnotised. But then we added a narrtive of Steph speaking in the way that he puts people under. Then we added a backing track of weird, dark almost gothic music. All of a sudden the photostory became creepy and almost sinister. It was great! Its amasing how you can change the mood of a piece and ultimatley the way people perceive something just by adding sound.

Working with multmedia is log process. Because we not limiting ourselves to one medium like the other specialisations it takes a lot more time in creating a packaged story. The writing has to be perfect, the pictures, the sound. All the different mediums also have to gel together and flow with one another.

So far I have had a good experience working with the different mediums. It makes creating a package so much more interesting and eclectic. Also I like that I am learning new skills and broadening my knowledge.

SCIfest: The Vagaries of Reporting Science

Nothing completley erratic or unpredictable happened during the reporting for SCIfest. I think this is because Melissa and I didn't go into with a solid plan of action. We almost took things as they came so in this sense we were prepared for anything.

Before we actually went out and started reporting, I was a little apprehensive about doing science related stories as I left all things scientific back in Matric. But I found that there was nothing to be worried and that I'm not a complete dunce as I understood all the lectures. The DNA workshop felt like I was back in Gr 11 biology and I surprised myself how of much I actually remembered.

Things that happened during the course of reporting that were not according to plan mostly occurred with the technical side. The mp3 recorders can be very temperamental. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Sometimes you get perfect sound, sometimes you get fuzz. I was not the problem, it was the machine! Also Melissa and I are clearly in the beginning phases of Parkinson's Disease because we both seem to be incapable of taking pictures that are not blurred. For the Junk Toys story we had to go twice to the lecture because we didn't have a single clear picture from the first time round.

Otherwise I felt everything went pretty smoothly. Other than saying last friday "oh we'll be in the labs till like 9.30pm latest" come 2am and we were still slogging at it. Reporting for Science is no different than reporting for anything else. You have to make sure that you understand what your story is ulimately about and then try relate it to a local context.

SCIfest: Reporting on conferences and events

Driving up the hill towards the Monument became a regular feature during the 10 days of SCIfest. What made the drive interesting was watching my petrol gauge below the red line and hoping that I wouldn't find myself rolling down backwards. But luckily my little Polo Playa managed to perform. With my car performing it duty. I had my own duty of reporting on conferences and events at SCIfest, most of which were at the Monument.

With Melissa in my team, the first lecture we attended was presented by Jane Badham on healthy eating. Not feeling so healthy myself from the night before I felt like a cop out siting there taking notes about having a healthy lifestyle. I think the organisers of SCIfest did a superb job of making this lecture on a public holiday as they probably knew that everybody was out jolling the night before. What better way to make people feel rotten about themselves. After the lecture Melissa and I spoke to Jane. Melissa did most of the talking (she didn't go out jolling the night before. Smart.) For this particular story we gave it a local perspective and focused on Makana's weighty issue. So to give more depth to the story we then spoke to Janet Kelly of the Rhodes Health Suite. What I found most interesting about Jane and Janet is that they both had a lot to stay about being healthy, eating the right foods, exercise and so on yet both of them weren't exactly Elle "The Body" McPhereson. Part of the project also meant getting pics of people eating (not many people obliged to this, I wouldnt blame them -who would want a pic of them stuffing themselves on the web?) people exercising in the gym (the jocks were very obliging to this) and people being sedentry (majority of students). This paticular story was interesting to do because I could relate what the story was about to my own life. Everyone wants to be more healthy and all that which goes with it. It makes reporting on a story so much more intersting and makes you put more effort when you have your own personal interest in the story.

Next up Melissa and I went to report on Steph Juncker the hypnotist. Steph had two shows at SCIfest, one being an actual hypnotist show and the other a lecture. Because you had to pay for the show, Melissa and I didn't have any tickets so I phoned up Steph and did a bit of bartering. We lent him a tripod, he let us in his show. I'm sure this type of thing happens all the time in the real world of journalism. The show was amusing naturally, watching people eat raw onions whole always is. The next day came the lecture after which we spoke to Steph. This is where a learnt another lesson about being a journalist. Sometimes you just have to let your personal issues with the person you are interviewing slide and just suck it up. After having comments thrown at us like "I'd do you" "I only do autographs on the bum, come let me sign you" and "why didn't I see you girls in the Rat last night" you just have to smile sweetly, giggle at the lame comments and try get him to answer our questions. Men, especially middle aged men, are generally perverted. They also seem to think that it is ok and normal to undress 21 yr old girls with their eyes, and do so blantatly. One day I will be 40 and I wont have to deal with this type of thing. So what I learnt about reporting for this story was that sometimes you just have to suck it up as not everyone you interview is going to be a decent person.

We also had planned to do a story on the scientific differences between girls and boys. The lecture was highly entertaining, but we didnt have an angle to make the story news worthy. So basically we attended a lecture and wrote down notes for our own interest sake. Sometimes a story gets scrapped at that's that. But at least I know now that girls are designed and programmed to have little to none spatial ability. The next time I parallel parking I'll keep that in mind when it takes me several attempts to get into the parking bay.

Following was Arvind Gupta and how he creates educational toys out of junk materials. Lucky for me the lecture was at the Albany Museum, so my car -still sitting on empty- didn't have to attempt the Monument trek. It was quite incredible watching him make pumps and all sorts out of rubbish that we normally discard everyday, also the fact that he doesnt use glue or scissors. The children there were equally entertained as the teachers and parents. This kind of lecture is the one that validates your role as a journalist. Because we come from a society where majority is in poverty, educuational toys are not an expenditure priority. So making these types of toys are beneficial to so many people in Makana and South Africa. And being a journalist helps to get that message out there to show people what they can achieve with ordinary things.

Finally we did our last story on DNA and how its used to determine paternity and solve murders. Melissa took part on the workshop and I took photographs. I think it was good that Melissa got involved because as a journalist you dont always have to take the observer role. Journalits can take an active role and be involved and participate. I think this way allowed for more understanding of the workshop than just trying to absorb all the information passively.

All in all reporting for SCIfest was interesting. It's nice to get out of the labs and go reporting outside in the field. Reporting from conferences also makes our job a lot easier because most of what needs to be reported on is said in the lecture, or something is said that can be delved into with more depth in the one on one interview afterwards.

accessibility of web pages

Why is accessibility of web pages of concern to you as a journalist.

Web accessibility is an important aspect in considering online journalism. As journalists we learn that news and information must be accessible to all people of a society. Everyone has the right to information and therefore online journalism should make sure that its content does not alienated people because of literacy or technology. New media and online journalism should be accessed by all who are able to be on the internet and should not be hampered by lack of technology. Web accessibility guidelines provided by the W3Cs informs journalists how to make web pages accessible to all. An important aspect in making web pages accessible is by making content understandable and navigable. “This includes not only making the language clear and simple, but also providing understandable mechanisms for navigating within and between pages.” (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0)
Part of making web pages accessible is by providing “equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content.” This means that the journalist will need to know the elements (such as XHTML) in order to create equivalent information. Accessibility also means doing the markup sheets correctly and coherently as “using markup improperly –not according to specification – hinders accessibility”.
When creating web pages the journalist also needs to keep in mind that people with disabilities also need to interact with the web page. In the markup language the journalist needs to “clarify natural language usage. When the content developers [the journalist] mark up natural language changes in a document, speech synthesisers and braille devices can automatically switch to the new language, making the document more accessible to multilingual users.”
Making web pages accessible to places where technology has not caught up poses another problem to journalists. This is particular to journalists working online in Africa. Journalists dealing with this issue need to “ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully…that pages are accessible even when newer technologies are not supported or turned off.”
Therefore when online journalists create their web pages they need to keep in mind web accessibility for all users, whether they are disabled or lack the supporting technology. Journalists who have a knowledge of markup language enables them to make their web pages more accessible.

Reference:
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
http://moodle.ru.ac.za/mod/resource/view.php?id=8692

Why is it important for journalists to have a solid grasp of the technical language of XHTML, etc. (Additionally, how will it make your skills more relevant in the African context)

It is important for Journalists to have a solid grasp oh XHTML for several reasons. Although today we can just simply use programs to do the work of markup language for us, it is beneficial to us to learn it anyway. In terms of learning XHTML in a journalistic view it “provides [us] with an opportunity to overcome any fear of technical jargon.” (Niles) What Niles means is that when we enter the working world of journalism we shouldn’t be afraid of dealing with technical jargon that we may feel we might not understand. Niles further states that “a reporter who surrenders when confronted with such technical detail is an easy mark for smooth-talking publicists looking to spin a story”. Although I don’t completely agree with Niles that learning XHTML will give me the opportunity to combat all technical jargon and not succumb to PR, I do agree that it is beneficial to learn technical jargon in order to be more understanding of it.
Learning XHTML as a journalist in an African context is also beneficial. Africa unfortunately has a low bandwidth, so therefore web accessibility is a big issue. “Bandwidth is the life-blood of the world's knowledge economy, but it is scarcest where it is most needed - in the developing nations of Africa which require low-cost communications… and even Africa's most well-endowed centres of excellence have less bandwidth than a home broadband user in North America or Europe, and it must be shared amongst hundreds or even thousands of users.”(Jensen) Therefore journalists need to know XHTML in order to format web pages so that they are more accessible to people in African countries. By not overloading pages with content, basic XHTML and CSS pages can be delivered fast and efficiently without using much bandwidth.
Learning XHTML can only be beneficial to myself. This is because I will have the basic knowledge as to how a web page works. It also enables me to work with multiple media and not only web pages. Secondly it also helps being a journalist in Africa because of the shortage of bandwidth, it brings you back to basics of getting information across.

Reference:
Mike Jensen http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/apc0612.phpRobert Niles http://moodle.ru.ac.za/mod/resource/view.php?id=8756

HTML and CSS

The importance of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is that it creates the presentation and style of the document. CSS can only work if the structure of the document is in order. HTML is the basis and structure which CSS works from. “Before you can even think about the appearance of you web page, you need to think about the semantic or structural content of your page so that the HTML is “CSS-ready” (Debolt)

The importance of learning HTML and CSS is so that you don’t become confined to a programme. Design programmes are fine to work with, but they may only be compatible with web pages. By learning HTML and CSS a page can go anywhere, including “PDA, cell phone, or an aural screen reader” (Debolt)

HTML and CSS compliment and work with each other. CSS cannot be displayed on its own it needs the structure of HTML on which to work. HTML can be bland without the styling and design of CSS, as “HTML pages can be considered two-dimensional, because text, images and other elements are arranged on the page without overlapping.” (http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Understanding_CSS_z-index)

HTML is useful because it is the structure the elements always remain the same. Through changing the CSS creates different styles and designs. This is clearly demonstrated by the CSS Zen Garden (www://www.csszengarden.com). There are many links of the same web page however all the pages look completely different yet carry the same content. This is because “the code remains the same, the only thing that has changed is the external .css file.” (csszengarden)

What else that is important to HTML and CSS is the way that you present your document. Pages need not be clustered and confusing, “a carefully structured HTML page is very simple and uncluttered.” (Debolt) What makes well structured pages is that the “HTML elements [have] almost no presentational attributes in the tag.” (Debolt). The presentation and design rules are implemented into the CSS.

What I have understood about HTML and CSS is that HTML is the building block, or skeleton for web pages and such. CSS is the design element that makes the page look unique and is able to add elements that are more appealing to the eye. It is important also to learn HTML and CSS is because it enables you to create content for a variety of media and not just web pages.

Reference:

Debolt, Virginia. 2004 The Early Bird Catches the CSS http://www.wise-women.org/tutorials /cssplanning

http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Understanding_CSS_z-index)

www.csszengarden.com

a discussion of new media

The uniqueness of new media to journalism is that it is a fast past medium that is highly accessible and has the ability to include a variety of media. New media can be roughly defined as the “synthesis of tradition and innovation”. (Kawamoto 2003:4) This means that new media takes traditional journalistic philosophies and practices and combines it with new technology. Also “this definition captures the historical and important function of journalism in a democracy, which is to inform and enlighten the public, and also acknowledges the evolving tools of the trade and literacy skills of the audience.” (Kawamoto 2003:4) Journalism needs to evolve as an industry and the technology which it uses. New media is the next phase in which journalism can evolve its technology. New technology doesn’t change the practice and values of journalism instead “new technologies take forward existing practices that particular social groups already see as important or necessary.” (Lister [et al] 2002: 81)
New media according to Anthony Mitchell has the ability to do a number of things that have social and political implications, including:

· It can encourage changes in attitudes and definitions of socially accepted behaviour.
· It can connect people with resources and information more efficiently and cheaply than old media.
· It can encourage people to take better care of themselves and to engage in less risky or destructive behaviour
· It can harness peer pressure through peer generated content.

New media, according to Abdul Waheed Khan, also has the ability to “[hold] a hitherto
unseen potential to empower the individual by providing greater freedom of information that can lead to innovation courses of practical action.”

However new media is by no means over taking or replacing traditional old media, nor is new media just “old wine in new wineskins”. New media and old media work on correlation with each other. “The traditional media and digital media are increasingly working in tandem these days, cross-fertilizing (or cross promoting) each other by driving audience members back and forth between them” (Kawamoto 2003:11) Journalism in a democracy serves the same function whether it uses new technology or the traditional older format. That function is to inform the public of news of social, political, cultural or economic importance. Mitchell emphasises that “[the] need for public service messages has not disappeared, but has yet to be transformed by the capabilities for precise targeting, distribution and innovative content creation that old media offers.”

A criticism or praise, which ever way you look at it, about new media is that it enables anybody to essentially become a journalist. The advent of blogs has allowed ordinary citizens to view their thoughts on particular issues or report on something. “Whether amateur reporting, commentary, and blogs qualify as digital journalism is open to debate.” ( Kawamoto 2003: 14)

New media is a primary phase of its existence and it so far it cannot be completely defined. What we can say new media is, is that it involves an incorporation of digital media. It is accessible and interactive. It is also the new wave of journalism that extends the concepts and values of old, traditional media into a new era of technological change. But it’s function is not to stamp out traditional media but instead work in conjunction with, and compliment it.