Good Reputation Sleeping

Best of Photojournalism 2008

Best of Photojournalism 2008
Originally uploaded by Burnt Pixel.

Just got back from a long week of judging the Best of Photojournalism contest. We were, again the guests of The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, and again, we hardly had opportunity to take advantage of the Florida spring.

What we did see was more wonderful online journalism, over 900 unique urls this time around!

In case any of you have been under a rock for the last two years, web video is big and about to 'blow up'. And lest anyone be confused - the best web video bears little resemblance to spot news photography - it is film making, plain and simple.

Check out the top winners at BOP.

Camjos Across Africa

Link: AfricaNews - Mobile reporters in Africa.

"The ultimate goal is to select, in each African country, a number of skilful (young) men and women (with the help of a local coordinator) and to equip these people with high-technology mobile phones (with a small foldable keyboard) where a special piece of software is installed to permit direct uploads of photos, texts and videos to the Skoeps server, from where they are transferred to the Africa Interactive website for publication. Once online, those stories and images are meant to trigger reactions from users and community members. The project's selection policy gives a bigger chance to skilful women in an effort not only to have diversified contents but above all to contribute to their emancipation efforts through media.

The Africans who take part in this project are known as ‘camjos’, a short combination of ‘camera’ and ‘journalist’. A camjo writes, takes photos and makes videos about daily life in Africa, on subjects that s/he finds newsworthy. Each camjo receives a training on the use of the phone and is coached during the first six months. With this initiative, Africans, whether in cities or in the countryside, will have the opportunity to have their voice heard all over the world.If the camjos perform well, they will generate incomes for themselves as they will be paid based on the number of visitors viewing or reading their contributions."

Eye Track, 2007

Navigating slide shows: What do people choose when every choice is possible?.

"But perhaps the most interesting observation was the very low level usage of the non-linear approach (and when it was used, how few slides were observed.) Is the linear orientation to looking through material so hard-wired into our media usage that it is, and will continue to be, the preferred way to take in media? Even when it was visual information – as this was – and did not logically need to follow a narrative thread – people preferred to move through in the order it was presented. What does this observation tell us about innovation in digital storytelling and our audience’s tolerance for new design paradigms."

Thanks Richard!

Sunday Reads

Links to some stuff I'm reading...

* hitotoki - A Narrative Map of Tokyo

* Sen. Ben Nelson's Iraq CODEL Google Map

Another Google Map mashup; this one highlighting the senator's recent fact-finding trip to Iraq. Well done with pics and video.

* Adventures in Publishing - nytimes.com - Then (1996) and Now (2007)

A very interesting look at the visual development of the leading newspaper brand on the web. Can you say consistent?

* Monocle Magazine

A throw back to those great big fat 'European' books of the last century. The website is good, the printed version is better. Hope they can keep this up!

Evolution

Ever since the Tower of Babel, effective communication has been a work in progress. Communication on the web is no different. As journalists, one would think we'd have this figured out. Sadly, we don't.

Here are a couple of attempts at evolving the way we communicate with our audience from The Sunday New York Times.

- 'At Home Again in the Unknown'

Great article about my favorite Icelandic treat, bjork. Online, the article is 'spiced-up' with audio from the interview. A small, but very meaningful value-add. I love being able to hear her voice and I love being able to get some additional content I don't have to read.

- 'How YouTube Helped Lisa Nova Start Her Career'

LisaNova has been one of my YouTube subscriptions from the start. She is droll and bust a gut funny at the same time. She is also timely; able to riff off the current culture at the drop of a hat; her latest, 'LisaNova Does 300' may be her best.

Nice, short and sweet piece in the Times about her rise - and for anyone who thinks YouTube is a fad...please pay attention!

The New Face of The Washington Post

Caught in the Web - washingtonpost.com promoted by Apple.
Any questions?

Take a Blogger to Lunch, Part Deux - Zadi Diaz at NPR

Zadi Diaz.

"Today we talked about the future of radio programming, the relevancy of their website, about moving too fast, about finding new ways to work with affiliate stations, about best practices for citizen journalism, about the value of distribution, about working with limited resources, about licensing issues with archives, and so, so, so much more.

The more I sat there and listened, the more I became convinced that NPR's future seems to be in opening themselves up to their listeners... and in turn listening to them. They are the ultimate connector. Not only connecting people to great stories, but connecting people to each other. Enabling diversity in the stories that are shared. They are one of the last bastions of integrity in news gathering. There can't be fear in that. Fear that the listeners, who in turn become creators, may spoil that integrity. Nothing great is accomplished if not without risk. And in order to take that next step they will need to understand that the reward will be far greater than the risk. Because seriously, the news not about people, it is people."

Pistols at Dawn

Dueling web video projects from two of the old/new media powerhouses, The Washington Post and The New York Times. Both attempt to take a fresh approach to what we call 'journalism'. Both succeed in different ways.

First, earlier in the week, was 'onBeing' from the Post. Clean, simple and personal. Short stories of Washingtonians by Washingtonians courtesy great video interviews by Jenn Crandall and great interface design by Rob Curley and crew. It has proven to be one of the most successful pieces ever posted on washingtonpost.com.

The Sunday New York Times Magazine online features director Jake Paltrow's commissioned piece, 'The First Ones', interviewing some of Hollywood's finest. The format is again, very simple - one question, "what was the first film that made an impression on you?" The answers are short and sweet and artfully filmed (almost painfully so), and it works. The interface is nice also, allowing you to watch the whole thing or pick where to enter.

These two projects are not quite YouTube, but are also a nice step away from the TV-derivative stuff we are used to seeing from MSM. Hopefully we will see more like this; video journalism that starts to feel like the web is truly its home.

More Signal, Less Noise

More Signal, Less Noise
Originally uploaded by Burnt Pixel.

Every once in while something neat breaks through the corporate creativity firewall.

Washington Post videographer Jenn Crandall's onBeing takes a simple idea and brings it to the people in the Washington, D.C. community. Rob Curley and his posse provide an interface and user experience that is both familiar (can you say iTunes?) and fun!

Web video, done right!

Updates on a Roll

Dr. John Maeda
Originally uploaded by Burnt Pixel.

- My life-hacking experience with Dr. Maeda was wonderful. We talked for over an hour; what a fascinating artist! I hope to find some time to head north to the Media Lab for the full effect.

- I lost my godmother over the holidays. It has been hard to write about; she was one of my parents closest friends and it reminds me of their own mortality. She was also the crazy aunt I never had, helping keep me 'real' and introducing me, to among other things, girls!

Death is a reminder to make the life you have the one you want.

- Recently had this piece published on poynter.org; its a 'rant' designed to call people out. Our industry is in turmoil but it doesn't have to be that way. Journalism has been elitist for too long, time to open the gates and let the people in to look around!

The operative word is ENGAGE.
Engage your community, engage your bloggers, engage your critics; learning shouldn't stop when we get a press card, if anything, it should become part of the job.