Kindle HHG

The truth about the Kindle 2

By the way… XKCD is a brilliant and poignant webcomic, one of my favorites. It’s also CC-licensed. Go check it out.

• Mark S. Luckie, the multimedia journalist behind the killer blog 10000words.net. He’s also associate producer for EW.com/Entertainment Weekly and former online producer for the Los Angeles Times and Contra Costa Times.
• Don Wittekind, assistant professor in the visual communication sequence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Our session is part of American Tapestry: Covering a Changing America” — an event at the Knight Digital Media Center for the leaders of the News21 project. The participants are mostly journalism educators who use this project to give new journalists multimedia experience. Our goal in this session is to show them cutting-edge and unusual tools to spark their — and their students’ — imaginations.

Here’s what we’ll cover…

First, I’ll talk about these tools:

• Gigapan: Amazingly interactive, detailed photographs you can really get into — and the community that makes and loves them. (More about Gigapan)
• ManyEyes: A free online library of tools from IBM that help you visually explore all kinds of data and information. You can share and embed your visualizations.(More about ManyEyes)
• Silobreaker: This Europe-based news aggregator uses semantic web technology, including visual interfaces, to make news more relevant and fun to explore — and thus, more compelling and useful. (More about Silobreaker)
• Envirovote: This Medill News21 project tracked the potential enviromental impact of the 2008 elections — in real time, while the elections were happening. Developer Brian Boyer says that building the visual aspects of this site took just a bit of HTML on top of Python/Django. “The coding for the chart graphics took just 10 minutes. Actually, calculating the percent green on the chart is harder than drawing it on screen! The code that creates the numbers took several hours.” More Envirovote info from Boyer and co-developer Ryan Mark.

…After that, Don Wittekind will cover immersive mulitmedia. He says: “True interactivity is unique to the Web. TV can’t do it. Print cant’ do it. Radio can’t do it. So if News21 is going to lead the way, we have to do it!

“Adobe Flash can do much more than slide shows and slick animations. Flash allows journalists with a little programming knowledge create immersive experiences that allow viewers to become part of the story. I’m pushing the concept of interactivity in the form of calculators and simulators. So the actual tool is Adobe Flash ActionScript, but my presentation will be about why we should be creating highly immersive projects.”

See Don’s examples.

…Then Mark Luckie will wrap up our demos with:

• Mapbuilder: Rapid mashup tool for Google Maps and Yahoo Maps
• Dipity: Interactive timeline tol that organizes updates from sites like YouTube, WordPress, Twitter, and 7500 news sites into “channels.”
• Intersquash: Tools for building iPhone-optimized sites
• Widgetbox: Popular widget directory and gallery. You don’t have to build everything yourself!

starwarsholo

The Dallas Morning News Tech Blog speculates on the next step in holographic election coverage...

Someone might want to tell CNN: TV is a two-dimensional medium. Holograms don’t work there — not even in high-definition. That’s even more true for holograms that aren’t really holograms.

On election night, CNN debuted a new type of eye candy into its coverage: three-dimensional video interviews with reporter Jessica Yellin and rapper Will.I.Am, both speaking from Chicago. As the TV camera moved around the studio, the angle of the projected image changed, creating the illusion of an in-studio 3D projection.

Here’s what it looked like (Note: CNN’s embedded video just went flaky, but that article on CNN contains a playable version.)

And here’s why this stunt was such a bad idea…

First, let’s get the technology straight: CNN described these projections as “holograms,” but the Canadian Broadcasting Company explained this effect more accurately:

“The network, which made use of three-dimensional imaging technology produced by Norway-based Vizrt and Israel-based SportVu, billed the interview as a first for television. …The CNN anchors were not really speaking to three-dimensional projected images, but rather empty space, said [holography expert Hans Jürgen Kreuzer]. The images were simply added to what viewers saw on their screens at home, in much the same way computer-generated special effects are added to movies.

“Kreuzer said the images were tomograms, which are images that are captured from all sides, reconstructed by computers, then displayed on screen. Holograms, on the other hand, are projected into space.”

Also, Vizrt explained in detail how the CNN “hologram” worked. It is indeed intriguing technology that might have some good uses on TV.

I watched CNN’s TV coverage of the elections. In my opinion, this gimmick succeeded in being visually interesting and entertaining. I personally like that CNN experiments with new tools, on TV and online. However, this particular tool, in this case, added absolutely nothing to the substance of the coverage. Thus, it trivialized CNN’s coverage.

That’s my opinion, anyway. In contrast, CNN gave itself a glowing review for this experiment. That’s funny, because the soft blue glow that appeared to surround the “holograms” was fake. Chuck Hurley, CNN Washington bureau senior video producer of video, who managed the execution of the “hologram,” explained that the glow “was added intentionally to avoid confusion.”

Said Hurley, “We could have had a much crisper, more realistic shot, almost to the extent where the viewer at home would have had no idea even that the person wasn’t really there. You don’t want to have the effect where it looks so good that for every future live shot, you have people on the blogs saying, ‘Oh they’re not really there — they’re in a studio, faking the moon landing.’”

…Well, that’s one way to look at it.

It’s also possible that CNN was attempting to replicate the look of Princess Leia’s famous holographic call for help from the first Star Wars movie. Jessica Yellin even said at the start of her interview, “I follow in the tradition of Princess Leia.” (And yes, the inevitable mashups are already on YouTube and elsewhere.)

To be fair, I don’t doubt that when most people think of holograms, a tiny Princess Leia surrounded by a blue glow is the first image that leaps to mind. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with playing to viewer expectations of visual cues.

But: Deliberately crafting a George Lucas homage during news coverage of one of the most remarkable elections in U.S. history? A day on which record numbers of Americans demonstrated their willingness and ability to make decisions, think critically, and assume personal responsibility by voting? In that context, I thought the blue glow seemed cynical and condescending. Surely CNN had other options to avoid visual confusion.

I hope CNN (and other video providers) continues to experiment with tomograms. This effect could prove useful and engaging. But please, don’t use it to talk down to people. That’s just embarrassing.

(NOTE: I posted slightly less opinionated version of this to Poynter’s E-Media Tidbits earlier today.)

Here’s what Dave has to say about where he thinks journalism might be heading, and what he wants to do to help it get there:

…Oh, and in this interview, Dave called me a "force of nature." I’ll assume that’s a compliment:

Thanks, Dave

Picking up on my post yesterday, Univ. of Florida journalism professor Mindy McAdams challenged me (and her other readers) to translate my quick list of what j-schools should be teaching into a something more testable and measurable that could be translated into a curriculum.

Here’s my first shot at that:

• Content management systems (including blogging tools): First, I’d have the students run a group blog on a topic of their choosing for a year to get comfortable with the content and commenting apects of blogging. (A group blog is likely to get more activity and discussion than individual blogs.) This blog should be based on an expandable, customizable tool like WordPress. Then the students should be taught the basics of information architecture, and from that figure out how to expand or customize their blogs to deliver or integrate new kinds of content or services. This could be as simple as finding and installing WordPress plugins to add features, or integrating content from other places (such as Flickr or del.icio.us). The goal would be to get them to not just understand, but demonstrate that on their own they can envision, research, evaluate, and act upon options to do more with their content online. There’s a lot you can do without getting too geeky. They need to gain the confidence that many options are within their personal grasp — they don’t always need to get permission or beg someone else to do things for them.

There’s a lot more on my list, of course…

• Mobile tools and mobile media strategies. These students all have cell phones anyway. Require them to subscribe to mobile news and information services, and critique the quality of the service and user experience. Also, require them to create whatever kind of content their phones support (photos, video, audio, GPS data, even just SMS to Twitter, etc.) and post or stream it from their cell phones. Include participatory exercises based on SMS or MMS to include students who don’t have data plans on their phones. Free services like NowPublic, Flickr, Qik and CNN’s iReport could be especially helpful and even fun for your exercises.

• Social media. The point here is to help students learn a key tool for engaging communities, while also gaining experience with how influence works and information travels through social media. I suggest starting with whatever social media services most of the students are already using (like Facebook, MySpace, Ning, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Twitter) and explore both the one-to-one and group interaction options through exercises. For groups, it’s probably better to get them involved with existing, active groups on these services — rather than try to start a new group from scratch. Where possible, use both web-based and mobile options for these services. They should learn to use these tools for community outreach, story/issue research, and promotion of their work.

• Economics and business theory/models. Journalism students should be taking courses in the media business that offer the fundamentals of historical, current, and emerging media business models. They should learn what budgets and balance sheets look like, how grant funding and investment works, and how to evaluate the economic environment they’re operating in — including how it’s changing. Get them used to seeing the big picture and looking ahead. Practical skills could include analyzing the economic environment of the local community, spotting emerging trends that could offer journalistic or other media opportunities, and writing a basic business plan to capitalize on those opportunities.

• Business skills. This could involve evaluating and estimating revenue options from grants to investors to advertising to subscriptions to partnerships and more, as well as knowing what steps to take to pursue that funding. Example exercise: Develop a strategy and action plan for increasing online revenues for the campus or local daily paper — including calculation of expenses and revenues, and a timeline for implementation. In addition, they should be aware of what it takes to start and run a business — requirements for taxes, healthcare, getting SMS shortcodes, working with advertisers, etc. No part of the business that supports their journalism should be alien to them.

• Management skills. I’m envisioning this both from an entrepreneurial and organizational perspective. In all exercises, put the students in a decisionmaking role and guide them through learning how to manage time, resources, and people — whether employees, collaborators, or community members. For instance, if a class project is increasing online revenues for the campus paper, divide that mission into sub-tasks, assign someone to manage each part of that project, and require them to make decisions and delegate. Teach them how to use tools like Basecamp to coordinate team efforts. In fact, it might be a good idea to coordinate projects with other j-schools around the country or world, since increasingly in the media business project teams are widely distributed. The point is to encourage them to take charge of the process, not just to pigeonhole themselves as content creators.

• Marketing, advertising, and SEO. In addition to taking a marketing basics class oriented toward media products and services, j-students should learn the basics of search engine optimization — since findability generally translates into traffic, engagement, and revenue for most media ventures. Exercises can include learning to use Wordtracker to optimize headlines, stories, and metadata to increase both traffic and relevance; using Google Analytics to analyze traffic patterns to a news/info site (such as for the campus paper) and suggest strategies to boost traffic and engagement; developing and running Adwords campaigns (with a modest budget) to promote a class project; researching niche ad networks that might help support various types of coverage or beats, etc.

• Community engagement and management. This is perhaps one of the most marketable skills any journalist can have for the next several years or decades. The point is to get them used to creating news as part of a conversation, rather than simply as a one-way product for publication. It’s about promoting constructive public discourse through active engagement. Exercises could include participating in an active community forum; working as a volunteer moderator for an active forum where contentious topics arise; taking and active role in editing and discussing a Wikipedia page of interest; helping to coordinate (not just cover) local events like town hall meetings, conferences, or festivals; participating in or running local meetup groups, etc. These experiences tech how to handle conflict, foster consensus and diversity, produce events, and demonstrate respect and understanding for communities in order to build credibility. In this respect, working through local government, advocacy groups, social service agencies, neighborhood associations, and ethnic or religious groups could be as valuable (maybe more valuable) than working through journalistic or media organizations.

…I realize that my list sounds like a hell of a lot of stuff, but I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface in terms of what today’s journalists really need in order to take advantage of current opportunities, spot emerging opportunities, and take charge of their own destinies (rather than relying on a paternalistic news org to shelter them while they write, write, write).

I realize also that there may be resistance in journalism schools to much of what I propose, for reasons ranging from “we’re not a vocational school,” to IT staff resisting implementing the kinds of tools I’ve mentioned, to the need to integrate curricula more closely with business schools, to the tenured faculty who must teach at least some of these topics not knowing or caring much about them.

I’m not saying this would be easy. But I do think what I’ve outlined, in addition to teaching core journalism skills and values, is what today’s j-students really need to prepare for the kinds of careers they are most likely to have — and the kinds of media they can play a key role in inventing or developing.

Thoughts?

(And thanks, Mindy, for making me think this through more.)

Today I started pulling together a bunch of stray threads that have been nagging at me for some time. Anyone who reads my work knows that I have longstanding admiration for quality journalism — and growing frustration with the culture and attitudes of professional journalism.

It occurred to me that a lot of the things that frustrate me about journalistic cynicism, idolatry, and sanctimony are remarkably similar to what frustrates me about sex negativity in American culture.

So I’m writing an essay to connect the dots. There are a lot of dots to connect, it’s going to take me a while. And I’m still thinking it all through.

One think I’ve learned is that my readers can always help me think tough things through. So in that spirit, here are some excerpts from what I’ve drafted so far. Bear in mind that this is JUST a draft, I WILL be refining it. I know it sounds more preachy and strident than I’d like. Also, I need to make it more fun and flow more. All that will be worked on

With that said, here’s the draft…

When people want something badly — in fact, when they need it for their own well-being and the survival of society — and when they perceive it as scarce, they often fear its power. And they often try to manage that fear by shifting the perceived balance of power through regulation, denigration, and taboo.

That’s why so many societies are so uptight and paranoid about sex. It also may be why the culture of professional journalism is so rigid and cynical. Both of these circumstances trouble me, because today they seem to be causing more problems than they solve.

Human beings need sex… We also need to figure out what’s happening around us, and which information and interpretations we can really trust in order to make decisions in our best interests.

…Trouble is, no one is omniscient. Even if we were, our brains could never process all that stuff. We’re constantly trying to strike a balance between gathering and filtering information, so that we can figure out what’s relevant and what (or who) we can trust. …Journalism is about trust, expressed in the language of accuracy, objectivity, and credibility.

…Journalists generally take their obligation to the public trust very personally and seriously. That’s not pure altruism. To be perceived as trustworthy is to be powerful. Journalists know this and like it — a lot. In fact, gaining that power is a key attraction of this profession. (God knows journalists don’t do it for the money or the schedule.)

Where there’s a need, there’s a business. That’s as true of the trust and awareness business (news and journalism) as it is for porn and prostitution.

To help the news business grow, journalism became professionalized — thus positioning itself as even more trustworthy, valuable, and (especially) scarce. There were many benefits of the professionalism of journalism, but there was a dark side, too: Journalists and news organizations started seeing themselves (and acting like) an anointed priesthood, with special authority to declare what was important, relevant, and true.

Meanwhile, mass-media technology provided almost universal access to people’s attention. “News” as we came to know it in the 20th century became ubiquitous and popular.

It turned into a perfect storm of human nature. Humans are social creatures, so we often conflate what’s popular with what’s correct or best. Society played along with the growing visibility of news organizations. We evolved new social norms which equated paying attention to mainstream professional news outlets with intelligence and prosperity. Meanwhile we started belittling other sources of news and interpretation (from conversations to blogs). And we grew a new taboo — making it shameful to admit you don’t care about, don’t trust, or don’t defer to mainstream professional journalism.

When news organizations employing professional journalists are considered the best and only proper source of “real,” trustworthy news, despite the obvious existence and value of many other approaches to sharing information and interpretations — how different is that from declaring the only acceptable form of sex to be heterosexual, monogamous, based on traditional gender roles, and ideally within a legally sanctioned marriage geared toward procreation?

Mom + Dad = baby is neither the pinnacle nor the totality of human sexuality. Likewise, professional journalism from established news “brands” is not necessarily the best or most reliable path to “the truth.” People in communities marginalized by mainstream news have always known this. Now, it’s becoming more evident to the rest of us — especially since we have more ways than ever to check up on mainstream news, and see how that particular type of sausage really gets made

This should be a relief to news organizations and communities. It should free us up to be more creative and collaborative, to abandon outmoded assumptions and practices, to find new and more robust business opportunities, and to represent real life even better through “the news.” But so far, it’s mostly led to a backlash of fearmongering, retrenchment, and cynicism from news pros.

Well, no one cedes power gladly.

Fortunately this time of change doesn’t have to be about “killing journalism,” “destroying trust” or even “ceding power.” Instead, it can be about collaboratively building a fairer and more realistic basis of public trust, focused on managing an information economy of abundance.

The jealous, hierarchical, competitive mentality of scarcity that so far has shaped so much of the culture of professional journalism has outlived its limited usefulness. It’s now making journalists bitter, shrinking the bottom line of the news business, and generally alienating people (especially young people). Throwing off that yoke will not only keep journalism relevant and compelling, but make it FUN.

Yeah, remember fun? Don’t underestimate fun, it’s a whole other kind of power. It comes when you blend passion, connection, and freedom. It makes sex a lot better — and journalism could use a big dose of it too. Once you let go of the need to be perfect, proper, and in control, you can start having real fun. And surprisingly good stuff can result.

OK…. that’s where I’m at with this conceptual wrestling match so far. What do you think? Please comment below.

For the last few days at Poynter’s E-Media Tidbits, I’ve been blogging examples of innovative ways that online media is being used to cover the Southern CA wildfires. It’s been astonishing. There have been cool efforts from mainstream news orgs like SignOn San Diego and the Los Angeles Times and even FOX News.

But also, regular people and even some government officials have been using blogs, forums, mapping tools, social media sites, citizen journalism sites like NowPublic, media-sharing services like Flickr, and even Twitter to share news, information, updates, and assistance.

Personally, I think this is shaping up to be a watershed moment for online news. This time, it all seems to be coming together in a new way.

In particular, the collaborative tone of this content that strikes me as significant: map mashups, databases, forums, photo groups, social media, Twitter updates… You can really get a direct sense of how people fit into this story, what they’re doing, and what they want or need. It’s personal, diverse, detailed, and comprehensive.

This is a whole different concept of “news.” It’s becoming a verb, something you DO — not just a noun (a thing that you passively receive)….

In this case, I would go so far as to say that what average people are doing right now, especially with online and mobile media options, is as important (if not more important) than the coverage offered by mainstream journalism.

I’m not saying this shift doesn’t present significant questions regarding credibility, accuracy, ethics, information overload, relevance, etc. Yeah, there are problems. There always are with any major change. I’m not dismissing them.

Time will tell if this really is a watershed media moment. But if so, that would fit in with the history of news: Major public crises have always been magnets for media experimentation and innovation.

…Anyway, here’s my latest Tidbits post on this theme. Check out its sidebar for links to related coverage on Poynter.org, including Tidbits posts from the last few days.

Oh, and in my latest post I’ve asked Tidbits readers to help brainstorm about ways to implement live, accurate, hyperlocal maps and updates that would be useful to people on a streer-by-street level. If you have ideals about that, please comment over on Tidbits.

Thanks. And those of you in Southern CA, stay safe.