Ending Is Another Beginning

Without realizing it, time has flown. I felt like we were asked to learning blogging and multimedia journalism a week ago and now this will serve as the last post for the class.

I have been involving in more news story journalism during the past two quarters, so I got a bit of overview about what journalism is about.  It is about gathering facts (information) and presenting them in a good flow of story to the public. It was more about writing a news story or brief. However, Multimedia Journalism class has brought me to another level of reporting news. Journalism is not only about written stories. There are a lot of ways to present an idea.

Let’s start with slideshows. I mean, just a couple of pictures and cutlines arranged in a comprehensive flow of story can be a powerful reporting media. Even though I was a bit confused with the regular cutlines in my slideshow, I think creating a slideshow is a doable task. People say, a picture can say 1000 words. Forget the hustle bustle of text, here are the pictures of what is happening.

Pictures also serve as descriptive tools on a narrative. I remembered a friend of mine using pictures of closed-down buildings to describe his editorial about the impact of financial crisis on small business. Should that editorial go plain narrative, I wouldn’t have felt touched. As I might going on a career as a photojournalist, this class (along with my internship and college newspaper assignments) has taught me the importance of pictures and how to produce a storytelling picture.

I have been blogging (mostly for my own life journal) for about seven years now but only recently did I learn about using blog for journalistic purpose. I read some journalistic blogs before but never really thought of using mine to serve that purpose. Hence, another new idea on developing my blog.

The last thing that I don’t really think I would go on is video reporting. It is nice to see the final product but the works do not worth the outcome. It takes too many working hours but will attract less viewership compared to the written article or slideshow. However, the class has pushed me to work with storyboard and recording video interview, which I would reluctant to do. I have had this kind of anxious talking with or interview people for my story, and plus asking permission for video recording? Too much. Nevertheless, I kind of broke through my own boundaries. To be honest, I started to enjoy interviewing people and writing stories.

Too bad that the class is about to end. But no matter what, I will carry on with the skills I learned. As I said before, I’m planning on being a photojournalist, for real!

Keep the fingers crossed.

Online News

How do you know if you have done a good job in journalism? Well, you can always evaluate yourself but it seems to me that it will be more objective to let other people judge your works.

In terms of online journalism, there is Online News Association that gives awards in 30 categories to online news outlet (from small to large sites) every year. Last year, they announced 30 outlets in 27 categories.

Al Jazeera won the breaking news, large site award for their coverage on uprising in Egypt.

Looking at the site, I kind of understand why they won. For almost all issue in the Middle East, there will always be in-depth article, video, and blog that shows journalistic values in the site. They also schedule real-time reporting on Syria, for example, which indicates the timelines of the news. When the world is looking for information on Middle East, Al Jazeera is at the right place. They understand the field better than other news outlet.

As for the coverage on uprising in Egypt, users are presented with a one-minute-forty-second video on occupy of Tahrir Square and the trial of Hosni Mubarak, former president of Egypt. Not only that, the video also shows how people react on the verdict.  What makes it more breaking news is the live blog Egypt, which is updated almost every two hours or so.

Timeliness is playing a key role in the news, especially for online (and breaking) news. So, if you decide to walk on the path, at least you know what it takes to be a good one.

Interview 1: Raw

So, here is the first interview for my final project on Ocean Research College Academy (ORCA).
There will be another video later this week.

Vblog: Story Idea on ORCA

So, there is another challenge in this Multimedia Journalism class: making a video blog.

I decided to tell you about my plan on my final project on ORCA. It is interesting to know about the activities in the program. I was there several times. I wish I could enroll in the program because I'm interested in science and it is cool to observe marine animals in a water tank.

If you want to find out more, wait until I finish my final project.

In the meantime, please enjoy my first video blog.

As A Matter of Manner

Once I saw a book called “Otak Sejuta Gigabyte” (One Million Gigabyte Brain), originally titled “The Great Memory Book” by Eric Jensen, M.A. and Karen Markowitz, M.A. It is about how to use simple memory technique to recall names, places, etc. The bottom line: how to use boost your brain to store one million gigabyte of memory.

However, the rest of the blog is not about how we can use the brain, but, rather, about how sometimes the memory can fool you.

In our social life, there are certain responses that go together – either they are to show politeness or just a mere habitual things.

For example, if people say “Thank you” to you, what will you response?

“You’re welcome” (good one!)

Or, if somebody asks you “Do you want some drink?”, the polite way to refuse is to say what?

“No, thanks.” (awesome!)

Enough for the manner lesson. Sometimes we are so used to the pairs that the brain does not really process the questions before giving a response.

Scene 1:

I was on the bus to the downtown for a grocery shopping. The bus gradually stoped. My friend and I walked on the alley towards the front door. As a matter of manner (no pun intended), my friend said, “Thank you, Sir” to the bus driver. The bus driver (and some other passengers)) laughed. What’s wrong? The bus driver was a woman!

Scene 2:

I was walking down a street going back to my apartment. Somebody on the street asked me, “do you have a cigarette?” Without consulting with the brain, my mouth threw out “No, thanks.” Ten steps away, my brain accused my responsive mouth “you should have answered, ‘No, sorry’”.

Scene 3:

Day 1: Staff at the cafetaria : “Have a great day!”

            Me: “You, too.”

Day 2: Staff at the cafetaria : “Have a good lunch!”

            Me: “You, too.”

            Three second later I told myself, “She didn’t have lunch, she was working.”

Scene 4: 

I was riding an automatic motorbike (a good friend let me ride it after my manual motorbike was sold). Everytime I slowed down or I felt that I need to accelerate the speed, my foot stepped to change the gear. I was stepping on the air as there was no gear on the bike.

Scene 5:

Stranger: "How are you doing?"

Me: (hatchoo!!!) "I'm good, thanks."