Norgdom

Graeme Watson, from the Film and Television Institute has invited me to take part in a panel discussion next Tuesday 27th February at the FTI 92 Adelaide Street, Fremantle. Best of all it’s FREE.
We’ll be discussing the topic: “Not New Media, Now Media” and hope to have as much audience participation as posssible. Graeme has even organised for a live internet connection on the big cinema screen to demonstrate some of the key points.

Other guest speakers will be Richard Giles CEO of the soon to be launched Video Bookmarking site scouta, Kate Rothschild who has a background in interactive entertainment including work at Nickelodean in the USA and Producer Matt Morgan from IN8VISIONMEDIA.

Just to get you thinking, here’s a quote from Andy Duncan UK Channel 4 chief on “now media”:

We’re still talking about ‘new’ media as if they turned up yesterday, when really we should think of them as ‘now’ media. They’re not only here, established and evolving; they’re also immediate and accessible to users in ways that older media are not.

Hope to see you round the FTI …

UPDATE: The talk in from 7pm to 9pm - clearly you are all planning to come!

Myself, Perth Music writer Justin Middleton and Cit J Rich managed to score some press passes to the Big Day Out.

It was great fun and we enjoyed the special privilege of access to the VIP bar Rich took some excellent shots, including the one above, and tells me he had a blast doing it.

There are a few other big events coming up in Perth so if you are interested in scoring some gigs as “press” let me know. This weekend we are off to Good Vibrations and we are aiming for Blues n’ Roots as well as GO3.

Of course anyone can write a review for us of any event they go to and I’m hoping to see more of this. But if Cit Js are hoping to get photography or review passes let me know and we’ll see what we can organise.

As Daniel Boud points out on his great blog on Concert Photography Masterclass:

If you don’t already work with a publication that could seek photo access, you may have to start at the bottom and begin sending your portfolio to different publications advertising your services as a concert photographer. Many concert shooters start out working for free for online publications or street press before they migrate to more mainstream media outlets.

The article is also full of great advice for good concert photos.

At this stage, Cit Js who make a contribution to the site will be given preference, but I’m always open to suggestions and ideas.

Hope to see you round the norg …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

This video sums up web 2.0 nicely, but is also highlights the edge that online media has over traditional news channels - watch and all will be revealed.

The author Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Kansas State University also took the collaborative approach to creating the video by uploading it to YouTube and inviting feedback. Then he redrafted it and is still working on the final version.

He also added this video to Mojiti where you can actually write your comments into the video itself. Michael calls it an exciting experiment in “Video 2.0″.

Love it.

The first real comprehensive report into the sustainability of Citizen Media sites delivered some good news for the fledgling industry:

Citizen journalism media and local news websites offering user-generated content influence their communities and are here to stay.

The report “Citizen Media: Fad or the Future of News: The rise and prospects of hyperlocal journalism” relied on indepth interviews with 31 different sites and a 600 question online survey targeted 500 citizen sites - 191 responded though.

I’m slowly getting through the full report, which can be found here. And I’ll blog about my impressions as I do.

It’s a great read if you are interested in the area - but hey, I do run a citizen media site - so my enthusiasm for dissecting the industry could be somewhat biased. But it was really interesting to look at how other sites envision citizen journalism and it is really a diverse area.

Some of the ones that stood out to me are:

ChiTown Daily News High-quality citJ: news, sports, culture, commentary, photos

Baristanet Group blog with citJ and commentary on local news, politics and events, with special focus on food and real estate; plus community discussion forums, polling, photos, mashup maps.

CTNewsJunkie Features original reporting on the state’s political, legal and business universe.

H2O Town Open, independent citJ venue, anyone registered can post. Community news, commentary, resources.

As to the title of my post? Well this is what Jan Schaffer, the report author had to say about citizen journalism sites:

Rather than delivering comprehensive news and “finished stories,” most sites are “forming as fusions of news and schmooze” that pay particular attention to key issues in their communities

And lastly here are is a summary of a few figures from the report, I found on the Editors Weblog:

73%, of the survey respondents, pronounced their sites to be a ‘success,’ based largely on the impact in their communities.
82% said they provided opportunities for dialogue.
61% said they watchdogged local government.
39% said they helped the community solve problems.
27% said they increased voter turnout.
17% said they increased the number of candidates running for office.

The report is generating some good critique of the industry and my friend Jon, pointed me to this one.

Hope to see you round the norg

This is how a fairly mundane observation can become a clever commentary piece. In this case it is the A T & T merger in the US. I found the vid via Scouta (thanks for the tip).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygEwoufSyss

From the video description:

I love it.. sometimes I wonder why I see such insane things everyday.. its like I got some odd gravity power that pulls shit towards me.. I think thats why I love filming so much. I had noticed the last couple days, always around lunch time I saw someone out back of my house fixing something.. so yesterday I decided to actually watch him, and see what he was doing… and so a video was born.

The New York Times is going to post user- generated content, Guess why? It’s cheaper than paying journalists.
Speaking in a panel discussion at the SIIA Information Industry Summit in New York City, Times executive Nicholas Ascheim said that developing video content is costly.
“The most expensive thing is the journalists themselves. That’s why user-generated content is interesting,” said Mr. Ascheim, director of entertainment for video and audio at New York Times Digital.
I can think of a thousand better reasons why user-generated content is ‘interesting’ and the cost is the last of them.
Just when you think that mainstream media is beginning to see the light, it goes and blows it.
Maybe it should stick to reporting the facts and leave the innovation up to us.
User-generated content is interesting because it gives everyone the opportunity to engage in the news that affects them. It is about everyone contributing to a story with their own voice, it’s about passion and experience, creativity and community. It’s about finding the stories beyond the ink-stained paper we throw away everyday, forgotten tomorrow. It’s about your views, your news.
The fiery passionate writings of a true football fan, would always win for me over the daily-filed copy of a journalist who writes for a living – it’s just their job isn’t it?
And yes, when it comes to citizen journalism I suppose I fall into the enthusiast category. ☺ But I don’t think my passion is misguided. Everyday I see another reason why it’s so important.
Today, it was the real conversation on PerthNorg about daylight saving, away from the orchestration of media ratings. It was fiery, it was funny and most of all it was real. But that’s just my opinion, you might have another one – beauty is you can tell me about it.
Hope you do, and see you round the norg …