This month I’m watching multimedia, photojournalism, free software websites and one hilarious YouTube video.

At Work

The Big Picture Blog at Boston.com is still one of my favorite photo blogs. Alan Taylor is a developer at Boston.com and posts entries Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week.

The Polygamists

National Geographic now posts photo galleries on their website from each print edition. The Polygamists is one of many well edited galleries on the National Geographic site.

Advice From A Grandma Beauty Queen

This New York Times video is a great piece of personal journalism. The filmmakers happen to be the beauty queen’s grandsons. The photography is mediocre but the storytelling is excellent.

Royalty Free Music That IS FREE

I ran across this list of free music sites on Vimeo recently. I have used several of these sites including incomptech.com, audiofarm.org and freesound.org.

Why The Designer Holds The Key To The Future of Journalism

Journalism 2.0 is run by Mark Briggs. He recently posted this guest column from Adam Westbrook, a multimedia journalist based in London. Westbrook talks about web design and how it can help sell online news. He also mentions Flyp Media which is a highly designed online news magazine.

Visual Complexity

Continuing on the design theme…visual complexity is a site devoted to graphic design. There are excellent examples of both low-fi and high-fi web graphics.

Effect Generator

Journalists want to learn Flash. Flash is complicated and it requires you to learn action scripting.  Effect Generator is a free Flash-like website where you can create video effects, slideshows and animations. Effect Generator also has great video tutorials to guide you through your first project.

Eric Bressi On Being Elvis

AARP’s website, AARP Bulletin Today, has recently begun featuring documentary videos. Eric Bressi On Being Elvis was created during last year’s Eddie Adams Workshop. This mini-doc mixes still images and sound.

New York Times Haiti photo/graphic

Satellite images help tell the story of destruction in Haiti. The New York Times staff found images from before and after the 7.0 earthquake that illustrate the extent of the damage. This is flat out one of the coolest photo/graphic pieces from the Port-au- Prince coverage.

Charlie Brooker - How to Report The News

For a little fun here is a YouTube video that pokes fun at broadcast news.

Surfing the North Carolina Coast

Beautiful black and white surf images from Chris Bickford and the New York Times Travel section.

Americanpoverty.org

Excellent photo essays from photojournalists around the country.

From the website, “In Our Own Backyard is an organization of photojournalists committed to the cause of social justice in the United States. Our inaugural project, AmericanPoverty.org is a multimedia examination of the daily struggles of impoverished Americans: a comprehensive and innovative campaign that will affect the way the general public and policymakers think about poverty in America.”

Big Picture Blog: Glacier National Park

Beautiful photo gallery from one of our most beautiful National Parks.

How Do You Correct Errors in Video Stories (from Ken Kobre’s blog)

Kobre’s discussion is a good one so jump in.

An Alaskan Village in Crisis

I don’t like voice overs but the story and visuals in this piece from The New York Times is extremely compelling.

Beginners Guide to Digital Cameras and Video

This blog post from dpreview.com may come in handy during the holiday season. Because you are a multimedia journalist your relatives and friends think you are an expert on all digital cameras. Take a minute and read this post, then pass it on.

Save Our Sounds

This is a cool idea. The BBC is using reader submitted audio to create this “sound map”.

Ten Tips for Working With Music in Multimedia, from the Media Storm Blog

Media Storm is generously sharing the secrets of their success.

Times of Crisis, Reuters

I don’t think of the financial crisis as a particularly visual story but Reuters and the Media Storm team have produced a very rich visual multimedia story. It is worth the 11 minutes, 42 seconds.

Let me know what you are watching by leaving a comment or emailing me at vhoeppner@freedomforum.org.

“What I’m Watching” is a new feature of the Resources Blog. It is a way for the Multimedia Guru to share multimedia stories, online journalism and new technologies. Feel free to add your favorite multimedia stories to the comment section below.

Audio slide show: Frozen Land, Forgotten People

In 1966, Bureau of Indian Affairs Commissioner Robert L. Bennett outlawed development on 1.6 million acres of desert in northeastern Arizona that was claimed by both the Navajo nation and the Hopi tribe.
Photography and audio by Barbara Davidson Produced by Albert Lee, Los Angeles Times

Ian Fisher: American Soldier

Denver Post photojournalist Craig F. Walker tracks Ian Fisher from High School to basic training and finally through a year deployment in Iraq. Spend time with this piece, it offers excellent storytelling, good visuals and great design.

Scene In

The Washington Post describes this feature in the Style section by saying, “The Washington Post’s Alexandra Garcia hits the streets to find out what’s hip around Washington D.C.”

One of the amazing things about this piece is that all the footage and images are shot on the Canon 5D Mark II. The lighting, visuals and audio are vibrant. Go back and watch the episode on Dupont Circle, it shows the strength of the 5D Mark II video capabilities.

The Picture Show Blog

The Picture Show is David Gilkey’s NPR blog. Gilkey is video producer at NPR.The Picture Show has many photo galleries from Gilkey’s travels, video and audio slideshows.

Living Galapagos

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication announces the release of http://LivingGalapagos.org, a collection of student-produced multimedia stories about life in the Galapagos Islands.

Texas Tribune

From the Tribune website….What is The Texas Tribune?

A non-profit, nonpartisan public media organization. Our mission is to promote civic engagement and discourse on public policy, politics, government, and other matters of statewide concern, and we do this in two principal ways.

I spent 45 minutes sifting through the Trib’s site (they refer to themselves as “The Trib” ).  I found the website to be clean, visual, full of good political journalism and well designed for the online reader.

4/Docs

Finally, a cool website all about short documentary films. 4docs.org.uk has some helpful information in their blogs and wiki sections about producing short docs. The site, of course, has a watch section that is full of short documentaries.

No budget for training? The Web is rife with resources for training staff and helping you do your job. Below are some of the links I shared at the Associated Press Photo Managers conference in St. Louis. Add your favorites to the comments section of this post.

When I needed to learn to edit video in Final Cut Pro I turned to lynda.com. Lynda isn’t new but they continue to upgrade the hundreds of tutorials they offer for $25 per month for an individual user.

Amy Webb of Knowledgewebb was one of the highlights of the Associated Press Managing Editors and Photo Mangers conference. Webb, a former journalist, has 150 tutorials and learning opportunities available on Knowledgewebb with a yearly cost of about $129. If you attended APME you can receive a discounted rate by using the coupon code APME09.

NewsU.org is a Poynter website offering free tutorials on everything from video storytelling to management strategy. All you need to do is become a registered user and start learning.

Knight New Media offers dozens of free tutorials on audio and video storytelling, setting up a blog, CSS and a variety of multimedia gear.

Gotoandlearn provides free video tutorials on Flash and related products by Lee Brimelow. If you want to learn about Adobe Flash this is a great resource.

The University of Westminster offers Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Flash and various other multimedia software tutorials. They have a YouTube channel with dozens of how-to videos.

Everyone should be using an RSS reader and following blogs relating to tech and journalism. I use Google Reader and follow more than 30 blogs. Google Reader makes it easy for me to sort my blogs by topic and to skim through the hundreds of daily posts. Here are some of the blogs that I follow:

Video WTF? is a forum on all things video. Post a question and let the community help yu solve your problems. This is a give and take site, play nice and contribute when you can.

Mindy McAdams, Teaching Online Journalism is not just for teachers. Mindy writes on timely multimedia and online journalism issues. She also offers many how-to lessons on her site. The conversation is lively and she is quick to respond to your questions.

Channel your inner geek by reading Mashable and TechCrunch Both blogs offer reviews of gear, new software and news that effects the online journalism industry.

Another great resource for learning Final Cut Pro techniques is Larry Jordan’s Monthly Newsletter. Larry is in the training business and on the production side of the video business but he offers excellent tips and techniques for high level video editing. Sign up for the email newsletter, its free!

We all need to be more efficient. The next few sites will help you be your best.

Dropbox is a free large file transfer station. You can upgrade to a paid account and create your own intranet that is accessible online. Dropbox allows you to store and move files.

Google Docs is a free and efficient way to share budgets, project planning, databases and more with anyone you invite to collaborate. I used Google Docs to share the multimedia planning budget with editors and multimedia journalists when I was multimedia director at The Indianapolis Star. I still use Docs today to create, share and track multimedia assignments during training sessions at the Diversity Institute.

MindMeister is a mind mapping website that allows you to think visually as you do project planning and brainstorming. MindMeister also allows you to share the mind map and collaborate in real time.

Gist is a site that allows you to track people. It is a great way to keep track of sources already in your email contacts list. You get real time updates on your contacts Facebook, Twitter, blog posts or media mentions. This is a great resource for reporters.

Finally, if your photographers and multimedia journalists are using smart phones like the iPhone, HTC, Blackberry Storm, etc. you can use Qik to broadcast live video to your website via a video enabled phone. Need video of a press conference or breaking news event? Instead of carrying bulky equipment into the field for raw video use a smart phone and Qik.

The Washington Post video project, “Last Chance High School” tells the story of “candidates” at Freestate Challenge Academy in Maryland, a 17-month program that allows at-risk youth to receive military-style training and a GED.
The story, shot by Whitney Shefte, is held together by two strong characters and a ton of b-roll.
“Last Chance High School” is a two-part series. While watching, notice how Shefte uses the same story themes and characters in both the first and second video.

PART ONE (4:58)

PART TWO (5:31)

Aug. 24, 2009

Links to free websites and applications for producing multimedia

Audacity is a free, open-source audio editing software. Organize your audio files in one folder and save often.

Max is a free audio converter. Use Max to convert WMA files, WAV files and others to mp3s for easy audio editing. Editing audio in Audacity requires an mp3 file.

Soundslides is a free download and is fully functional. When using the demo version a “Made With Demo of Soundslides” appears before the start of your finished show. To unlock the demo, buy Soundslides for $39 to $69. The Soundslides Plus version for $69 is well worth the extra $30. It includes lower thirds and a motion tool that allows you to zoom in or out of images.

Animoto is a website that mixes your photos and music into a video that can be posted on your website or downloaded to a DVD in Hi-def format. You can create a free 30 second video or pay just $3 for full-length movie.

Vuvox is another free multimedia site that allows you to add photos, sound, video, graphics and text to a timeline.

Livestream, formerly known as Mogolus, is a website that allows you to broadcast live streaming video via the internet. You need a video camera with an ethernet port, a laptop and an internet connection. There are plenty of other live streaming video sights including Justin.tv and UStream.

Google Maps allows you to find a place, map it and add layers of information like photos, video and text. You can copy the code from Google Maps and post it on your website.

There are plenty of good tutorials on using Google Maps, I like Google’s and also a video version on YouTube.

Facebook and Twitter are fast becoming more than just social tools. News websites use them to give online readers up to the minute stories and breaking news.

Facebook is also teaming up with UStream, a live-streaming video site to allow users to stream video live on their Facebook pages.

URL too long to fit in your Tweet? No problem. Several websites offer URL shortening. Tinyurl and bit.ly are two popular sites. Twitter is now using bit.ly as its default URL shortening device.

Twitterfall is a tool that helps you read and sort posts in Twitter. It allows you to choose a topic or writer, then gives you only those posts in your Twitterfall.

To see the equipment we use at the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute download the multimedia equipment article. Multimedia Equipment Article 2009

If you have questions or want to continue our multimedia discussion please leave a comment.

Let the sun shine in. The U.S. Senate has joined the U.S. House in allowing XML or raw data feeds of members’ votes.

Who cares? If you are an online journalist (aren’t we all?) then this is a way for you to efficiently track how your state’s representatives in Washington vote.

You can do more than just track votes. With an XML feed you can create a database, track votes by issue and keep an eye on voting trends.

What is an XML feed? Here is what it looks like:

Without going into too much geek-speak, XML or eXtensible Markup Language is a computer language that allows information to be shared and broadcast.

XML data is a powerful tool.

You don’t have to be able to create a database from an XML feed or even understand the code. You just need to know what information is available and have an idea how it might be used.

e-PaperTrail.com is a data-rich site that allows you to learn about Congress and compare votes.

Another data-rich site, Know Thy Congressman or http://know-thy-congressman.com/, allows you to type in the name of any representative and dig deep into his or her votes, most used words, earmarks requested and received, and much more.

You can find the U.S. House XML feed at http://xml.house.gov/ .
The U.S. Senate feed for the 111th Congress can be found at http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_111_1.xml .

I am not suggesting that journalists go out and learn to write code or action scripting. What I am suggesting is that you embrace data.

My friend Kenny Irby, visual journalism group leader with The Poynter Institute, says that ideas in the newsroom are currency, and he is right. Just having an idea that enriches your reporting will pay off.

What happens in Vegas only stays in Vegas if it is not caught on video. Sarah Welliver, an American Indian Journalism Institute alum and Chips Quinn Scholar, attended the 2008 APME and APPM conferences in Las Vegas as a member of the student multimedia project administered by the Diversity Institute. During that project, she produced the video below about Brendan Paul, an Elvis impersonator and wedding chapel owner.
I like the impact moment that opens this video, setting the tone for the rest of the story. Starting a video story with a tight shot can be a very effective way to grab viewers. The tight shot opening also adds an element of suspense to the story, which keeps the audience watching.
Danese Kenon, a multimedia journalist at the Indianapolis Star, often uses the tight hook shot to begin her videos. It is all about impact, keeping your audience tuned in to a video that is enlightening, entertaining and visually interesting.Click here to see Kenon’s most powerful video.

“Final Edition” is an excellent piece of video journalism by the staff of The Rocky Mountain News. The video chronicles the final weeks of the newspaper and its staff.

Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo.

The Rocky published its final edition Feb. 27, 2009, after 149 years and 311 days. The newspaper, owned by E.W. Scripps Company, was put up for sale Dec. 4, 2008, due to challenging economic times and the failure of the traditional newspaper business model.

There is much to admire about the way Matthew Roberts and the Rocky photo staff shot and produced this piece. It is a tribute to the dedication of the journalists who worked there and the community that  supported the newspaper for 149 years.

“Final Edition” is a compelling and sad story, similar to what we as journalists have told about other people for years and now tell about ourselves.

According to his message board, Joe Mahoney, former assistant director of multimedia/Rocky Mountain News, said the project began Dec. 4th, when E.W. Scripps announced that the paper was for sale. It was shot and edited during the intervening months, but a great deal of final editing was done in the past week and well into last night by Matthew Roberts.

We have postings! Multimedia ready Chipsters, Maria Chercoles and Ashlee Clark have both posted audio slideshows. Maria wasted no time, posting her first Soundslide project from the Food and Wine event in Orange County, Calif just one week after multimedia training in April, 2008. The audio slideshow tells you everything you want to know about making orange sorbet. You can see it here.
Ashlee Clark tells the story of Johnson Elementary in the Lexington Herald Leader online edition. Ashlee worked with photographer Jenn Ackerman from Herald Leader on the project. You can see it here.
Anyone else out there producing multimedia and want to share? Just send the Multimedia Guru a link and I’ll mention it in a post.