SoloJourno

Robb Montgomery has one of the best jobs ever. He flies around the world teaching multimedia to journalists (see also Camp Video Journalism). Right now, he’s on a three-month world tour. Last week, he was in Prague.

Today was Day 2 (Visual Reporting) of this training at The Toronto Star and covered creating embeddable slideshows, clickable graphics, interactive maps, and data visualization.

To start the day off, Roger Gillespie, The Toronto Star’s Senior Editor in charge of training and development, and his colleague Kathy Vey gave a detailed presentation on some of the visual journalism examples used at the star, from image galleries to Google maps. They also talked about the just-launched redesign of TheStar.com (which I really like).

Robb then demonstrated how to create embeddable slideshows using Vuvox and FlickrSlidr. Additionally, he explained how to use these services to create a visual narrative. It’s not so much the tools as understanding how to tell a visual story in a compelling manner: either taking photos or selecting the right ones to create the story.

I’ve done some research and other very popular choices to create embeddable slideshows from photographs include: Animoto, ClipGenerator, Stupeflix, PhotoPeach. Additional online software which does the same sort of things are listed and reviewed on MakeUseOf.com.

Not mentioned, but now in the arsenal of news organizations and media labs around the world: Soundslides and SoundslidesPlus, “a rapid production tool for still image and audio web presentations” which markets itself as allowing “storytellers to concentrate on the story, rather than the application. Created for journalists and other storytellers on deadline, Soundslides is designed to make quick work of slide show production.” Soundslides, which retails for U$40 let’s users create audio slide shows, import captions and have control over their template. SoundslidesPlus, which costs U$70, has additional features such as full-screen playback, pan and zoom, and ‘lower third’ subtitling ability. An educational discount is available. There’s a detailed manual available and a support forum. And here’s a page where people showcase what they’ve created.

In journalism, a great many stories are data-driven. Reporters collect facts and statistics, often in spreadsheets, which then need to be presented in a coherent manner. One of the best ways to do this is with charts, graphs and maps. During the research and collection process, good software can include such programs as Microsoft Office (specifically Excel), open source OpenOffice.org (specifically Calc) and free Google Docs suite which Robb used to demonstrate a number of possible uses for reporters.

Here are some links of potential interest from my bookmarks: There are a lot of tools and templates to present and manipulate the collected data. There’s a lot of helpful information - including tips, tricks and tutorials - on the Official Google Docs Blog.

Google Docs can be used offline. Here is is a link to getting started: Google Docs basics. The Google Docs community is vibrant and there’s even a video channel.

Google Maps are a powerful tool which many news organizations have begun to utilize. They can be used to show crime in a neighbourhood, a local festival, or event. etc. Here are a few examples: Toronto neighbourhood map (The Toronto Star) and Murder: New York City (The New York Times).

Mashups are “web applications that combines data and/or functionality from more than one source”.

There are many types of mashups, such as consumer mashups, data mashups, and enterprise mashups. The most common type of mashup is the consumer mashup, aimed at the general public.

Data mashups combine similar types of media and information from multiple sources into a single representation. One example is the Havaria Information Services’ AlertMap, which combines data from over 200 sources related to severe weather conditions, biohazard threats, and seismic information, and displays them on a map of the world; another is Chicago Crime Map, which indicates the crime rate and location of crime in Chicago.

Enterprise mashups focus data into a single presentation and allow for collaborative action among businesses and developers. This works well for an Agile Development project, which requires collaboration between the Developers and Customer proxy for defining and implementing the business requirements. Enterprise Mashups are secure, visually rich web applications that expose actionable information from diverse internal and external information sources. (source: Wikipedia)

People really seem to like maps and mashups. While they may not be totally aware of how it is done, they find graphical information to be both interesting and informative which is why news organizations have been working so hard to integrate data visualization into their sites.

There are a number of other mapping and charting solutions available to journalists. Many of them are free or have a low-cost, and more importantly, they’re easy-to-use. Two popular choices are Fusion Charts and amMaps / amCharts.

FusionCharts “is a data visualization component for generating dynamic Flash charts that can be embedded in web and desktop applications. Built using ActionScript, FusionCharts is essentially a collection of SWF files that automatically generate charts based on data and configuration settings provided in custom XML format”.

amMap is a tool for creating interactive Flash maps while amChart creates interactive Flash charts. Both have a free and paid version. The only limitation of the free version is that a small link will be placed on the maps and charts. Although the programs are in Flash, the Flash program is not required, and neither is a knowledge of Flash. Data is entered in a separate text file and information can be drawn from existing files such as XML and CSV, both of which can be exported from spreadsheets.

Read more about amMap and amCharts in SoloJourno.com’s review.

I attended Day 1 (Web Reporting) of The Toronto Star-sponsored Web Multimedia Workshops conducted by Robb Montgomery, the globe-trotting CEO of Visual Editors who recognized me from my avatar and greeted me in the lobby where I was asking for directions. Shortly after that, I had the pleasure of finally meeting Roger Gillespie, The Star’s Senior editor for Training & Development. Previously, I’d only been in contact with him by email and phone.

By my rough count, there were seventy-five people at the sold-out event which was conducted in The Star’s third-floor auditorium. More tables and power bars had to be fetched to accommodate the overflow.

The audience consisted of reporters who indicated that they were working full-time at dailies, freelance journalists and several high-school, college and university-level journalism educators. Some people came from as far away as Hamilton, Burlington and St. Catherines. And at least one person drove in from Ottawa.

I had my twitter feed up and going, and used the #CampVJ for my tweets as I covered the presentation on several of my accounts (TariAkpodiete, SoloJourno, VJproject and GBCjournos). Much of the material covered was familiar to me already since I use and teach these methods and techniques, but what I found most interesting was the reactions of some of my fellow attendees.

There’s a stereotype that journalists - especially Western ones involved in print - are a bit behind the times when it comes to technology. Sure they use computers now, and have email, and of course, mobile phones, but many are resistant to taking it to the next level. They’re rumoured to take their time adopting anything new. I definitely detected some skepticism and bafflement when a number of concepts such as twitter and delicious were introduced. Still, there was a lively curiosity too. Those expressing a bit of cynicism seemed to be concerned about the quality of information from such sources as twitter as well as the value of using such tools.

During the break, I had a number of discussions with several of my fellow workshop goers. I mentioned that some time ago, I too had been of the opinion that twitter was a time-waster, but once I’d gotten into it, I’d realized its potential power and value in my work. Just because some people on twitter like to discuss what they had for lunch, that fact that their child pooped, and that their dog is scratching its unmentionables, doesn’t negate the value of the service. At least one 20-something full-timer continued to express some disdain and wasn’t able to see how twitter had any value beyond that of a distracting nuisance.

All the same, change is coming - including how news is gathered and disseminated - and newspapers, excuse me, news organizations realize that. Or rather their management does. It’s survival of the fittest, and if these companies don’t adapt, they’ll die. As these changes are integrated from the top down, employees will be along for the ride, whether they want to be or not. Depending on their schools, newer journalists will come well-equipped to deal with the new news process, while those currently employed will have to adapt. Whether they want to, or not.

Tomorrow’s topic is Visual Reporting covering “Low-cost visual multimedia tools and techniques. Learn how to create embeddable slideshows, clickable graphics, interactive maps, and quickly visualize data for Web audiences.”

photo credit: thru the night.