The second set of workshops, which conclude Saturday, includes the following sessions (more about faculty):
Creating video narratives by Washington Post video guru Travis Fox and University of Miami visual journalism professor Jim Virga.
Creating effective online infographics by University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill visual communication professor Alberto Cairo and New York Times graphics editor Xaquin Gonzalez.
Multimedia programming for journalists by NYT senior multimedia producer Tom Jackson and Internet consultant Donny Loflin, who specializes in multimedia and application development.
I am attending the infographics workshops because it’s the area I know the least about, though I wish I could take all three!
Notes
Special thanks to Richard Koci Hernandez for embedding the livestream video player at Multimedia Shooter.
As I mentioned the other day, please share the livestream and other links on Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, IM, etc.
Sidenote: I received an NBC xylophone-like chime from MSNBC’s Jim Seida for being an “awesome” audio workshop assistant.
I really enjoyed working with Jim and NYT’s Nancy Donaldson during the past three days. They didn’t treat me merely as an assistant (I only fetched water once), but asked me to help participants work in Soundtrack Pro, create their narratives and act as a “third teacher” (Jim’s words).
But, besides helping, I also learned a number of useful tips and tricks. Thanks, Jim and Nancy — you guys rock!
I have one month to learn a new skill, or skills, during winter break. Therefore, I would like to take a survey to see what skills would most benefit someone graduating in May.
Some background: I will be an online intern at The Dallas Morning News this summer (see related post), a position that focuses on writing and video (mostly breaking news and enterprise).
My career goal is to work as a multimedia reporter.
I have some degree of proficiency in each of the following (in no particular order):
Or should I simply work on improving some of the skills I already have? I’m taking a video class in the spring to further refine those skills, so I probably won’t focus on video during break.
If there’s another skill you think would be valuable, please let me know. I will probably focus on one, maybe two depending on the intensity of the primary skill.
A couple of my visual journalism professors have recommended learning XML and more Flash, specifically focusing on AS3.
Personally, I’m learning towards database and CAR stuff.
I would greatly appreciate any suggestions in comments below, with a brief explanation of why.
Thanks!
Update, Dec. 22: Apparently one of my plugins broke the comment feature, so no one has been able to respond so far. Fortunately, Twitter came to the rescue!
Almost all of the recommendations have been for learning more about databases and CAR, as well as SEO.
Context: Rich Beckman, Knight Chair in visual journalism at the University of Miami, gave a presentation on Nov. 11 about how we should reshape journalism education. He spoke as part of the first Knight Chair Lecture Series.
I shot and edited the video for my multimedia storytelling class with Rich Beckman, Knight Chair in visual journalism. I got a lot of good responses and feedback* from Beckman and my classmates, but I’m still hungry for more.
What did you like? What could have been done better? Please let me know in the comments or by using this nifty contact form.
*A footnote: One of aspect that could be improved is the amount of visual variety; specifically, use fewer basketball clips and show different types of interaction. From the time the project was assigned to when it was due, there was only one opportunity to go with the class to shoot, so I only have them playing basketball.
Even though the assignment is complete, I plan to go back and shoot more footage of Rocmel interacting with his friends and classmates.
