Thoughts on Fish At Bay interactive storytelling class project and convergence

After a semester of work, my interactive storytelling class launched its site about fish in Biscayne Bay launched last Wednesday: Fish At Bay.

Hats off to our converged class of "print" and visual journalism students: Walyce Almeida, Maria Arroyave, Erica Landau, Brian Schlansky, Jen Shook, Jamie Straz, Alex Thacker and Jason Walker.

Our professors, Kim Grinfeder (visual journalism) and Sam Terilli (print journalism), did a great job overseeing the project -- and recruiting everyone. Also, thanks to our TA, Zeven Rodriguez.

To provide some background, Grinfeder and Terilli have collaborated the past two fall semesters with their Web production and in-depth storytelling classes, respectively. I was in the fall 2008 in-depth class.

With this spring's (experimental) interactive storytelling class, they took it to the next level of convergence. As far as I know, this was the first class at the University of Miami School of Communication to combine the talents of print and visual journalism students in one class.

I took advantage of the opportunity to get more experience shooting and editing video, as well as to become proficient with Final Cut Pro. I particularly enjoyed being able to work in so may areas:

• Write history story
• Shoot b-roll and take photos for history video
  
• Edit history video
• Edit and write cutlines for history photos
• Edit Delicate Balance video
  
• Shoot an interview for the Building on the Bay video
  
• Copy edit all stories
• Write about page
  
• Add p tags and hyperlinks (plus find links for) all stories
  

I'm usually critical of the lack of collaboration between the print and visual programs, but I've seen some very encouraging strides this semester.

Grinfeder and Terilli get it. Chris Delboni, my online journalism professor, and Michelle Seelig, the spring Web production professor, get it. (More thoughts on the online journalism class and our collaboration with the Web production class to follow).

So, what now?

Without a question, the interactive storytelling class should be a standard course, and it should be required for all journalism students at UM. Yes, that means bringing in broadcast as well. And there needs to be more converged classes, like an introductory storytelling class (more on this to come as well).

Resistance is futile. You must adapt.

Weigh in: What do you think of the Fish At Bay site?

What's the best video equipment for a student paper's first purchase?

(Preface: It's not about the technology. It's about the story and how you tell it. Technology is just a tool.)

Kevin Koehler, contributing editor at the Wake Forest Old Gold & Black, asked a question via Twitter Tuesday evening:

kev097 Need to recommend HD camcorder for newspaper today. Probably going with hard drive. Suggestions on models, accessories, research?

Kyle Hansen (TheSpartanDaily.com editor at San Jose State), Kevin and I discussed ideas via Twitter and I volunteered to post the equipment The Miami Hurricane plans to purchase before next fall:

• Canon HV20 a mini-DV, HD video camera (2) [should we get the HV30 instead?]
• Canon BP2L14 battery (2)
• Rode shotgun microphone (2)
• Sennheiser Evolution G2 EW100 wireless mic combo kit (1) [looks like this this has been discontinued from B&H]
  
• Includes EW100 G2 Combo System, EW100 G2 Lavalier System, ENG Handheld Microphone, Storage Case and Cables
  
• Hosa MIT-156 XLR to mini connector (1)
• EH 150 supra-aural closed back stereo headphones (2)
• Sunpak 7001DX tripod (2)
• Three-way pan/tilt head with quick release
• Tiffen 43mm UV filter (2)
  

This year we have primarily used Flip video cameras after starting off with point-and-shoots (Matt Bunch and I). These have worked OK, but the big problem was audio. The best quality videos came when we checked out equipment from the School of Communication.

And I've used my HV20, which I bought during spring break, for the paper. For example, a video of the PD press conference after a student died on campus:


(This is the pretty one the assistant multimedia editor, Matt Wallach, edited. Here is the quick-and-dirty version I posted right after the press conference, sans b-roll. I miked the chief with a lav.)

I love my HV20. It's not perfect, but it does everything I need.

More about video: Newspaper Video - Yahoo! Groups

Weigh in: What video equipment does your organization use? What do you think about The Hurricane's planned list?

"The Paper" used to be my paper

I learned last school year that MTV would be doing a multi-part "documentary" about my high school newspaper, The Circuit. I was skeptical of how the network that brought you "My Super Sweet 16" would cover a journalism class/newspaper and I'll let you be the judge of that.

Here is the trailer for "The Paper"

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

The show premiered Monday night after being released Thursday for free on iTunes.

I've met most of the kids featured and I didn't notice any such rancor when I visited, but obviously there's a wee bit of tension -- or more than a wee bit. Nevertheless, they've put out some great issues this year, so I can report [spoiler warning?] that the newsroom does not burn down.

As a "reality show," it is of course not actual reality because people are always going to play to the camera, particularly when two of the featured staffers have been in drama club. Try to guess which ones by commenting below.

I'll be visiting again sometime during the week of April 28 and perhaps I will do an interview with the featured players and Mrs. Weiss, the most awesome high school newspaper adviser ever.

Stay tuned for that, and the rest of the series -- Mondays at 10:30 p.m. on MTV.

Side note: The Miami Hurricane was approached last year by a group that wanted to a reality show about us called "The Chronicles." We got a good laugh from the mock-up flyer/poster, which hangs in my office, because of how hyped the concept was.

We thought it would be a pretty boring show since there was no office drama and declined.

Weigh in: Did you watch "The Paper?" What did you think?

Related links

MTV’s ‘The Paper’: Where Teens, Journalism and Coolness Meet - Mallary Tenore

Meet some teenagers who are passionate about journalism - Romanesko

MTV's New Show Called "The Paper" - premieres on April 14 - Wired Journalists

MTV to air series on high school newspaper - Student Newspaper Survival Blog

MTV on High School 'Paper' Trail - Editor & Publisher

Mad Journalism

We had an assignment a few weeks ago in my online journalism class to do a "video bio." After two tries that involved yawn videos, I decided to try something completely different.

Sports Editor Matt Bunch joined me on April 7 to help shoot the third version. We put our heads together to get what you see in this final video. Enjoy!

NextNewsroom conference recap

Megan Taylor, managing editor for online/new media at The Independent Florida Alligator, and I had the same idea to recap the NextNewsroom conference, but she beat me to it:

NextNewsroom: Wrap-up

Megan summarized it all very well, so I won't repeat what's already been said except to thank Chris O'Brien for organizing what was hands-down one of the best journalism conferences I've attended -- and I've been to quite a few, thanks to The Miami Hurricane and UM's SPJ chapter.

I'd also like to thank Megan for providing the proper computer to stream video live using ustream.tv and later Yahoo!Live with my Canon HV20, which would have been impossible because I don't have a computer with a six-pin FireWire port. Her hand mic was another asset, helping us get pretty decent sound, and she played videographer for the first livestreamed session before I -- sadly -- gave back her MacBook Pro.

I couldn't have done it without her. And besides the awesomeness that is livestreaming video, this is a great testament to the importance of working as a team. I've done mojo/backpack journalist/one-man-band coverage of events before, but backpack journalist-squared is hands down the better way to go.

For more great coverage of the conference, as Megan also cites, check out Bryan Murley's CoverItLive blogs: day 1 and day 2.

Weigh in: What did you think of all the coverage?

NextNewsroom - Innovation for college media

Facilitated by Kathleen Sullivan



Notes from the board

What changes need to be made

• Different deadline reality
• Different sources for content
• Story doesn't end when it goes to print (continue the discussion)
  

Assets and obstacles to adaptation

• What can be delegated and what can't (address workload)
• Assign a team to a long running story
• Build an in-house wiki (not starting from scratch each year)
• Territorial attitudes towards space
  
• Interdisciplinary staff, not just "journalism" major or the equivalent
• Think about the mark they leave, legacy
• Workload, time management: Go for low-hanging fruit, make things doable
• Competition (either with other student people or local publications)
  

UT Arlington: once a week in print, five times a week online

LIVESTREAM: NextNewsroom conference - Restructuring newsroom management

Facilitated by Bryan Murley of CICM.



Chris Carroll, student communications, Vanderbilt University

Discussing Inside Vandy

• They don't have a journalism program, so they didn't have to deal with traditional structures.
• "There is no Web editor. It's everyone's responsibility to produce for the Web."
• "We sort of dismantled some of that traditional structure."

Murley, CICM

• Reverse publication - post story online first
  
• "It seems antiquated" to break something in print
• There are very few Web editors who become editor in chief, and that should change
  

Brad Arendt, general manager, The Arbiter, Boise State

• Their six-step process: Story, path, deadline, communicate, edit, execute
• Try to have a collaborative thought process in management
  
• "The story is the key"

Dan Morris, adviser, The Arbiter, Boise State

• They have had editors in chief who have been the photo editor, assistant opinion editor, opinion writer who worked on local TV station, etc. That's made changing structure a little bit easier.
  

Greg Linch, editor in chief, The Miami Hurricane

• I was just yapping about what we do. Blah, blah, blah...
  

Megan Taylor, managing editor for online, The Independent Florida Alligator

• They instated a requirement for staffers to produce multimedia
  
• Because they are independent, their funds are limited and that's why her staff is two people
• Everyone is still print biased
  

John North, The Knoxville News Sentinel

• We crow when we can beat TV with posting online

Shannon Morgan, editor in chief, The Arbiter, Boise State

• We're trying to get people to tell stories in more than on way
  
• 80-100 people
• My problem now is trying to figure out how to restructure the staff

Kevin Koehler, contributing editor (online editor), Old Gold and Black, Wake Forest

• Making the transition to Web, it's hard to get people think of doing things and doing them well
• People want to do it, there's interest and people are excited, but they have to learn how it's done
• They don't have a journalism major or any new media courses
• "It's too big of a hump on their on a pressing deadline"

Arendt, The Arbiter

• We tried embedding a multimedia person in the section, but it failed because they were left out or ignored
• It's important to look at your deadlines for your output
• They expect 2-3 paragraph piece recapping a game after it ends, then they follow up
• If you run efficiently, I think students
  
• But the kicker is, "How do you do it?"
  

LIVESTREAM: NextNewsroom conference - The Converged Newsroom

Facilitated by Hasting (Neb.) College faculty members:

• Brett Erickson
• Sharon Brooks
• Kathy Stofer

Be sure to check out the chat feature of ustream.tv.

Thanks to Megan Taylor for providing the hand mic.

NOTES
"Leverage your skills. Everyone has different skills," Erickson said. Then turn into a way to telling a good story. "Encourage them to innovate is what you want to do." Also, he said, don't focus on technology, focus on the story.

Job/internship panel to be livestreamed today at 12:30 p.m.

I'll be moderating a panel today that will discuss what students need to know and do to prepare for journalism jobs and internships.

My money is on mindset and skillset, in addition to the fundamentals.

The event will begin at 12: 30 p.m. in Studio A of the School of Communication and is hosted by the UM student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (and organized by me!).

The speakers are:

• Rick Hirsch, managing editor for multimedia at The Miami Herald
• Michelle Morgante, assistant Florida bureau chief with the Associated Press
• Kathy Pellegrino, recruitment editor at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The first part of the event will be a Q & A session with the panelists, each of which does recruiting work for his/her respective organization. After that, they will meet individually with students to provide personalized feedback, critique resumes, etc.

Inspiration for the livecast medium
After watching the livecast of a video strategy session (The Northern Short Course in Photojournalism) on ustream.tv, which Howard Owens teased on his blog, I thought it would be good to do the same with our session using that service.

And yesterday I saw Kyle Hansen's post LIVE Video! announcing that The Spartan Daily at San Jose (Calif.) State would be using ustream as well to broadcast a session Monday with the university president: The live video worked!

I had originally thought to do our livestream through the School of Comm's Web channel, but they don't have a player that I could use to embed the video.

Background
You may recall that this event was originally scheduled to take place during this year's Communication Week on Feb. 19. Unfortunately, we had to cancel because Fidel Castro decided to announcement that he was stepping down as president of Cuba that day.

Ask a question: Feel free to comment on this post or use the video player's built-in chat feature to submit a question, which requires registering with ustream.

Full disclosure: I interned at the Sentinel last summer and will be at The Herald this summer.

Tips on doing Web video from Ricardo Lopez

Listen below to excerpts of advice Miami Herald visual journalist Ricardo Lopez (left) gave my online journalism class on Feb. 28.

I captured the audio with my Olympus DS-30 using a lav. The photo is from the new media panel during Comm Week. Will Payne, from Current TV, is on the right.

Ricardo Lopez discusses video with online journalism class

Ricard Lopez, a Miami Herald visual journalist, gave a presentation to my online journalism class about video Thursday evening. He was joined by Candace Barbot, a photojournalist convert to video.

Ricardo last spoke at UM during Communication Week, leading one of the new media workshops and participating in the new media panel. Check out advice he and other panelists gave students here.

See examples of his work and be sure to check out Chicken Busters, which is everyone's favorite.

VIDEO: New media panelists offer advice for journalism students

New media panelists offer advice for journalism students (from Feb. 15)

New media reporting panel

New media reporting panel

Watch the live Web cast: Live Web cast

Panelists:
Suzanne Levinson -- Miami Herald, director of site operations
Phil Lewis -- Naples Daily News, editor & vice president of editorial
Ricardo Lopez -- Miami Herald, visual journalist
Brent McDonald -- New York Times, visual journalist
Will Payne -- Current TV, College Outreach

Phil Lewis has been at the Daily News for 30 years. The dynamic started to greatly change when they hired Rob Curley (now at Washington Post).

"We blew up our newsroom and we took a third our newsroom and said, 'You're the print side,'" Lewis said. "We took two-thirds and said you're our new media newsroom and everything you do goes to the Web first."

Suzanne Levinson became involved with The Herald's Web site in 1996.

"They felt so lucky to have an experienced journalist that knew HTML [to some extent]."

But their path has been different than the Daily News.

"We didn't have a Rob Curley; we needed a Rob Curley," she said, explaining that it was basically her and a few others on the online side advocating.

She said the tipping point for The Herald was when they realized ad revenue and circulation would continue to decline.

"Be willing to learn new things and be aware of the changing landscape," she said as advice to students.

The new mindset of The Herald: "We all have open minds. It's a change in the way they look at things, but they are all just journalists."

Ricardo Lopez began with photography but evolved as a visual journalist. He learned new tools and began working with video and Web.

Will Payne is a part the newest outlet represented on the panel, Current TV. He discussed how their dynamic is different from traditional media.

Brent McDonald, of the New York Times, has a background in documentary film and was part of the Times' multimedia pilot program in November 2005.

Discussing video journalism:
"It's still a frontier and we're still playing with how stories can be told. It's still a collaborative process."

First two Comm Week events: Attending workshop, liveblogging

I will be attending the following sessions Friday morning as part of Comm Week 2008:

• New Media Reporting: VIDEO WORKSHOP (10 to 11:15 a.m.) I will blog at some point afterwards since I am participating in the workshop.
• PANEL: New Media Reporting – trends and challenges (11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.) I plan to liveblog this and post a short multimedia package on it by Tuesday.
  

Be sure to check back at 11:30 a.m. for the liveblog. I will also post a link to the live Web cast, if available.

Photographer alumna discusses multimedia

A not-so-old newspaper friend stopped by campus recently.

Allison Bezold-Diaz, who graduated from the University of Miami in spring 2007, spoke to my online journalism class last Thursday. She gave great tutorials on capturing/editing audio, photography/digital SLR basics and editing photos in Photoshop.

I sat down with Allison, a former Miami Hurricane photo editor, to ask her about the importance of multimedia and what advice she would give student journalists.

Here's what she had to say:

Comm Week: New media workshop, panel

I posted Monday about two journalism events for Comm Week 2008 (read it here); more details have since been released on two other events, a new media workshop and panel.

I will be participating in the workshop and liveblogging the panel. I will post the streaming feed for the panel and then the video once it's posted. Stay tuned.

Details from the School of Communication Web site:

New Media Reporting: VIDEO WORKSHOP

February 15, 2008
10:00 am

Location: Communication International Building 2055

Panelists:
Ricardo Lopez, Miami Herald visual journalist

Brent McDonald, New York Times visual journalist

Will Payne, Current TV

The workshop is an introduction to video journalism. Lopez, McDonald and Payne will discuss the best gear for the job, basic elements new media reporters should look for while shooting, as well as editing techniques – what to include in a Web audio-visual news story and what to avoid.

PANEL: New Media Reporting – trends and challenges

February 15, 2008
11:30 am

Location: Communication International Building 2055

Moderator: Chris Delboni, UM / SoC

Panelists:
Suzanne Levinson -- Miami Herald, director of site operations

Phil Lewis -- Naples Daily News, editor & vice president of editorial

Ricardo Lopez -- Miami Herald, visual journalist

Brent McDonald -- New York Times, visual journalist

Will Payne -- Current TV, College Outreach

Side note: Check out this video I produced after Suzanne Levinson spoke to my online journalism class.

VIDEO: Herald site operations director Levinson discusses online journalism

Suzanne Levinson, director of site operations at The Miami Herald, visited my online journalism class Thursday evening.

She discussed the Herald's Web site, online journalism and what students need to know to get into the field. The webmaster, visuals editor and I took the opportunity to get her thoughts on the The Miami Hurricane's redesign plans, showing her two drafts wireframes.

An open story meeting? Let's do it!

Yoni Greenbaum recently wrote about how TMZ.com conducts their story meetings: OPEN.

I don't think this is radical at all, I think this is logical. Why haven't we been doing this all along?

His Your newsroom could learn something from TMZ… No, really post explains,

"For those of you who watch the very popular television version of the “entertainment news, celebrity gossip and Hollywood rumors” website TMZ.com, you will know that their meetings are done in the open with seemingly broad participation. Editor and founder Harvey Levin stands at the front of the room and users a clear board to note stories that the show will be using. There is a free exchange as the individual staffers (or are they editors?) offer their story ideas."

Greenbaum says near the end,

"Build the budget from those in attendance, editors can speak for staffers not in attendance, staffers can offer their own ideas based on what they’re working on or what they know is going on. Encourage that free exchange. I think you’ll find that the meeting will boost morale, encourage collaboration and even increase productivity."

He also includes the following video about The New York Times' new integrated newsroom.



I completely agree with the idea. As I commented on Greenbaum's post, it hits at the "two heads are better than one" cliche. As news editor last year I encouraged reporters to contribute story ideas in our meetings and come by the office on deadline days (Sundays and Wednesdays). As editor in chief this year I still encourage staffers to visit.

I would not say our twice-weekly staff meetings have been closed in past (any staff member is allowed to sit in or be in the office and some designers who are around sometimes do), but we have never before sent out a mass e-mail inviting staffers. But now, I will invite all of The Miami Hurricane's staffers to the next meeting and see how it works.

Our small newsroom may not be able to hold everyone, but we'll see what happens.

Weigh in: Will you try this for your next story meeting?

VIDEO: TheMiamiHurricane.com redesign

An introduction to the redesign process for TheMiamiHurricane.com, focusing on the content management system.

Dave Barry for president! (Yes, of the United States)

Dave is back and running again! He had been on the sidelines for a little while, covering the New Hampshire primaries and doing a presidential Q&A online, but now he's in the thick of it for real.

Check out the campaign video and be sure stop over at Dave's blog.

Dave Barry '08
"It's Time We Demanded Less"

UPDATE: Another video related to Dave's run: