This is why I can't leave you people alone. Luckily for you I learned lots of great stuff while away at the Knight Digital Media Center.
Though many seem to think I was off on a sunny Northern California vacation, the fact is I was going back to school -- and not in that hilarious Rodney Dangerfield hijincks kind of way.
My week at the Knight multimedia bootcamp was, to be blunt, an amazing experience. It's not often you get to take a week out of your life and dedicate it soley to working with others and learning about new technologies and developments in your business or the world around you. (Well, outside of the exciting and sexy world of academic papers, proposals, grants and research. Those things are like spring break at Lake Havasu from what I understand)
Knight Camp Links
It may not sound entirely interesting to spend a week in a library learning about computers and the Interwebs, but when you're as interested in technology as I am, and in an industry desperately in need of a jump start, these things take on a level of importance.
The week was really a combination of classroom discussion and doing what journalists do best -- make stories. We worked in teams to produce projects that included video, audio and more.
So what did I do: Lots of hands-on time with new media tech - audio recorders, digital cameras and video cameras. I also got cozy with programs for editing all that stuff and creating online packages to showcase it all.
One of the big lessons at the camp was moving to what they call "web-centric journalism" which doesn't just mean writing stories that only go online (but could go in the paper), but also creating new types of stories through video, audio, and the other ways people experience media online.
But more than that, I got to spend a lot of time talking with other journalists about what's happening in our industry, if there is any way to save it and whether there will be anyone around to do it. It was telling that of the 20 fellows at the camp, all of us had been touched in some ways by staff reductions and other changes to papers.
Aside from a new understanding of multimedia technology and web tools available to news organizations, what I took away was a real simple message: "Change or perish." It sounds simplistic, but it's true.
At some point the projects will be available online, so I'll get the link as soon as possible. Hopefully by then I'll be on my way to producing more stuff for PressHerald.com.
In the meantime here's a little treat -- My experience learning how to do voice work.
I'd like to hear any thoughts on whether multimedia will make a difference or "save" newspapers, and how it can change the news. Or feel free to make fun of my stand-up.
Justin, the video is hilarious! I'm so glad you had a positive experience (minus the broken A/C) at the workshop. It is this type of eagerness that I truly believe will save this industry. We, as journalists, should be seeing this as a time of opportunity to do great work, rather than sulk about how bad it has become in this industry.
Justin is a former newspaper intern and has the scar tissue to prove
it. Justin has been a staff writer for the Portland Press Herald/Maine
Sunday Telegram since 2003, and in 2004 began writing a weekly column in the
Monday Magazine.
If he had to pick a label, the column would fall under "youth culture,"
covering everything from high school dance etiquette, dealing with college
debt, the resurgence of Roller Derby and Portland's one-of-a-kind music
scene. This of course has not stopped him from answering letters to Santa
Claus or writing about his experience riding shotgun in a drift car.
Justin is an export from the Midwest. He is a graduate of the University of
Missouri and is originally from Minnesota. He enjoys bacon, cheap beer,
redheads, Burt Reynolds jokes and wondering what the soundtrack to his life
would sound like.
When he grows up he wants to be an international art thief. Or Captain
America.
Until then he'll be bringing you dispatches about "the young people" and
what they do.
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