Jodie’s blog

All wired up and ready to go. Image taken from: http://souralba.wordpress.com/2007/11/26/on-reuters-mobile-journalism-kit/

So where do we go from here? As technology continually evolves so will the structure of how Journalists perform their tasks.

Journalists continue to evolve from pad and pen, to voice recorders and now they are equipped to be MoJos (Mobile Journalists).

A Mojo can reach a very large audience with their story and pictures or video.

Media outlets around the world are using this technology and the stories and visual online and in printed media.

Reuters in London have the MoJo concept working for them, even producing a website to publish their MoJo stories on.

MoJos exist in many forms using mobile phones with cameras or digital video cameras.

Using this equipment, which is more cost effective than traditional Journalism tools, means that more Journalists can be equipped and outside working.

In addition, the equipment does not weigh the Journalist down allowing them to move around much easier and get into places that may have been inaccessible.

I am very interested in Apple’s iPhone, but have refused to buy one until Australian internet providers offer a better deal for me to use the phone’s internet functions.

Other issues exist with internet coverage in Australia. I live in a rural area that lacks a variety of internet service providers with good deals.

For MoJos to work all around this great country of ours, we really need to update our internet structure, lower the mobile usage cost and catch up with the rest of the world.

‘Tools of the trade’. Image taken from: http://www.neighborhood-media.com/mojo.gif

 I really enjoyed reading “Five videoblogs that do it right” (by Jennifer Woodard Maderazo) and then I headed to these sites to see what the videoblogs were all about.

When I think of video blogs, I instantly think of websites like YouTube, which has an endless supply of videos to watch.

From my experience, some of the videos were not of the highest standard or the content interesting.

Therefore, when I opened Alive in Baghdad, I spent quite some time here getting to hear people’s stories about how the Iraq war is affecting them.

We all hear about the costs of war but not a lot of coverage is given to the Iraqi citizens – people just like you and me except they don’t know if they will wake up in the morning.

It was a revelation and a great use of a Vlog.

The other four sites (MobuzzTV, Ask a Ninja, Wine Library TV, Rocketboom) were also interesting, but did not hold my attention like Alive in Baghdad.

Maybe that was due to me always wanting to hear both sides of a story and this website allowed that to occur.

The equipment required to produce a Vlog has streamlined from what television studios require without losing on quality viewing.

Journalists can travel with high pixel mobile phones or smaller digital cameras to capture stories.

There will always be the need for TV news, but Vlogs are here to stay

Anyone can be a journalist. Photo by Jodie Grzeschka.

Mobile phones have not only made us more accessible to the world but the world more accessible to us.
Apart from the usual mobile phone capabilities of ringing and staying in contact with people, we are able to use other functions on the phone that help to contribute to our communities.
There is also the option of keeping up with breaking news when you are not able to use the internet or turn on a radio.
I can remember during the Schapelle Corby verdict, I was out of the office and wanted to keep up with what was happening – so what did I do? I subscribed to ninemsn news updates and had text messages sent to my mobile.
Many newspapers around the world, who are encouraging us to become citizen journalists, have grasped technology changes and are using it to benefit us and themselves.
Use the camera or video function on your mobile to capture news as it happens and then send it to online newspapers for possible online and print publication.
All news can be covered.
Singapore’s The Straits Times introduced STOMP (Straits Times Online and Print) in June 2006 and it has had overwhelming success.
Citizens are all wired up and ready to report on any issues that emerge during their day.
Using this form of technology has also allowed the younger generations to become interested in the news around them, encouraging them to take an interest in their society and in the media.
Younger generations will always embrace and utilise new technology and it is fantastic to see the world’s media as doing the same.

Image taken from STOMP webpage http://www.stomp.com.sg/

Vlogs, or video blogs, are videos assembled by anyone with the initiative of being published and viewed via the internet.

Vlog webpages, such as Rocketboom, are gathering audience numbers and therefore drawing attention from mainstream advertising.

Rocketboom has managed to capture an audience who want to watch 3-5 minutes of local and international news a day.

The stories may not be life changing, but are of human interest.

Rocketboom manages to acquire more than 300,000 viewers for each daily episode.

Not bad for a video made in the producer’s own apartment.

MoJos, or Mobile Journalists, is a term that covers anyone who records a video on their mobile phone then uploads it to the internet.

Today, a majority of mobile telephone owners play with the cameras and application on their phones.

We all like to capture moments and share them with friends.

Sharing can be via Bluetooth to another phone or by uploading to a website, like Facebook, where friends can log in and view your photos. They can even leave comments.

Blogging has become so popular that websites like Twitter are required to allow super-fast blogging.

Twitter is usually used for the live reporting of an event and the information is uploaded via a computer or a mobile phone.

ords are limited and each post is called a ‘tweet’. If you want to search these tweets, www.tweetscan.com will help you to perform this.

The internet is a huge wide world of information, but with the help of these search tools, it makes it a smaller world for journalists to navigate and find the information that they require.

Article in The Rolling Stone magazine on vblogging and Rocketboom:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/9961735/the_rise_of_the_video_blog

I also had a play with Slide photo gallery tool:

  Slideshow and photos by Jodie Grzeschka.