Week Ten: Who Found My Mojo

Despite its popularity in countries such as America and Africa, mojo is not a tool as easily accessible to Australians, due to the high costs involved in producing content. According to Stephen Quinn, ‘the potential for mobile journalism remains limited in some developed nations because of the high cost of data charges… people are reluctant to surf the net with their phone because they fear high costs’ (2008).

This was made obvious with the introduction of the iPhone to Australia.

An article from The Age, states that ‘the cost of accessing the internet on Australian iPhone plans is more expensive than in countries such as the US and Britain, where there is unlimited data access’ (Debt Fears For Users Of Web-Phones, August 14, 2008). At the time this article was published, people were being charged $2 for every megabyte extra (that was not covered in the plan). This means that many Australians would have faced higher costs than their overseas counterparts, who may not have had to pay as much to browse the web.

These costs put Australian journalists at a severe disadvantage when considering the efficiency and practicality of mojo- phone cameras are less cumbersome than walking around with large video cameras, and allow journalists to file their stories straight away over the internet, rather than waiting to get back into the office.

The above video from YouTube shows some of the benefits of mojo…

It’s a Blog Eat Blog World (from YouTube)

This mockumentry from YouTube looks at the realm of citizen journalism and is relevant to some of the things we have looked at in tutorials…

Week Nine: 5 Videoblogs That Do It Right

In this reading, Jennifer Woodard Maderazo lists five of her favourite blog sites under the headings of politics, technology, comedy, food and wine, and daily dose.

Under each heading, she explains what makes these blogs stand out from others of a similar topic, and I think these points would be relevant to most people.

She thinks that a good videoblog is one that:

• Has high production values (the camera is not shaky or blurry, but clear and steady. This makes viewing easier and doesn’t detract from the information that is being communicated).

• Has concise and effective communication (The content is clear and easy to understand, and the posts are kept to their minimum length which means that the viewer doesn’t have to sit and watch it for hours on end, when it could be summed up in five minutes).

• Has consistency in content (A videoblog that always has the same music in its intro, could also be considered a consistency because it allows familiarity for the viewer. As Maderazo says, ‘you go there knowing what to expect, you get the same thing day after day, and it’s never boring’ (2008)).

Even though I have not seen her favourite videoblogs, I think that Maderazo’s guide for a good videoblog is fairly accurate, and covers everything that a person should look for when watching this medium.

Week Eight: Strait Times Online, Multimedia and Print (stomp.com.sg)

This article by Stephen Quinn covers the power of citizen journalism in Singapore, and its growth, as multi-media news becomes more entrenched in everyday life. He explains about a news website named Stomp (Strait Times Online Multimedia and Print) which is an offshoot of the country’s main media group, Singapore Press Holdings. The website receives hundreds of photos and other user-generated content every day, some of which is published in the newspaper if it is relevant to the stories that have been produced that day.

The website (http://www.straitstimes.com/) is seen as a way for the newspaper to connect to younger, internet-savvy readers, as well as some older ones, and bridge the gap between their audience. It is also a way for the audience to interact with the media, and provide news stories that are relevant to everyday people. The website has also been beneficial in helping solve social problems, such as long waiting queues outside health clinics and has aided in the arrest of an abusive boyfriend.

The Geelong Advertiser has also approached this method of reaching a larger audience and often encourages readers to comment on stories, or contribute through sending in video and photos. This shows how citizen journalism is working on a smaller, more localised scale.

Week Seven: Which Is The Best Free Photo Gallery Editor? Part Two

Robert Niles’ article, which can be found at http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/080318niles/ looks at, and reviews, four different tools for people to use if they want to upload photos onto their web pages/ blogs.

To win the coveted award of ‘Best Free Photo Gallery Editor’ there are a few conditions: it has to be a free web-based download, that displays the photos in a flash gallery and works on most internet browsers. It also has to ‘allow the creator to add captions and to control the display style, size and speed of the images’.

As I mentioned earlier, Niles reviewed four photo applications- Picasa, PictureTrail, BubbleShare and SlideFlickr, with varied results. He then listed the pros and cons of each (if he even got through it at all- he gave up on PictureTrail ).

In the end he rated Picasa as the best one to use, unless the size options that the user wants aren’t available. In that case, he recommends Slide, which was the winner of ‘Which Is The Best Free Photo Gallery Editor? Part One’.

I haven’t actually used any of the options that were reviewed but if it ever came to me having to use one, I’d more than likely go for Picasa, the one that was recommended because it seems to be the most user-friendly.