Google Digs Public Data

April 29th, 2009

As journalists, sometimes the toughest part of the job is getting access to public information, that is supposed to be …well.. public. We’ve all gone through the FOI maze.

Leave it to Google to bring a method to the madness. This week Google launched Google Public Data. A new search engine that will scourer databases and turn it into easy to understand information along with comparisons.

Want to compare the population rate of Santa Clara County in California with the rest of the US. No sweat! This is great perspective. The ability to compare any state and any county in the US.

So far Google is mining data from the  U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Division.

But we all know when Google starts something it is only the tip of the iceburg. Imagine what can be instantly charted as this service grows. What are the most traveled roads, what are the best schools in America, which city eats the most hot dogs! (I think that’s Chicago?). But the amount of interesting information that could be compared instantly, is amazing.

We will all be saying “let me Google that” a lot more in our newsrooms in the days ahead.

Enjoy!

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The Internet Journalist v. Traditional Media

April 17th, 2009

By now we are all familiar with the terms, backpack journalist, multimedia journalist, one man band. Some see the transition as purely money saving changes, others embrace it as a new way of thinking and some just do it because they love it.

I fall into the latter category. My first reporter / photographer gig was back in 1981. I was the ultimate mobile journalist. There was tremendous personal satisfaction each time a story came together.

Nearly 30 years later I have come full circle. I wear a different hat as a strategist for Audience Research and Development, but I still have a passion for covering news and telling stories. I also like to practice what I preach.

I launched a little website, DI Buzz back in March. DI, Davis Islands, is the Tampa community where I live. When I  landed here  two years ago, it was obvious this neighborhood was starving for information.  So who better than yours truly and the internet journalist was born.

Things have been going well and the neighbors love the attention, but this past weekend was a turning point. A small sea plane crashed into the bay on Saturday, emergency vehicles blocked the only entrance to the island, and the pilot managed to swim out alive. That’s pretty exciting stuff, I don’t care who you are!

So here I was with my pocket video camera, the Kodak Zi6, covering what turned out to be a pretty important story. I sent a few tweets out about what was happening, which automatically posted to the site with a RSS feed. I shot interviews with an eyewitness, captured the pilot as he came ashore, shot the only video of the plane being fished out the of bay the next morning, including the only comments from the pilot on what actually happened.

All of it ended up online and I even shared pictures, with a courtesy, with a local TV station. I had great sound, great pictures, great information and great coverage. Essentially I beat  or competed with local stations in coverage, because I lived here.

In these days of “how are we going to get the content covered”, I think it would be smart for station leaders to look around for local bloggers and citizen journalists that are doing the same thing. Even better if you have the resources, embed a reporter in key areas of your market, and turn them loose with tools that will allow them to operate online and on-air.

I can speak from experience - it works!

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We Need That Live Shot, Qik!

April 9th, 2009

I can’t count the number of times in the news room when we all waited for the live truck to get to the scene of a story to get first pictures back.

Those agonizing seconds accounted for more than my share of grey hair. (See blog photo) Yes, technology got better, SNG came along and extended our reach for live, but those big expensive, racks of gear only travel so fast.

Last we met , we talked about Skype and it’s introduction to the Iphone. Mobile live video in your pocket. Well there is another app that’s just as stout, for all those non- Ibelievers, and its built for speed, sharing and live, Qik.

In a nutshell Qik allows you to live stream to the web with a video enabled phone. You simply sign up for a FREE account, download the app to your phone and you are off and running. You  can embed the html code in a website, or share it on social apps like Facebook and Twitter.

I love it when someone figures out the potential of what the web gives us and applies it to day-to-day newsgathering. WCBD-TV in Charleston, SC leads the way in using social media to deliver information to its users and viewers. Count on 2 launched a new initiative using Qik. Each of its multimedia journalists carry Blackberry Curve phones and each have their own Qik account.

It allows the station to bring instant live video from the field to the web. News Director Dan Fabrizio says, “We’ve now added a new dimension to our online presence with streaming video. We give you the scoop as it is happening with results live on our website. When our team of reporters is out in the field, we will go live immediately using our mobile devices and broadcast it to our website and partner sites like Facebook and Twitter. ”

 Here is a link to a sample from reporter Larry Collins, covering a recent festival which draws thousands to the area.

The station also used Qik for live updates from the annual Cooper River Bridge Run, going as far as delivering live coverage while runing in the event. Now that’s perspective!

It’s worth a look whether you are a broadcast station or simply want to share live video on your blog or website, and it beats the live truck in delivering pictures every time.

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I’m A Key, Really!

March 26th, 2009

I love cool stuff! Those little gadgets that make complete sense. You know the ones you discover and immediately say, “why didn’t I think of that!” It happened to me on Tuesday.

Storing data keeps getting easier and easier. Introducing the all new iamakey USB flash drive from LaCie. Why, because how many thumb drives and flash drives have we all lost in our short flash drive lifetime? No more, this three “key” collection, is designed to attached to a regular key ring.  It is also tough, thin, and  water and scratch resistan. There is a 4GB version that sells for sells for $17.99 and and 8BG for $27.99.

A multimedia journalist might use their flash key to store file video, graphics and preproduction, text, and images. Having access in the field to what we take for granted back at the shop. Since it’s backwards compatible it works on both USB2 and USB1 devices, and both Windows and Mac machines. They are fast with 30MB/s transfer rates, and 10MB/s write rate.

LaCie inroduced these flash keys the beginning of March. Along with the “iamakey” model there is also the “itsakey” that starts at $14.99 for 4GB, and a pass key that transforms those microchips into a …uh..key.

LaCie sells online and at major electronic stores. Here’s hoping it makes your life just a little easier in the field.

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Perspective from the Most Obvious Place

March 25th, 2009

During the coverage of President Obama’s second White House press conference, something interesting happened. CNN used the web tool Wordle, in the most interesting way.

They captured the text of the presidential press conference and plugged it into the word cloud generating software, and presto – instant perspective. The need for pundits to tell you what was important, really wasn’t needed. The words spoke for themselves. What we saw were the words used most often in big bold letters, lesser phrases and words in smaller letters. So with one screenshot, we learned that the most talked about issue during the event was, the budget, followed by going, as in where are we going or what we are going to do.

This is a great example of how the web and new technologies can be applied to what we do in our newsrooms and content centers, each day. This was brilliant on CNN’s part. They generated relevant content from something that was already available to them, they just had to use it.

Got a big story in the making, or a state of the city or state speech around the corner? Plug in the speech and see the most important words on the politician’s minds, then show it to your audiences. You can bet you will generate audience comments and buzz.

And if you were curious, my Wordle from this article.

Enjoy!

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New Kid On The Block

March 20th, 2009

As I pulled up my chair, cracked my knuckles and waved my fingers in front of the keyboard to begin my blogging career, I found the toughest decision was deciding - where to start?

There are so many stories and thoughts that I want to tell, that it is really difficult choosing.  I presume the best idea is to let you in on what this blog is all about.

This blog will introduce you to new technologies, that are easily customizable to help you do your job better and more efficiently. Whether you are a newly minted Multi-Media Journalist or a veteran trying to fight off becoming a dinosaur. There will be gadgets, and the latest app, and hopefully some great conversation and recommendations from you, that I will be more than happy to steal.. uh .. share.

So without further adieu here is my first pick of the week.

The Flip has gotten a lot of press as the end all to pocket video cameras. It is point and shoot, can post video to You Tube and the like. Great for the web, sot so much for television as it doesn’t provide a live picture for streaming or Skyping.

Enter the Kodak Zi6 and Zx1, both shoot 720  HD, delivers a live composite video source, has rechargeable batteries, and an external SDHC memory card. The kind you can slip into a laptop for editing. 8Gb costs you $15 off the shelf. Both cost about $179.

Both of the quick, point and shoot cameras are worth a look. They are great tools to keep in the car , armed and ready when you need to get good pictures, quick!

I own both of these cameras, so I can speak to their effectiveness. But more importantly, you decide. Here are a couple of images I snapped with the cameras side-by-side. What do you think? Have a place in your content center or news room?

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