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Steve Sullivan discusses need for adaptability in newsrooms April 18, 2009

Posted by Laura Clark in Uncategorized.
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Steve Sullivan, Multimedia Editor of the Baltimore Sun, reflected on remarks he made 10 years ago and where he sees newsrooms going in the future.

Ten years ago at the first International Symposium on Online Journalism, Sullivan remarked, “There is always going to be a place for a single medium specialist, some people just excel in one form of communication.” While still agrees with these predictions, Sullivan added today that these same specialized journalists need to broaden their perspective to understand what is going on in other mediums.

Sullivan focused his talk today on the need for understanding and adaptability in news rooms. He said that versality is something every newsroom has to strive for in order to survive, and he also mentioned that newsrooms should cultivate entrepreneurial journalists – people who can find ways to grow their audience and their outlet’s revenue through creativity.

Although many pundits may remain pessimistic about the future of the newspaper, Sullivan maintains that today the media is lucky – today, media has opportunities to be in places it has never been before.

A look back at 10 years of the symposium April 18, 2009

Posted by Robert Rich in symposium.
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The second day of the symposium kicked off with a nostalgic air, via a look back at 10 years of the event. Rosental Alves started by showing a video of himself from the first symposium, sans beard, and made sure the mood was light.

“It was a time that I was trying to let people know that my children weren’t my grandchildren, so I took off the beard,” Alves joked.

Alves was quick to point out that many of the issues discussed in the first symposium are still in play today.

“Most of the issue we had in the program [in 1999] are very similar to the issues we have now. One lesson that we learned after the bubble of the Internet: the main mistake of thinking that things would change very fast. Even in a revolution, there are evolutionary processes. It’s no surprise 10 years later we’re talking about the same issues: is this a business, should we integrate or not…”

Gerry Barker from the Palm Beach Post in Florida discussed the publication’s unbridled optimism in 1999 about the possibilities of the Internet via a discussion of implementing a process for web registration for the paper. That optimism didn’t last long, and in 2009 we are in a “world turned upside down.”

“Let’s look at the next 10 years,” Barker said. “We get to do the prediction thing. But you know, predictions are hard to predict.”

(more…)

Visual storytelling with Multimedia in Colombia April 17, 2009

Posted by Lauren Oakley in symposium.
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María Teresa Ronderos courtesy of Semana.com

María Teresa Ronderos courtesy of Semana.com

 

María Teresa Ronderos explains that storytelling is more than just writing, it’s an art form. As editor of Colombian magazine, Semana.com, Ronderos explained the advantages of online journalism and the endless possibilities it enables readers and journalists.

“As journalists, we no longer control the story line,” Ronderos explains. “People can choose what is interesting and useful to them in a story online and they have the freedom explore it.”

Semana has been in publication for over 25 years, but their online version is still a novelty for the Colombian community, only launched 6 years ago. The website specializes in trying to rebuild the truth in the armed conflict currently in Colombia.  Most of the stories that are posted onto the website deal with human tragedy and how the war is affecting Colombian culture, and the best way to portray the emotions of the story is through visual story telling.

Ronderos showed the audience an array of  multimedia Flash packages portraying the war conflict occurring in Colombia, and the importance of interactivity with the user.

“We include a lot of images and video in our packages with more information than they need so that users have the option of reading and seeing only what interests them in the package,” she said.

Ronderos told the audience that there are only eight people on Semana’s multimedia team, two of which are familiar with Adobe Flash. The small team of multimedia journalists are multifaceted and can do just about anything when telling a story: print, video, photography, etc. Every employee can do everything which is an important skill set to have as an future journalist today.

With the rich stories that Semana is faced with on a daily basis, Ronderos said the that everyday angle forces them to look for visually attractive multimedia options for every story.  Colombian citizens started to become confused with print editions of the stories dealing with conflict, and the best way to portray them were through visual media.

Visual storytelling allows journalists to produce and narrate other kinds of information generally difficult to sell to editors.

“The beauty of online journalism is that you can choose what works best,” Ronderos said. “We are creating a new type of storytelling and we are still in the cave stages and have so much more to grow.”