27th June 2007, 01:00 pm
Really, I’m not opposed to internet video, YouTube and all that, but I think this comment to a Slashdot (yes… journo-geek) article on Boeing’s really flexible 787 wings sums what makes a “good” internet video:
“This would make one heck of a good video for Youtube if it’s done right. I would be very interested to watch the test accompanied by the 1812 overture with the wings snapping in a spectacular fashion just as the drums hit! Oh, and add two squirrels and a cat fighting to the video. And while you’re at it add lightsabers and two chicks kissing. Now that would make a good video!”
Instead, the high and mighty among us give us… ketchup.
10th May 2007, 08:20 am
For those that are more journo than geek “!=” means “does not not equal.”
Does your newsroom have a multimedia guy? Odds are it does. What does that person do? I betcha it’s just video, huh. I’d also bet that his (or her) overall web skills are… um… we’ll go with developing.
You know, there are other media than just video. There’s text of course and there are photos naturally. There’s also audio, video and animations and all sorts of interactive web thingies.
There’s also HTML. Remember good ol’ HTML? Remember hyperlinks? Ever look up something on Wikipedia only to find that 45 minutes and 37 links later you’re reading about Cargo Cults or something? (c’mon, you know you have). Why aren’t our online news stories more like that?
I envision a simple lookup table, could be an SQL database somewhere or even a basic XML file. Then during some story processing step when the mayor’s name “Roy Stoner” is detected (perhaps only once per story) then is can be linked to a page on the guy. As a bonus, if the page is local (it doesn’t have to be) that would be your ad impression as well.
Picture this: Have a story on a structure fire? *click* The building’s history *click* The cities history *click* Other fire stories in a 5 mile radius (requires geocoding. you geocode your stories, right?) *click* Fire Engine 31 info *click* Other stories involving Engine 31 *click* Fluffy, Engine 31’s three legged dog.
But we don’t do that because we’re too busy doing just one multimedia.
3rd April 2007, 09:22 am
Back in my B&W photojournalism days every once in a great while we’d get to shoot color. Invariably someone (usually me) would shoot some scene or other devoid of much color. But it was on Ektachrome, and therefor it was color damnit!
No, it was color film shot just to say you shot color film. There was no color in the picture or not enough to justify the expense of color film and processing. It was color for color’s sake.
This: http://sunspot.mercedsunstar.com/?q=node/2100 is video for video’s sake, and it suffers from the same problems. It’s really bad. Though I must say, it’s actually so bad as to be funny, kinda like most Bruce Campbell movies.
But where Bruce knows he’s funny, I get the feeling the Sun-Star thinks they’re on journalism’s cutting edge.
-30-