iPad 2 as a media production device for mobile journalists

It’s been mentioned in some forums that the iPad 2 is primarily a media consumption gadget, but as a content producer/journalist I would like to explore the potential of the iPad 2 as a media production device.

Thankfully, the iPad 2 has the capability to take photos and videos, enhancing its content production potential. The quality of the pictures and videos is another issue though.

If you don’t add anything to the iPad 2, it is pretty much a consumption device: surfing the Internet, listening to music and watching videos are the main activities that you’d most likely be doing using the gadget.

But with free and paid apps, the iPad 2, it seems, can be transformed into a versatile media production device.

Here are some of the free apps that I’ve downloaded so far:

Noterize. (note taking). As a journalist, I think that this can be a great companion at press conferences. The app is capable of recording audio while you’re taking down notes.

PS Express. (photo editing). The features are quite limited, but I downloaded it because of the Adobe Photoshop name.

Hokusai, WavePad, QuickVoice. (audio recording). You can also edit audio using Hokusai and WavePad.

Video Editor. (video editing). The free version allows users to combine videos and share the finished product with other people via email, YouTube and Facebook. I’m hoping though that there would be a free video editing app that would be as powerful as Windows Movie Maker.

The following are the two apps that I’ve bought so far:

Inkpad. (vector drawing). I think of it as a $7.99 version of Adobe Illustrator. 

Animation Creator HD. (animation). I’ve always wanted to try my hand at animation, so I think that this $1.99 app would be a great start.

I will attempt to come up with an entire blog post, with text, audio, video, photo, illustration and animation, using only the iPad 2, to see for myself if this Apple product can be a good media production device.

How to customize masthead picture

A fellow blogger has just told me this:

“very nice blogsite Ljubomir! I love your theme as well. Would it be an imposition to ask how you customize the pictures on the masthead? Thanks in advance and more power to your blog!”

http://ljubomirgatdula.wordpress.com/about/

Here’s how to change the header image:

1. Go to your Dashboard.

2. Scroll down the page and look for Appearance. Click on Header.

3. Follow the instructions.

Thank you for your comment ylbnoel and I hope you’ll find this blog post on how to customize your masthead picture helpful.

WordPress and After the Deadline join forces for better blogging

Matt of WordPress has pointed out that last week, WordPress users “published 1.4 million new blog posts, but … only ran the spell checker about 204 thousand times.”

He said there could be two possible explanations: “We’re all perfect writers or that we just forget to run the spell checker.”

Personally I don’t write directly on WordPress. I write first on MS Word and then run the spell checker there, before copying the text and pasting it into WordPress.

But with After the Deadline now on WordPress, I think I would be using the spell checker here more often. I’ve tried it once, and corrected “someone that.” Neat!

I may even use the WordPress spell checker for my non-blog works.

Bloggers beware, Big Brother is watching us

Blogging is fun, but...

Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle reports that a journalist has lost his job due to one of his blog entries. (Read Deutsche Welle story here)

Personally I believe that bloggers should always be mindful of what they blog about, whether or not they live in a country where press restrictions abound.

Just a reminder to folks who use the Internet to express themselves: Big Brother does watch us.

That’s especially true if you’re looking for a job.

As mentioned in a recent report, people should be careful with information that they post on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

WordPress versus Blogger

I have created an account on Blogger to see for myself how different it is from WordPress.

However, I do recognize that it would be difficult to maintain two blogs, especially now that I’m busy with my work and my graduate studies.

But I would try my best to immerse myself in both websites to personally determine the strengths and weaknesses of both blogging platforms.

(Ljubomir Gatdula on Blogger)

SoundCloud on WordPress welcomed

The Macau workshop was conducted by Germany's DW-AKADEMIE and participated in by nine Asian journalists

I first encountered SoundCloud during the introduction to online journalism workshop that I attended in Macau three months ago.

However, we couldn’t directly embed audio files into WordPress at the time.

The trainers from Germany had to rely on their ingenuity so that the workshop participants could put SoundCloud files into their blogs, albeit indirectly.

Now, WordPress users can directly embed the SoundCloud player on their respective blogs. (Read WordPress blog about SoundCloud)

I’d like to thank WordPress for enabling this service.

This is a test recording for my personal blog:

Media literacy amid new technologies pushed

The author with Cheche Lazaro, president of Probe Productions, which is known for its investigative TV reports

“The age of talking back to the media has arrived in full force.”

That’s according to Cheche Lazaro, Philippine broadcast journalist and media educator.

It’s a far cry from her student days, when she thought that the source-message-channel-receiver model of communication lacked feedback.

The mushrooming of new technologies prompted Lazaro to underscore the need to promote media literacy at the 6th Asia Media Summit held in Macau, China.

Media literacy

Drew McDaniel, an Ohio University professor, said that media literacy is usually described in North America “as the skill of understanding the implicit as well as explicit meanings of media messages.”

“In order to decode and understand such messages, one must evaluate not only what the message says but also the context of the message,” McDaniel said.

“User control of media choices has expanded enormously raising new issues for parents.”

- Drew McDaniel, professor of media arts and studies at Ohio University

He noted that new technologies have changed media literacy requirements. He said the heightened interactivity demands more sophistication from the users.

“Media literacy is no longer just how to make sense of media content, but today how to sensibly create content,” McDaniel said.

The professor added that “user control of media choices has expanded enormously raising new issues for parents.”

McDaniel lamented though that there is no consistent media literacy program in the US, because its educational system is localized and fragmented.

He also said that media literacy programs are hard to sustain in the US because local school officials don’t know what media literacy is all about.

Cheche Lazaro

A news article about Cheche Lazaro

Drew McDaniel

A profile of Ohio University professor Drew McDaniel

Center for Media Literacy

An organization that promotes media literacy

Article prompts me to open a Twitter account

Germany’s Deutsche Welle has published an article entitled “Egyptian activists use Twitter to bust censorship.”

After reading the item, I immediately opened a Twitter account, just to see for myself how it works.

I was curious. I’ve heard of Twitter on CNN, entertainment shows and on various blogs, but never really bothered to open an account.

I thought it was just another craze that would soon lose its luster.

However, if some service could help free detained journalists, then it’s not just another fad. There must be something special about that site.

Right now though I don’t see myself using Tweeter very often. I’m not that mobile anyway.

Web 3.0 – the Internet changes so fast

The author at the web journalism workshop. With him are the delegates from Vietnam (left) and the Maldives (center)

I’ve just attended a three-week workshop on web journalism and Web 2.0 in Macau, China. 

Last night, I came across a CNN blog about Web 3.0. I hardly have time to digest things that I learned about Web 2.0, and here comes Web 3.0.

Whew! The Internet changes, and it changes really fast!

Aside from the May 4 to 22 web journalism workshop, I also attended a one-day web journalism seminar, one of the events leading to the 6th Asia Media Summit, also held in Macau.

In that seminar, I heard for the first time the term “visual radio.” I asked myself: what the heck? Visual radio? Duh, then it’s no longer radio!

But lo! There is indeed a “visual radio,” and there’s also a “Visual Radio,” a product of Nokia. These changes in technology never cease to amaze me.

Web 3.0

The author at the web journalism seminar, which was organized by Germany's DW-AKADEMIE and the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development

On CNN’s SciTechBlog, CNN.com writer/producer John D. Sutter enumerated some interesting tidbits about Web 3.0. 

He said the flow of information is becoming quicker online. You said it Sutter! Right on the money!

In the web journalism seminar, one of the speakers said there is a tendency now to move towards the use of smaller gadgets. Meaning, even laptops may become a thing of the past in the future.

Based on these trends, I think anything “micro” may become a prominent feature of Web 3.0. Just look at the popularity of Twitter, a microblogging site.

Size does matter.

 

Web 3.0

CNN blog about Web 3.0

 

Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development

Information about the web journalism workshop held in Macau, China

 

6th Asia Media Summit

News item about the 6th Asia Media Summit, from www.china.org.cn

Traditional media have lost control of media content, journalist says

Bhutanese journalist Dukpo Wangdi (holding the microphone) expresses alarm over the rise of the social media

A German journalist and media trainer said gone are the days when people from the so-called traditional media – newspapers, radio and TV- have control of media content.

Daniel Hirschler of Germany’s DW-AKADEMIE noted that social media sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube have taken away some of the control that the traditional media used to have.

He said people, especially the younger ones, also want to be heard these days.

“People want to have a feeling that they are being listened to as well,” Hirschler told fellow media professionals at a web journalism seminar in Macau, China.

Journalists can do something

Hirschler said people are talking back to the media now, and are connecting with other people through the social media.

He said journalists should make sure that they are a part of such conversations.

“We should add value to those conversations through research,” Hirschler said.

He added that journalists gain trust and credibility when they add more value to what is being talked about in the social media.