Multi-media

Reading 9 Mediashift (2008), “Five videoblogs that do it right”.

Video blogging, also called vlogging, has increased the recent years. Vlogging is a form of blogging, but instead of text the user uses video to express personal or professional opinions. New tools make it easier and cheaper to make a video and publish it online. This is yet an example that everyone can be a citizen journalist.

With the vlog people can have access to information and entertainment which they can not find anywhere else. Stories such as Alive in Baghdad is a citizen journalism project which shows angles and personal stories that people want see on the news.

As opposed to the blogs with text, vlogs make it easier to show emotions and therefore engage the audience. Some people prefer to get their information by watching video than by reading.

The most popular video sharing site is Youtube where people can find a wide range of topics. Even politicians have noticed that vlogging can be a way to publish candidate’s statements and reach the audience. Political candidates for the 2008 US Presidential election have been using Youtube as an outlet for advertising their candidacies.

Reading 8 Quinn, S. (2007), “Citizen journalism gets things done in Singapore as digital revolution moves forward” in Innovations in Newspapers 2007 and youtube video.

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The reading shows how media can make changes in a community/society by writing about the bad issues. One big case in Norway at the time is about a pornographic web sites where pictures of girls, taken on the beach or by ex-boyfriend, have been published online. The police have tried to find out who the person behind the web site is, but with no luck. But a few days ago one of the big newspapers, VG, published an article with the person’s name. After a few articles several pictures got taken away from the web site. Media are the community’s watchdog.

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With the citizen journalist the dark sides of the society can easier be spotted, and some news media such as STOMP has taken advantage of this. STOMP has its similarity to OhMyNews with the citizen journalist in focus, but all stories are in the end written by the professional journalist.

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STOMP has brought the newspaper and news online together under the same platform, which can help them reach a bigger audience with variety and updated news. Quinn (2007) describes in the text that fragmented audience is one of the forces driving convergence. He goes on explaining that “people no longer go to one single source for news” (Quinn, 2007).

Reading 7 Niles, R. (2008), “Which is the best photo gallery editor? Part two”, Online Journalism Review.

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Today with the different tools Internet offers, anyone can do and create almost the same as the professionals. One of those things is making their own photo gallery. On the internet people can find free online photo gallery tools such as Picasa, Slide, SlideFlickr, Bubbleshare and so on.

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After reading the article Which is the best free photo gallery editor? on Online Journalism Review I had to test out the different slide show creations my self. As a person with bad technology skills, the Slide was the easiest and best for me.

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The photo galleries are not only good for creating the personal family album, but can also be used for building news stories online. This gives the news-groups an opportunity to publish more pictures for one story, and gives less scrolling for the consumer. People do not like too much text when they read news online and some stories can be better told with pictures. Therefore is the photo gallery a tool the news media should embrace.

My slide show: <a href=”

“>Winter in Norway

Reading 6 Quinn, S. (2008), “New tools for reporting” and youtube video.

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This week reading shows the different opportunities the internet gives. The blogs have taken over the place for the private diary, making the people want to expose themselves for the rest of the world. People can publish everything from writing, videos and pictures. The downside is that some do not understand the seriousness by putting out personal details on the internet. The information will never get completely deleted, if someone regrets.

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The new technology has made it easier to be a citizen journalist, giving the news media more competition. The availability of new technology gives the citizen journalist the opportunity to use the same technology as the professionals. The problem is that anybody can put any information they want on the Internet, which makes it harder for people to know what to trust.

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With the new technology comes bad issues, but people/companies seem to always find a way to solve some of those problems. For example the internet gives overload of information which gives the consumers a challenge to find the information and news they want. Therefore the RSS (really simple syndication) got created. This way the news and information come to the consumer. People just subscribe their favourite web sites and every time the sites get updated the new information is sent to the audience. The other thing is the Wohis sites where people can get databases checked of registered domains.