Multimedia- Help or hinder??
Multimedia story telling involves that little bit extra, that little bit of action, pizazz or even some entertainment value. We have gone past the days of plain black and white print newspaper or monotone radio news bulletins and moved into the days of technology -not to the point of the jetsons, but we’re well on our way. (For those unfamiliar with the Jetsons, Hanna-Barbera decided to make a family cartoon similar to that of the Flintstones, but set in their vision of the Space Age in the 21st century, www.tv.com/jetsons/show/3723/summary.html ) Picture source: i.expansys.com/i/b/b150245.jpg
It is arguable that we have effectively lost the ability to imagine due to an over exposure of events and as they happen breaking news coverage. We now expect to not be told the news but shown it through picture, video sound and animation. Therefore we can see that multimedia story telling is nonlinear, “the user chooses how to navigate through the elements of a story” (Stevens. (2008). “Multimedia storytelling”) through the use of internet, links and webpages.
Of course none of this would even be as remotely accessable nor do-able without the advent of converging technologies. Having one device, the new sony ecrisson K850i for example which hosts all of the features any journalist, cyber or traditional, could use for a multimedia, print, broadcast or radio, news, or current events piece. Below is a list of this mobile phones features taken from the following link http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/summary/k850i
Camera
o Camera
o Auto focus
o BestPic™
o Digital Zoom – up to 16x
o Image stabiliser
o Picture blogging
o Red-eye reduction
o Video recording
o Video stabiliser
o Xenon flash
Entertainment
o Radio
o 3D games
o Java
o Radio – FM radio RDS
o Video streaming
o Video Clip
Communication
o Polyphonic ringtones
o Speakerphone
o Vibrating Alert
o Video call
Music
o Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
o Media Player
o Music tones – MP3, AAC
o PlayNow™
o TrackID™
Connectivity
o PictBridge
o Bluetooth™ technology
o Modem
o Synchronisation PC
o USB mass storage
o USB support
Design
o Navigation key
o Picture wallpaper
Internet
o Web browser
o RSS feeds
o Web browser – Access NetFront™ Web Browser
Messaging
o Email
o MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
o Predictive text input
o Sound recorder
o Text messaging (SMS)
Organiser
o Alarm clock
o Calculator
o Calendar
o Flight mode
o Notes
o Phone book
o Stopwatch
o Tasks
o Timer
As we can see all these technologies could and actually are used in on site reporting from the cyber journalist to the traditional journalist to the ever-growing citizen journalist.
The following blog Convergence and Participation revisited (and redefined) in Austin available at http://dutopianet.blogspot.com/2007/04/convergence-and-participation-revisited.html discusses a conference on these very topics, multimedia journalism, convergence, citizen journalism and provides links to other blogs which detail the expansion of multmedia journalism worldwide.
