beyond the written word

I thought this class was a good introduction to learning how to tell stories on the Web. We were able to get a lot of hands-on experience in this class, which I really enjoyed. I wish there were more classes here that did that. I guess I could break down the main things I enjoyed most about the class into three categories: photography, audio, and online journalism.

As I wrote earlier in the semester, I have always enjoyed taking pictures, but knew very little about the techniques involved in photography. I don’t think I am an expert by any means now, but I feel like I know a lot more about how to compose a good shot and how to think about getting more than one perspective for a story. Learning about the “detail” shots helped me a lot. I think it was one of those things I have seen many times, but never noticed how much it adds to a series of pictures. The class also made me think about the ethics of photojournalism. Not being a photojournalist, I probably wouldn’t have thought much about asking somebody to move or removing an obstructing object from view. But that is just like lying with words! It’s just not something I had considered from the perspective of photography.

Although I didn’t really know what I was doing, I had played around with some audio editing programs a little bit before this class. Like photography, it’s something I like to do, but now I feel like I am much more competent at it now. Editing a 45 minute interview down to two minutes can be tedious work, but there’s something about it that I like. Maybe it’s the challenge of pulling out the most poignant statements and putting them together into a narrative (of sorts). The two minute limit was definitely one of the more challenging aspects of this class for me though. It hurt to have to leave so many good quotes out of some of my stories!

I guess the category, online journalism, kind of encompasses the whole class. But specifically, I learned about how to tell a story using online tools. I have learned in other classes about how to “chunk” a text story and insert interesting links, but this was a step beyond that, which I thought was great. Although we didn’t cover Web design here, I still feel like I learned a bit more about it from the final package templates we used and just thinking about how a story could be told on the Internet without using a traditional text approach.

Unfortunately, I am not able to take Journalists’ Toolkit 2 next semester, but I hope I can pick up some video skills somewhere down the road to add to what I’ve learned in this class.

My final package for the class is “Digital Music Piracy and Independent Record Labels.” I thought it was a great exercise in learning how to present a complete story using non-traditional methods (not just a print story). I was interested in finding out if illegal music downloads and file sharing impacts smaller record labels the same way it effects majors. I used long-time local label No Idea as an example. I found out that the question is not that easy to answer for smaller labels, but it was an interesting topic to learn more about and I might like to expand on it in the future; maybe incorporating several smaller labels into the story.

The Fusion Charts are great. Mine is a pretty simple graph of music industry profits between 2000 and 2006, but I was very impressed with how it looked and how easy it was to make. I found myself reloading the chart repeatedly to watch the columns move up the screen. I also like the template that was provided for us and I’m sure, whether I realize it or not, it will definitely influence how I approach future multimedia stories. This is definitely a learning process though, and there are a few things I would have liked to have turned out a little better. I was hoping to compare record sales for major and independent labels, but unfortunately, as I found out during my interview with Var Thelin from No Idea Records, independent label sales figures are a little harder to come by.

The Chicago Crime map is a Web site that seems to keep coming up in my classes. My professors have showed it to us in at least two of my other classes since I have started the program. I definitely took it to heart. It’s an excellent resource and example of the tools we have available to us in journalism. It’s exciting. Becoming a journalist and working a beat at a newspaper is not something that I have ever been excited about. I think it’s much more interesting to explore the new technology we have and use it. It seems like as young journalists we are going into our professional life in a transitional period in the field, and I hope to take advantage of it. The online world is at a point where, in some cases, journalists have similar opportunities as professional Web designers. Hopefully we can take advantage of it now, because in the future who knows? You might have to go to school for four years just to host a Web page. As far as Adrian Holovaty, well, it made me cringe a little when I found out that he was about five years younger than me when he developed the Chicago Crime map.

It was interesting to see how easy it can be to make a Google map or data chart also. I definitely see more and more of these being used, and they are much less complicated than I previously thought.

For my final Soundslides project, I wanted to look at how illegal file sharing impacts independent record labels. I focused on No Idea Records, which is located here in Gainesville. I expected to hear about how devastating it was to smaller labels, but Var Thelin, the owner of No Idea basically said that the jury is still out on the topic. He said that his label operates on such a smaller scale than major labels that it is hard to tell whether or not illegal file sharing has any effect at all. He acknowledged the potential it has to harm small labels, but said he hasn’t really seen any effects on No Idea.

Here is my latest Soundslides project.

Last week’s class was a great refresher for me. I had Professor Carlson’s Electronic Publishing class last semester where I learned the basics of Wed design, HTML code and CSS. I really enjoyed the class. Going into the semester I knew absolutely nothing about how to make a Web page, but now I think I have at least the basic skills necessary. But it is kind of like a foreign language, and if you don’t use it, you lose it. And in the past few months I have not had the opportunity to use what I learned in the class, so it was nice to have a quick run-down of the basics again. Perhaps the most valuable thing I got out of last week’s class was learning about HTML Dog. It looks like a great resource for any questions I have when my HTML and CSS skills get a little rusty, and I’m sure they will until I get a chance to use them regularly. But until then, I’ll know where to turn if I’m slamming my head on my desk because I can’t figure out how to position my elements where I want them!

I did my second Soundslides project on Wayward Council, an all-volunteer run, non-profit record store in town. It’s an interesting place, so I thought it would provide some good material for a story. I bought my own audio equipment for this project and I had some minor troubles dealing with it here and there. I tried to get some audio of a band playing at Wayward one night, but it didn’t work. The music was too loud for me to hear anything through my headphones, so I didn’t know that I wasn’t recording anything. It turns out, the connection between my mic and mic cable is horrible and the slightest movement disconnects it. So, for the next project I’ll have to invest in a better cable.

For the story I interviewed Matt Sweeting. He has been involved at Wayward Council from the beginning and had a lot of interesting things to say. Once again, I had way more audio footage than I had time and had to cut out a lot of things that I really liked! Overall, the interview is about the purpose and activities of Wayward Council and Sweeting’s perspective on watching it evolve over the years.

 Here is a link to my second Soundslides project:

http://plaza.ufl.edu/mlwalker/soundslides2/publish_to_web/

Rati’s Soundslide is called “Culture Shock.” The story in this Soundslide is about the experience of an international student going to school at the University of Florida. It doesn’t necessarily nail the points that we have talked about in class, but I think it is a story because we see and hear what it is like for this student. It kind of has an exposition and a resolution. She talks about how she feels lonely and out of place as an international student, but later she talks about how people are often open-minded, respectful and accepting of her. I like the very first picture because Rajul is opening her door and it’s like she is inviting me into the Soundslide.  I thought the next slide, the computer screen moves by a little too fast to tell what it is, I had to go back and look at it again.

I thought the photos had a firm conclusion because the story began at Rajul’s house and then the last photo is her back at her house. The audio did not present as firm of a conclusion for me though. I think this story is about 50 percent campus life and 50 percent profile. The “campus life” aspect seems to be to capture the experience of international students who come to school here and are immersed in a different culture. It is told through the perspective of one student, which is where the profile aspect comes in.

I think to improve the story, I would have put the parts about Rajul feeling accepted by other students and at the International Center together, and put them at the end, so it would feel like more of a conclusion. My favorite part is when she is talking about how she feels alone, then the next picture is her sitting on the bus looking very lonely. I thought that was a very effective use of the audio and photos together.

I feel like I have definitely learned a lot during the process of putting together my first Soundslides project. The aspect of campus life I decided to look at was the Student Government Free Bike Repair by the Reitz Union. The story that came out after my interview was finished was a little different than I expected, but I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing.

There were two employees there when I took my photos: Ian Knabe and Jason Hall. I went back and interviewed Knabe later. Basically, the story that came out of the interview presents an overview of what the Free Bike Repair service is, and Knabe talks about his experience working there. Obviously he is interested in bikes and enjoys working with them, but he talked mostly about the little things that frustrate him about the job. I thought it all sounded pretty negative at first, but after thinking about it, it made a lot of sense. The employees at the Free Bike Repair care about bikes, while most people are not that interested in them all that much, and the employees have to deal with people neglecting or abusing their bikes all the time. I can definitely see how that frustration would be a major part of working at the Free Bike Repair, and why, when Knabe’s interview was condensed into one-and-a-half minutes, it became the major part of the story.

 Here is a link to my Soundslides project:

http://plaza.ufl.edu/mlwalker/soundslides1/

I just discovered Curt and I are both doing our first Soundslides assignment on the free bike repair service on campus. I think it will be interesting to see how similar or different our stories come out.

One of the concerns I had after looking at my photos was that they are a bit repetitive. There were two people working there on the day I went, and although they were busy the whole time I was there, I felt like fixing one bike looks a lot like fixing another bike. I still thought it was an interesting place with a lot of character though. It was the first time I had been there. I tried to capture some of the character of the place in my photos, like the chair with “Bikes Are Rad!” stenciled on it. I also got a few strange looks from people who brought their bikes in to get fixed. I guess I should get used to that. Another factor is that the photos were only taken in one location. I would like to get some pictures in a different place, but for this story I’m not really sure where that different place would be.

I’m going to try to get some natural sound tomorrow and possibly my main audio track. I’m not really comfortable with throwing around the term “Nat Sot” just yet, maybe I will be if I feel like more of an audio expert in the next few weeks.

Anyway, here are a couple of the pictures that I liked from the photo shoot.

As an undergraduate I had a friend who had to write, produce and film a short movie for a class. He had to make some quick last minute edits on the audio because he said he had forgotten to add what he called “white noise” to the audio track during some overdubbed voices. I didn’t even know what he was talking about, but he played the movie for me. I watched it like any other movie, then when it got to the parts where he didn’t add white noise the whole film seemed to come to a dead stop. Everything seemed unnatural; I was completely taken out of the experience. He fixed it by adding in some audio of a microphone outdoors. A simple solution to a big problem. I think he got a good grade and I definitely became aware of, and gained an appreciation for, hearing background noises in films and in audio stories.

The readings for this week reminded me of that story and how important natural sound really is. One of the main points I took away from the reading is the importance of matching up the natural sounds with the photos being used. I shot my photo 1 story at the free bike repair place on campus. When I gather my audio, I can’t just get sounds of students on campus, I need to get the sounds of bike wheels turning and tools being thrown around. I always enjoy reading good interview tips as well, like the ones in “Natural Sound Stories: A How-To Guide.” We have discussed some of these techniques in this and other classes already, but it helps to reinforce them to read about them again. Not only are they good tips for audio interviews, but I think they will be helpful in any interview I do in the future.

Different types of microphones and recording techniques are new territories for me, so I’m still a little intimidated by all of the different gear discussed in the readings. Out of all the audio samples using the different types of microphones I only noticed a significant difference in one or two of them. Of course the NPR story was great. Since I’ve been thinking more about how to put together a story using audio, I keep reminding myself that I’ve been listening to NPR for years; hopefully I have learned something that will help me out when I do my own audio.