Of course

I could not be any happier that this class was offered my junior year at Lehigh. No offense to freshmen, sophomores or seniors, but I think taking the class as a junior made it just right. I was, in terms of journalism, "ripe" enough to understand the value of class because of the job market and because it keeps me hooked to wanting to know more about multimedia while granting me at least one more year of experimentation before the real world.

One of the questions we were asked on our applications to get into the course was what we thought about citizen journalism, or something along those lines. I don't recall what I wrote, but I know that I've come across different definitions throughout the class.

Simply, the notion of citizen journalism is a step away from globalization by focusing on local matters while introducing the idea that anyone around the world can have an impact in their society as well as the global society.

It is scary though to think that because of citizen journalism, J-schools may be delegitimized. I don't know if in a year or two I may be begging for food outside of the New York Times building while tourists film me and decide that I'm newsworthy. Suddenly, their video is a YouTube sensation and they're budding journalists.

Journalism is increasingly becoming a gamble, but with this class, I've realized, no matter what level of experience you have, if you care about what goes on in your community or elsewhere, you are capable of contributing news.

Some people see barriers, I see undiscovered opportunities as simple as having a shoot and share camera and being anywhere, anytime.

The course was incredible--I hope other journalism majors at Lehigh can come to realize it is indispensable, not just for their resumes, but for their approach to story-telling. Some stories are 140 characters long, some 1 minute and 30 seconds, and others take up an entire website.

So, in a nutshell--great course, awesome professor, cool gadgets.

Lights, camera, evaluation!

I would be a hypocrite to say I hated the camera we used...because I just bought it. However, I do wish we would have used something other than Windows Movie Maker...though it's good for beginners, it limits you a bit and I just hate Windows in general. I think I cried at least twice because it would freeze in the middle of editing the videos.

As for the handouts---tremendously helpful. Really concise and explicit, and love the graphics. In terms of the books, I began reading one but..to be honest, I slacked off and didn't read them. Not that they weren't good, but because the readings weren't stressed and we didn't really go over them in class. Otherwise, I would have definitely read both of them.

I think that's it for now....

Revita(liz)ed

I remember when we had individual conferences with our professor last semester. I remember thinking, "What in the world am I going to tell him?" I had no real understanding of multimedia. I had no real expectations. It's like when you go to a review session, and though ideally you're supposed to ask questions, you're hoping other people will ask them for you, because you don't know the material. Well that was me, hoping my professor would guide me to the right questions and then the right answers.

Boy oh boy did that change. As soon as I got the hang of Twitter, blogging, editing videos, etc., etc., I realized I had many questions and many ideas, but just not enough time. I felt like a creative side of me that lay dormant had suddenly awoken, and it just wanted to experiment with everything. There were event times when I wish I had my camera to take video of some club activity or something going on at Lehigh, and there were times I wish I could livetweet an event, only to remember, no, I don't have a Blackberry or an iPhone, I have a stupidphone (bc that would be the opposite of a smartphone, right?)

Little things like that made me realize how aware I was of social media, how critical it had become to the evolution of our society's communication. Every moment, if you decided it could be, was important. So, in terms of social media consciousness--I think I did well.

In terms of execution, there were things that I could have done better, like time management or video editing-related stuff, but overall, because I did something I had never done before, and from what it looked like, people enjoyed my work, then I would have to say I surpassed my expectations.

Of course, there's always, ALWAYS room for improvement, and I think I could have blogged more or tweeted more.

What do you think?

Biden in Bethlehem 1

Biden in Bethlehem 1

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Someone call the doc-umentary

Yesterday, after much procrastination, our group put our final video together--the Bethlehem Steel/Sands Casino Documentary.

It wasn't the most difficult project to execute, yet there were problems, as there always are and always will be.

Many people wouldn't cooperate. Either they were camera-shy or simply absent--one potential subject was leaving on a month-long vacation to Spain and Germany (and he was leaving in an hour). Others were out to lunch.

Another problem was trying to find a topic worthy of a documentary. At first we thought, let's interview all the bar owners if Sands has affected their establishments, whether positively or negatively. Like I said before, not all potential subjects were jumping at the opportunity of being featured in a video made by three Lehigh students. (Anya, remember that man in Villa who thought the video was about short girls, or something like that?)

Now, probably the most substantial problem was finding the time to do all of this. With the semester wrapping up, we were constantly busy and I don't blame anybody--at one point, I just wanted to give up, not because I wasn't having fun or because I was losing interest but because I didn't want to do anything that was half-assed. Some of us were also going through some personal troubles--not sure if that makes a difference.

However, I never thought I would say this but the reason we were able to get the video done (as well as the whole project), is because we were a group. IF I would have been alone on this, I don't think I would have been as productive or as organized. Our group developed a collectively conscious approach toward every project, and I'm sure many can agree that working in groups may be harder than the project itself.

Forgive me, I went off on a tangent, but I wanted to make sure I said that before I moved on. I really do thank Becca and Anya for being solid team players.

Back to the video.

Yesterday, after six hours of dicing and splicing (and the occasional curse), we made the video. It may not be the best documentary on Bethlehem Steel/Sands out there, but I believe it reflects the main opinions of community leaders in a way that seems as if its an ongoing conversation between them, with no referee and no guidance. It's edited to seem like it could be scripted (at least that's the effect I was going for), but it is natural and spontaneous.

iphony? I hope not

Gizmodo--I'm making a blogging note to come back to this post and elaborate.

Also, OMGov! A Lehigh grad is one of the founders---will talk more about this later.

Rain, rain go away, come back never

Due to typical April weather, (showers, then flowers--I get it), Anya, Becca and I are prancing around the South Side tomorrow to get some good footage for our narrative story.

Now, off to do my rain dance!

My first time..podcasting

Becca, Anya and I test out the audio feature of our videocamera. I could tell you what we talked about BUT...then you wouldn't listen to the podcast, now would you?



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Drive-by shooting

Anya and I went on a shooting spree yesterday--photo shooting spree, that is. Because Bethlehem Steel is off limits to us plebeians, I drove around Bethlehem while Anya shot some pics with my Canon DSLR. The photos came out good, but we still want some more (maybe table games? maye inside of Sands? I'll call Jack Kennedy asap.)

What happens in Bethlehem, stays in my blog

The moment we've all been waiting for (well not really..but deadline-wise, yes really).

I think our group is getting better at this..what do you think?

Gambled and lost...sort of

So, today Anya and I came back SUPER EXCITED from Northampton Community College after getting some awesome footage for our table games video only to find out that our interviews were silent. Yep, the lapel mic betrayed us. Mike the lapel mic. Mike the bad lapel mic. Mike the betrayer.

But in all seriousness, how does this happen to us? Obviously, we learned our lesson--don't trust your lapel mic (or don't always trust technology) and make sure everything's working as it should be. I just emailed one of our contacts at the college--she was a sweetheart, so I'm hoping she'll let us interview her, along with our other two contacts, again.

We'll see what happens---changing $500! (that's from a National Lampoons movie...it's a line from that annoying blackjack dealer who makes Clark Griswold's (Chevy Chase) skin crawl..I just thought it would go with our Sands Casino/table games theme).

There's a map for that--Littau

Professor Littau showed us today how to use Google maps for our journalistic endeavors. Though I came in a bit late (thanks Chief Shupp), I didn't miss out on the lecture and was able to see the cool things one can do with Google maps, like create your own tours around a certain area or collaborate (crowdsourcing) with other Google maps users. We had two projects:


Here's what I built! (pun intended). I don't really go to hardware stores--they bore me to death. However, I know there are many who like do-it-yourself projects (even when your spouse says you're clearly out of your mind.) Here are 7 hardware stores that will make your better half hate you or love you.



View Hardware stores around the Lehigh Valley in a larger map

As for our second project, the entire class collaborated by making a map of registered sex offenders around the Lehigh Valley. Debbie and I had to add the locations of registered sex offenders near the zip code 18020. FYI this may be an uncomfortable experience if you find out one of them lives next door. BUT hey, at least you know. Knowledge is power.


View Megan's Law: Registered offenders in Bethlehem, PA in a larger map

Back on track

It's been 18 days since my last post. No, I'm not dead clearly. Blame it on spri-i-i-i-i-ing break.

Hope my 2.3 fans didn't miss me.

Anyway, Prof. Littau critiqued our videos today and I'm happy to announce that my group's critique wasn't bad at all. Basically, there's room for improvement in the voiceover and source departments because our voiceovers were echoey and we overlooked the most important aspect of any story--humans. Not that we didn't include people, but we kind of forgot to show more of them (and we did talk to several people, but when you have 20+ minutes of footage, of which most is B-roll, you sometimes forget that people matter). Also, there were certain shots that could have been shorter.

Ok, lesson learned. Well, not really because we haven't done our next project, but we'll definitely keep it in mind for all of our upcoming, and might I add, exciting, projects.

AND, something I did today which I think deserves a pat on the back (reach over to pat myself on the back) is my live-tweeting of J198. I know Debbie enjoyed it.

NMIH PR

In a minute and thirty seconds, you can brush your teeth or pour yourself a bowl of cereal.

We did this, and while I think it came out pretty good, I wish we would have had a less restricting time limit...but I guess it makes you much more conscious about what you want to include and what you want/need to leave out.

Industria(liz)e me

Hello friends, it's been a while, but don't give up on me yet.

I have abandoned you because professors keep tormenting us with inane work and projects. Give us a break--oh wait, they will. Next week.

However, not all projects are completely useless or downright boring. Today was an exciting day because the CEO and president of the National Museum of Industrial History, Steve Donches, gave my group an exclusive tour around the museum's warehouse, where all the artifacts are being stored until the museum opens in 2011. Let me just say--I am by no means a fan of industrial history, but today I am a convert.

Steve used to work in Bethlehem Steel as VP of Public Affairs (I think), and was there for 30 plus years until the company filed for bankruptcy. Now, he has joined the museum (a Smithsonian affiliate) to preserve the history of Bethlehem and to educate the masses about how the industrial age came about. Let me just say--it's not as complicated as the machines that made it all happen.

We saw old beer-making machines from Switzerland, a 150-year old ice cream maker, a handful of steam engines, and we even caught a glimpse of Charles Schwab's old work desk.

The best part was all of the footage we got. We talked to locals, to the CEO and to a Lehigh grad student who's interning at the museum and of course, we got lots and lots of B-roll (yeah, that's right, I'm using some multimedia jargon). We may even have too much footage. And we followed the rule of thirds and used our lapel mic.

I seriously can't wait for this museum to open and hopefully, our video can express some of that urgency.

But you'll have to wait until tomorrow!

Social Media Ethic(quette)

I expect people to tweet about tennis matches, bar mitzvahs, breaking news and everything in between, but even in such a liberal social world, someone has to draw a line that extends farther than 140 characters.

A woman who tweets her abortion is insulting to life itself. It's like a murderer tweeting about his plan to kill Joe Shmoe. I'm all for empowering women--trust me. But publicizing an abortion is making it an ordinary thing, and an abortion is beyond ordinary. It is an intimate moment between a woman, her body and her never-to-be-born child.

I certainly have developed a new love for Twitter (love in the non-mushy-gushy way, but because I've discovered its unique abilities that enable the spontaneous gathering of news), but like in anything new, there is always that doubt and that question concerning ethics.

This doesn't just involve Twitter, this extends to all social media. Like uploading scandalous pictures on Facebook or posting questionable comments on MySpace, Twitter will encounter its brow-raising situations.

Obviously, "to each his own." I do my thing, you do your thing, but like in real life, what you do can get in the way of what I do. In this case, though I'm not directly affected, it really does bother me that real-life ethics/rules do not translate into our virtual world. This may just be a network, this may just be a screen we look into for hours and hours every day, but this is still life. It is humans that drive these virtual relationships, not the other way around.

What we do online counts as much as what we do offline.

I did not intend to blog about this..I was actually going to blog about my group's idea for next week's assignment, but as always, I checked out a news Web site and there it was.

I just want to clarify--I don't judge people for getting abortions. I judge people who don't treat it as a serious matter.

Jitter, Twob, Twittob, Jotter

Lehigh U is looking for a new Residence Life Coordinator.

How do I know that? One word. Symbol is a bird. 140. Yeah, Twitter.

I wonder, will Twitter become the new Monster.com?

Have people even realized the power of Twitter in terms of job searching?

Do those who embrace Twitter have an advantage over those who don't?

Oh, the power of Twitter.

Mountain hawks don't tweet

I have something to confess.

For our last lab assignment I was only there half of the time. But for a good reason: class.

Trust me, I would have preferred to have been there the entire time--intro to planet earth just isn't as interesting as staking potential interviewees. It's just not rockin'. Pun so intended.

However, I did manage to be at 3 of our 6 or 7 interviews and of course, the editing process, which I took care of (I think this evened things out in terms of me not being there the entire time).

These are my mental notes about the entire process:

1. If you're going to shoot indoors, there must be enough lighting. Stay away from dark corridors or obstructed windows that don't let enough light come in.

2. Rule of thirds! I think in general, we didn't really follow this rule...But after watching the video, I see why it's important. It's easier to focus on the subject speaking when they're not in the middle. Must be some psychological thing, but the rule of thirds is a basic guideline that, although it's not hard to follow, it's sometimes easy to forget.

3. Audio. Oh Dios. I think this is a hit or miss for each particular setting because you never know what sound is lurking around the corner or if the voice echoes too much or if you can hear the wind "slapping" the camera. These are things that can't always be seen until you play the video, whether in the camera or on the computer. Nevertheless, picking a quiet place is a safe spot for filming.

4. Subjects. Just pick anybody who's walking around where you're supposed to shoot. Some will reject you, some will accept, but one must ask all potential subjects because you never know what you're gonna get (sometimes, the best responses are the ones you're not looking for).

So, here's the video. I hope this explains all of the above. (I just realized that I speak mostly with one side of my mouth...like a twitch on my lips. You'll see what I mean. )

The plane truth

My brother lives in Austin. He lives in North Austin to be exact. He lives by Research Boulevard.

Today, after I somehow woke up for my 7:55 and made it through my two classes, I came back to my apartment and did the usual: sat in front of my computer and browsed at multiple Web sites.

All of a sudden, I receive a breaking news alert from NBC.com. It said a plane had crashed into an Austin building. Double click.

The NBC web site didn't have much information. The I remember I have to send an email, so I forget about the whole thing.

My stomach grumbles, it's time to eat. I make myself some food (ok, I microwave Amy's organic enchiladas--they're the best!) and I turn on the TV and change to channel to CNN.

BREAKING NEWS indeed. For the next hour, I went back and forth between my TV and computer to tweet about the incident and to find out more information.

My brother works in a public school, so I wasn't too worried, but I've passed by that building a million times and it felt strange seeing something tragic happen so close to home (well, my brother's home).

I called my brother--he answered. Hence, he was fine.

Then I hear about the United Airlines incident in Salt Lake City. And then I kept reading all of the headlines in the bottom the screen, from a killing in Germany to the death of a Mexican mayor, among many others. It was barely noon.

The man who crashed the plane intentionally, Joe Stack, left a suicide note online.

I haven't read all of it, and I don't intend to.

What amazed me is how quickly this story unraveled. If only we could have known about his letter yesterday, somebody could have stopped him from taking his life and the lives of others.

Video (almost) killed the college student

Well, I have yet to tell my multimedia group, Becca and Anya, that the video you're about to see took about 8 hours to make.

Wait, what? 8 hours? But...didn't we finish it on Saturday?

Not quite.

I saved the project on my USB because it wasn't finished, but the next day it's not there.

I mean, it is..but it isn't. For some reason, I saved only the project, not the actual individual videos in the project. All I could see was a series of red "X's"and the organization of the entire video, but NOT the videos. Crikey.

So of course I downloaded and converted all of the videos again (thank God I didn't delete them). Of course I reorganized them and then edited them and then edited them AGAIN.

'Twas my fault, though. Thou shalt not trust Microsoft. (That's the 11th commandment, by the way).

What a way to spend Valentine's....

Gates, you owe Anya, Becca and me a box of chocolates. EACH.

Rewriting the Book of Job(s)

After professor Littau twittered about the new job opening in Obama's staff, I got to thinking about unemployment.

Now, I may not know much about jobs, namely because I've been a student most of my life, and the closest I've ever gotten to a "real" job is writing cover letters (necessary bullsh--), but somehow, I feel the job market lacks creativity.

Why do we have to wait for the perfect job position and why, if we know what we want and we know our skills, can't we create the jobs for ourselves?

I'm sure plenty of people have gone that route, but for those who have not been so recession-proof, THIS is the opportunity to put some meaning into "building" a career.

It's late, I'm hungry and I'm kind of sleepy (no real valentine's plans...) so I may be rambling here, but there must be some truth to what I'm saying.

Step outside the cubicle.

Twitter rules!

Twitter is quickly becoming a favorite pastime.

And, like anything you enjoy, you care about the rules because they determine what you can and can't do and thus, how far you can push the envelope. Some like to play by the rules, while others prefer breaking them or tweaking them.

I've live my life by playing by the rules (it's a long story). But it worries me when something as seemingly harmless as Twitter creates a set of guidelines, and God forbid I break one without knowing.

For example, here are some of the Twitter rules that may keep me up at night:

• If you have followed a large amount of users in a short amount of time;

What if all of a sudden I just feel the need to follow more people? Or what if it's a class assignment? What constitutes 'large'?

• If you have a small number of followers compared to the amount of people you are following;

I may just be so desperate to make friends through Twitter....or I have lots of enemies and I just want to see what they're up to...

• If your updates consist mainly of links, and not personal updates;

I may be linking to my blog because 140 characters is just not enough to express myself...

• If you post multiple unrelated updates to a topic using #;

I blame it on computers...A scenario: I'm typing something to reply to someone, but I end up not liking what I wrote so I delete it and by accident I press the update button once but my computer reads it as 10 times--well, that would only happen on Windows--but still. It could happen.

Ay, ay, ay...

(that's 13 characters, but a LOT of uncertainty).

Bear the cold

Now, I don't want to be the next James Cameron, nor the next Quentin Tarantino, BUT producing and editing videos is becoming quite appealing and much more enjoyable than I could ever imagine. So, when I see a video I like now, I have a greater appreciation for the entire process behind the making of the film.

Here's one I saw at the Huffpost--it's from Super Blizzard 2010 (and no, that's not the new name of Dairy Queen's new frozen treat).

If I could, I would do this for the blizzard that's supposed to be coming our way tonight.

(Poor teddy...)

Super Tweet 2010

I'm still getting used to tweeting....you know, adding the "#" before a word so it can act as a "hash tag" so people who are tweeting about the same thing but don't know each other can find a common ground in the world of Twitter, and making links fit by shortening them through bit.ly.

However, props to Prof. Littau for showing us the power of live tweeting. I honestly don't follow sports (unless it's Lehigh-Lafayette--I'm all for tradition), so I opted to "watch" Twitter instead of the game (and because I could do other things online simultaneously).

One thing that I believe is a hindrance to tweeting is having to have your computer at all times (if you don't have a smartphone.......like me--I promise I'm not a Luddite), especially if you're watching TV and eating messy, greasy food and people around you are drunk--I mean--clumsy.

Microblogging is for microtechnology--like phones or iPads (ugh, great concept, Jobs; horrible name).

And thanks to our professor's livetweet, I got to see the new Google ad, which everybody MUST see. It probably cost like $10 to make.

A Really Simple Search

Reading Briggs' "Next," I'm making it a personal goal to subscribe to RSS feeds (I'm a little behind the times). There are a few news sites I visit and I'm always looking for others, but I really don't have the time to be searching for everything--so it should come to me, n'est-ce pas?

To remind myself to do this and how to do this, here are the three easy steps Briggs lists:

1. Select a reader

2. Find a feed and

3. Add it to you reader

I have a Gmail account, so I can just have a personalized homepage. Or, I can get Google Reader....I'll look into that--soon(ish).

Bad Romance, decent video

I can finally say that I'm comfortable using Windows Movie Maker!

The objective for this lab was pretty clear--film someone doing what they like/do best and interview them about it. Done and done.

But wait--there's a twist: OVERLAY audio and video.

Ok, so it's not as scary as it sounds...really. I actually had a ton of fun doing it and it didn't even feel like work, which is ALWAYS a plus.

Here's the result:

Mind-blogging

Professor Jeremy Littau gave us a comprehensive beginner's guide to blogging--my blog probably inspired him (and not in a good way).

There are so many elements you have to think about when blogging, from "branding" yourself through your blog (and pretty much anywhere you leave your trace on the net) to search engine optimization (seo).

If I had to pick the most important thing about blogging it would be to create a blog that focuses on a narrow topic, or in the words of Littau, a niche. That way you don't have to constantly bang your head against the table when thinking of new posts...if you like cars, stick to cars, if you like cats, stick to cats. It's the stick factor.

I would love to copy and paste the entire guide (without infringing any copyright laws), but I don't have a digital copy..so, I googled these (don't know if they completely promise what they promote, but still) The Newbie Guide to Blogging on Lifehack and this guide to blogging eponymous blog, Guide to Blogging and, if you're REALLY gung-ho about this, then buy The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging (Personally, I'm a fan of the Huffpost) I'm sure many others exist, though.

Happy blogging!

Why I'm never going into broadcasting:

1. Unedited video

2. Edited movie with text

3. Edited video with fade

it's alive, IT'S ALIVE!

Yesterday was our first lab assignment. Where do I begin?

The assignment was fairly simple--interview a Lehigh student about a range of topics ( I chose the economy--wait, didn't I leave the business school to become a journalism major? Go figure).

My partner in crime, Andrew Daniels, and I then headed outside to look for our victim and we found her by the steps outside of Linderman library. She hesitated for one second and then agreed (studying can come later, or never).

So, we tried to interview her--tried being the operative word because shortly after each of us finished our interviews (Andrew chose to talk about Haiti, by the way) we realized the camera's focus mode was on portrait and unbeknown to us, the portrait mode is only supposed to be used if you're taping something less than a foot away. Therefore, both of our interviews came out blurry and useless.

Our interviewee did not mind our ignorance or the chilly weather so she agreed to be interviewed again. (Thank you).

This time, I encountered problems--I kept saying to many "ums." (Don't do this to stall for time...just say CUT!--it saves time and you look inarticulate and, most importantly, dumb.)

Also, my interviewee became tongue-tied so we had to stop and begin again.

What I thought would take us 10 minutes took us...20 or more, don't know, didn't look at my watch. And this was they easy part!

The "hard" part (it's not really hard, but in my world, it's not that easy) is the editing.

Downloading can take a while if you don't know which clip is yours and if you're sharing a camera with someone else (the good thing was that Andrew told me which ones NOT to download. Thank you).

When I started editing the video it took me a while to get used to the navigation and finding where certain buttons where. However, I had about 15 minutes left before the assignment was due so I just picked up the pace and added the title bar, text transitions and non-text transitions and credits and split the video into three segments more quickly than you can say YouTube.

Speaking of, I uploaded my videos on YouTube and this was by far, the easiest thing to do.

Overall, I'd give myself a B+ for not having a breakdown and finishing on time and an A+ for all the things I learned. I wonder what's in store for the next lab assignment...

The basics--not so basic for me

Today was the first time I learned how to use a Kodak Zi8 HD camera, how to download movie files into my computer, how to use the Prism file converter, how to use Windows Movie Maker, and how to upload my files to YouTube. Sounds like a lot but it all took about...20ish minutes, give or take 5 or 10 minutes. For most people this probably takes about 5 minutes, therefore, I am slightly technologically impaired but then again, that's the reason I'm taking this class.

I guess the hardest part was realizing how easy everything really is and still feeling a bit lost. This will probably fade as I get used to the process and do it repeatedly. And, I hope I can build upon these skills (soon) so I wont' have to ask my computer neighbor and subject of my interview, Andrew, for help.