http://journalistlaura.wordpress.com Musings of a journalist and grad student Fri, 02 May 2008 17:02:30 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en So, my class has spent the whole semester learning about telling stories through video. I've definitely gained more confidence in my video skills this semester, but I do have room to improve. I want to make my shooting and editing skills more polished, and I'd really like to explore more ... http://journalistlaura.wordpress.com/2008/04/30/a-semester-of-video/ (Note: The above image is just a screen shot of our video. Click here to view it!) For our final project, my classmate Shifen and I decided to make a video about healthcare in the Gainesville area. While I knew before starting this project that there were big problems with ... http://journalistlaura.wordpress.com/2008/04/30/lending-a-helping-hand/ I have to say, I'm not that impressed with MSNBC's Presidential Candidates and Issues Matrix. The matrix is a grid representing each of the past and present candidates in the 2008 presidential race, and where they all stand on five big issues. There is a lot of information in this ... http://journalistlaura.wordpress.com/2008/03/12/assessing-a-flash-presentation/ I found these videos on the Video Journal page of the Spokesman Review's Web site. It seems like a good source of news videos. I like viewing and critiquing these because, though the nice, fun, human interest stories are great to make and view, a lot of newspapers are also ... http://journalistlaura.wordpress.com/2008/02/13/newspaper-videos/ Well, it's been quite a while since I've written anything here, but I'm back for another semester of multi-media training! This semester is all about video, a topic that, I will admit, makes me a bit nervous. My past attempts to make good, non-home-movie style videos have not been as ... http://journalistlaura.wordpress.com/2008/01/22/a-great-web-site-for-video-novices/ I have learned so much this semester in Journalist's Toolkit 1: how to record and edit quality audio in an ethical manner; how to take decent, journalistically ethical photographs; how to write a professional-quality blog and get it out there for others to read; how to make soundslides and FusionCharts ... http://journalistlaura.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/looking-back-on-a-semester-of-multimedia-training/ This story package describes the problem of Hunger in North Florida. Through a chart and a soundslides presentation, you'll learn what percentage of the population in several North Florida counties are deemed at risk of having a lack of food, what percentage receive food stamps, about three organizations in Gainesville, ... http://journalistlaura.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/hunger-in-north-florida-a-story-package/ Hunger in America is a big problem, even here in Alachua County. My latest Soundslides project, called "Filling in the Gaps" is about the struggle to keep hungry people fed. It contains photos from Bread of the Mighty Food Bank, St. Francis House and Gainesville Community Ministries, all in Gainesville. ... http://journalistlaura.wordpress.com/2007/11/28/filling-in-the-gaps-a-soundslides-presentation/ Last week my multimedia journalism class discussed data handling, charts, infographics, etc., and how they can revamp the way newspapers cover topics. One of our primary readings was a blog post titled "A fundamental way newspaper sites need to change," by Adrian Holovaty. I have to admit, I was a ... http://journalistlaura.wordpress.com/2007/11/24/making-data-fun-or-at-least-user-friendly/ I was quite happy today when, after nearly two hours at the local food bank working on my Soundslides 3 project about hunger in America, I had several interviews, some nat sot (natural sound on tap), and lots of photos done. It was a good start to the project, I ... http://journalistlaura.wordpress.com/2007/11/14/problems-with-audio-equipment/