Nicomedia

Does a collage feature qualify as a gimmick? I could spend hours arranging my digital photos into pointless collages, and I would have today if I wasn’t supposed to be studying (but also streaming Obama on CNN at the same time).

I like Picasa’s interface and I’m sure if I had a bit more time this afternoon I would have worked out how to do whatever it was I was aiming to – and I would need to figure that out first. Frankly, I am a little bemused by the wealth of options one has on the internet these days and I’m prepared to spend some time working it all out. I think I have used photobucket in the past, and this seems to have many more creative and purposeful possibilities.

Here is what I did do.

From Movies

On the other hand, couldn’t be happier about this…

The advent of mo-blogs: This is a phenomenon that has largely passed me by, but perhaps I just haven’t been looking hard enough. I would like to hear about an effective example of mo-blogging other than the Newsplex project during the 2004 US election.

I foresee that as mobile phones become more sophisticated, and more capable to load web pages, the distinction between mobile-based and computer-based use of the internet will fade. An all-in-one PDA tool like the iMate JasJam opens so many possibilities for journalists.

 Trenerry St, Abbotsford – captured on my mobile

 Some links to personal mo-blog sites:

www.moblogs.com.au

www.moblog.net

It is clear that convergence is the way of the future. The Internet, considered apart from commercial considerations (if that is possible), is the most exciting thing to happen to the media since the printing press. I find it a shame, albeit a necessary one, that the biggest dilemma media companies face is how to make money from this new medium.

Newspaper websites are perfectly placed to cater to an audience that wants ‘convenient news’. While it is true that audiences are fragmenting, it doesn’t have to be at newspapers expense. People value the credibility that comes with established mastheads such as The Australian and The Age, and are likely to go to these sites when they want information they can trust. Those who want media – television, radio and newspapers – to exist just as they did before the World Wide Web are going to be disappointed however. There has to be change, and flexible newsrooms will be the most successful at adapting to the new technology on offer.

These issues and more were discussed by a panel – The Australian’s Campbell Reid, ABC’s Mark Scott, Max Uechtritz and Roy Greenslade, moderated by Sky News’ Helen Dalley – at the Walkley Foundation’s “Future of Journalism” conference earlier in the year, aired on ABC Radio National’s Media Report.

One solution put forward on how to fund quality journalism is commercial diversification – The Guardian and the  Washington Post are examples of publications – the premier mastheads of the companies behind them – that do not run at a significant profit and are subsidised by other investments. Max Uechtritz also suggests that video could become a big earner for media organisations once they learn how to utilise it fully (like the BBC is endeavouring to do).