Dear visitors from mixed groups:
Our first idea, and the one we need the most feedback on, is as follows. We're thinking of putting together a way for people to create their own news show via video. The user would get to add in news clips from a given library and could add in their own commentary. (Kim's post below this one shows how video editing can be done online.) This would presumably be hosted by a news organization who could supply the content (i.e. the clips) in exchange for increased traffic and publicity.
The point? It would allow people to have their voices heard and give them more incentive to get involved.
Feedback welcome. Comment away.
Teammates: Feel free to edit this post or comment to expand on this idea or add in some of our other ideas you're looking for feedback on. I probably missed some details.
-Tyler
21 comments:
Question:
Would the clips be of actual news stories of which were already used?
Or would the users be piecing together fake news stories?
Jordan (Group 1 Voltron)
Most of the videos I looked at from the link's sites were the same. A lot felt like extended versions of ytmnd.com. And that, I suppose, would be because of the provided tools at each site.
Also, YouTube now has CitizenTube, which is currently showing mostly political videos, though the site lists news as a concern.
Can you do something that is different from the video mixing sites and CitizenTube?
Brian (Team Awesome)
First off, I echo Jordan's questions. Secondly, I guess this is more of a concern, if a news organization is hosting the site, then you are only limiting clips to those from that news organization? So ABC hosts the site, all you are going to be allowed to piece together are Dianne Sawyer in the morning and Charlie Gibson in the afternoon. Finding an alternate way to host would allow more voices to be mixed, and more balanced journalism. (Think about what would happen if Fox were to host the sie ... I think we would all agree it would be some seriously slanted journalism). Or maybe that is the purpose ... people then would be getting the news they wanted to hear.
is this more news or issues if it's news is it current news? the problem i could see with that is that you could get responses from so many people. How would the people be chosen?
I like the video news mashup concept, but agree that you've got some issues logistically. Namely, how to secure enough content - with enough variety - to make the newscasts unique. What about allowing for other user submitted content as well as partnering with a/many news organization(s)?
My original thought was to make it into something that you would see on VH1's "Best Week Ever" or E!'s "The Soup." People could grab video news clips and basically become their own reporters...piecing together their own story with it's own spin and publicize it. It could be a serious piece on hard news or spoofs of more entertainment news.
It would sort of be like youtube's Citizen Tube, but it would expand to any type of news.
Thanks for the feedback everyone.
Jordan: The clips would be of actual news stories. The user part comes in reacting to these stories and giving their own input.
Brian: In terms of focus, this idea is supposed to not only focus on politics but anything in the news, unlike CitizenTube, like Laura said. It will be different from video mixing sites in that it provides specific content to use, but that's wide-ranging enough so that it covers more than CitizenTube.
Andrea: Given the restrictions of the project, it would likely be one news organization hosting. However, we were also thinking that people with videophones or similar devices could record their own news in their neighborhood and report on it. Those clips could also become something else for people to react to.
Micah: We were talking about using a Digg type system where people could vote on what videos were worth seeing, so that the good ones were featured and the bad ones were buried forever.
Hey guys,
I was watching ABC News tonight and they mentioned this new thing they're launching on their Web site called I caught. I thought it would be interesting to look at and see where news organizations are going with amateur video.
http://ugv.abcnews.go.com/
Hi this is Christina from Group 1 Voltron
Would content become unavailable for use after the news story loses it's freshness?
Can content be used that is not based in the facts of the story being presented if it causes an emotional response?
Ex. take a clip of people protesting and insert it into a story about an issue that the user feels should inspire a protest, but as of yet hasn't?
It also makes me nervous as well because Broadcast journalism has such a level of professionalism. I'd hate for that to go away to people in t-shirts in front of their webcams.
If one's own commentary could be played over the collection of clips, the viewers are going to see the same visual content over and over with only new audio. I also worry that it may be dangerous to give a person a handful of videos and to have him or her make up the report anyway she or he chooses. It would work for satire or custom Rage Against the Machine videos, but I'm not sure it would work for credible news, which would make it a hard sell to the news provider.
Kyle (of Voltron)
I think you chose the right idea. My take is that it would allow people to be host their own highlights video and recaps. I really think people would get a kick out of this. Make good use of the new video editing tools to create a fun and easy format. I think you would have to begin with a single site sponsor but I like the idea of including amatuer video for more content without competition. How can you create a community here? Try integrating that into the idea too.
I was wondering about how complicated getting the rights for news footage would be. I'm sure a lot of it will be easy to get, but I was wondering about sports highlights, and other images that may be owned. It's a really good idea, but this is a issue you guys may run into.
OK, so this idea is great in that it allows people to actually report the news they feel is important. Obvious setbacks are costs of technology, as well as incentive for even participating in such a project. Could contributors be paid on a per-story basis?
Also, is this iteration of day-to-day news stories, or is it citizens going out and actually doing their own reporting? It could work either way, though credibility is still an issue in both cases.
-Brian, KU team
On my local fox5 news channel, they do this thing called "The Rant" and my mom loves it...she says its "real" and that's what she loves about this particluar broadcast news channel. "The Rant" is done via television using viewers' e-mails or actual telephone calls. Viewers get to express their opinion (which I'm assuming won't be a prevalent part of this idea), and be apart of the news cast (most importantly). All in all, I like the idea, and as long as it is structured (and maybe a little bit more detailed) I think it would be different enough than the makeshift videos that people post/upload onto YouTube.
Jenna (UNLV All Knighters Team C)
I'm not sure if i already responded to your groups ideas. if stephen patterson is in your group then yes. but this idea looks different so ill comment.
So i think it would actually be kind of cool. this kind of asks why people would want to create their own story from clips and info about things that are already known about- presumably since they are available. you might get a lot of repetition of the same story told by different people, which happens already on all the news channels. I would look for a way to make it more about variation and having people go out and find unique stories and upload those. of course they could just put them up on youtube or current.tv if its all original content and they could get a big audience right now, if the story is good. so you would have to think of ways to set your site apart as well.
whoops forgot to id myself
-Rob Ponte of UNLV all-knighters
This seems interesting - would the users "create" the news as well, or would the news stories/videos be provided by the news organization?
The way I see myself using this thing would be to create an entire newscast without one mention or image of Paris Hilton. That alone makes this idea worth pursuing...
Chris Raine (KU)
Ah, a truly postmodern idea that reflects the pastiche panoply styles of artists who use found objects or "mash up" DJs who create new songs out of old ones.
While much excellent content has been created in such a way, my main concern with this idea is that, while attempting to facilitate user content creation and participation in media discourse, it actually limits the scope of their voices a great deal because it leaves the old gatekeepers in place to decide which stories merit comment (the ones they provide clips about for citizen journalists to work with) and which do not.
An important maxim to keep in mind while attempting to revolutionize journalism is this, from McCombs and Shaw's 1972ish study of the agenda setting capabilities of media: Mainstream media are not very good at telling people what to think, but they are impeccably effective in telling people what to think about. Just because someone could use footage of Paris Hilton crying in her car to make some comment about her that other outlets neglected to make, s/he's still making comments about Paris Hilton.
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