A Journalist’s Techtrums

I speculate sometimes perhaps just like many others whether vlogs are really the video version of blogging or is it simply Online TV.

It shares the characteristics of a blog showcasing daily updates, RSS feed, comments of viewers etc. The vlog sites can also be compared into online television that provides individual with channels to broadcast their video content.

It may not consist of the professional finishing touches of television network productions. Nevertheless it does contain equal importance in its user generated contents.

YouTube is a perfect general example of social networking site that provides its users with individual channels to upload post and share their video productions.

The issue is however, that the world is yet to absorb the gravity of the power of vlog content.

When potentially threatening information in a video is uploaded online the authorities tend to dismiss the threat it may impose for the future. In example of the Finnish gunman who went on mass shooting in a school; the video he posted on YouTube of his killing intentions were taken too lightly by the police.

This obviously proved to be fatal just the same way the other mass shooting incidents were early this year.

Regardless of criticisms on sustainability in sharing information on vlogs by many, I believe it certainly is the way forward for User Generated Content as it provides the visual, audio and text segments in delivering the message.

On a more lighter note here is a video hosted by Deepak Ananthapadmanabha on latest (rather weird) technology. (Hilarious!!!) It’s a regularly updated vlog by MOJO’S The Circuit hosted in MOJO HD website.

If you cannot view the following video click here.

• Leave a comment... (0)

On the boxing-day morning in 2005 I woke up at my in laws’ house to a big commotion. Everyone was rushing towards the TV and my husband said, “Get ready to leave at once in case of emergency”. Their house was located in the coastal area of Colombo and for the first time in my life-time ‘Tsunami’ had struck Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan coastal areas is dominant in the tourism industry. As we waited patiently in front of the TV and in online news websites, videos taken by mobile phone cameras and camcorders of the tourists in many tourism locations were broadcasted on breaking news.

The television stations depended on the survivors to send in material such as audio & video recordings describing the disaster and images till they could get their teams on site as most of their representatives in the area were killed by the Tsunami.

This natural disaster may go down in history as the trigger of ‘Citizen Journalism’ as the survivors of the tsunami around South East Asia had their say and became a part of the breaking of news as it happened.

Nevertheless the media decided to give official acknowledgment to news worthy material from the public after the London bombings in July, 2005. This was because BBC established their user-generated content desk to support the mass in-flow of the information from the public.

Even though it is a difficult task to monitor or even edit certain material to journalistic standards (especially on blogs), it still manages to provide general public with the information on demand. May it be due to the sixty second fame it has to offer, the money or simply the desire to be informative, citizen journalism certainly is a key player in the present news media.

• Leave a comment... (0)