Are newspapers dead, dead, dead? You bet. Case in point: Newsplex “where the futures of journalism and news technology intersect”.
The partnership of The Ifra Newsplex at the University of South Carolina, Cingular Wireless and Textamerica will allow field journalists to photomoblog every detail of the Democratic presidential primary that takes place on Feb. 3rd in South Carolina. The project combines mobile phone and wireless technologies with traditional journalistic skills.
Seven teams of print and broadcast journalists, equipped with camphones will envelop the area, reporting its varied nuances as it happens. Swarm journalism.
But print is more than news and feature stories. Opinions, discussions, comics, horoscopes and entertainment make them work. It’s the buzz machine.
Will “newspapers” match their news product to a portable multi-media device? Probably not. About 20% of American households now have broadband, with the number expected to double by 2008. Connected journalists will redefine newspapers right out of the box. No bullshit media syndicate required.
RSS is The New News. Everyone knows that. Daily Rotation’s webpage lets you instantly select your news feeds without cost while NewsGator reads Usenet feeds as well as RSS feeds. It can synchronize your feeds to computers, public Web terminals, or handhelds. Bloggers can use it to post content to their blogs directly.
Real-time journalism will utilize video blogging, live audio and video, chat and news feeds. But why not rover-like picture coverage, or motion-capture for Famous Faces, 3D animation and games. Chandler, an open source software project, will supply email, calendars, contacts and tasks. Everywhere you want to be. VoIP live. Vidiator transforms MPEG-2 into MPEG-4, iMode, WAP Bitmap, M-JPEG, Real, or Windows Media for cell phones.
We live in a wireless cloud. It’s 2-way. Get a swarm of electric bikes, EV-DO phones, a hundred wireless netcams and a house band. Korea, Toyko, and Sydney will get there first.
This is reality. It’s putty.
“Fusion Spots” could be placed all over the city. They would identify community news feeds that are commerce-enabled and location-specific. Mix story telling with “always on” vitality.
It’s a new vision. Right now. And you’re in it.
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