AP style, interviewing skills, fact checking, and … drone flying lessons? At least two journalism schools are experimenting with using unmanned aircraft as news-gathering tools.
Read more at US World
Showing posts with label innovation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label innovation. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 26
Sunday, February 3
The next tech battleground may be your wrist
Pebble, a maker of smartwatches, begs to differ. On January 23rd it started shipping digital devices that strap to your wrist but are nonetheless rather neat. There are rumours that both Apple and Google have smartwatch prototypes under development. Last year Google filed a patent for a watch with what looked like a small, flip-up display screen.Smartwatch start-ups have borrowed ideas from smartphone-makers. They have packed their watches with tiny sensors that can be exploited by various apps.
Read more at The Economist
Read more at The Economist
Only the digital dies
Innovation tends to create new niches, rather than refill those that already exist. So technologies may become marginal, but they rarely go extinct. And today the little niches in which old technologies take refuge are ever more viable and accessible, thanks to the internet and the fact that production no longer needs to be so mass; making small numbers of obscure items is growing easier.
Digital technologies may prove to be more ephemeral than their predecessors. They are based on the idea that the medium on which a file’s constituent 0s and 1s are stored doesn’t matter, and on Alan Turing’s insight that any computer can mimic any other, given memory enough and time. This suggests that new digital technologies should be able to wipe out their predecessors completely. And early digital technologies do seem to be vanishing. The music cassette is enjoying a little hipster renaissance, its very infidelity apparently part of its charm; but digital audio tape seems doomed.
Read more at The Economist
Digital technologies may prove to be more ephemeral than their predecessors. They are based on the idea that the medium on which a file’s constituent 0s and 1s are stored doesn’t matter, and on Alan Turing’s insight that any computer can mimic any other, given memory enough and time. This suggests that new digital technologies should be able to wipe out their predecessors completely. And early digital technologies do seem to be vanishing. The music cassette is enjoying a little hipster renaissance, its very infidelity apparently part of its charm; but digital audio tape seems doomed.
Read more at The Economist
Tuesday, January 15
Tracking children has never been easier
An early offering, in 2003, was Wherify, a tracking device which locks to a child’s wrist. Devices invented since then protect autistic children, who easily get lost, or into danger. Youngsters on Canadian farms wear radio tags on bracelets to signal their proximity to adults operating heavy machinery.
Longer battery life and miniaturisation are making tracking cheaper and more practical. The easiest way is to use smartphones. Many mobile operators offer child-tracking at extra cost, but the number of free tracking applications is growing fast. These services and devices can provide children’s location, or send alerts about their behaviour: when they return home, or stray beyond an agreed boundary, or go out late. Speed detection reveals when somebody is in a vehicle—and whether it is breaking the speed limit.
Critics say tracking does not really protect children. Savvy kidnappers will dispose of phones or other devices (implantable tracking chips are, so far, the stuff of spy movies only). And strangers rarely attack children anyway: parents are the most likely murderers, and accidents are a far graver danger than assault. “Location tracking won’t stop your child falling into a river,” says Anne-Marie Oostveen, who studies surveillance at Oxford University. For fretful parents the new devices may just mean still more grounds for worry.
Read more at The Economist
Longer battery life and miniaturisation are making tracking cheaper and more practical. The easiest way is to use smartphones. Many mobile operators offer child-tracking at extra cost, but the number of free tracking applications is growing fast. These services and devices can provide children’s location, or send alerts about their behaviour: when they return home, or stray beyond an agreed boundary, or go out late. Speed detection reveals when somebody is in a vehicle—and whether it is breaking the speed limit.
Critics say tracking does not really protect children. Savvy kidnappers will dispose of phones or other devices (implantable tracking chips are, so far, the stuff of spy movies only). And strangers rarely attack children anyway: parents are the most likely murderers, and accidents are a far graver danger than assault. “Location tracking won’t stop your child falling into a river,” says Anne-Marie Oostveen, who studies surveillance at Oxford University. For fretful parents the new devices may just mean still more grounds for worry.
Read more at The Economist
Thursday, January 3
10 things every journalist should know in 2013
Here are 10 things every journalists should know in 2013.
1. It's all about skills, skills, skills
Aron Pilhofer, editor of interactive news at the New York Times, has one piece of advice for journalists wanting to get ahead: "Skills, skills, skills, skills, skills, skills."
"Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, it is just not enough any more to just be able to turn a phrase, or do the traditional kinds of reporting," he told Journalism.co.uk. "You need to be a little bit of a jack of all trades; you need to be able to shoot and cut video or do audio or code or do data analysis," he said.
"And it's even more important now than it ever has been in this shrinking industry to have those kinds of skills."
Steve Herrmann, editor of BBC News online, agrees. He looks for those with skills in social media, data journalism and with "an ability to appreciate the importance of still pictures, of video, graphics and audio in communicating and telling stories".
"It's not necessarily being expert in all of those things," Herrmann said, "but being aware of their importance and appreciating when they can be really effective and have impact."
9. Online journalism is mobile first
Mobile is an important traffic driver for news sites, we are regularly reminded. At particular times of the day the Guardian's mobile traffic exceeds desktop traffic; on an average weekday 24 per cent of readers of BBC News access via mobile, with that rising to a record of 30 per cent on the day of the US election last November, the BBC Editors' blog reported. And more than a third of New York Times traffic now comes from phones and tablets, according to this post by Martin Belam.
But while some sites have a mobile first strategy when thinking about how to present data visualisations, features and multimedia, many journalists have desktop in mind when creating the story.
In a presentation at December's news:rewired digital journalism conference, Belam said: "Think reader before editor. Think software before content. Think simplicity before features. Think mobile before desktop."
Read more here
1. It's all about skills, skills, skills
Aron Pilhofer, editor of interactive news at the New York Times, has one piece of advice for journalists wanting to get ahead: "Skills, skills, skills, skills, skills, skills."
"Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, it is just not enough any more to just be able to turn a phrase, or do the traditional kinds of reporting," he told Journalism.co.uk. "You need to be a little bit of a jack of all trades; you need to be able to shoot and cut video or do audio or code or do data analysis," he said.
"And it's even more important now than it ever has been in this shrinking industry to have those kinds of skills."
Steve Herrmann, editor of BBC News online, agrees. He looks for those with skills in social media, data journalism and with "an ability to appreciate the importance of still pictures, of video, graphics and audio in communicating and telling stories".
"It's not necessarily being expert in all of those things," Herrmann said, "but being aware of their importance and appreciating when they can be really effective and have impact."
9. Online journalism is mobile first
Mobile is an important traffic driver for news sites, we are regularly reminded. At particular times of the day the Guardian's mobile traffic exceeds desktop traffic; on an average weekday 24 per cent of readers of BBC News access via mobile, with that rising to a record of 30 per cent on the day of the US election last November, the BBC Editors' blog reported. And more than a third of New York Times traffic now comes from phones and tablets, according to this post by Martin Belam.
But while some sites have a mobile first strategy when thinking about how to present data visualisations, features and multimedia, many journalists have desktop in mind when creating the story.
In a presentation at December's news:rewired digital journalism conference, Belam said: "Think reader before editor. Think software before content. Think simplicity before features. Think mobile before desktop."
Read more here
Sunday, December 9
The ability to determine the location of a person’s gaze is opening up an enormous range of new applications
Eye tracking can do more than just help designers by revealing visual shortcomings in websites, advertisements and product prototypes. More than 9,000 paralysed people operate computers and wheelchairs using eye trackers (most survivors of spinal injuries and neuromuscular diseases retain control of their eyes). The technology is also being used to alert drowsy drivers, diagnose brain trauma, train machine operators and provide surgeons with “a third hand” to control robotic equipment. Costs are falling so quickly that mainstream consumer use of the technology may not be far off. Haier, a Chinese maker of household appliances, recently unveiled a prototype TV controlled by a viewer’s gaze. Eye tracking may also find use in desktop computers, video-games consoles and e-readers.
For the time being, the main use of eye tracking is in design and marketing. Trials involving just a few dozen viewers of an advertisement, website or product design can reveal exactly what looks good and what does not. Software sold by iMotions, a Danish firm, creates colour-coded maps that show where gazes glide, linger, or twitch back and forth in frustration. Such “heat maps” can reveal more about how well an advertisement will work than asking people to express themselves in words, says Peter Hartzbech, the firm’s boss.
The ability to use eye tracking to control a computer has obvious advantages for disabled people, but fans of the technology believe it could become a widely used input technology for the able-bodied, too. Moving an on-screen cursor with a glance is much faster than using a mouse, for example.
Another use is in e-readers. Researchers at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence and the University of Kaiserslautern have created a program called Text 2.0 that uses eye tracking to analyse how a displayed text is being read. If the reader lingers on a foreign word, Text 2.0 can display its translation. Lingering on a word and then sweeping one’s gaze to the right margin calls up a definition. If the reader starts to skim, the software dims common words. The program could be used by authors to see which passages caused readers to stumble or skip ahead.
Read more at The Economist
For the time being, the main use of eye tracking is in design and marketing. Trials involving just a few dozen viewers of an advertisement, website or product design can reveal exactly what looks good and what does not. Software sold by iMotions, a Danish firm, creates colour-coded maps that show where gazes glide, linger, or twitch back and forth in frustration. Such “heat maps” can reveal more about how well an advertisement will work than asking people to express themselves in words, says Peter Hartzbech, the firm’s boss.
The ability to use eye tracking to control a computer has obvious advantages for disabled people, but fans of the technology believe it could become a widely used input technology for the able-bodied, too. Moving an on-screen cursor with a glance is much faster than using a mouse, for example.
Another use is in e-readers. Researchers at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence and the University of Kaiserslautern have created a program called Text 2.0 that uses eye tracking to analyse how a displayed text is being read. If the reader lingers on a foreign word, Text 2.0 can display its translation. Lingering on a word and then sweeping one’s gaze to the right margin calls up a definition. If the reader starts to skim, the software dims common words. The program could be used by authors to see which passages caused readers to stumble or skip ahead.
Read more at The Economist
Tuesday, November 27
Old Media, New Tricks: R&D
the seven-year-old New York Times R&D Lab acts as a tech startup of sorts inside the New York Times Co. With 20 staffers, the lab’s mix of crazy smart technologists, programmers, designers and business brains are charged with the Sisyphean task of developing tech innovations and new business models to help the struggling Times weather an uncertain future.
(A project called) Ricochet appears to hold the greatest marketing potential. The program allows brands to buy ad space around articles relevant to their messages that can be then distributed via a unique URL. The highly targeted program could potentially revolutionize now-imprecise ad exchange audience targeting.
Following the Times’ lead, the Washington Post Co. last fall launched WaPo Labs, which also focuses on emerging technologies. The Philadelphia Media Network, publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, this year launched the Project Liberty Digital Incubator with a $250,000 grant from the Knight Foundation. Meanwhile, the incubator project infuriated members of the Newspaper Guild union, as it coincided with the March layoff of 19 staffers plus 21 buyouts.
Read more here
(A project called) Ricochet appears to hold the greatest marketing potential. The program allows brands to buy ad space around articles relevant to their messages that can be then distributed via a unique URL. The highly targeted program could potentially revolutionize now-imprecise ad exchange audience targeting.
Following the Times’ lead, the Washington Post Co. last fall launched WaPo Labs, which also focuses on emerging technologies. The Philadelphia Media Network, publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, this year launched the Project Liberty Digital Incubator with a $250,000 grant from the Knight Foundation. Meanwhile, the incubator project infuriated members of the Newspaper Guild union, as it coincided with the March layoff of 19 staffers plus 21 buyouts.
Read more here
Sunday, November 20
Drone Journalism Arrives
Now that cellphone cameras have turned every protester with a Twitter account or a YouTube channel into a potential multimedia journalist, police officers in several American cities appear to be having trouble distinguishing between activists and reporters.
Two days ago, as police officers raided the Occupy Wall Street protest camp, several reporters were arrested and many more were denied access to the site. At the same location on Thursday, my colleague Colin Moynihan reported, “Several officers could be seen shoving and punching protesters and journalists” alike.
All of which makes it a good time to report that a Polish firm called RoboKopter scored something of a coup last week when it demonstrated that its miniature flying drone was capable of recording spectacular aerial views of a chaotic protest in Warsaw.
Read more at the New York Times
Two days ago, as police officers raided the Occupy Wall Street protest camp, several reporters were arrested and many more were denied access to the site. At the same location on Thursday, my colleague Colin Moynihan reported, “Several officers could be seen shoving and punching protesters and journalists” alike.
All of which makes it a good time to report that a Polish firm called RoboKopter scored something of a coup last week when it demonstrated that its miniature flying drone was capable of recording spectacular aerial views of a chaotic protest in Warsaw.
Read more at the New York Times
Wednesday, August 10
Think different
Clay Christensen revolutionised the study of (innovation) with “The Innovator’s Dilemma”, a book that popularised the term “disruptive innovation”. This month he publishes a new study, “The Innovator’s DNA”, co-written with Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen, which tries to take us inside the minds of successful innovators.
Mr Christensen and his colleagues list five habits of mind that characterise disruptive innovators: associating, questioning, observing, networking and experimenting. Innovators excel at connecting seemingly unconnected things. Innovators are constantly asking why things aren’t done differently. For all their reputation as misfits, innovators tend to be great networkers. But they hang around gabfests to pick up ideas, not to win contracts.
For all their insistence that innovation can be learned, Mr Christensen and co produce a lot of evidence that the disruptive sort requires genius.
Read more at The Economist
Mr Christensen and his colleagues list five habits of mind that characterise disruptive innovators: associating, questioning, observing, networking and experimenting. Innovators excel at connecting seemingly unconnected things. Innovators are constantly asking why things aren’t done differently. For all their reputation as misfits, innovators tend to be great networkers. But they hang around gabfests to pick up ideas, not to win contracts.
For all their insistence that innovation can be learned, Mr Christensen and co produce a lot of evidence that the disruptive sort requires genius.
Read more at The Economist
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