New Media Workshop

Here’s the map of the place where I bought my Wii.

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Please take a look at our group’s computer recycling soundslides.

Geneva Xie wishes to be a journalist because she wants to tell the stories of ordinary people and give them a chance to speak for themselves. She said that’s part of the reason why she wants to cover ’traffic noise pollution in Hong Kong’ in her Hong Kong Stories project.

Her idea in exploring traffic noise pollution in Hong Kong is inspired by her observation that most of the residential buildings alongside the roads are rented or sold to ordinary people. She believes that they can’t afford to live in those quieter residential areas as they charge much more money. It’s precisely them that suffer most from traffic noise on road.

In the interview below, she will talk about why chose the topic ‘traffic noise pollution in Hong Kong’ and how she will conduct the project.

 Interview

I’ve made a few changes to the Wikipedia page concerning computer recycling and Caritas Hong Kong by adding a link to its Hong Kong Caritas Computer Recycle Project and highlighting the efforts of Caritas Hong Kong in environmental protection. Besides, I’ve changed the sub-heading ‘Reasons to recycle’ to ‘Reasons for recycling’ on the computer recycling page. Initially, I thought Wikipedia is not that easy to be modified in terms of its content as I haven’t noticed the ‘Edit’ icon. But after making these changes, I’ve less confidence in the credibility of the information there as it can be edited by anyone. Anyway, it’s good that Wikipedia can let people have access to information and the information will be more credible if the information stated there has some external links so that readers can verify it.

On the class Wiki page, we basically divide our work in that Geneva and I would go to Caritas Recycling Centre to take photos and that Lily will help edit photos. But after having taken photos there, we decide that we may need to go to that centre again because the staff took a leave on Saturday. So I modified the collaboration page by adding one more item in schedule. On the class resource page, I’ve also added two links to computer recycling, which are Computer Recycling Scheme run by Education Bureau and The Hong Kong Council of Social Service as well as Hong Kong Recycling Co. Ltd.

interview-r.mp3

Soundslides project

I’m interested in the computer recycling campaign organised by the Environmental Protection Department. The programme was launched on 12 January 2008 and on February 25, the public collection points service will commence. I want to find out the effectiveness of the campaign and see the public’s response to the campaign by interviewing the organisers of the campaign and the people who go to the public collection points to support the campaign. Hopefully, I can gather some statistics to evaluate its effectiveness.

Final ‘Hong Kong Stories’ Report 

One idea I’ve in mind is the concept of ‘Green Olympics’. As the Beijing Olympics is approaching this summer, Mrs Carrie Yau, the Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs, announced that the Home Affairs Department will launch a series of activities to promote the concept of ‘Green Olympics’. There will be ‘Hong Kong Tree Planting Day 2008′ at the end of March in which more than 3000 participants will plant 10000 trees in Pak Mong Village, Lantau Island and the plantation area will be named “Olympic Green”. I think it’s interesting to report on this activity and some other related ‘Green Olympics’ activities organised by the Home Affairs Department.

I’ve identified an event which will begin from 27 January. This is organized by Green Sense about reducing the use of wrapping papers for Chinese New Year presents. Green Sense is working with three big chain stores in Hong Kong, namely LOG-ON, Seiyu and city’ super. There will be posters in these chain stores promoting not using wrapping papers for the presents. If the customers are worried that those receiving the presents are not used to that, there will also be small-sized stickers letting them understand it’s for the sake of the good of the environment not to use wrapping papers. It is estimated that 30000 wrapping papers for the presents will be saved in these nine stores.

I found out about this event on Google news from the news feeds of Google Reader that I subscribed to. I subscribed to Goodge news feeds about ‘Environment’ and ‘Hong Kong’. I think web research skills were greatly useful for me to find out about this event I managed to find out this activity from the web. From the news, I can also find out the name of the organization that launches this event, which is Green Sense. I also searched the website of Green Sense and found out the details of the event in their ‘activity’ section with a press release of this activity together with a poster attached. Thus, I think the information I found from the web is sufficient. No doubt if I still need to look for further information, I may also e-mail them or call them directly. So I may need to resort to old-fashioned reporting techniques like calling them directly once I can think of further questions.

I chose to subscribe to Google and Yahoo news feeds about ‘Environment’ and ‘Hong Kong’. I also subscribed to the blog feeds about ‘environmental issues in Hong Kong’. The reason why I subscribed to the above websites and blog feeds is that I want to save the time for searching the news everyday. Now I only need to read the updates on Google Reader and see if there’s any interesting event for the course project.

I’ve identified an event which will begin from 27 January. This is organized by Green Sense about reducing the use of wrapping papers for Chinese New Year presents. Green Sense is working with three big chain stores in Hong Kong, namely LOG-ON, Seiyu and city’ super. There will be posters in these chain stores promoting not using wrapping papers for the presents. If the customers are worried that those receiving the presents are not used to that, there will also be small-sized stickers letting them understand it’s for the sake of the good of the environment not to use wrapping papers. It is estimated that 30000 wrapping papers for the presents will be saved in these nine stores.

I found out about this event on Google news from the news feeds of Google Reader that I subscribed to. I subscribed to Goodge news feeds about ‘Environment’ and ‘Hong Kong’. I think web research skills were greatly useful for me to find out about this event I managed to find out this activity from the web. From the news, I can also find out the name of the organization that launches this event, which is Green Sense. I also searched the website of Green Sense and found out the details of the event in their ‘activity’ section with a press release of this activity together with a poster attached. Thus, I think the information I found from the web is sufficient. No doubt if I still need to look for further information, I may also e-mail them or call them directly. So I may need to resort to old-fashioned reporting techniques like calling them directly once I can think of further questions.  

I chose to subscribe to Google and Yahoo news feeds about ‘Environment’ and ‘Hong Kong’. I also subscribed to the blog feeds about ‘environmental issues in Hong Kong’. The reason why I subscribed to the above websites and blog feeds is that I want to save the time for searching the news everyday. Now I only need to read the updates on Google Reader and see if there’s any interesting event for the course project.

After reading the online book entitled Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive, I understand that journalism is changing its presentation. As a journalist, it can be something good as it opens up more opportunities for a journalist to connect with readers. Besides words, video and audio clips can be extremely useful tools to get a journalist’s message across. At the same time, there’s higher demand on the skills set of journalists. Nowadays, employers of newspapers are facing fierce competition from other news websites such as Google whose readers are used to getting information instantly online. In a sense, the profit of the print media is diminishing. Luckily, there is a way out: newspapers can also have websites that can provide the most updated information to readers through the web.  

One thing that surprises me is that the web has made news reports more interactive in a sense that readers can take part in it. Again, this can be something good or bad. Some people do not like their news reports being challenged by readers, especially when there are some people who would post negative comments. But this can also be something good as reporters can get instant feedback from readers and that readers may provide extra information that help reporters develop their news stories further. It just reminds me that there are many newspapers like The Standard, reporters usually leave their email address there so that readers can contact them directly. As long as the comments are not nasty, it’s something that should be treasured.

As a journalist in future, the simplest thing one needs to know is to post a blog. If one does not know the basics of multimedia, it’s really difficult to find a job in the field of journalism. Like the link of a blog post to the article I read titled Web-savvy young journalists in demand - and Chinese language doesn’t hurt either!, Mindy McAdams, an online journalism professor in Florida, is pointing out the importance of multimedia skills for a journalism school graduate. She even says that one should never keep thinking that you only need to write and report well to be a qualified journalist nowadays. Without the basic multimedia skills, you simply can’t survive in this digital age.

Upon browsing some winners of the Digital Edge Awards, I do think there is more room for storytelling beyond words. In many instances, the impression on readers is more powerful through images. Like the video I saw entitled A People Torn, watching the slide shows with photos of youngsters being forced to carry guns and the sounds of gunshots help me better understand the cruelty of war and the difficult situation faced by the people there. Besides slide shows, there are also several in-depth stories there to help readers understand the full picture. In a way, slideshows, videoes or photos can help viewers grasp a basic picture but it is not enough. Still, it requires in-depth news analysis for a more complete picture. Another one that I watched titled The Crossing is about a train that smashed a school bus. Hearing the voices of the witnesses there together with the video really make the scene look so real. I do think these sites represent a step forward from traditional forms of journalism as reporters can now engage readers in a story in different levels: not only through words but also through visual and audio mediums.