Mobile TechnologyThe world is growing smaller by the minute and becoming flatter. Worldwide communication has become the norm; computers and the Internet have made it possible to canvas the globe at the touch of a button or the click of a mouse. We can now gain access to any information anywhere in the world from right within our pockets. The advances in mobile technology have created a journalistic utopia...or an inferno…if you’re a journalist expected to feed the beast on what has truly become a 24/7 news cycle.
Journalists, reporters, and even everyday citizens from locations around the world can have up-to-the minute information on just about anything, at any time. Stories can be filed for the world to see almost immediately after, and even during, a newsworthy event, complete with pictures, video, audio and location-based tagging. It seems that there is always an eyewitness to everything now that the community at large is
participating in the greater discussion of information spread and truth seeking.Further mobile technological advancements are the next step past this frontier of the ever-changing ways that we communicate. The latest batch of hand held devices actually rival the usefulness of a laptop computer. We all have the capability to be “connected” to anyone, and everyone from the lightweight device we hold in the palm of our hand. But it’s not just actual devices that are creating all the buzz regarding the journalistic side of things, it’s also the applications that have blossomed.
As technology continues to make it easier to stay connected with people, there is a new breed of journalism that is becoming ever more mainstream: the citizen journalist.
With such ever-changing technologies and innovations, the lines are becoming blurred for what are traditional print, broadcast, radio and online journalism pieces. Hence, story-telling takes on new meaning and our culture is becoming desensitized to so-called “reality television”-like coverage of events. Twitter allows its users to tweet only 140 character information feeds, further contributing to people’s acceptance and appreciation of short, simple, headline-like news blurbs.
People want information in a quicker, more convenient, compact manner. Media consumers’ desensitization paves a rosy road for citizen journalists to break onto the scene. In fact, it’s becoming so easy that bloggers are starting to ask for citizen donations to help fund their ‘investigative journalism’ efforts.
A woman by the name of Marcy Wheeler made the front page of the New York Times last week for her investigative blogging efforts on the topic about Khalid Sheik Mohammed being water boarded 183 times in one month. It appears that the only way that Marcy and others are going to be supported to do investigative work past the minimal amount advertising can provide is if it comes directly from readers. So she launched a campaign to raise $150,000 to support herself, another investigative blogger to work with her, and a researcher to help them. It's becoming increasingly clear that people want constant and timely news delivered instantaneously, absent any editorial bias or interference. Mobile device technology has reached the point in its evolution where the content it produces is comparable in quality to data delivered via a computer or images shot with digital cameras. The technology isn’t slowing any time that I can see…so we can only expect a stronger reliance on mobile technology across multiple platforms.
Mobile journalists, affectionately nicknamed ‘mojos,’ have become increasingly more common in news organizations after a spike in 2007. As the technology and gadgets to capture and transmit multimedia data on the go become more widespread, reporters are expected to quickly file stories for the Web. Hence, where my earlier inferno reference sprung from. Because the technology is in place, journalists have no other option but to play victim to the perpetual act of feeding the beast. It’s a different ball game out there for journalists unlike ever before. It’s exciting, but to be completely honest, quite exhausting more so.
It has become clear that reporters will increasingly be expected to work remotely. In many cases, 'mojo' practices lead to immediate filing of stories, often providing blog-type updates. Many reporters seem to enjoy returning to the field and being able to report instantaneously. The idea is to get local news on the Web immediately, to get out in the community and get stories you wouldn't otherwise get. A number of editors and reporters worry that these practices will lead to less editorial oversight, and for young journalists who may seek direction, they’ll be forced to quickly perfect their skills.
Location is not a new concept for journalists. They’ve always been aware of the importance of locale and geography—hence, datelines on stories. Journalism missed the train on search and they’ve been slow to recognize the capability of new devices for what it could mean in the future of this industry. Everyblock.com is an example of how location-based information can be useful. Everyblock was initially developed in Chicago to gather and update all information based on addresses and geo-tagging.
We are not just piecing together a host of gadgets, tools, technologies and ideas, but doing so in ways that occasionally change how we understand media and the world around us. We have come a long way in this discussion, but we must recognize that we are only in the infancy stages about where the future of mobile technology and its effects on journalism can go.
Myself and six other Cronkite Graduate students took Google/T-Mobile G1 smart phones on a nighttime adventure through the streets of downtown Phoenix for April’s First Friday Art Walk. My digital media entrepreneurship professor Dan Gillmor blogged about the experience…and you can check it out here.
The future of the journalism industry is dependent on journalists staying up with the latest trends in mobile technology and to start projecting into the future about what the world will look like 20 years down the road. Journalists for far too many years have simply been doing what they're told and letting technological innovation and ideas pass them by. Journalists need to take an active stance in determining where there future lies in this world and how mobile devices can help ease the transition and make their lives easier.
