Notes From The Field

Going mojo at #Media140 and #IJF10

Thanks to Eyjafjallajökull I've taken an unexpected 1257 km driving tour across southern Germany, through tunnels of the Swiss Alps and into northern Italy to attend the International Journalism Festival in Perugia.

Unfortunately quite a few international speakers and journalists have been unable to attend but it's far from an all Italian affair.

Ande Gregson has been furiously re-working the Media140 programme of the Festival after roaring into Perugia on his Yamaha R1 earlier in the week. Lisa Zilberpriver also managed to navigated her way here from Sydney and is covering sessions for the blog.

And for the Media140 speakers stuck in the UK I have my fingers crossed that all goes well for streaming their video presentations to Perugia. Judging from the tweets and Audioboos it sounds like producing their live video show in a bunker is going to be an interesting experience.

I was due to talk about recording and streaming video with a mobile phone, but with a slightly longer spot to fill, I may cast it a little wider and discuss mobile journalism and how you can use a mobile phone as a reporting tool.

So, using the example of a recent trip to Turkey and northern Iraq, here's a brief overview of how I'm making use of a mobile phone when I'm on the road.

It was not a news driven trip. The goal was to shoot a documentary and produce a couple of good feature stories. As I've mentioned in earlier posts, the mobile phone has become a tool that is well and truly integrated into my workflow. How I used it on this trip might offer you a few more practical ideas of using a mobile phone when reporting other than the usual phone, text message, web/email and photos.

The basic mojo kit + accessories

- iPhone 3GS (unlocked)
- Nokia N82
- Sennheiser ME 64 microphone
- earphones
- Novatel Mifi 2352 wireless hotspot
- Polaroid Pogo portable photo printer

Digital notebook
I'm using the iPhone more and more as a sort of digital notebook, often taking photos as a sort of quick digital scanner or to quickly document a scene that I can use to describe in better detail later.

Audio recorder
I used two audio apps depending on what I wanted to to do. Audioboo is great for a short interview or to record your impressions and share that via social media. I also used the FiRe field recorder app with an external microphone to record audio materials for a short radio feature. 

Photo printer

In combination with a mobile phone (or compact camera via USB) the Polaroid Pogo is an inexpensive pocket-sized crowd pleaser. It really makes a difference if you're working in a visual medium to be able to offer someone a photo on the spot. I can take photos with the Nokia, send the data file by bluetooth and in about a minute out pops a small business card size photo. Result? Smiles. But c'mon Apple, why cripple the bluetooth on the iPhone? It would be brilliant to use some iPhone photo editing apps such as PS Mobile in tandem with the Pogo.

Bluetooth file sharer

By chance I met the deminer Faris Zubair Ali in Dohuk and was spellbound by the story he told me of a night time demining rescue mission. Faris actually had with him mobile video footage shot during the rescue and shared it with me immediately by bluetooth. Journalists need a phone with bluetooth, and you need to know how to use it.

Micro-blogging and social media

Heard of that thing called Twitter? Yeah? Along along with tweeting the trip, Twitter was also useful to monitor Kurdish issues with #hashtag keywords. I mainly used Tweetdeck on the iPhone and Dabr on the Nokia.

Audio playback for interview translations

Often you need to go back over translations to clean them up and that takes time. I exported audio from video files and uploaded them to the Nokia and/or iPhone. This was useful to playback and work on translations, virtually anywhere, when the laptop and/or tapes were back in the hotel.

Video camera and video streaming

On this trip I used the iPhone a lot to record my impressions - again as a sort of digital notebook with a view to video-blogging or maybe using this content to complement HD video and photographs for a web-documentary. I also uploaded video to the net to share. For instance during in a lighter moment while filming our doco in Dohuk, I uploaded a quick 12seconds video of playing cricket with Bangladeshi street cleaners. Short and easy to upload on network.

Playing cricket in Northern Iraq on 12seconds.tv

In previous posts I've mentioned using Qik and Bambuser for live streaming video. There several apps available. Of late I've also been using USTREAM. All of these apps are regularly upgraded with new or improved features and I move between them depending on which phone I'm using.

Skype

Using a combination of the Fring application on either phone, and logging on via the 3G network made Skype quite straightforward to use.

Wifi hotspot
JoikuSpot app lets you turn your phone into a wifi hotspot. Whenever the Mifi batteries were flat, JoikuSpot was a useful to bridge the gaps between charges.

Mifi - the other gadget

This was really my first trip using the Mifi and it worked well. Despite the erratic speeds on the 3G network it turned wherever I was into an instant internet cafe and saved us plenty of time.

So, what was the bottom line of being connected in Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey? Around USD$100, and that included regularly having 3 devices connected to the Mifi and surfing the net and over the 3G network.

Update:

Here's the short video on live streaming video I presented at media140:

Streaming video from a mobile phone from fieldreports on Vimeo.

Short video clip to help explain the basics of live streaming video - presented at Media140 Perugia, April 2010.

Music: Sputnik Booster, 'Type your Text'

Media140 goes to Perugia

Driving down to Perugia this week for Media140 at the International Journalism Festival was a great excuse to check out some mapping applications and tools. On the way I opted for using the EveryTrail Pro app on my iPhone. I set the GPS tracking to every 1000 metres, and rather than draining the battery by tracing the whole trip, I just flicked it on several times along the way to plot a very rough course. There is a free version, but you need the Pro app to add photos and video. Sometimes there was a problem obtaining an accurate GPS trace but on the whole it makes for a lot of fun. The next long road trip will either need data sponsorship or another GPS device to plot the whole course.

Bonn to Perugia #italianjob

Map your trip with EveryTrail

Activated by information

(First published on Th!nk3)

I'm in Minsk at the moment preparing for a short video training course with local journalists. It's my third visit to Belarus and unfortunately all too short this time. While I'm here I'll be interested to hear what people have to say about local elections set for the end of the month and see how its being reported in the media. Although its only local elections, it will nevertheless be an indicator before next year's presidential elections about the state of democratic development in Belarus. The government of President Lukashenko drew sharp criticism from international observers and opposition political parties over the 2008 parliamentary elections.

One source I'm finding useful for Belarusian election monitoring information and analysis is the weekly newsletter posted on European Exchange. Though I think this Berlin based organisation might need a little nudge in the social media department. Are they on Twitter or elsewhere?

Speaking of which, a few weeks out before heading off for a trip, I usually try and monitor keyword #hashtags on Twitter (together with Tweetdeck's translate function) and also plug into RSS feeds from websites such as Global Voices to see what local bloggers are up to.

It's bit like tuning the dial on a short-wave radio. Sometimes it can be a bit random, other times you'll find something interesting - perhaps an important issue being debated. Even better, you might find an interesting contact for a story or someone to interview. At the very least, you can pick up a hint of what's happening online - an extra layer of information which is always useful before arrival.

And so it was one morning last week that I spotted this tweet:

 

Hmm, what's that?

The link clicked through to an article describing how the Belarusian internet youth group VOKA helps to organise events such as barcamps and workshops for citizen journalism and local new media folk. In neighbouring Lithuania last month, VOKA organised a screening of the film 10 tactics - an info-activistm project of the Tactical Technology Collective. Watching the film's trailer below, I was keen to see more.

 

10 tactics for turning information into action (Trailer) from Tactical Technology Collective on Vimeo.

On their website, the 50 minute 10 tactics film is divided into chapters and complemented with case studies, guides/tool kits and tips from citizen journalists, NGO's and activists. There's plenty of practical advice to anyone interested developing a campaign and using technology for networking and distributing information materials.

I'm still working through the film and its resources, but so far, what I found particularly interesting about 10 tactics was gaining an insight to innovative visual storytelling and social media networking from an activist's perspective. For instance, using humour in storytelling; how to protect the anonymity of witnesses; the importance in some countries of not leaving a digital trail; and, the advantages and challenges Facebook presents for online information campaigns.

At it's core, the concept of Information Activism -  turning information into action - is something certainly worth exploring more.

The Tactical Technology Collective website has a list of where the film might be screening near you and there are also some links to a couple of BBC items worthwhile checking out about the film and its web resources.

Who knows, perhaps we'll see some innovative campaigns in Belarus inspired by 10 tactics and turning to information activism in the near future?

Germany's new development policies... and the Minister's hat

(First published on Th!nk3)

I've been grounded at home in Bonn for most of March waiting for my passport to return from the Belarusian Embassy with a visa for a forthcoming trip.

So, rather than looking over the horizon for my first stab at TH!NK3, the subject of my first post is about 10 minutes away by bicycle.

Germany's Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is based in Bonn, and the minister responsible for the BMZ under the new conservative-liberal coalition government is Mr. Dirk Niebel of the FDP.

Niebel's appointment was interesting to say the least. During the election campaign last year the FDP had called for the BMZ to be abolished and its responsibilities to be absorbed into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

From the outset of his tenure, Minister Niebel has not shied away from asserting his ideas about how Germany should spend its 6 billion euro international aid and development budget.

To begin with the Minister has launched an efficiency drive to restructure the government's development arms. Germany's three main development agencies - GTZ, DED and Inwent - are to be combined to form one large development agency. Plans for how this, as yet unnamed, super-agency will operate have not been made public, but the aim is to cut costs and streamline services.

On the whole the restructure plans are seen as a positive step by the development sector (though members of the GTZ might be wondering if they'll have to move from Frankfurt up to Bonn!).

As for other big ticket items such as keeping up with Germany's millennium development goal (MDG) commitment to contribute 0.7 % of GDP to overseas development assistance, it's been hard to pin down exactly where the government stands at the moment. Yes, there is still a clear commitment from the German government to reach 0.7 % by 2015, but with five years to go Mr Niebel is not quite setting out how Germany is going to make it. Even with substantial additional funding in this year's budget, Germany will fall short of reaching the interim 0.51 % target by 2010 set by the EU.

Maybe Chancellor Angela Merkel and Bono will have to chat about that?

Mr Niebel has also been keen to point out what the name of the Economic Cooperation and Development Ministry in his eyes, perhaps literally, means.

Judging from an interview on the national ARD television network over this past weekend, Germany's new development policies could well have an emphasis placed on the Economic.

"We want to initiate development cooperations where German businesses operating in partner countries generate economic growth with the people there - so that they get a chance to work, to have their own income and have access education and to fight poverty," he said.

To what extent development programmes will have to involve German businesses in the future will be interesting to monitor.

Minister Niebel was also asked about the BMZ's new policy in Afghanistan. Some 250-million euros a year (until 2013) are earmarked for German development assistance in Afghanistan. However, these resources will be concentrated in regions where the German army is operating.

Mr Niebel refers to "networked security" and a "peace dividend" - development should occur wherever Germany's soldiers are on the ground so local people can see the benefits of Germany's presence in Afghanistan.

Critics of this policy argue that there's more to development in Afghanistan than Kunduz - the northern province where German soldiers are currently operating. And, does tying development to military operations make for good policy?

And while we're speaking of things military, I should perhaps wrap up by pointing out that hat.

Mr Niebel served as a paratrooper in the German Army and obviously likes wearing his old hat when on official trips. Hats come in all shapes and sizes. I won't dwell on the pros and cons of what some might say is gung-ho attire (Heavens, journalists are certainly prone to kitting themselves out with a dash of military-style gear!). However, I do hope that someone in the new super-development agency in Germany will come up with some sort of hat for staff, and their superiors, to wear in sunny climates.

 

(Photo credits: Thomas Imo - photothek.de)