Final Project Overview |
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December 8, 2008 The overall theme for all three stories was the changes to most southwest region of the U.S.-Mexico border. In this, there are a multitude of government entities, organizations and people actively working to focus. The Tijuana River Estuary, Border Field State Park and the Friendship Park inside Border Field State Park are all featured in these works to focus on this specific enclave of the border, and that’s only the American side. Each story touches specifically how the region will be affected by the changes and how it will affect different groups of people and places. The written story is an overview of the changes that are to come and how it will vary across nations. The photo slideshow focuses on a specific event to illustrate how the social dynamic will change in the area. Lastly, the audio story focuses how the changes will affect the region’s environmental dynamic and wildlife. The experience overall helped me have a better understanding of the kind of “jack-of-all-trades” an online journalist must be. Not only does an online journalist need reporting skills, but they must also understand html, photography, audio and a basic understand of design and web functionality to become successful. However, simple having knowledge in those fields is not enough. They all must be done well so that when work comes together, it functions properly as a singular piece of work so that the audience can understand. This was unthinkable only 15 years ago. Knowing this, I understand how important it is to be knowledgeable in as many media-related trades as possible in order to be successful. One of the most important things in a Web site, that I learned, is to keep page-to-page consistency. The site’s visitor needs to know what Web site he or she is at all times. If your a site is designed poorly then viewers may think they have stumbled into another place on the Web site and give due credit. Another important element I learned is the proper hierarchy of content. Because of the prominence of “have it now” information access with the rise of Google, people want the most important information in where they can find it the quickest. If your text isn’t properly aligned to the left, or not aligned at all, they will not be able to find the information they are looking, which may result in the non-return of a first-time visitor. For my site, I remembered to keep all of those in mind so that a visitor can easily navigate, find the necessary information and avoid getting lost. The few external links I have a pertinent to the work so that it’s not completely confusing when visitors leave the site. On the writing project, I made sure to explain as much as I could in as few as words possible (staying within the word limit.) This allows the ready to hold their attention and avoid being burdened with huge chunks of text. I also made sure to have related links in the written story, so that if a reader is skeptical of my work, he or she can do some of their own digging to confirm the information I provided. For the photo project, the most important thing I kept in mind was to start with an establishing shot. Much like in cinema, you need to show the viewer where you are. If they recognize the place (in my case, the border fence) by sight alone, then they know where it’s going. If not, further investigation can show more detail. Also, basic photographic rules, like the rule-of-thirds, proper depth of field and proper exposure were all applied so the viewer will not have any problems discerning any of the subjects I am showing. For the audio story, one of the big things I remembered was presenting the narration like a conversation I may have with another person. That way, the listener can better understand what exactly what I am saying without being ambiguous. Also, with audio, I can avoid the sometimes-verbose phrasing found in print. I also remembered to have natural sound at some point in the project, so the listener knows I didn’t spend the entire time in a glass cube interviewing people. One of the most important ethical guidelines I adhered to in this entire body of work is the balance of information. Border politics are very big in San Diego, and if I didn’t profile each side properly, then it could easily be misconstrued for one specific side and that would ruin the credibility for me as a journalist in the future. The written story had this in mind specifically. However, I noticed it was a bit tougher for the photo slideshow because the event I profiled was of one specific ideology. I had to make sure to balance it with information in the text. The audio project required the same effort as well. For the site itself, it’s important to keep all the links active, present its purpose clearly, and ensure all the information I have online is necessary to conveying its message. For this class, I thought the biggest obstacle in completing the project was actually class itself. It may sound odd, but when I needed to go to the border, the only available time I had was when I was in class editing previous assignments (which could easily be done at night when people aren’t working). When I was laid off from my job late in the semester due to the recession, I was able to spend afternoons gathering information from sources and locations with ease. Another constraint I constantly came across was the red tape of government agencies. When I interviewed individuals with the border patrol and state parks, there were often several layers of people I had to sift through in order to speak to the proper sources. It was much easier to get a hold of activists and ordinary people On the technical side, the biggest challenge for me was the audio editing. While I used to video work in high school, audio was not my focus. Unlike interviews, which can be clarified by phone or email, or photos, which can be manipulated with ease on Photoshop, Audacity’s open-source design contributed to some clunk functionality. Also, the nature of audio work requires everything to be done right (especially with live source interviews) or it becomes extremely difficult to fix and edit in class. There are times when working on all three of these stories that required different mediums for the delivery of my content. The written story, while time specific, included a lot of details and information that either happened in the past, going to happen in the future or is general information with no specific ties to dates to give people an understanding of the border region as a whole. However, in the case of the audio story, which includes a lot of complex technical information, descriptions are best interpreted to the news consumer in the exact words, context and tone as they are told to the reporter. Also with the audio story, information can be best simplified by somebody who has the utmost expertise in their field and commonly describes their knowledge to others. For the photo slideshow, specific examples for a place few people have actually seen can only be exemplified through images. A lot of people didn’t previously understand the nature of the border park, and only photos can fully express them. Some of the most enjoyable moments in the semester were when I finally began to see all of my work coming together as a single body of work. Throughout the semester work was constantly fragmented into pieces over several class meetings and nothing quite felt whole. But when it all finally came together, I really felt that all the effort produced something that makes me proud. Due to the limited amount of photos I have on my site beyond the slide show, alternate text is found in on a handful of places. The rest of the site ensures the user knows exactly where they are at through its similar color scheme and design. Design tables are clean and free of extra web objects as to not clutter the pages and diminish the importance of the stories. Taking photos for my slide story was something I have yet to really explore as a journalist. I was already familiar with reporting for print media, and the necessity of good audio for interviews, but I had yet to tell a story through photos and text at the same time. All my work for other classes and The Daily Aztec emphasize the print nature, and I had never been asked to take photos. It’s a very nice change of pace that I felt I could handle by incorporating all of the other skills and principles I had learned over the past several years.
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