Media and Communications

Following the successful launch of the new social justice zine Culturalista, production is now under way for the next issue. The upcoming issue explores the theme of identity through any and all creative means (stories, photos, art, poems etc.), shaped through your expression. Culturalista has a readership of over 5000 people and is a great opportunity to get published and heard by an eclectic mix of people. Funded by the JBseed and supported by Oxfam Australia, Culturalista is all about diversity, expression and culture.
Submissions close the 10th of February, with a broadly interpretable focus of identity for the next issue.
We have no restrictions on creative content and full recognition will be given to all contributors, with prizes up for grabs. All ages, any creations.
All submissions and any queries contact:
info@culturalista.org.au or Dustin on 0428385272
Don’t blame the media become the media!
www.culturalista.org.au

Swinburne Post Graduate student Emma Field recently attended the ‘Future of Journalism’ Summit hosted by the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance (the Alliance) held in Melbourne and reports on the days proceedings.

The ‘Future of Journalism’ Summit coincided with the release of the Alliance’s Life in the Clickstream: The Future of Journalism report. The report contains industry research on the new media and future of journalism, including an overseas study trip by members of the Alliance to gauge trends and new ideas about this digital revolution.

The summit had several panel sessions and guest speakers including Pulitzer Prize winner Jan Schaffer and executive director of J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism, former editor of The Age  and Director of the Centre for Advanced Journalism, University of Melbourne Michael Gawenda, well known business journalist and now columist with the online Business Spectator Robert Gottliebsen and Professor Phillip Meyer, the author of The Vanishing Newspaper among others.

There was overwhelming consensus that cost cutting was affecting all types of traditional media but the messages about the impact on the industry from all panellists were mixed.

Some were excited about the changes journalism is undergoing, and raved about new ways of communicating and new mediums. Many (if not most) were concerned for the quality of journalism and doubted whether any current business models would ever be able to support the investment needed to produce excellence in news.

Among the gloom there were speakers who stressed the opportunities and the advantages the changes will and are bringing. For example journalism students now had no excuse not to be published with the availability of blogs, wikis and online forums.

Asher Moses, a journalist with the Sydney Morning Herald and Young Journalist of the Year online winner is a good example of such opportunities. He told the summit how he discovered that the Prime Ministers Department was altering the Wikepedia site which led to a huge story just prior to the Federal election last year.

Annie Fox, Editor in Chief of theVine.com.au, Fairfax Digitals’ news, entertainment and citizen journalism site for young people told the audience about how people interact with the site and how being a good blogger can lead to a paid position.

Stephen Quinn, Associate Professor of journalism at Deakin University (and self confessed new technology junkie) believes tools can change journalism but often news organisations do not provide training for staff so most journalists will have to teach themselves.

The message for students was get published, get blogging, get Twittering and get out there and try to differentiate yourself with something ‘different’ on your CV, whether it be working on the SheepWeekly in back of Bourke or volunteering in the Amazon.  And as far as learning new technology don’t bother unless it enhances the story you are trying to tell!

Interesting sites and links
Propublica http://www.propublica.org/ – ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest in the US
The Knight Citizen News Network http://www.kcnn.org/– claims to help citizens and journalists amplify community news
Cyber Journalist.net http://www.cyberjournalist.net/
Scoopt http://www.scoopt.com- Scoopt is a media agency that helps members of the public sell photographs and videos of newsworthy events to the media.
Cover it live http://www.coveritlive.com/– live blogging site anyone can use

Tips for journalists and students:
-    Use RSS feeders
-    Monitor blogs for tips and new information
-    Get familiar with the following: Newsgear, Newsplex.org, Vodoo, Twitter. Google Alerts. Technorati, Skype (Court Reporter), Google Maps, Wikileaks,

Melbourne Future of Journalism Summit – Program

Wednesday, November 26 – Telstra Conference Centre
Level 1,
242 Exhibition St (cnr Lonsdale & Exhibition streets),
Melbourne

$80 for non members

Program

9am-9.05am Welcome
Christopher Warren – Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance federal secretary and CEO of the Walkley Foundation

9.05am – 9.25am Launch of Life in the Clickstream – the future of journalism report and discussion of the findings of the Media Alliance mission to US and Western Europe
Matt Brown – producer, ABC Radio, Melbourne
Louise Connor – Alliance Victorian branch secretary
Terry O’Connor – production editor – couriermail.com.au, Queensland branch secretary
Ruth Pollard – Journalist – Sydney Morning Herald, Media Alliance federal president
Christopher Warren – Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance federal secretary and CEO of the Walkley Foundation

9.30-10.10am: In conversation – The state of the global news media
Phil Meyer ­­- Knight Chair of Journalism, University of North Carolina; author – The Vanishing Newspaper
Margaret Simons – Journalist and author – The Content Makers
Moderator: Matt Brown – producer, ABC Radio, Melbourne

10.15am – 10.55am The economics of journalism
Christian Guerra – head of communications, media and entertainment research – Goldman Sachs JBWere
Russel Howcroft – chairman and managing director of George Pattersons Y&R and panellist – ABC TV’s The Gruen Transfer
Ivor Ries – head of research, EL&C Baillieu Stockbroking, former Chanticleer columnist with the Australian Financial Review
Robert Gottliebsen - columnist, Business Spectator, former publisher Business Review Weekly
Moderator: Kathy Bowlen - presenter Stateline, ABC TV

10.55-11.10 Morning tea and networking

11.10am – 11.40pm Opportunities and challenges
Tony Wheeler – founder – Lonely Planet
Jane Schulze – media section editor, The Australian
James Kirby – editor – The Eureka Report
Moderator:  Damien Carrick - presenter/producer – The Law Report, ABC Radio National

11.45pm – 12.30pm Innovation
Matthew Ricketson – media and communications editor – The Age
Trevor Cook - author of Corporate Engagement blog
Rod Peno - editor- Wires and Lights in a Box blog - The Australian
Moderator: Paul Colgan – Deputy Editor of News Digital Media’s news.com.au

12.30-1.30 Lunch and networking

1.30-2.15pm: Keynote discussion – What next for the media?
Jan Schaffer – former Pulitzer Prize winner and executive director of J-Lab
Michael Gawenda – Director of the Centre for Advanced Journalism, University of Melbourne, former editor of The Age

2.15pm-3.00pm: Gadgets and applications – the technology transforming journalism
Asher Moses – Young Australian Journalist of the Year online winner
Stephen Quinn – Associate professor of journalism, Deakin University
Andrew Maiden – Director – Media Communications, Telstra
Moderator: Misha Ketchell - researcher, Media Watch, ABC TV

3.00pm – 3.15pm afternoon tea and networking

3.15pm – 3.55pm Building the journalist of the future
Lawrie Zion – Senior Lecturer and Journalism Coordinator, Media Studies Program, La Trobe University
Chris Smyth – Acting Dean of Murdoch University
Ian Royall – City Editor – Herald Sun and Cadet Trainer – Herald & Weekly Times Ltd
Colin McKinnon – Learning & Development Manager – Editorial – The Age
Moderator: Heather Ewart - journalist, The 7.30 Report, ABC TV

4.00pm – 4.55pm Connecting with the audience
Stephen Brook – assistant news editor – MediaGuardian.co.uk
Annie Fox – editor-in-chief, The Vine – Fairfax
Moderator: Jonathan Este – Director – Communications, Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance

5pm Close followed by drinks

Do newspapers have a future? And how long is that future?

Public Lecture
Tuesday 7 October 2008 @ 06:30 pm – 07:30 pm
Theatre GM 15, Melbourne Law School (bldg 106), 185 Pelham Street, Carlton

A N Smith Lecture in Journalism

Michael Gawenda – three-time winner of Australian journalism’s highly-respected Walkley Award and former newspaper editor – is the inaugural Director of the University of Melbourne’s Centre for the Advanced Study of Journalism, set to open in 2009.

Mr Gawenda is one of Australia’s best known and most distinguished journalists. His career in journalism began at The Age, a newspaper he later went on to serve as Editor and Editor-in-Chief for seven years. He stepped down in 2004 to return to writing as a special correspondent for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
In 2007, he joined the University of Melbourne to help shape its new Centre for the Advanced Study of Journalism to be a focus for journalism research in
Australia, and a public interface between journalists, academia and the wider public.

Michael Gawenda’s 2008 A N Smith Lecture will explore the future of newspaper journalism, the role journalism plays in a liberal democracy, and some ways in which
newspapers will need to adapt to the great changes facing journalism.

The A N Smith Lecture in Journalism commemorates Arthur Norman Smith, a leading political journalist. Over its 70-year-history the lecture has attracted a series of distinguished speakers and is regarded as the most prestigious lecture on journalism in Australia. Among previous speakers are Rupert Murdoch, Bob Hawke, Michelle Grattan, Peter Beattie, Jon Faine and Maxine McKew.

Admission is Free. Bookings are ESSENTIAL.
TO BOOK PLEASE REGISTER BY CLICKING ON LINK BELOW.
Speaker: Mr Michael Gawenda
Enquiries:
Taryn Groom
+61 3 8344 4278
tgroom@ unimelb.edu.au
http://unimelb-marcom.e-newsletter.com.au/link/id/81764ebbe13605e8c638P/page.html?evuid=b7a31190bbcb8edc0ae2

http://www.peoplestour.net

This is a lovely project designed by Masters (Media and Comms) student Jane Curtis. Jane is now the Web Communications Officer at Moreland City Council and she has produced some very fine web pieces. This is particularly fine. Contact her through the site if you would like to contribute your own people’s tour!

A Volunteer Information Night will be held at 6.30pm on Monday, August 25th at Trades Hall, corner of Lygon and Victoria Street, Carlton.

Here you will meet some of the faces behind the Fringe, find out more about the festival and discover the volunteering opportunities available. Bring your friends and any one interested in becoming a volunteer at this year’s festival. You will have the chance to sign up for specific tasks on the night and ask questions you may have.

More info at

http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/corporate/2006/news/volunteer-info-night

Semester commences on Monday 11 August. Please make sure that you check the timetable as close to this date as possible to ensure that you have accurate information about class times and rooms. You can view the timetable online at http://allocate.swin.edu.au/aplus/aptimetable

There have been two major changes to the timetable in the past week due to room availability. HAM420 Online and Convergent Journalism is now being offered at 17.30 on Wednesdays instead of in the morning. This means that it now clashes with HAM426 Communications Environments. If you are enrolled in both of these subjects, you will need to choose one and withdraw from the other. HAM433 Broadcast Journalism has also been moved to EN301/2 due to a room clash. The time and day (Monday 17.30) remains the same.

Students who are enrolled in HAM417 and HAM418 will have noticed that these subjects do not appear on Allocate+. This is because they do not have timetabled classes associated with them. However, if you are undertaking either or both of these subjects, you are required to attend a meeting about them at the following time and place:

Wednesday 13 August

Time: 4pm

Place: AS404

Please contact Lisa if you are unable to attend this meeting.

Finally, after much deliberation and discussion, it has been decided to offer HAM432 Digital Content Production as a normal semester subject in Semester 1, 2009.

If you have any questions about any of the above, email me at lgye@swin.edu.au or call me on 92148345.

Look forward to seeing you all !

http://www.wefeelfine.org/

Since August 2005, We Feel Fine has been harvesting human feelings from
a large number of weblogs. Every few minutes, the system searches the
world’s newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases “I
feel” and “I am feeling”. When it finds such a phrase, it records the
full sentence, up to the period, and identifies the “feeling” expressed
in that sentence (e.g. sad, happy, depressed, etc.). Because blogs are
structured in largely standard ways, the age, gender, and geographical
location of the author can often be extracted and saved along with the
sentence, as can the local weather conditions at the time the sentence
was written. All of this information is saved.

We have had some intruders in the Digital Newsroom and hence have changed the code. Please email Lisa for the new code. Sorry for the inconvenience.

We are looking for some camera crew and a lighting designer who would be
interested in helping out at a performance event called Hand to Mouth
taking place on the 29th of June at the Meat Market in North Melbourne.
We are struggling with budget at this stage but a small amount of
renumeration is up for negotiation.

Full details below:

Hand to Mouth is a performance/event taking place at the Meat Market in
North Melbourne on the 29th of June, between 6 and 9pm.

The event will involve a production line of approximately 40 people in
blue and brown uniforms working to produce strange and exotic meals
packaged in gloves, or formed in the shape of hands. These will then be
served up to an elevated table of about 10 high class guests. There will
be a live jazz band, waiters in tailored outfits and several production
controllers with megaphones. It promises to be a composition of managed
chaos.

Conceptually, the work is an investigation of relationships of
production and consumption at work in the global economy. In affluent
societies we constantly consume products that have been touched by many
anonymous hands along the way. In a sense, we are also consuming other
people’s lives in this process. The title Hand to Mouth refers both to
all these anonymous hands and to the fact that the bulk of the world’s
population still lives in hand to mouth poverty. The meal prototypes and
the structure of the event are designed to highlight the long process of
material  transformation involved in the production of  the commodities
that we consume on a daily basis. The strange and exotic meals are
rarified products to serve the constant need for novelty that drives
consumption in our affluent culture. We hope to provide a bizarre, funny
and challenging experience for all involved.

We will be producing an art film from the event and are looking for
three camera people, and a lighting design consultant who will receive
credits on the film. The camera operators would either be three
steadycam operators, or two steadycams and one tripod camera. The
operators would need to come to a couple of meetings to talk about
lighting, shots and overall vision etc before the event. The lighting
design consultant would need to be involved from two weeks before the
event for several design meetings and lighting plot.

Contact:

htmproduction@gmail.com

or phone Boo on 0423 305 495.