Have camera, will report (esp if biggest story falls in your lap)

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

It was just last summer, that the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU was picked as one of the four top J-schools for ABC News’ multi-media bureaus on campuses.

Barely a year later, they got an opportunity to report on a story that anyone in the media business would give their right arm for.

Watch This: Check out this report by a student. Using slick editing (clever use of the Valley’s new Light Rail with roof-top solar panels in backdrop!) and wide perspectives, this story captures the sense of expectation before the president paid a visit to ASU.

Tweet This: If you know of a student interested in the changing media landscape –I know at least two– here’s a challenge by ABC Campus News, looking for roving multi-media savvy reporters

Twinterview with ASU’s Nina Miller Kulhawy

/ Angelo Fernando / 2 Comments

Yesterday i took part in a large social media exercise that allowed us to cover the visit of president Barack Obama to ASU, where he spoke at the commencement.

To follow up, I am doing a series of podcasts and Twinterviews. Continuing where I left off.

This afternoon, I will be live posting responses from Nina Miller Kulhawy, principal  graphic designer at the Office of The President. Watch this space!

AF: You’re a Graphic Designer heavy into web design. What got you into social media here at ASU in such a big way? #twitview09 #asugrad

NMK: I went to web 2.0 conf 2 yrs ago, it clicked with me. Human connections have always fascinated me. #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: I think universities need to engage with people as individuals, and I see this as a way to do that. #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: Few people know u are an improv actor. Does relating 2 a real audience have lessons 4 communicating w/ virtual peeps? #twitview09  #asugrad

NMK: Yes! Improvising and dealing with a live audience in person doesn’t differ from what is needed online #twitview09 #asugrad

NMK: Listening skills apply in both, not just always producing content, but hearing what others are saying #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: Let’s get to Obama’s visit May13. What part did social media play in your job? Was it even in your job description? #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK:  It fits under “other duties as assigned.” I was tweeting as @asugraduation for the day w/@JulieEspinosa #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: I was part of the planning committee, worked with Melissa Werner & @tiffapiffa to build the event site #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: You were tracking many Twitter feeds answring questions in realtime. Without this tool what would u have had 2 do? #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: I can’t imagine what I would have done. One woman in dublin was shocked when I answered her question #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: This is the only tool that I can see fitting the needs of that kind of communication #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: Any neat example or success story in the social media newsroom y’day at the Sun Devil Stadium? #twitview09  #asugrad09

NMK: I think the running out of water rumor being addressed was one basic needs win. Photos really helped that #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: The biggest win was everyone bringing their expertise to the table, doing their thing. The collaboration #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: For an audience not familiar with the water issue, can u explain? #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: There was a report that we had run out of water at the water stations on the field, it was incorrect. #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: How long did it take for the rumor to disappear? I saw one reporter rushing 2 the exits to check this #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: It seemed to be diffused pretty quickly in person because there was water #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: but it was important to report that online so people that weren’t there didn’t think we were careless #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: Got a link to that picture of the water station?#twitview09 #asugrad09

Water_ASUGrad09_8608210NMK:  RT @asugraduation: RT @emersunn: Contrary to reports, there is plenty of water. #asugrad09 http://twitpic.com/54i4y #twitview09

(this is the message she re-tweeted at that moment. Click image left to enlarge)

AF: I noticed several mainstream media folks following our tweets. Any collaborations or exchanges with them worth noting –online or off? #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: I can’t really think of mainstream media collaboration from yesterday #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: No problem. I was sharing images with a photo journalist -he was basically shooting 4us. talk about Fair Use! #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: Our collaboration with ustream.tv managed by @dotguy was especially helpful. Featured on their home page. #twitview09 #asugrad09

AndersonCooper_TweetAF: on the media, I wrote 2 Anderson Cooper who continues 2 paint a wrong pic- he let it slide #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: Going forward how might ASU use the groundswell of social media users across our 4 campuses? Any big ideas? #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: I think if we continue to use it as a listening tool, it will be a great way to connect with individuals #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: The conversation and interaction is the most important part to me. #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: Thanks, Nina. Great lessons for all of us. #twitview09 #asugrad09

Take risks, change attitude, rethink your career

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Obama4If people though that Obama would trot out the message of Hope, and yes-we-can for an grad audience, they were wrong.

It’s about change, not hope.

“Question conventional wisdom and challenge old dogmas.”

Hard task ahead, not just for people like these 11,000 people entering the work force. I try to put some of this across in my resume-meets-social media seminar, but taking risks is hard, scary at this time. But guess what? I know of two people who are doing just that.

One guy is starting what most people would call crazy –a media company. He happens to be an ex-journalist. The other guy has a great model for mobile marketing, using the phone as a scanning device. I asked the journo, if he has a business plan. He says yes, but it’s not exactly a plan because  he intends to tweak it as he moves ahead. Conventional wisdom tells me this is risky. But that’s exactly what we need in a recession: Unconventional wisdom. He was not forced into a career change. He shifted gears before he was forced to.

As Obama sums up his speech –it’s 8.25 pm Mountain Standard Time– I know that Obama is lighting a fire under an audience beyond this stadium with than formula.

Obama arrives at ASU, light bulbs go off

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

PresidentCrow_1The light bulbs go off like strobes.

But as President Crow addresses the 70,000 plus audience here, I can imagine the other light bulbs go off. He gave a huge shout out to K-12 teachers, and I can see how this resonates with Obama as he reaches out to get a ground-up movement going to fix education.

Watch the Blueprint for Education video on this site! It is the speech where he says “if you want to make your mark, with a legacy that will endure, then join the teaching profession.”


Alice Cooper rocks graduates -still!

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

“Why is Alice Cooper alive?” was one of the comments on Twitter at 6.15 Pm.

The short answer to it is: he eats a lot of red vines. (He happily took some off our desk.)

It was moments after the 61-year old took to the stage –probably tweeted while this was on stage. When you think about it, you wonder, what is this brand doing on stage in this day, at this time. Also he’s the lead act before another brand, Barack Obama who will be here in a few moments.

The funny thing is, not all brands who need to stay relevant need to join the Twitterrati, as we have. I actually asked Alice Cooper this question a little while ago when I got to interview him. His response: I don’t need to do this stuff, I tell my band when they are in Paris to get out and see the real Eiffel tower, rather than look at it online.”

For anyone juggling between old media and new media, this is a sobering thought.

Don’t you think?

Obama’s visit today begets massive social media coverage

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

PressBox_0512Happy to note that I am part of the social media ‘swat’ team at today’s commencement at Arizona State University, where president Barack Obama will speak. (Sun Devil Stadium, 7 PM Mountain Time, 63,000 people).

Now unofficially called the ‘Tweam‘ (in the tradition of making horrible words to describe anyone also using Twitter as a communication tool) about 20 of us will provide a different type of coverage from what the major networks will bring: multiple angles, twitpics and more uploaded to Flickr, perspectives and commentary on several blogs, podcasts etc. Befitting, of course Obama’s and the White House’s use of social media.

A few things to get you started:

Watch how ABC15 profiled this social media blitz last night –click on the TV story, top right of page

Live streaming meets interactive

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Today’s economic summit, for the Greater Phoenix Economic Summit, GPEC hosted here at Decision Theater proved to be truly interactive, in more ways than one.

GPEC_1On the expected level, there was interactivity between business leaders and the media.

But while all this was happening, the camera that you see here was live streaming video made available to a web audience. We used BitGravity for this. The BitgGavity feed was embedded in a dedicated web page. At one time we tracked more than 600 people on that site. This extended audience got to interact with the speakers through an embedded chat program, and via a polling tool.

In an adjacent  conference room –call it the social media hub— I was part of the team watching the live web stream. Someone from the GPEC comms team would forward the questions to the Drum via Blackberry. All this, as we tweeted and blogged the event.

Photos taken during the event were immediately uploaded to Flickr -you can see them on the right of this page- and TwitPic.

Quotes for the week ending 9 May, 2009

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“Gaze tracking is well-established … In the future, the whole image could also be panned left or right as the gaze approaches the edge of the screen.”

Gadgets and how we may use them, in BBC story on Science Beyond Fiction conference in Prague.

“The effects of the swine flu epidemic have been felt in Hollywood.”

Access Hollywood on an e-mail spam message that claimed Madonna had caught the virus.

“Moving from the digital world to print as everything else moves in the other direction may seem contrarian. But people want physicality, especially as more and more of our lives are lived virtually.”

Eileen Gittins, CEO of Blurb, a profitable print-on-demand company that has sold $30 million worth of books in 2008.

“Integration has long been talked about as the holy grail of brand communications. Socialization of media warrants finding it, and fast.”

Chris Perry, executive VP at Weber Shandwick. In Advertisng Age.

“…the greatest facilitators of human conversations, its building itself as a brand based on emotional bonds and trust in a shell of social , web 2.0 services.”

johnhorniblow, talking of Facebook, responding to the above article

“Forever is a word people aren’t used to hearing from marketers. But forever is good. If you could keep every customer you get forever, you’ll be in business for just as long.”

Rohit Bhargava, about the United States Postal Service’s use of a ‘forever stamp’ at the current postage rate, and it would be valid many years later, irrespective of price increases.

“Be warned. It’s me uncensored.”

Megan McCain, on her blog about her use of Twitter. Megan, daughter of John McCain is seen as the new voice of the Republican party. She will publish a book on this subject soon.

“They should be the ones writing the tweets – no ‘ghosttweeting’.”

Linda Vandevrede at ValleyPRblog.com, about CEOs use if Twitter. The full report is on Ryan Zuk’s presentation about Twitter.

Bette Publicker’s first blog post lands a newspaper story!

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Last Monday, when I conducted a workshop for the Scottsdale Job Network, I used Better Publicker as a test case. The idea was to show that, given the right things in place –passion, goals and a decent internet connection — anyone could start a blog in 15 minutes.

This group was special –largely baby boomers. A lot of them are quite confused and skeptical about what a blog can do. Just like me, five years ago. Bette asked the usual questions, signed up at WordPress.com and while the class was in session, had a blog. Take a look at it today. Just 10 days after the event.

The best part was, Bette was featured in an article about how boomers are taking to blogging -see today’s Arizona Republic. The first paragraph that she typed in, from the podium, was the lead quote in the article by Chad Graham. How often does that happen to a blogger?

She writes well:

Now that I am looking for new job and business opportunities ‘social networking skills’ seem to be as necessary as a resume, business cards and gumption. In every networking event I am asked about websites, Inkedin, and my Facebook. Now perhaps my eyes won’t glaze over and I won’t have to fake cough an answer.

When I spoke to Bette today she was still fixing things. I know how infuriating the first few days of trying out anything can be. But once you get past that, the care and feeding of your blog becomes routine.

Thanks to Chad Graham, who was in the audience, for the great story. Check out his blog, too at AzCentral.com/members/Blog/AzJobTawk

Radio was a ‘conversation’ before it became a buzzword

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

This morning I was sitting in the control room of a KJZZ, the local NPR station here in Phoenix, watching a live radio call-in show in progress. It suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks : a control room in radio is anything but.

(This happened when the guy in the control room was told that one of the mics was dead, even though all the buttons had been punched.)

controlroom_dtI’ve been in and out of control rooms . We do have one at the Decision Theater; many years back I trained as a radio producer at the BBC. But in an environment where we require people to interact, a control room is a misnomer. We control the feeds but not the outcomes. We control the back-timing but it’s left to the audience to fill the dead air. We control the lights but not the light bulb moments…

To this end, radio is a lot more elastic than we give it credit for. The best producers and hosts want you to loosen up and even ‘break’ the format. To me as a listener, that’s what makes it such a great experience, when it is not scripted all the way. When Bill O’Reilly stormed out of an interview with NPR’s Terry Gross, she lost control of the show, bit it made great radio. (She rebroadcast it.)  When the guests take over, something’s working.

So back to the studio. Before the show the producer, Paul Atkinson, told us to make sure we treat this like a conversation, not an interview. Think about that for a second.

A conversation, not an interview. Where have you heard of this before? That’s right, by those (like me) who promote social media tools. The phrase is actually ‘a conversation, not a lecture‘  heavily influenced by the Cluetrain Manifesto. Since 1999, this has been infecting other one-way media as well.

Yes, there are still talk shows like this and this, that are built around the cult of the show host lecturing -hectoring– the audience. Public Radio, on the other hand, has interactivity in its DNA. The callers can change the channel, but they keep calling in to change the direction of the show.

Just two random examples of where this radio virus has spread:

  • KCNN – a station that has embraced citizen journalism
  • BlogTalk Radio — the uber example of citizen-powered, citizen produced radio, in a new skin

Sidebar: Since Sunday the 3rd was World Press Freedom Day, I would like to tip my hat to radio for being the medium that has brought a rich spectrum of voices into the conversation.