Seven things I read/watched/noticed/thought about this week:
- Soul of Athens, the fourth-annual project by grad students in Ohio University’s School of Communications, launched Expression, the first of five sections featuring multimedia and still photography about the people of Athens, Ohio. The next one, Passage, launches June 15. Expression’s main piece is Banks of the Ohio. (Like bluegrass? The 2009 Soul of Athens included a story, too.) Also new: Religiously Sustainable and Boxcar Burlesque.
- On Ed Kashi’s weblog, staffer Alison Shuman began a discussion on the use of the word multimedia by photographers following her attendance at the NPPA’s Multimedia Immersion Conference. Is it semantics, or should we instead really be calling the combination of video, photo and audio web-based documentary storytelling? After trying to explain multimedia to a relative, I might agree.
- One of the newsletters I subscribe to is Larry Jordan’s Monthly Final Cut Studio Newsletter. I’ll admit I still have to catch up on this one (they are usually pretty lengthy). Larry also has a great voice and manner that lends itself well to teaching, and if you ever need to brush up on your FCP skills or learn some new ones, I recommend his video tutorials (some for free on Lynda.com). Even better, if you’re in a pinch and need to look something up, is his article library.
- Another regular read is Innovative Interactivity’s Innovative Individuals feature. This week’s is on Financial Times VJ Deborah Bonello, whose blog/site, The Video Reporter, and the earlier Mexico Reporter, I am just checking out.
- Also on Innovative Interactivity is a recent — and fun — Q&A with Richard Koci Hernandez, done Polaroid style (screenshot for one of his answers below).
- AboutFace is now on Twitter. (I have a facial difference and have volunteered with the organization, so this is great news.) One of the tweets they put out there this week was asking followers what they thought of Oprah’s May 6 episode featuring a short segment on Ana Rodarte, who was born with a facial difference called neurofibromatosis. I happened on this when it aired, and I wasn’t terribly impressed with Ms. Winfrey, who did a quick interview with Ana that felt like it had been tagged on to the last quarter of her show. Now, don’t get me wrong, it was great to hear and see a piece about a woman with a facial difference on such a popular show, but I think what I objected to was Oprah herself, including how she promoted the segment, saying this was the first time Ana had told her story. Sorry, Oprah, you can’t take credit for this one. I’ll refer you to a well-done, two-part audio slideshow and story by the L.A. Times, published in 2009.
- And lastly, for now: on his LinkedIn profile, producer/editor Eric Maierson teased that he is getting ready to launch his new film, Three Women, on MediaStorm. Will look for it soon. I’m guessing it will be published as part of the MediaStorm relaunch Brian Storm tweeted about a week ago.