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Cell phones sneak into media at U. Kansas
(Comtex Community Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) LAWRENCE, Kan., Feb 20, 2007 (University Daily Kansan, U-WIRE via COMTEX) --Cell phones could once again revolutionize how journalists work.
Students in the School of Journalism at the University of Kansas are working with both design and business students to evaluate two new Nokia cell phones that are capable of shooting, editing and uploading high-quality video on the fly.
Greg Thomas, chairman of the design department, started the project in December with Nokia and Cingular, which donated phones and service to the university. The project will help define and advance the role of citizen journalism, the concept that any citizen can report news events.
"Everybody's armed to be a reporter," Thomas said.
Thomas, who has been at the university for three years, said it was important to use the phones as a teaching tool for students in the three different schools.
Design students will assess the ergonomics of the camera and make it as user-friendly as possible. Business students will evaluate the size and trends of the citizen journalist market among college students. Journalism students will test the phone's use as a reporting tool.
Thomas said the retail cost of the Nokia N93 is about $700. The N73 is about $500. The small, inconspicuous phones are less intrusive than standard video cameras, he said. Nokia's N93 can shoot video at 30 frames per second.
The N93 looks like an over-sized flip phone that users can flip open and rotate the screen, changing it into to a handheld video camera. The N73 is similar to a small digital camera that uses the phone's menu screen as a viewfinder.
Nathan Rodriguez, Lawrence, Kan., grad student, used the small, easy-to-use N73 to shoot and edit his first video blog.
"It can be a handy tool to get people interested and involved," he said. "It'll democratize the way media is produced."
Patrick Lafferty, Dole Center multimedia newsroom coordinator, said the phones help establish the concept of the "pocket journalist," allowing reporting straight from the field. He said users of the phone could post video directly online.
"This cuts out the middle man," Lafferty said.
Wally Meyer, director of entrepreneurship programs at the School of Business, said the project provides Nokia with a unique opportunity for a commercial venture.
He said the objective was to identify ways to communicate the emerging trend of citizen journalism among college students.
"The idea of empowering the citizens of the world to report news events is an increasing thing," Meyer said.
Advanced entrepreneurship students will create a business road map for the phone's commercial application.
Meyer said business, design and journalism students would meet three or four times over the semester to discuss the project and trade insight.
Thomas said that although issues of credibility are still at stake for citizen journalists, developing the videophone as a reporting tool will help bridge the gap between private citizen and journalist.
"It's my hope that we can come up with concepts that Nokia didn't think up," he said.
Copyright (C) 2007 University Daily Kansan via U-WIRE
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