Six Indian journalists have taken stock of their seven-week fellowship at DW Akademie in Bonn. The Meeting and Exchange Project Grow.Green.India, financed by the Robert Bosch Stiftung, not only changed their image of Germany, but also provided them with new inspiration and ideas: for their country, for their journalistic work and – not least – for their own contributions for a “sustainable” future of our planet. Click on the pictures to see the videos.

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Imagine you are just finishing a story or blog post and suddenly realize that some crucial piece of information is missing.

Or maybe you only notice now that you forgot to take a picture of one of the people you interviewed.

Something is missing that you should have arranged to get early in the research process that you can no longer get at this late hour.

We’ve probably all experienced such nightmares. Yet they are so easy to avoid with a little bit of careful planning.

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Every multimedia workshop differs from the next, but the lessons learned by the participants are always very similar. One thing is certain: You need patience and perseverance.

It also helps to stay calm and collected when learning to use the tools and technologies. It’s much like long-distance running. You start out full of confidence and high expectations, then lactic acid builds up in your muscles. Suddenly you feel like you’re reaching a dead end, frustration and exhaustion make you want to throw in the towel. Rage rises up, causing you to ask yourself why you even bother. But in the end, when you’ve achieved your goal and you click that “publish” button, you feel a rush of satisfaction.

Like any kind of creative activity, working with multimedia can stir up emotions and fray your nerves. But it doesn’t have to be stressful. Follow these tips to stay nicely on top of your multimedia work without losing your head.

Don’t overdo it!

The Internet has unlimited possibilities. The temptation is huge to exhaust all those possibilities. That’s not always to the benefit of the user. And the user is the main point to keep in mind.

Multimedia projects are often overloaded, bursting at the seams with (sometimes sub-optimal) video, audio and photographic footage. Driven by their excitement about the technical potential, authors can easily lose sight of the actual story they’re trying to convey. Just think of the endless audio-video slideshows with thinly told stories and so-so orchestration, the masses of blurry photos and unsteady video clips.

Bear in mind your own capabilities and keep an eye on your time management.

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The Web offers infinite possibilities. But not all of them are practical, necessary or recommendable. There are three basic rules that apply to multimedia productions: Less is more; it’s the story that counts; and the concept is more important than effects. This presentation shows you some multimedia formats that are worth a closer look.

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For any journalist who has spent most of their career working only in one medium, be it in radio, print or photography, taking your first steps into multimedia can be exciting but also a little daunting.

One of the tools that many journalists in our workshops get really excited about is Soundslides. It's a programme that produces audio slideshows by combining photos and audio. For radio and print journalists it's a new way to add images to their storytelling, and for photo journalists to add narration and sound to their photos. Plus it’s affordable and very easy to use.

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