I’m an online editor at Life Links, a crossmedia DW documentary project that is currently readjusting its online concept. Because of this, I’ve been interested in what others are doing, or thinking about our fast-changing media world. I found myself plowing through expert interviews, research papers and lists of things to watch out for.

So to save you some time, I thought I’d share a few of my “top” lists for things well worth reading if you want to catch up on what’s happening on the media landscape.

Top 3
1. The News Mixtape. “Not quite the cassette tape you made your high school crush, but similar in sentiment,” writes author Katie Zhu. For her, the news mixtape is a way of discovering and sharing online content, while still allowing the randomness of stumbling over an amazing article.

2. Five Social Media Tips from The Wall Street Journal. I know that images are crucial on Facebook, but I was still surprised how crucial they were for WSJ media editor, Liz Heron. A sentence I circled twice on my printed version of Heron’s list was: “We need to be creating content that’s designed to be shared and not just read.” While I’m not too sure whether I share that opinion, it’s an interesting perspective nonetheless.

3. Mobile = Local = Me: Context Over Content. This one grabbed me because it reminded me again of the diversity of news and news audiences, especially when talking about mobile. (And no, I didn’t only include the article because it’s by journalism professor Jeff Jarvis, whose articles appear frequently on many top 10 lists.)

Top 5
If you have some more time, we can extend the Top 3 to a Top 5 …. here are two more articles for your list:

4. Investigative Impact – a collection of case studies of investigative reporting. Put together by the Global Investigative Journalism Network, it has examples from Brazil, Pakistan, Ghana and the Philippines and highlights “how investigative journalism impacts public policy and accountability,” irrespective of a media outlet’s size.

5. Mapping Twitter Topic Networks. While it’s a pretty dense read, this analysis by the American Pew Research Center can give you a helping hand with building an audience on Twitter. They dissect different kinds of interactions and the dynamics that can evolve from different networks.

Top 10
If you still can’t get enough, here are a few more recommendations of things worth checking out :

6. Bad Community is Worse than No Community. It sounds pretty obvious but apparently you can’t repeat it often enough. So, please, all new community-builders out there, please remember: if you want to build a community to honestly interact with, you have to take care of it.

7. Learning From Mobile-First Markets. “The newest digital news consumers are in emerging markets,” says author Dayo Olopade in this article about her book. She continues with many intriguing thoughts on what to keep in mind when approaching these markets.

8. An Old Fogey’s Analysis of a Teenager’s View on Social Media. A social media researcher writes a response to the widely shared article, “A Teenager’s View on Social Media,” written by an actual teen. The response nails the one point that I miss too often in debates around social media communities or what-is-going-to-work-in-the-future debates: “(Teens) are very diverse and, yet, journalists and entrepreneurs want to label them under one category and describe them as one thing.” Don’t get me wrong: it’s interesting to read about a single person’s opinions and it’s crucial to talk to the people you usually talk about. But please, never forget: it is one person’s opinion. And groups of people are diverse. As are communities and audiences. Full stop.

9. Weekly Filet. With people tired of subscribing to lots of different feeds, and then having to sort through the relevant ones themselves – the new trend is newsletters (well, it’s really a new old trend). Weekly Filet is my new favorite (not only because of the great name, but also for its diversity).

10. Can We “Snowfall” This? Yes, it’s a paid article but it’s a fantastic read if you can get free access through an educational institute or library. The study analyzes the New York Times’ Snow Fall multimedia feature as well as two more examples. It explains how to create a compelling parallax scrolling experience.

Of course, any selection like this is personal and subjective. Two eyes can only manage to see a certain amount PLUS it’s hard to get out of one’s filter bubble. That’s why we’d like to know from you: what are your Top 3 must-reads about the media world?

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Written by guest author, Gianna Grün and edited by Kate Hairsine.

Image: flickr/Charis Tsevis CC:BY-NC-ND

How do you make a JamSnap?

After launching the app, tap the camera icon on the top right-hand side. This will engage the camera and gives you access to a few simple controls: tap to focus, flash on/off, and switching between the iPhone’s front or rear camera. Or, you can upload a photo from your iPhone’s photo album.

Like Instagram, JamSnap offers you a square frame for photos, so you’ll have to adjust your image to fill the frame. Once you’re finished adjusting the image, tap “Choose”.

Then comes the interesting part.

A prompt will appear on your screen to “tap & hold anywhere to add sounds”. So, choose a point on your image where you think it’s most appropriate to add a sound, then tap and hold to record. As you’re holding to record you can move your sound tag around the image. The limit for a clip is 10 seconds.

Give some thought as to how you are holding your iPhone before you tap to record. Is it pointing the right way to capture the sound you want?

You can add up to 10 audio clips to each image.

To discard an audio clip, simply tap, hold and swipe the clip away to the edge of your mobile screen.

There are several sound effects that you can add, such as a voice exclaiming “Oh my god!”. Similarly, after you have recorded a clip, you can add audio filters. But these audio sfx or filters are probably not going to be what you’re looking for in a journalism context.

Once you’re finished recording your audio clips, click “Next” and you can add a caption to the image, and choose whether to make the JamSnap public or private. You can also share your JamSnap directly to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and App.net social media networks.

Click “Share” and you’re done. Check out the video below for a demo.

From your user feed on the JamSnap website you can locate the < > icons for the html code to embed your JamSnap into a blog or website. Either manually log on to your feed by typing https://jamsnap.com/user/insertyourusername – or use the share functions in the app to email yourself the image link or share via Twitter which will also generate a link to the image.

JamSnap images and audio also appear and play directly within a Twitter timeline which is very useful for getting people to actually see and hear your stories.

What could journalists produce with JamSnap?

JamSnaps developer Mayank Sanganeria told onMedia that his inspiration for the app was to create a way of easily adding information or context to photographs he wanted to share with his family and friends.

That’s a good starting point for storytelling or documenting an event.

Potentially you could use JamSnap to produce an image with an audio dispatch, or with an interview soundbite or a series of audio clips, and of course a caption. Another story format to explore might be to first create a collage of images in another app, importing this collage into JamSnap, and then adding audio clips plus a caption.

JamSnap also works with an external microphone for recording audio.

Sanganeria said an Android version is a likely to be the next step in development, and perhaps a “Pro” version for mobile journalists. At the moment onMedia is testing a beta version of JamSnap that lets you record longer clips and insert audio from Dropbox and the AudioCopy app. The ability to record and edit audio in another app and insert into the JamSnap image is very useful.

These days it’s quite rare that an application I use only after a few minutes makes its way straight to my page of favorite reporting apps but I think JamSnap is one that may well stay.

What else should journalists know about JamSnap?

Cost: Free.

Languages: The user interface is only in English at the moment.

Audio format: Audio is recorded on your iPhone in the .m4a format and then uploaded to JamSnap’s server and also encoded into .mp3 and .ogg – this allows audio to be shared and played on different browsers and devices.

Author: Guy Degen

It will allow you to not only attach your smartphone to a tripod but to literally anything that has a standard 1/4 inch thread camera mount. For example, a monopod, pistol-style hand grip or a flexible camera support system such as a Gorillapod or Dinkum grip.

The benefits are clear. Using some sort of supporting device to stabilize the smartphone will produce better shots, especially when recording video interviews.

I’ve tried tripod mounts of different shapes and sizes to fit the various mobile phones I’ve used. Some were rubbish, while others only worked with specific mobile phone models and become redundant when you changed phone.

Fortunately there is a trend now for manufacturers to offer tripod mounts that will fit different types of smartphones.

The criteria I usually follow is straightforward. Is it easy to adjust; is it robust and does it work with my other equipment?

In this post I’ll compare two tripod mounts: the new Glif and the Shoulderpod S1.

The Glif versus the Shoulderpod S1

Both are designed to fit literally any smartphone and both use a clamp design that can also accommodate a smartphone housed in a protective case or a battery pack.

The (new) Glif

The new Glif is a move away from the original rubber sleeve versions which were a popular accessory for iPhone4 and iPhone 4S users.

The sleeve design was very compact and was fine for static shots or shots involving little movement, but I was always worried that the phone might fall off if it was bumped.

This problem was addressed in a later version that featured a locking clamp. So it’s interesting to see the new Glif embrace an adjustable system and offers a mount that works with literally all smartphones not just iPhones.

The Glif is sturdy and made of metal and comes with a hexagonal key to adjust the clamp size to fit the phone. So you’ll have to give some thought as to whether you’ll be using your smartphone with a case or not. It would a pain if you needed to adjust the Glif and had forgotten to bring the hex key. As the manufacturers say in their video, once you set the size of the Glif “you’ll never need to adjust it again”.

There is also a screw in eyelet that comes with the Glif so you can attach it to a keychain or a strap.

The Glif clamp makes a tight and secure grip around the phone. On their website, Studio Neat says the Glif fits virtually any smartphone: between 58.4–86.4mm wide and 3.1–12.7mm thick.

I like how the Glif has a standard 1/4 inch threaded hole at the top and at the bottom of the clamp. This gives you the possibility to attach something else apart from a support device. For example, a microphone or even a short rail for a cold shoe.

The Glif also serves as a support stand for your smartphone – useful for resting your phone on a table or watching a film on a plane.

Shoulderpod S1

The Shoulderpod S1 is produced by a Barcelona based design company that bills their product as “The First Professional Smartphone Rig”.

Like the Glif, the Shoulderpod S1 also works as an adjustable clamp-style tripod mount and a stand, but it also features a hand grip extension. Together this is the “shoulder” you could say, as it forms a hand grip similar to gripping the side of a larger DSLR camera.

Inside the hand grip is where the clamp mechanism is housed. The clamp is adjusted by turning the pressure screw at the top – no need for carrying around a hex-key like the Glif. This is great for quickly adjusting the Shoulderpod to whatever phone or case you might using. That’s also handy when demonstrating the benefits of a tripod mount during training workshops.

The Shoulderpod does though look significantly bulkier that the Glif, and it’ll occupy a little more space in your kit bag. But when you grip the Shoulderpod, the device disappears into your hand, and feels very reassuring to hold.

The included strap that attaches to the hand grip is a fantastic addition. You will feel more confident using your smartphone to take photographs or shoot video in places where you might have second thoughts – say over water.

One caveat though. If you’re doing hand held filming with an iPhone and using an external microphone, depending on how you like to grip the Shoulderpod, you might find that the microphone plug sticks into your palm. Not all microphones or mic adapter cables offer a right angle plug to minimize this.

I would also like to see the Shoulderpod feature both a threaded hole at the top and at the bottom of the clamp, like the Glif.

Mount up

As a tripod mount, both the Glif and the Shoulderpod do a very simple thing very well. Your smartphone is going to be securely attached to whatever supporting device you choose.

Both are well designed, manufactured and appear quite durable for day to day use by journalists.

The Shoulderpod has the advantage over the Glif of being easier to adjust on the run, but you could say that comes at the expense of being slightly more bulkier.

Both the Glif and the Shoulderpod S1 are priced about same (around 30 Euros in Germany).

If you need to do a lot of hand held filming then the Shoulderpod S1 may be more attractive. On the other hand, if you only occasionally use a tripod or similar support and are looking for an ultra slim tripod mount then the Glif might find its way into your kit bag.

Author: Guy Degen

The question is: how do I make my SLR camera as “mobile” as my smartphone so I can transfer images quickly from the camera to another device and share them on the web?

Yes, I can use a USB cable to connect my camera to either my laptop or my iPad or take out the SD card and plug it directly into the computer. But another way is to use a WiFi enabled SD memory card and there are some interesting advantages of using these cards for covering events.

WiFi enabled SD cards have been around for a while now. The WiFi chip inside the card creates its own wireless network, which allows you to connect your camera via the SD card to another device.

In this post I’m going to refer to two Class 10 WiFi SD cards: the Eye-Fi mobi and the Toshiba FlashAir.

Shoot and upload on the run

At the recent Newsgames hackathon in Cologne I tested a 16GB Eye-Fi WiFi enabled SD card.

The hackathon took place inside a large seminar room. To document the event, I wanted to be able to walk around and shoot photos of the hacker teams, upload the images to my iPad for a quick edit and then send them to a blog and social media.

The Eye-Fi card allowed me to automatically push images to my iPad as I was shooting. To make the wireless transfer faster, I deliberately shot in .jpeg format to keep each image file size small – around 4-5 MB per image.

I was able to walk around up to 20 metres or so from my iPad and keep shooting, knowing that every image was being transferred to my iPad ready for editing.

This was exactly what I needed to cover this event in near “real time”. I was able to shoot lots of good quality images, far better than using my iPhone, and edit the images in batches in the Snapseed iPad application and then quickly upload to the blog, Twitter and Instagram.

It’s important to note that although the Eye-Fi card can record photos and video in various types of formats (.jpeg, RAW, .mpg, .mov, .flv, .wmv, .avi, .mp4, .mts, .m4v, .3gp) it can only transfer .jpeg files.

Fortunately my Fujifilm X100S produces excellent .jpeg images, and despite the smaller file size, my photos were published in The Guardian, Deutsche Welle, Page magazine and in several journalism publications.

But this workflow is not going to suit every situation.

One problem with the Eye-Fi mobi card is that it uploads every photo you take whether you like it or not. In other words, it uploads the entire album. This might be fine if you have the WiFi transfer mode on as you’re shooting, but if you capture a lot of photos and then engage the WiFi transfer mode, you might find yourself waiting for the best image to be transferred.

One work around is to shoot in RAW and then convert selected images to .jpeg format in the camera’s playback mode. The card will then transfer only the .jpeg files. Bear in mind that not all cameras offer in-camera .jpeg conversion. Another way is to “protect” the files you want to transfer. This might be a bit fiddly to do depending on your camera.

The set up of the Eye-Fi mobi card though was very straightforward. You simply download a free iOS or Android app that works as the dashboard for transferring images and enter the card’s activation key. The card creates its own b/g/n WiFi hotspot allowing your smartphone, tablet or computer to make a connection. My camera also supports the Eye-Fi SD card and offers an upload option directly from the camera’s menu.

Only transfer the pics you want

I’ve also been using the Toshiba FlashAir (version 2) 32GB Wireless SD card and it works in a similar way to the Eye-Fi. The card creates its own WiFi network and you install an app on your smartphone or tablet to capture the images.

I think the big advantage the FlashAir has over the Eye-Fi mobi is the possibility of using selective transfer for the images. From the iOS or Android app on your device, you can see all of the images you’ve taken and then you can select the ones to transfer.

This could be really handy if you’re working in a team to cover an event. Photographers can get on with the job of shooting while editors can see the thumbnail images they are capturing on their tablet or computer and then select an image for editing and uploading to the web and social media.

The FlashAir also allows up to seven devices to connect to the card simultaneously. Again this could be useful for small teams covering conferences or panel discussions via “live blogs” and social media.

Great solution but not perfect yet

Both cards have their selling points but also a few drawbacks.

Connecting my iPad or iPhone to both the Eye-Fi and FlashAir card was not always instantaneous – even when both devices were side by side. Sometimes it would take a couple of attempts to connect. But once connected, the transfer of images was usually stable. Make sure you disable your camera’s auto-off function otherwise transfer will be interrupted when the camera goes to sleep.

Both cards can be draining on batteries.

On the Eye-Fi I encountered “Read Errors” messages several times. Ejecting and installing the card usually solved this problem and I have never lost images. However it doesn’t inspire confidence, especially if you want to use this in a professional capacity everday.

The Toshiba FlashAir also has a quirk. If you reformat the card in your camera, you will wipe the firmware that controls the WiFi chip. This means downloading and reinstalling the firmware from Toshiba’s website. It’s not a reason not the use the card, but it’s an easy mistake to make as in-camera card formatting is a common practice.

I also found the app for the FlashAir app a little bit clunky to use. It seems as if user interface was an afterthought in design. As an alternative, Photosync is a good mobile photo file transfer app that works with the FlashAir.

Hopefully competitors in this market will look each other’s products and produce a card that offers both quick and instantaneous connections, and a choice between batch transfer and selective image transfers.

Keep in mind the cost of these cards is usually two to three times that of normal SD cards, so expectations on functionality and reliability are understandably high.

Gradually, WiFi connectivity is becoming a standard feature in cameras. My new Lumix GH4 sports WiFi. And with Photokina in Cologne almost upon us, WiFi is bound to be a function that will become more widely available in new models.

For now though a WiFi SD card does a brilliant job of adding wireless functionality to “upgrade” almost any digital stills camera.

And while these WiFi SD cards are not yet perfect, they are well worth testing to see how they might give you more options for covering events and making your stills camera “mobile”.

Written by Guy Degen, edited by Kate Hairsine

Nik Software is well known among photographers for their plugins to use with professional editing packages such as Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture. Google bought Nik in 2012 and soon released Snapseed as an Android app. It also made Snapseed free for iPhone and Android, effectively making it a must have application.

How can journalists use Snapseed?

At a basic level, if you’re taking photographs with your iPhone or Android device, Snapseed can help you do a quick edit to fine tune your image before sending it to your newsroom or to a social media network.

The interface is straightforward. Simply launch the app and select an image from your album. Once your image is loaded you can select what elements or filters you would like to work on from the menu below.

And this is where Snapseed excels. You can get hands on with your photograph. Snapseed’s U Point technology allows you to be quite precise in adjusting elements such as brightness, contrast, white balance, saturation and more. And while finger gestures on smaller devices can get a bit cramped, editing with a little more screen real estate on an iPad or similar tablet is much better.

In the example below I chose a fairly ordinary image depicting the hands of prisoners in a gaol in Freetown. As you can see in the original image it was an overcast day and the light was very flat.

Before and after adjusting an image on an iPad2

It’s quite a wide shot, so to focus attention more directly on the hands of the prisoners I used the Crop function. Then I used Tune Image to enhance the image’s overall contrast, and finally Selective Adjust allowed me to pinpoint the gutter in the background and use a little saturation to bring in some more detail s0 it didn’t look so washed out.

Adjusting images with finger gestures is a cinch

To get a better idea of using Snapseed check out this video tutorial on using the Selective Adjust tool.

Another possible workflow for journalists is to transfer photo files from a digital camera to your mobile phone or tablet in order to adjust them quickly.

Keep in mind that on an iPhone or iPad, Snapseed will work with JPEG, TIFF and RAW images up to the capacity of your device. If your image is bigger than what your device can normally handle it will downsample the image. On Android devices only JPEG files are compatible. Again, your image will be downsampled if they exceed the limit for your device.

Once you’ve finished adjusting your image, Snapseed allows you to export to Google+ (of course), Email, Twitter and Facebook. From the Open in option on an iOS devices you can also export the image to other apps, for example: Dropbox.

What else should journalists know about Snapeed?

Cost: Free

Desktop versions: Nik are unfortunately no longer updating the Mac and Windows desktop versions of Snapseed.

Languages: From Nik’s FAQ’s:

“English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), and Arabic”.

EXIF Data: According to Nik’s FAQ:

“EXIF data is only preserved when syncing the photo back to your computer directly. Emailing the photo will not save EXIF data.”

We found otherwise and saw that quite a lot of EXIF data was preserved in photos we had emailed directly from the app.

Additional resources: It’s worth having a look around the Nik website as they offer plenty of step by step tutorials on how to use Snapseed editing tools. And if you are an Android user Google has a free eBook on Android photography available from Google Play.

Author: Guy Degen