SPJ Region 1 Conference

Rutgers University-Newark

Friday, March 31, 2006

 

Videoblogging Tipsheet (updated May 2006)

 

Find Videobloggers in Your ‘Hood

They’re everywhere these days.

Vlogdir.com provides a directory of videobloggers.

There’s even a Videoblogger Map, which shows videobloggers by geography. (http://www.videoblogging.info/map/index.php). You just click on the dots to find individual vlogs.

 

How newspapers are using video technology:

The number of videobloggers illustrates how the technology is making it easier and more affordable to put streaming video on the web. Yahoo hired Kevin Sites to blog and post video from war zones all over the world.

And slowly but surely, newspapers across the country are getting on board with video. Small papers like the Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee started showing mini-documentaries on their website in 2005. They started a vlog called “randomThis” and made videos with Sony Cybershot DSC-P93 cameras they bought for less than $250. In Spokane, Washington, a staff photographer at the Spokesman-Review has been producing video reports for the paper: And have you seen the New York Times’ multimedia page lately? They’re producing loads of video content. From movie and theater critics to beat reporters covering health and business, they’re all appearing on streaming video. The Associated Press has also launched a webcasting network.

 

 

How You Can Videoblog

 

You can find great tutorials on Freevlog.org - the fabulous site that got me hooked on vlogs. Check it out.

 

For editing video, many PCs come with a handy program called Windows Movie Maker, and Macs have iMovie. Quicktime has a nice editing program called Final Cut Pro. A cheaper version that provide basic editing tools is Quicktime Pro, which costs $30.

 

 

Uploading to the web

After editing your video, you can upload it to your own website, or one of several public hosting sites…. they include:

Archive.org

Clipshack

Grouper.com

Jumpcut.com

Motionbox.com

Sharkle

Videoegg.com

Vimeo

YouTube

 

Many of these sites provide you with a bit of HTML code that you can cut and paste into your blog. It’s an easy way to embed a video into your blog (this works on Blogger, Myspace blogs, etc.)

 

 

Other helpful resources:

 

* Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism - Multi Media Reporting

 

* About.com: Videoblogging

 

* Intro to Videoblogging by Steve Garfield.

 

* Online Journalism Review: Tips for Shooting Online Video

                                   

                                    * How to Create A Vodcast - Playlistmag.com (July 2005)