Mobile journalism for agricultural development

Thanks to donors' support I creator of Tech4gri.com was able to attend the Mobile Journalism Conference (MojoCon) which was held in Dublin, Ireland on 27^th – 28^th March, 2015. MojoCon Ireland represents the first international conference focusing on mobile journalism, mobile filmmaking and mobile photography all in one event.

As Technology4agri operates in the journalistic field this conference represented a great opportunity to learn the  best and up to date practices in mobile journalism, with the aim of leveraging this knowledge for agricultural development.  As expected I was the only representative from Trinidad and Tobago in addition to the wider Caribbean that sought to attend this event for the purpose of being at the forefront of communication technologies. (View a brief news report of the event.)

Mobile Journalism

Mobile penetration is at a high point in the Caribbean, so much so that content for mobile phones is becoming more and more prevalent. The Digital Inclusion Report 2014 concludes that: “Mobile phones have become the most popular and widespread form of personal technology on the planet, with 3.6 billion unique mobile subscribers and 7.2 billion connections globally. The mobile internet will bring the next wave of growth and impact.”

This effect is being emulated in our region with an ever increasing variation of mobile content and applications available. According to Jamaica based ICT-Pulse.com in the Caribbean, there seems to be a growing focus by the telcos and internet service providers to promote mobile/cellular (handset-based) broadband services. This further supports Tech4agri’s choice of mobile journalism as a suitable genre to bring agriculture to the forefront.

Mobile journalism (Mojo) is an emerging form of new media storytelling where reporters use portable electronic devices with network connectivity to gather, edit and distribute news from his or her community. Mojo is a disruptive technology in that it changes the status order of journalism, changing roles for journalists, related work fields and the public alike.

Fifty percent of the population across the European Union accesses news and information bites via mobile. Applications now focus on specific news consuming targets leading to a wide variety of outlets. The global trend is changing. Once there was a set difference between breaking news as opposed to longer news features and documentaries with the equipment and skill set differing for both. For instance the 2 min news report versus the 700 word newspaper article.

Mobile Journalism has now disrupted this standard, meeting them both somewhere in the middle but covering all aspects, technology and skills needed. Mobile allows news and other media to be cheaply produced, with much greater variety and to gather a larger amount of information. It should be noted that Mobile journalism involves more than just phones.

Apart from other mobile devices, and gadgets (such as stabilizers, lenses, & audio attachments) it incorporates cloud technology for online storage, integrates new technologies into an existing programs and erases the clutter of traditional news room (prompters, large cameras, even excessive wiring).

Furthermore with this new form of media, journalists and other users are allowed to be genuinely authentic as mobile devices are personal and direct. The concept of storytelling is of great importance and to note is mobile journalism’s immediate compatibility with social media facilitating not just engagement and sharing but also assistance in gathering as well as verifying the information itself – Community Journalism is in effect in this sense.

The role of a journalist is shifting towards verification, editing and digital curation. This is seen as a negative effect however the counter argument is that the standard which journalism functions upon  still and will forever stand – finding a meaningful story, verifying its authenticity, ethically presenting the facts and producing a proper report is the basis of the field in which mobile journalism is meant to assist.

MOJOCON

The Mojocon conference was of particular importance in that it brought to gather the world’s practitioners of this technique for the first time. Digital and new media journalists, smart phone filmmakers, traditional journalist s(Audio, video, print), bloggers, academia professionals, investors, entrepreneurs and many more participated.

The programme consisted of a two day schedule with full audience session on the first day and multiple small workshops on the second. Each speaker within the larger sessions provided his or her experience with mobile journalism in comparison to whatever specified practice they utilized beforehand. Needless to say these real life examples certainly proved the viability of this technology.

With respect to the smaller workshop sessions, a more hands on and detailed approached was utilized. Participants learned exactly how specific applications functioned and were given ideas and examples of how they can be utilized in media production. Following this participants were able to practice what they had learned which is rare in most conferences that are typically centered on theory. Sessions included:

• Mobile Journalism in Broadcast
• Smartphone Filmmakers
• Challenging Concepts of Storytelling
• Journalism School – Mojo Training in Education & Industry
• Future tech: Immersive 360 video, Wearables and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
• Mojo in Radio
• Smartphoneography
• And others

Tech4agri - Mojo for agriculture

Tech4Agri proposes to create a web series, innovatively created using mobile and drone journalism made by youth for youth in agriculture, acting as an information source and transforming the overall outlook of the agricultural sector. Watch our promotional trailer.

The web series, will add an expansive dimension to the efforts of that of the blog in advocacy and the promotion of the sector. As the series will be featured on the web, current and future followers of Tech4agri will be able to access the information provided on the show at any time, including via mobile devices. It is the first of its kind originating out of the Caribbean.

The series will be made appealing via areas such as technology, income generation as well as situations which exemplify innovation and success in agriculture. Using these modern and growing forms of journalism the show is intended to take an adventurous approach as well as the use of unique camera angles to facilitate visual appeal. Online shows are also a growing part of the local and regional entrepreneurial scene. It is intended to solidify agriculture related fields as viable career options for young professionals and other agriyouth.

Here are some great links provided freely by the MOJO community:

1. Images from the #mojocon
2. Experiences from other participants: 

• Brendan O Se – Photographer 
• Mark Settle – BBC reporter

1. Free Training Course from the UC Berkley Graduate School of Journalism

• Mobile Storytelling

The tech4agri team wishes to thank you our sponsors for this event. Although we have been learning mojo and gather resources for several months, this conference has allowed us to propel faster than anticipated. We will be launching our webseries later this year and we will be sure to notify you of such. Thank you again.

Click here to check Tech4Agri website!