South Korea – taking the world by storm

OhmyNews seems to have not only revolutionised South Korea but the journalistic world as well. I was…well impressed reading Stephen Quinn’s article ‘OhmyNews in South Korea’.

Gone are the days when South Korea can be ignored. Now possessing the highest number of broadband connections per capita and high economic growth they are an international competitor in anything technical, launching many new mobile phone technologies.

OhmyNews, may in fact make South Korea one of the world’s most democratic countries. Not only can anyone submit articles, but should they remain unpublished the author is entitled to an explanation why. This is designed to maintain the news services integrity.

In addition, restrictions on media ownership prohibit cross-media ownership. Therefore along side the 120 dailies, various TV stations and OhmyNews the audience are undoubtedly able to access a variety of news sources.  

When’s the next plane to South Korea?

Storm Chaser

Working for the Sydney Morning Herald as a photographer Nick Moir’s audio slideshow presentation on storms was an untraditional, yet effective journalistic endeavour. Its power lay in its pictures, an array of colour, taken terrifyingly close to deadly weather phenomena. The interactive function of this link allows the user to navigate through two slide shows, bio information about Moir and also links. It’s information by discovery. It doesn’t feel like news, but an adventure.

The beginning intro of sirens, radio warnings and reports was a spectacular addition to the slide slow and immediately had me sitting on the edge of my seat. Sadly this ended with Moir beginning a voice over that initially sounded well-rehearsed and unnatural. As the show proceeded he did relax into it a little more, however the audio of sirens etc could have been effectively used at the end of the show, linking the beginning and end together.

The use of video was not expected and certainly added something a little extra. Although the footage wasn’t fantastic it did emphasise the ferocity of the storm.

This exercise certainly did show me that the way news is presented to the audience is changing dramatically. This style has the ability to educate without the audience feeling like they are being educated.

No price tag, must mean its free!

This week’s readings illustrate the internet’s power in creating a changing society – one that’s free! The internet is largely a free resource (apart from paying a subscription fee, which is also becoming cheaper by the day) which allows all to access it. But if it actually does allow all to access it is another argument for a later date (think undeveloped nations that don’t have electricity let alone computers). And the word ‘free’ works wonders. It seems that whenever we humans see it, it immediately attracts us. Always on the hunt for a bargain, and you can’t go past free.

So how is this possible? In a world where everything comes with a price tag – the internet’s ability to provide free information is enabled by the next step which costs! More often than not, internet content is free up to a point, just to get you interested/hooked, and then to continue a fee is charged. Not only is this a brilliant marketing strategy, but it also works!

Applications like RSVP dating service provide free services (ability to send a kiss to another member) for free, however should you wish to exchange emails this comes at a price, and a hefty one at that. Free music downloads are great – until they get you hooked and marching down to the local Sanity to buy the CD.

I wonder if King Gillette knew what he was starting all those years ago?