Stephen Quinn of SCMP
Stephen Quinn, digital development editor at the South China Morning Post, believes mobile journalism (MOJO) is the future direction of the media industry.
As most of us have a smartphone, it makes life so much easier in many ways, but even more so for journalists who can finish and publish a video or slideshow report within 20 minutes, and post it instantly, he said at a panel session at the New Media Conference at HKU today.
With a smartphone in our hands, all of us can instantly become a journalist, he said.
New useful apps and technologies are constantly updating, which makes MOJO become more accessible and more popular .
Quinn cited the NT Mojo project where about seven indigenous youngsters, with only a high school education, took part in a workshop in the Northern Territory in Australia. They were taught how to use a MOJO kit to tell stories about their remote communities.
He said many apps and equipment were available for journalists to apply to their smartphones to make reporting on the run much easier.
In one example Quinn described how two students in Canada used their iPhone and a Vericorder app, from a Canadian company, to report on the 2010 Winter Olympics at Whistler, near Vancouver.
Asked about how can a reporter get used to operating such a small device to edit a radio or TV report, Quinn said reporters could try using the iPad, which has a much bigger screen.
But he said advances in technology will see better equipment such as keyboards, professional lenses or microphones for reporters to use and make news production more cost effective.
A MOJO kit usually costs around US$1,000 compared with several thousand for more traditional equipment.
