After looking through the projects, I found some very impressive photographers, videographers and multimedia producers that I hadn’t discovered before. I posted a few Twitter handles at the end of each project to help follow some of their latest work. A lot of these projects involved large teams and I couldn’t mention everyone. Let me know if there’s anyone that I missed and I’ll add them to the list.

The first five entries were nominated in the “Current News Coverage” category. According to the entry requirements, the judges were looking for “creative and innovative approaches to the practice, presentation and delivery of news & documentary programming.” Enjoy!

1) Behind the Veil

Globe and Mail – A six-part multimedia series that talks with women from all walks of life about their lives in one of the most dangerous cities in Afghanistan.

Reporting by Jessica Leeder and photography by Paula Lerner. The multimedia producer was Jayson Taylor (@jaysontaylor) with design and development by Chris Manza.

2) Flipped

New York Times – How private equity dealmakers can win while their companies lose. A link to the story is available here.

Produced by Amy O’Leary (@amyoleary), Jigar Mehta (@jigarmehta), Krishnan Vasudevan (@kvasudevan), Zach Wise (@zlwise), Tom Jackson and others.

3) Times of Crisis

Reuters – In-depth multimedia charting the year of global upheaval following the collapse of Lehman Brothers. See how lives everywhere have changed as a divergent world embarks on a new era of historic uncertainty.

Produced by MediaStorm’s Brian Storm (@BrianStorm), Alba Mora Roca (@albamoraroca), Bob Sacha (@bobsacha), Tim Klimowicz, Jacky Myint (@jmyint) and Jason Burfield (@jburfield). Also produced by Reuters VP of Pictures Ayperi Karabuda Ecer and Head of Visual Projects Jassim Ahmad (@JassimA). Reuters is on Twitter at @reuterspictures.

4) Disabled in Vietnam

San Jose Mercury News – Disabled students in Vietnam find hope in an IT Training Program.

Produced by LiPo Ching.

5) Surviving the Tsunami: Stories of Hope

Reuters, Red Cross and Media Storm – Combining imagery by Reuters photojournalists with eyewitness testimony and interactive graphics, Surviving the Tsunami reveals the strength of the human spirit in the face of catastrophe. These are stories of compassion and hope. The project marks the fifth anniversary of the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Produced by MediaStorm’s Brian Storm (@BrianStorm), Eric Maierson (@gboy) and Tim Klimowicz. Also produced by Reuters VP of Pictures Ayperi Karabuda Ecer and Head of Visual Projects Jassim Ahmad (@JassimA). Reuters is on Twitter at @reuterspictures.

The next six projects were nominated in the documentary category. They’re all pretty awesome…

1) Alabama Homeboys

LA Times – For three years, L.A.’s Homeboy Industries, a nationally recognized gang intervention organization, has sent a select few of its members on an extraordinary pilgrimage to work with impoverished kids in Alabama Village, Prichard, Ala. Tucked away in the southwest corner of the state, the small community is rural, largely segregated, oppressed by violence and ignored by the surrounding community. Its young people have come to know their enclave as “Death Valley.”

The poverty of the children of Alabama Village is shocking — even for the Homeboys, who come from the tough inner-city streets of Los Angeles. But there is also much the Homeboys recognized; drug dealers, shootings, dead-end choices and the desperate situation of youth facing no way out.

It is in these children 2,000 miles away that the visitors from L.A.find their calling.

Produced by Katy Newton, Liz O Baylen, Sean Connelley, Mary Cooney and others. You can also follow @LATimesPhotos and @LATimesVideo on Twitter.

2) Driftless: Stories from Iowa

MediaStorm – The thriving Midwestern family farm is no longer, having been choked by industrialized agriculture and replanted with subdivisions. A shifting economy, combined with an old-fashioned lifestyle that doesn’t translate from generation to generation, is forever altering the landscape.

Carrying one camera and one lens, Danny Wilcox Frazier walks Iowa’s gravel roads, gets his feet wet in the milking barn, pulls up a stool in the small-town bar. Through black-and-white photographs, he makes a record of his own emotions as he travels through the state. What results is a complex portrait of a well-loved American landscape at a time of enormous cultural change.

Produced by Danny Wilcox Frazier, Brian Storm (@BrianStorm), Eric Maierson (@gboy), Taylor Gentry, Tim Klimowicz, Jessica Stuart (@jessstuart) and Tim Hussin (@timhussin).

3) Secret Life of Scientists

NOVA – Welcome to “The Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers,” a web-only series that shows what happens when the lab coats come off. Meet intriguing scientists and engineers. Watch their videos. Ask them questions. Find out how their surprising secret lives fuel their work, and vice versa.

4) One in 8 Million

New York Times – New York is a city of characters. The Green Thumb, whose community garden in a Brooklyn housing project shows children that eggs don’t come from eggplant. The Dictaphone Doctor, last of a dying breed. The Jury Clerk, who says ‘Good morning’ 200 times a day, and means it. The Teenage Mother. The Singing Waitress. The Blind Wine-Taster. The Tabloid Photographer. The Iraq Veteran. The Walking Miracle.

Each week in 2009, The New York Times introduced such individuals in sound and images, inviting ordinary people to tell their extraordinary stories — their passions and problems, relationships and routines, vocations and obsessions.

Series produced by Sarah Kramer and Alexis Mainland (@lexinyt), photographs by Todd Heisler (@heislerphoto) and interactive development by Tom Jackson.

5) A Life Alone

Soul of Athens – Farmer, husband, father and now widower. For 63 years, Tom Rose and his wife, Mary, built a life together on his family farm on Canaanville Road. Then last year Mary passed away, leaving Rose to face the future alone, surrounded by a lifetime of memories. Impressive work by Maisie Crow.

6) Ted Kennedy: A Life in Politics

The Boston Globe – Affectionately called Ted or Teddy by voters and those closest to him, he was known to the public for a booming voice and occasionally boisterous — and some notoriously reckless — behavior.

If you haven’t had enough yet, here are a couple more posts that are worth checking out. Both are great blogs and filled with a lot of awesome projects!

Multimedia Shooter: 13 Projects Worth Watching
MediaStorm: (16 projects) Worth Watching

We have collected their responses and built them into a Web site to give voice to the future of journalism. The project includes perspectives from young journalists around the country who continue to pursue careers in journalism despite the industry’s struggles.

As part of the site, I also created an audio slideshow with young journalists from around the country to share their perspectives on the future of journalism. The interviews were recorded during Poynter’s 2009 College Fellowship, which I was very fortunate to attend.

Here’s an excerpt from my essay on the future of journalism:

The journalism profession is facing its own struggle for survival. Many mainstream news organizations are now counting page views in place of meaningful impressions. In better times, I would have graduated and applied for an entry-level reporting position. I could have started in a small market and worked my way through the system, but many of those opportunities are no longer available.

In August, 2009, I founded Ewen Media, a multimedia production company that uses interactive multimedia to share meaningful stories. I am definitely taking a risk by branching out on my own. In three months, my student loans will arrive in the mail and I will likely be crushed by financial burden. However, I am prepared to move forward knowing that I am a fighter, willing to take big risks and make bold decisions, in a desperate attempt to protect the profession that I love.

The future of journalism will be strong because thousands of young journalists are willing to follow their hearts and pursue a profession much greater than themselves. 20 years from now, I am proud to know that my colleagues and I will be the ones who ran toward the industry while all others were running out. Together, we will form a “profession of the passionate” and forever change the world.

For the final presentation at this year’s conference, the organization hosted a panel with three of the finest storytellers in their respective forms. I wanted to share some of their collective thoughts on the future of storytelling as the various mediums converge into one.

Creating an ‘audio illusion’

Sasha Aslanian, Youth Radio Series and special projects producer for Minnesota Public Radio, represented the radio producers on the panel. Aslanian argued that radio was the most visual medium because of the elements that you cannot see in a story. She used a couple examples to demonstrate how effective audio can create stronger visual stories.

Animal Minds
The full story from WNYC is available here.

Constant Crisis
The full story from American RadioWorks is available here.

Aslanian described the two most important elements of storytelling to be the story’s scene and characters, which were highlighted by the previous two clips. The biggest takeaway was making sure that audio does not take your listener away from the experience. Every bad edit reminds the audience that they are listening to the radio, rather than becoming part of the illusion.

Strong audio is about creating an illusion, she said, and one bad edit can pull listeners out of the illusion. If you limit those mistakes, it will help carry people to the end of your story and make audio storytelling a much more visual experience.

Building the story

Kare11’s Jonathan Malat, who is one of the most talented news videographers in the country, represented the TV perspective on the panel. Malat focused on the importance of storytelling to engage users with a particular story.

“TV used to be the only place where you could get this visual news and we were very spoiled for many years. Whatever crap we would put in the box for you – you would watch. There’s a lot of people putting crap in a box now… so we’ve had to up our game.” – Jonathan Malat

Malat stressed the importance of “staying in the moment” with news stories. That means using material from the scene to help limit distractions and allow viewers to feel like they are there. To highlight his point, Malat showed the piece he produced with Kare11 reporter Boyd Huppert during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

(Also, here’s a link to the live interview with Jonathan Malat shortly after he was released from police custody.)

Spot News: KARE 11, Jonathan Malat, “Freedom Met its Limits” from Poynter Institute on Vimeo.

Rather than using sound from public officials and breaking up the story, the sound bytes reacted to the current situation. Adding interviews from police officers after the fact would have broken up the story. By keeping the story active, it kept viewers in the moment and provided a much more rewarding experience.

Second, Malat emphasized the importance of keeping stories the appropriate length. Most television packages are under two minutes, but he said having longer stories doesn’t necessarily make them better stories. He used this as a criticism for all video, not just online video, which could be shortened to make for stronger stories.

“You have all this stuff and you feel like you need to use it… but sometimes less is more,” he said.

Malat helps produce the 10,000 Stories series, which is consistently some of the best feature reporting in the country. To do so, he stressed the importance of vision and focus with his work, rather than collecting a “bunch of stuff,” and how he constantly thinks about story structure to make for a complete story.

“We talk about the public’s right to know, but as storytellers, it’s the public’s right to know when I tell you so.”

Lastly, Malat highlighted the importance of rewarding viewers by adding surprises along the way. He described a lot of video stories as having “Fred Flintstone feet” because the subject keeps running and story doesn’t go anywhere. “You say the same thing 20 different ways and that isn’t rewarding to the viewer,” he said.

One of my favorite examples of story structure was “Crash for Clunkers” by Joe Fryer, which won the feature category for NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism. Malat didn’t show this story, but I wanted to include it because it’s full of awesome and exciting surprises. When I watched this story, I immediately thought about how other mediums would try to tell this story. It’s simply not the same story without the narration setting it up.

Waiting for the moment

Star Tribune photographer Jim Gehrz has a unique ability to capture human emotion. He was previously named NPPA’s Photographer of the Year and was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Gehrz showed three audio slideshows during his presentation, including The Wonder of Flight, Locked in Limbo and A Prayer for Father Tim (pictured below). I have worked with Gehrz at the Star Tribune and always admired his ability to photograph intimate moments in people’s lives.

There were several notable things about Gehrz’s presentation that can be applied directly to other mediums. To begin with, Gehrz said this is one of the most exciting times of his career because of the new opportunities to tell stronger stories. He can use new storytelling tools, such as the Canon 5D, to experiment with new storytelling techniques that he had never tried before.

“After being in still photography all of my life, it’s now like I’ve opened the window,” – Jim Gehrz.

Gehrz said the new technology has also led to an added level of intimation for journalists and their subjects. He recalled a story earlier in his career where he put a wireless mic on a subject and asked for permission to visit a different part of the exhibit. When the subject asked permission from her supervisor, she added, “He doesn’t know what he’s doing.” She was right, Gehrz said. The added technology destroyed his rapport and ability to work with them. As a still photographer, he would never have had a problem, he said.

Gehrz had one comment that I found particularly interesting:

“As we get more and more into these new mediums, these stories are really a process of discovery. I don’t know what the story’s going to be. [The story] is kind of telling itself. If you leave yourself open and try not to go in with preconceived notions, some pretty amazing things can happen.”

I found the comment interesting in contrast to Malat’s comments from earlier in the presentation where he was always thinking about story structure as a means to focus the story in a particular direction. It was a very subtle difference, but I think it leads to an interesting discussion about the direction of visual journalism.

To produce packages like Kare11′s Crash for Clunkers, there is a certain level of involvement from the reporter and photographer that is necessary to shape the story. Certain questions have to be asked to push the piece in a particular direction. That involvement can be great for storytelling as long as the journalist does not shape the story into something it is not.

On the other hand, the multimedia from newspaper photographers often has a raw feel like there was no journalist involvement at all. Subjects can take the story in any direction, but it becomes much more difficult to advance the story without the narrative track. If the story is not moving forward, especially online, then viewers are not going to stay.

To see a good example of a newspaper moving a natural sound story forward, check out the Washington Post’s In The Moment or MediaStorm’s Leveling Appalachia.

Final Thoughts

The three panelists helped highlight some very significant differences between the mediums. However, at the core, everyone appeared to agree on the importance of basic elements of storytelling. Stories need a beginning, middle and end. They need characters, conflict and surprises. Most importantly, they need to move forward and reward the viewer along the way. These elements, regardless of their format, can turn any medium into a powerful story.

Ben Garvin – Pioneer Press
See the Twins home opener in miniature compiling thousands of photos and using tilt-shift lenses.

2) World Series time lapse

Robert Caplin – Freelance Photographer
This is a time-lapse compilation of over 5,000 images taken from dozens of locations inside and outside of Yankees Stadium during Game 6 of the 2009 World Series between The New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies. Read more about this time lapse on Caplin’s blog.

3) Target Field: Opening day in 3 minutes

Jim Gehrz – Star Tribune
The Minnesota Twins began a new chapter in their 50-year baseball history. Watch Jim Gehrz’s time-lapse video from start to finish.

4) Baseball game, fireworks time-lapse

Joel Lehman – Lancaster Online
Time-lapse photography condenses a Lancaster Barnstormers game and fireworks display at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

For more inspiration, check out this Vimeo group comprised of several thousand time-lapse videos. You can sort the group by most liked to narrow it down to some of the best.

UPDATE: Shortly after the post, Infield Fly posted a similar tilt-shift time lapse by Christopher Drost of the Torontoist. Take a look.

The Wire includes a linear timeline of local news that tracks breaking news in real time. The timeline drives traffic to wcco.com using posts from WCCO reporters and aggregates content from social networks. Users can sort the timeline by news, buzz (the “fun” stuff) and events. Most importantly, the application also aggregates the best local news coverage and allows users to submit their own content as well.

Here’s an introduction to the application by WCCO Web producer Karna Bergstrom:

Also, check out Jason DeRusha’s video on the site’s launch. Pretty funny stuff.

By developing the site, WCCO has created a local news network that provides fresh coverage throughout the day. The site uses existing WCCO content and aggregates feeds from other organizations, including MinnPost, Minnesota Public Radio, Kare 11, Fox 9, WCCO Radio and the Pioneer Press. The Star Tribune and KSTP didn’t make the cut because their feeds are run by robots.

The Wire includes some impressive multimedia integration. The video player is embedded within the individual posts and can pull feeds from YouTube or wcco.com (users still cannot share or embed the video). The multimedia content is connected to each post and does a nice job highlighting the station’s strong video content.

The linear timeline seems like a weird way to access local news. There’s a lot of information condensed into a small space and most developing stories require some previous understanding to make them work. This problem is not unique to The Wire and it will be interesting to see how this tool will be used in the future. It does include a search function to follow specific topics and that could be a great tool to follow stories over time. For example, a search of “health care” could help follow the health care debate, even though stories are currently limited to a three-day window.

The most promising part of the project comes from the “list view.” Does it look familiar? It’s pretty much a mini Twitter feed. By doing this, WCCO becomes a much more attractive source for local news because of its willingness filter local content and link to outside sources. In addition, the live feed allows users to access information in real time, but without the human filter of Bring Me The News to recommend related content or the strongest stories.

Please note: Any users who would like to view the Flash site on their iPad can contact Steve Jobs at sjobs@apple.com. And this is why he isn’t going to budge.

The Wire is not currently sending updates through Twitter or RSS. WCCO’s digital media director, John Daenzer, said those updates will be coming soon. In addition, WCCO also plans to roll out a mobile site (sometime next week) that will include a layout similar to the “list view.”

The most promising part of the application is its development of a local news network. WCCO is the first news organization to start aggregating coverage in real time and this could have some very interesting implications. Right now, the list view is pretty much a fire hose of local content. However, if The Wire could become a filter of local content and update users based on their individual interests, then I think it could become a very powerful tool. For example, I could use the application to request information about local politics, Gophers basketball and health care, and receive those updates through a Facebook application or RSS feed. In addition, I could use an advanced search to track a local story, such as R.T. Rybak’s run for governor, to provide context for an on-going event.

The first local news organization who can find a way to aggregate and filter local coverage based on user preferences is going to be very successful. After WCCO’s development of The Wire, it’s only a matter of time.

In 1945, newspaper publisher Arthur Kasherman was gunned down on a snowy street in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Was he a crusader for justice, or a low-life who angered the underworld once too many? Watch the video, read the stories and maybe you’ll solve a 65-year-old murder mystery.

About the Site

Rubbed Out is an experiment in digital history that draws on public and private archival sources to present in-depth, investigative material. It’s about a violent chapter in American journalism, and how to engage an audience by providing numerous entry points to a narrative. Investigative reporter James Eli Shiffer independently researched the project and collaborated with Ewen Media to present his findings on the Web.

Rubbed Out includes three short stories on Arthur Kasherman’s death, including his Hell-Raising Tradition, his Last Chow Mein and the Aftermath. The project’s short documentary is available on YouTube and Vimeo. There’s also an interactive map of Minneapolis at the time of Kasherman’s death.

McKenna Ewen worked with James Shiffer to build the independent investigation into an online multimedia project. Ewen used historical images from the Hennepin County Library and Star Tribune, in addition to historical footage from the Prelinger Archives, to produce the Rubbed Out documentary. He built the interactive map using UMapper, a web-based map application with the Yahoo maps framework. The site was powered by WordPress and designed by Graph Paper Press. If you have any further questions, you may contact McKenna Ewen at mewen@ewenmedia.com.

Help share Arthur Kasherman’s story

If you enjoyed this project, please take a moment to share and recommend it to others. You may also use the following promotional text and images if preferred. Ewen Media launched this project independently and needs your help to make it a success. We appreciate your support.

Promotional text:
Minneapolis, MN – In 1945, newspaper publisher Arthur Kasherman was gunned down on a snowy street. Was he a crusader for justice, or a low-life who angered the underworld once too many? Watch the video, read the stories and maybe you’ll solve a 65-year-old murder mystery.

Download the promotional images:
http://ewenmedia.com/rubbedout/rubbedout590x350.jpg
http://ewenmedia.com/rubbedout/rubbedout320x190.jpg
http://ewenmedia.com/rubbedout/rubbedout170x100.jpg

Here’s a link to the Almanac segment where I previewed the Kasherman project. I was also joined by professor Jane Kirtley and MPR’s Bob Collins to discuss the some of the latest media controversies of the week.

Interested in partnering with Ewen Media?

Ewen Media is a multimedia production company that uses interactive multimedia to share meaningful stories. The organization’s mission is to use purpose-driven journalism to explore the world in its current state and the world that it could become. McKenna Ewen would like to collaborate with local news organizations and nonprofits to help create similar projects. If you are interested, you may reach him by phone at 952-212-3013 or by email at mewen@ewenmedia.com. He is also available on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Thank you very much for your interest in this project and please let us know what you think. Thanks!

Here’s a collection of the top projects mentioned during the chat. #wjchat is a weekly Twitter conversation for web journalists. We talk about all things content, technology, ethics and business of journalism on the web. The next chat will be on Wednesday, March 3 at 7:00 PM CT. In the meantime, you can follow my multimedia Twitter list for additional links from some of the industry’s top multimedia professionals.

Journey to the End of Coal

Journey to the End of Coal is a Web documentary by Samuel Bollendorff and Abel Ségrétin. The project tells the story of millions of Chinese coal miners who are risking their lives to satisfy their country’s appetite for economic growth.

Project recommended by @multimedialinks.

Iraqi Kurdistan

Iraqi Kurdistan is an expansive look into the daily lives of the Kurdish people of northern Iraq. These images provide an alternative perspective on a changing culture, one different from the destruction and discord that dominates so much media coverage of the region.

Documented by Ed Kashi and produced by MediaStorm, the photographs of Iraqi Kurdistan are presented in flipbook-style animation; gradual changes between still images simulate motion. The thousands of images that comprise this project are as striking as they are bountiful.

Project recommended by @madshrew.

Haiti 360

Haiti 360 is an interactive video showing the destruction in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, following the earthquake. The video ran on CNN.com and was produced by Immersive Media, a company specializing in 360 video. Side note, the video camera uses 11 lenses and looks like a little disco ball. More information on panoramic photos, video and how to make them is available from 10,000 Words.

Project recommended by @motownmedia.

Mapping LA

Mapping L.A. is resource from the Los Angeles Times to map boundaries, demographics, schools and news within the city. The site was built entirely with free and open-source software, including Django, jQuery, OpenLayers and PostgreSQL.

Project recommended by @michelleminkoff.

Operation Pedro Pan

A database designed to connect with family, friends and fellow Pedro Pan children around the world. The Miami Herald’s goal was to unite people and create a website to preserve the memories of those who made the journey on those flights

Project recommended by @amysimons.

Frozen Land, Forgotten People

In 1966, Bureau of Indian Affairs Commissioner Robert L. Bennett outlawed development on 1.6 million acres of desert in northeastern Arizona that was claimed by both the Navajo nation and the Hopi tribe. When the freeze ended, many residents didn’t know where to begin. Produced by the @multimedialinks.

Luge Crash at the Olympics

Nodar Kumaritashvili, a luge athlete, was killed during a training run on the Olympic track, which was the fastest track in the world. The frame by frame graphic shows the athlete’s last run and what went wrong on the final turn.

Please note: the final frame of the project shows the moment of the Georgia athlete’s death. For an interesting article on whether the New York Times should have included the image, check out this post by Poynter’s Al Tompkins.

Fifty People One Question

Fifty People One Question is an ongoing social experiment and film series exploring human connections through people and place. The project began in New Orleans in 2008 and has since traveled across the globe, touching millions of viewers. Along the way, the films have captured a small slice of humanity; to discover dreams, losses, reflections, stories and secrets, some shared and some completely unrepeatable.

Project recommended by @3ba.

The Destruction in Port-au-Prince

View satellite photos from GeoEye that show Port-au-Prince before and after the Jan. 12 earthquake. The interactive graphic does an excellent job showing the magnitude of the earthquake’s damage. Produced by The New York Times.

Project recommended by @ethanklapper.

My Picks

Streetlight

Ethiopia is a country rich in culture, history, culinary art and street children. In the capital Addis Ababa more than 100,000 people live on the street – most of them children and youth. Streetlight is a web feature that shows that work carried out by Hope For Children and it has be produced for the organization to create awareness for fundraising purposes.

Streetlight was a commissioned project produced by the Bombay Flying Club for the NGO Hope for Children.

Terremoto en Haití

Elmundo put together an impressive multimedia presentation following the Haiti earthquake. I originally found the project on Innovative Interactivity and was very, very impressed. Admittedly, I couldn’t understand most of the project (my spanish skills are a little rusty), but there were a lot of interesting interactive elements and a nice mix between factual context and emotional storytelling.

Death Perceptions

For most of us, death is occasional, peripheral. But for some, death is part of the job. And for a few, it is the job. This series examines death through the eyes of professionals who face it every day.

Project produced by The Columbus Dispatch.

Times of Crisis

Times of Crisis uses in-depth multimedia to chart the year of global upheaval following the collapse of Lehman Brothers. See how lives have changed as a divergent world embarks on a new era of historic uncertainty.

Reuters and MediaStorm produced this project collaboratively.

Still looking for more inspiration? Try some of these posts

Innovative Interactivity: Top 50 Multimedia Sites of 2009
MediaStorm: Projects Worth Watching
Multimedia Shooter: 9 Multimedia Projects You Must Experience

This invention would solve a serious problem. Teachers wanted to encourage class participation, but young students struggled to withstand the dreaded wait required to ask their questions. Thousands of critical questions would remain unasked because of a simple, physical limitation.

My solution… the “Easy Raise.”

That’s right, the Easy Raise was an attention-getting device that could rise for hours without wavering. More importantly, this brilliant piece of innovation was going to win me the fourth grade inventor’s fair.

The revolutionary "Easy Raise" in action

Long story short… I lost! To what? The most ridiculous invention of all time.

I lost to a doggie backpack that allowed every dog to wear its poop. Not only that, but the same invention had won the previous year. How can you win an inventor’s fair using last year’s invention!? The future of education had lost to a poop pack.

It took me a few months to get over the loss. Then, three years later, I watched the Tonight Show with Jay Leno as five elementary students presented their winning inventions from the national inventors fair. Care to guess the winner?! It was the Easy Raise! Some dude, three years later, came up with the exact same concept and won it all.

I discovered something important as a young inventor. I was in the process of building something great, but I failed to understand its significance and find a way to make it work. I continued using the Easy Raise for the rest of the school year and quickly became my teacher’s new favorite student to answer questions. However, one more year of fine-tuning and my purple “participant” ribbon would have been gold.

What’s the point?

I feel like I’m performing at the fourth grade inventor’s fair once again. I recently started a company, Ewen Media, and have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. The panel, which is pretty much everyone, would rightfully assume that I am crazy and consider it time to move on. However, just like the Easy Raise, I think there’s something to it, which means this is no time to quit and join team “poop pack” before next year’s fair.

The most innovative ideas are usually met with the most resistance. Think about it. It’s hard to be inventive when there is another trusted alternative that has shown promise in the past. In today’s environment, re-inventing the “poop pack” isn’t going to cut it and it’s time to start moving toward true innovation. Most importantly, it’s time for the entrepreneurs to believe in their ideas strongly enough to carry them through.

I firmly believe that passion is the single greatest asset for any young journalist.

My generation is going to redefine the future of journalism. We are all applicants at the fourth grade inventor’s fair and presenting ideas to a panel of experienced professionals. Many of the ideas sound pretty terrible, but some of them will work and someone will succeed. So, the question is, will it be you or the poop pack?

1) Make the project matter

The best way to learn a new skill is to work on a project that you truly care about. For me, I wanted to produce this site because it was something I enjoyed doing and I thought it could do some good. As a result, I picked up some new skills in the process. If you can find a project that you’re personally invested in, it becomes more rewarding to try new things and spend the time to make it great.

2) Software isn’t scary

It’s usually the technological limitations that prevent journalists from embracing new forms of storytelling, but that’s ridiculous. Too many journalists limit what they’re capable of learning by assuming the skills they need are out of reach. A couple books and a date with Lynda can even the playing field. It’s hard to imagine starting from scratch with a piece of software and making something that looks presentable, but similar skills from other platforms will carry over.

3) Target your weaknesses

Identify your weaknesses and work them into your next project. This will lead to a more well-rounded project and you’ll be a better journalist for it. If you’re not learning and growing, then you’re falling behind.

4) Set a deadline

Working on deadline is the fastest and easiest way to learn. I was fortunate to have an external deadline (a grade), but it also helps to pitch the project early. Tell you friends when they can see it and let them bug you until it’s live. There’s nothing that makes you move faster than a deadline.

5) Find an expert

With any project, it is extremely important to find an expert who is willing to help you through the project. This shouldn’t be used as a crutch, but rather a lifeline. There’s inevitably going to be problems and it’s important to find someone with the skills to get you through the rough spots. This person can help keep you on task and hold you accountable if you drop the ball.

6) Make the time

Finding spare time is tough so allocate the time you have accordingly. Set aside a couple hours each week to read or work on something new. Finding the time shouldn’t be a problem if you picked the right project.

7) Plan an attack

Producing an interactive multimedia site is great, but then what? How will you audience access the site? And how will you measure its success? Building a site and launching it are two different skills. Be prepared for both.

8) Think business

Try to think like a business major (in moderation). If you’re not, just fake it for a while. You might accidentally learn something extremely valuable. As an example, when I finished Times of Recession, I decided to market the project to local news organizations. I sent emails to online editors across the state and offered to sell them exclusive rights to the highest bidder. I was able to create competition between the organizations and help make the project more marketable. Thinking from a business perspectives can create new opportunities to do the work that you love.

9) Journalists can advertise too

Once you’ve identified your audience, don’t be afraid to advertise. I created a Facebook advertising campaign for less than $10 dollars that targeted online editors and multimedia producers (and places I wanted to intern). I was able to use a highly targeted ad campaign to get my site to the people with the power. The ad campaign left about 25,000 impressions on about 20 Facebook accounts. Pretty awesome stuff. In addition, many of the targeted users overestimated its distribution (because I was “advertising”) and were more likely to pick it up. Spending a few dollars on targeted advertising now will be worth it later.

10) Take a risk

Do something so ridiculous that people think you’re crazy. This doesn’t mean do something stupid, but make it a project that you can learn from. There has never been a better time to experiment. The biggest risks have the best rewards.

And #11, since every other list has 10…

11) Get started now

If you really want to “wow” somebody, it’s not going to happen in an email. Trust your instincts and be willing to learn. Plus, it’s a very different conversation when your boss knows what you can do. Many projects never happen because of the details. If the project matters and you can learn something new, then get started now. You can work out the details along the way.

Times of Recession
Times of Recession was a multimedia project that featured seven Minnesotans and the recession’s impact on each of their lives. The project was nominated for an Upper Midwest Regional Emmy in September and the videos ran individually on MinnPost.com. Built using Flash and AS3, this project was Ewen Media’s first interactive multimedia project.

Remembering Spc. Carlos Wilcox
Friends and family remember Specialist Carlos Wilcox IV, 27, who died in a missile strike near Basra, Iraq. This video was originally produced for StarTribune.com.

Welcome Back to Campus
The Gophers opened up their football season with a 20-13 victory over Air Force in the first game ever played at TCF Bank stadium.

‘My Home Is On Fire’
University of Minnesota student Amirhossein Kiani uses music to cope with the violence in his home country of Iran. This video was originally produced for StarTribune.com.

Vikings-Packers: Beyond the Victory
A photo recap of Monday night’s game between the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers. The Vikings won 30-23 and Brett Favre became the first player to defeat all 32 NFL teams. The video was produced by Ewen Media using photography from the Star Tribune.

Posts

The best multimedia is the kind you can’t do – yet
“If you’re not learning and growing, then you’re losing your marketability. No one wants to invest in last year’s Turbo-Man.”

Learning online video from the “White Castle lady”
Online video’s value is not limited to a particular news site. Now’s the time to let your video go viral.

The Other Future of News
Here’s a series of highlights from the “Other Future of News Conference,” a response to Minnesota Public Radio’s “Future of News” conference earlier this year.

Winning the video story
Online video makes high-quality multimedia more important because there’s increased competition. A little extra time can go a long way.

Storytelling done right
A post with some of my favorite examples of video storytelling.