SyndicateMizzou Video Podcast

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - What Brought McKean to Convergence

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:57:03 GMT

McKean talks about his background in journalism and what inevitably brought him to become chair of the newly created convergence sequence at the Missouri School of Journalism.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - Defining Convergence Journalism or Media Convergence

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:57:17 GMT

McKean describes the process of starting the convergence sequence, and what needs to be done to expand the program.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - The Mindset of Creating the Convergence Sequence

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:57:29 GMT

McKean explains how the new journalism sequence was created in 2005. He says convergence teaches the “best ways to teach digital media skills to our students.” After looking at the strengths and failures of other journalism sequences (for example, magazine, photojournalism, news editorial, and broadcast), McKean and his colleagues were able to construct a curriculum that would introduce all sorts of media skills and apply those to reporting, editing, and producing.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - The Convergence Curriculum

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:57:42 GMT

The convergence sequence is broken down into classes, each introducing essential skills for a convergence journalist. The classes range from a basic fundamentals course introducing convergence to reporting, editing, and a capstone.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - Backpack Journalist

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:57:56 GMT

McKean explains the concept of the backpack journalist, an all-in-one journalist who can do anything without the help of others. “The backpack journalist idea is one notion of how convergence works;” however, he proclaims, “nobody can do everything equally well, and nobody can go out on any given story and do everything and come back with a really compelling story.” A major part of the convergence sequence is to prepare students to be able to work in many different mediums of storytelling, but also to understand the importance of teamwork.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - MU Convergence Reporters Are Getting a Taste of the Real World

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:58:10 GMT

Unlike students in other sequences at the Missouri School of Journalism, convergence students work for media outlets across the country, including CurrentTV, MSNBC, and ESPN.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - Convergence on a Global Level

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:58:26 GMT

In recent years, McKean has helped universities in other countries start their own journalism sequences. He says the experience has opened his eyes up to the barriers to journalism in other countries and what other institutions must do to clearly report news and information.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - Why is the Convergence Sequence Growing?

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:58:42 GMT

McKean says because of the current technological age, many young journalists have grown up with multimedia platforms (such as facebook, cell phones, and blogs), and there is an unconstrained desire to implement many of those media with the news. “I think students that are coming to us now do not want to be shackled by one way of telling stories, ” McKean says.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - The Value of Storytelling with Convergence

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:58:55 GMT

McKean says a journalist who can tell a story in multiple media bridges the gap between the audience and the reporter. “They have to interact much more closely with the audience and not just assume that they are passive receptacles for the content that we create,” McKean explains. “There are multiple correct ways to tell the story depending on the story itself and the content that is available to tell it.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - How Newsrooms View Convergence Journalists

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:59:07 GMT

For many newsrooms, convergence is still a new idea being tinkered with on a daily basis. “They are increasingly realizing the need to have reporters with a convergence mindset. That is just a practical survival instinct,” McKean says. “But it is still difficult to try to do all of those things, and do them well, in an environment."

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Lampo Leong - Multimedia Art

Tue, 19 May 2009 01:59:45 GMT

Another way that Leong has dealt with mixed media is through his work Spiritual Transformations, a collaborative art form that combines animated video of his painted images with contemporary music. He creates the artwork, while MU professor Thomas McKenney composes the music by using software that generates sounds from images. Public Art in San Francisco Digital Film