Knight Center offers webinar on mobile reporting

The mobile device is quickly becoming another important tool in the reporter’s toolbox today. Mobile devices today allow you to grab video, take a photo, gather audio, and post text updates all at the same time to a website or social media platform while out in the field. Do you know how to use your mobile device for newsgathering and reporting? Journalists from Latin America and the Caribbean can learn about mobile reporting tools and techniques during the two-hour webinar, “Mobile + Journalism,” that will be offered in Spanish on Tuesday, Oct. 23, by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.

The instructor of the webinar is Robert Hernandez. He is an assistant professor in the School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California and a veteran digital journalist. He is co-founder of #wjchat, a weekly forum on Twitter that engages journalists and media professionals from around the world. He is a national board member of the Online News Association, co-organizer of the Los Angeles Hacks/Hackers chapter, and co-chair of programming for the 2012 UNITY conference.

Registration is open now for the live, two-hour webinar that will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 11:00 a.m. (Austin, TX time). Check here to find out the corresponding time in your city. For example, 11:00 a.m. in Austin will be the same time in Bogota, Lima and Mexico City, but 10:00 a.m. in Central America, 1:00 p.m. in Brasilia and Buenos Aires, and 12:00 p.m. in Santiago.

Hernandez’s webinar will help attendees to learn the basics about mobile journalism, the global mobile user landscape, and how to produce journalism via the mobile device using different tools, apps and technologies.

The mobile device has a lot more potential than we can imagine. According to Hernandez, it opens a door of opportunity for new ways to engage the news consumer.

“For consumers, it’s making news and information more essential and immediate. They want information in the context of their location or current mobile task. As content creators, it allows us to produce content in diverse ways and distribute it quicker. Our smart phones are as powerful as computers, which allows for some engaging and immediate storytelling,” Hernandez says.

The number of participants is limited, and registration is taking place through this link. Registration will remain open until Monday, Oct. 22 at 12 p.m. (Austin time). Those who attend the webinar will need to pay a $30 administrative fee online. Those who participate in the webinar will receive a certificate from the Knight Center.

A webinar works like an in-person seminar or presentation. The participants will be able to hear the instructor and watch on their computer screens a PowerPoint presentation and other visual materials and demonstrations. They will also be able to interact with the instructor via chat, asking questions or making comments. Participants need a broadband connection to the Internet and the use of headphones is highly recommended.