2029: A Multimedia Odyssey

I really enjoyed reading the Martha Stone article and think it is a great depiction of the lives and workloads of backpack journalists and multimedia journalists. Although, I think Martha is thinking too much about the present rather than the future of multimedia journalism. She obviously feels that the average journalist cannot perform the multitude of tasks it takes to make exceptional journalism, and for the time being, she is probably right. But why not in, say, 15 to 20 years? Technology is advancing at an incredibly rapid pace and shooting video, editing video and audio, creating Flash, etc. is getting easier and easier for the average person to learn to do. Even now at the convergence program here at Missouri, we’re learning how to do all of these things quickly and professionally, and technology and knowledge of technology will only improve with time. Most journalists in the future will learn how to be more multimedia oriented and well rounded, so I believe backpack journalism will become incredibly popular. The article talks about equipment being bulky and the difficulty of one journalist carrying it around everywhere, but come on, the closest thing we had to an Ipod 20 years ago was a boom box. There’s no telling how lightweight and easy to carry all of the equipment a journalist needs will be in the future. By that time, you may be able to shoot HD video with a cell phone. And any journalist will most likely be able to send all of his/her photos, videos, and stories to the newsroom wirelessly in a matter of seconds, so journalism will be produced as it is happening and online journalism will be the most dominant form of journalism. I definitely think do-it-all journalists will be widespread in the not so distant future and the ability to technologically multitask will be a necessity.