Journalism for the TikTok generation

With the rise of TikTok as a social media and communication platform, video clips measured in seconds rather than minutes are becoming a defacto form of communication for a new generation. How do we prepare both ourselves and a new generation for this new type of short-form expression? What tools are available to help us create and distribute concise audiovisual stories? How can the viewer be part of the story? How do we establish context? Where do memes fit in?

In this panel we’ll talk about what we can learn from the micro-vlogging phenomenon and its implications for mainstream, civic and citizen journalism, with an eye toward what it reveals about the larger trends in our media ecosystem that journalists and technologists would be wise to pay attention to. We’ll discuss media literacy for younger generations and the importance of learning skills to facilitate the creation and dissemination of audiovisual media, including construction and deconstruction of common techniques.

We’ll share insights from taking media-mixing platform Hyperaudio into Italian schools and Chattanooga Public Library. We’ll also touch on the lessons learned from creating Palestine Remix and a new mixable Studs Terkel Radio Archive for WFMT in Chicago. We’ll talk about The Glorious Contextubot and how it can be used to trace the origin of small video clips.

We’ll also look at Meedan’s Claims and Memes database and how a large database of text and multimedia content alongside state-of-the-art algorithms to match similar content can help journalists in fact-checking and verification. This database contains content from a wide variety of international contexts, including India, Mexico and Kenya, with a goal of supporting both researchers and technologists in understanding contemporary online visual culture.

We’ll look at Storycopter, a new interactive documentary production suite for the web supported by Google DNI Fund. An open source platform, Storycopter helps news organizations rapidly create compelling new audiovisual forms of storytelling. Distributed free-of-charge in form of a desktop app, it is meant to be compatible with the most popular operating systems and mini-website, allowing users to host, publish and share interactive sites.

Organised in association with Meedan.