Summer course 0: journalists go mobile with multimedia project

The Thomson Foundation summer course ended in September after more than a month of intensive multimedia training for five journalists drawn from across the globe.

The course brought together journalists from China, Oman, Jordan, Nepal and UK for the training, masterclasses and visits to the newsrooms of some of the biggest names in UK and international media.

For the first three weeks Thomson Foundation trainers shared expertise drawn from their many years of experience.

David Harrison focused on further developing participants core skills, then Judy Aslett and John Bretherton got them producing TV style video packages, before Dan Mason helped them with multimedia, visualising data and mastering social media.

There were also one-day masterclasses with Alun John focusing on photography, Glen Mulcahy introducing trainees to mobile journalism and Adam Westbrook who offered a whole new angle on storytelling in journalism.

In week four, the journalists put their skills into practice, researching, creating and presenting multimedia stories using the tools and techniques they had learned during the course.

Perseverance The stories ranged from the relevance of Speaker's Corner in the age of social media to the rise of London rickshaws and whether they are great for tourism or death traps. It took the journalist hours of rejection and perseverance to find a rickshaw driver who would comment... without demanding big money.

An interview with a former Gurkha brought to life a story about the Nepalese soldiers' campaign for equal rights, while in another story, foreign students voiced their concerns about the cost of student accommodation in London.

The struggle for survival facing some of the nation's most historic and iconic churches in the City of London completed the set of multimedia stories. Many of the participants used their newly acquired mobile journalism skills to shoot their video on iPhones.

All the completed stories were projected onto the screen of the Thomson Foundation's training suite to the Thomson Foundation staff. The foundation's CEO Nigel Baker remarked afterwards that he was amazed at how inventive the participants had become in using multimedia tools in such a short space of time .

Multimedia In just four weeks the journalists from newspapers and TV - some of them new to online had learned how to create blogs, video and galleries. They were also introduced to audio slideshows and interactive images, timelines and maps.

Journalists spent a fifth week on placement working alongside journalists at the Guardian, ITN and the Huffington Post.

The course participants have now returned to their employers where they will be aiming to put their new skills into practice.

Hosam El Nagar, the Thomson Foundation's director of operations, who organised the course, said:

It was a really good mix of journalists. They quickly became a very close group exchanging ideas and learning from each others different backgrounds and experience as well as from the course.

It was very pleasing to see how they easily grasped unfamiliar media formats and took on new tools. I am sure they will move on to great things in the future.

Any organisations interested in sponsoring journalists on the Thomson Foundation summer course 2014, should contact Hosam El Nagar.

LINK:	http://www.thomsonfoundation.org/news-and-features/2013/09/29/summer-c...
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