citizenjournalism
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Once-banned Vigilante app now warns of nearby emergencies
Late last year, Sp0n released a Vigilante mobile app that was supposed to warn you of nearby crimes and emergencies. Or rather, it tried to release the app -- Apple quickly pulled the title after worrying that the name and focus encouraged users to thrust themselves into dangerous situations. After a few months of retooling, however, it's back. The newly rebadged Citizen for Android and iOS will still warn you when someone nearby has reported an emergency to 911, but the emphasis this time is on safety. If there's a robbery in progress down the street, you're encouraged to avoid it. If you are caught up in an incident, however, you'll have tools at your disposal.
Fresco News teams with Fox stations for crowd-sourced coverage
Back in January, Fresco News launched an Apple TV app to deliver a curated feed of crowd-sourced breaking news coverage. Now, the citizen journalism app is working with local Fox affiliates to make user-submitted photos and videos part of regular new coverage. Television stations in 11 cities will be able to send out location-based alerts through the Fresco iOS app in hopes of getting first-person coverage.
Fresco News brings its citizen journalism to Apple TV
Now that most of us carry around a camera in our pockets, we're able to provide first-person accounts of breaking news. Fresco News uses iOS and Android apps to source photos and videos from citizen journalists, and now its bringing that content to the Apple TV. Fresco curates all of the coverage it posts and compensates anyone who submits content that's used by news outlets, so you can expect what you see in the app to be worth a look. As far as the Apple TV app goes, content is divided into three main sections: Video, Highlights and Stories.
Google's News Lab helps journalists with their online reporting
Google's efforts to improve internet journalism are going far, far beyond a special YouTube feed. The search firm has officially launched the Google News Lab, an initiative that helps reporters collect and publish news online. The Lab shows journalists how to use Google tools like data visualizers, Maps and Trends. It's also partnering with news outlets on data experiments, fostering media startups and supporting citizen journalism. Google hopes that all these tutorials and team-ups will adapt journalists to the direct, data-driven nature of internet reporting -- and, no doubt, show that the company isn't always at odds with publishers. [Image credit: AP Photo]
SWAT app wants to help you keep a close eye on cops
After visiting Ferguson, Missouri recently, a pair of Georgetown students realized the need to access cellphone videos of police misconduct in the event a device is destroyed. With that in mind, Brandon Anderson and Joseph Gruenbaum set out to develop the SWAT app -- software that sends your footage to the cloud in the event your phone itself is confiscated or smashed. In addition to safely beaming videos to a server for later use, the app also allows you to file complaints without having to visit a police station. Plus, it'll tell you about your legal rights (using your GPS coordinates to determine the applicable jurisdiction). That way you can quickly read up on the proper local, state and federal laws should the need arise. The project is in its infancy, but there's no questioning its utility once it becomes a fully realized mobile app. For now, Anderson and Gruenbaum are looking for tech and legal partners to get the endeavor off the ground, and you can sign up to be a beta-tester at the source below.
Citizen journalism game will show how your photos change the story
As the Ferguson protests made exceedingly clear, citizen journalism is both a blessing and a curse; while it can expose police brutality and censorship, it's also prone to misinformation. But how do you illustrate the complexity of the subject for the general public? If you're developer Nicky Case, who has a history of tackling difficult subjects, you build a game around it. His as yet unnamed title will have your character trying to gain Twitter followers (that is, score points) by taking photos at controversial events like protests. The trick will be to accurately capture what's happening without polarizing any group more than necessary. You may want to photograph police corruption, but the cops could block you from certain areas if you antagonize them too quickly; at the same time, you don't want to take extreme shots that turn peaceful protests into riots.
Ustream starts a nonprofit program to back citizen journalists
Livestreaming is increasingly crucial to journalism -- in some cases, it's the only way to get around government censorship of TV broadcasts. With that in mind, Ustream is launching Ustream for Change. The nonprofit program helps citizen journalists and educators by supplying no-cost access to ad-free streaming, promotional efforts and tech support. The initiative is already supporting Spilno.tv and UkrStream.tv as they cover anti-government protests in the Ukraine; groups wanting to make an impact through live video can apply to join the program today.
Geek Squad founder reports breaking news with iPad, iMovie
According to TwinCities.com, Robert Stephens, resident of Minneapolis and co-founder of Geek Squad (now owned by Best Buy), was driving to work when he witnessed a rather large gas explosion. Without hesitation, Stephens grabbed his iPhone 4 and started recording the event whilst driving towards it, "...to see if anyone had dialed 911 yet." Once Stephens had captured the source of the explosion, he drove to a nearby parking lot, transferred the footage from his iPhone to his iPad 2 (we recently covered how to do this using Apple's USB Camera Connection Kit), edited the footage, added a map, subtitle and voiceover describing the incident and finally uploaded the film to YouTube and iReport. Stephens then tweeted (with a few stills) permission for others (including the media) to use the footage, and before long, his breaking news was getting coverage on CNN and MSNBC. Stephens says, "It was iPhone to connection kit to iPad to iMovie to CNN," apparently all within around four minutes. According to Stephens, had this all occurred prior to the release of the iPad 2, he would simply have uploaded the raw footage from his iPhone, but since he had the iPad 2, he was able to do all the editing using Apple's new iMovie app for the iPad. Stephens admits he's no journalist, but thanks to the the iPhone and iPad (and iMovie) he was able to make a rather slick "citizen-journalism" report with a professionalism akin to the pros. Check out the full video after the break.
