Notes from AAJA’s 2010 national conference in HollywoodPosted by Cody Kitaura on August 11th, 2010

Last week marked a couple firsts for me: my first trip to Hollywood and my first time at an Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) national conference. I could write volumes on the people I met and the panels and workshops I attended.

In the interest of getting a post online sometime this year, here are a few quotations and tidbits, along with audio recordings from seven sessions I attended:

It would’ve been helpful if I had a code.

- Roxana Saberi, a journalist imprisoned in Iran on espionage charges. She said just after her arrest, her captors allowed her a supervised phone call where she was not allowed to tell her boyfriend where she was or why she didn’t make it home that night.

It’s a feeling you have. There’s no one there to tell you what to do.

- AP photographer Julie Jacobson, on how she reacted when she and the soldiers she was embedded with in Afghanistan came under fire.

Just about everybody in this room can do their job on a laptop, which means just about everybody else could. If we can’t do it shorter and sooner, someone else will and should.

- Mike Allen of Politico, on how online journalists must be driven to produce quality content.

Session: “Diversity in new media”

Panelists: Jocelyn Wang (8asians.com) Jen Wang and Diana Nguyen (Disgrasian.com) Phil Yu (angryasianman.com)

Moderator: Gil Asakawa, freelancer and consultant.

Everybody can take a day off, but sometimes you feel like you can’t.

- Jen Wang, on the high-speed nature of blogging. She said at first, she and Nguyen would post seven to eight posts a day and were “burning out really fast.”

Session: “Hyperlocal news”

Panelists: Andrew Pergam (J-Lab), David Boardman (Seattle Times), Marcia Parker (Patch.com), David Cohn (Spot.us)

Moderator: Thomas Lee (Medcity News)

Content is king, and content will always be king, but collaboration is queen. If this is a chess board, the king is the most important piece that you have to guard, but the queen – let’s be honest – is the most powerful.

- David Cohn, on the mission of Spot.us.

Session: “Beginning Interactive Narrative”

Panelist: Wasim Ahmad (Stonybrook University)

Giving them space to put their work on the web will help you in the long run.

- Wasim Ahmad, on collaboration with readers.

Links discussed during this session, as well as some others, courtesy of Ahmad:
Wal-Mart’s Growth:
http://projects.flowingdata.com/walmart/

Social Media Revolution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng

Look, Listen, Vote:
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/aug/14/look_listen_vote/
http://www.naplesnews.com/search/?q=Idol+hopeful%3A&t=news&s=video_ellington

Revisiting the NY Times’ 2001 “Year in Ideas”
http://www.mediaite.com/online/revisiting-the-new-york-times-2001-year-in-ideas/

Common Knowledge: CJR
http://www.cjr.org/the_news_frontier/common_knowledge.php?page=all

Fifty People One Question
http://fiftypeopleonequestion.com/

Joe McNally’s blog on lighting contest
http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/2009/09/03/mystery-photorevealed/

Married to Chocolate
http://www.married2chocolate.com

Old Spice Twitter ad campaign:
http://twitter.com/oldspice
http://oldspicevoicemail.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWCVhGzrAT0

NPR on KFC Double Down
http://www.npr.org/blogs/waitwait/2010/04/kfc_double_down_live_blog.html

Knight Rider Live Blog
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/17/knight-rider-the-liveblog/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2Yw0DVGRKQ

Washington Post’s On Being
http://specials.washingtonpost.com/video/onbeing/

Interactive Maps:
http://sarahatwork.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-does-elimination-of-hofstra.html

Session: “Print meets airwaves”

Panelists: Laura Yuen (Minnesota Public Radio), Meena Thiruvengadam (Dow Jones Newswire), Akiko Fujita (freelance web video)

Session: “Platform portability”

Panelists: Franz Strasser (BBC World News America), Victor Kong (CNN Radio), Melissa Mecija (KCBS/KCAL)

Moderator: Christine Lee (KPNX Phoenix)

If I do this for one more day I’m going to drive off the road and take all the equipment with me.

- Franz Strasser, recalling a plea to his editors to give him a day off. He said young journalists in multi-platform jobs have a tendency to overwork themselves and be afraid to ask for time off.

Session: “Advanced interactive narrative”

Panelist: Shazna Nessa (AP)

Links discussed during the session, and some others Nessa says she didn’t have time to show:
Portfolio.com, Interactive features
http://www.portfolio.com/interactive-features/2007/06/salary_comparison
http://www.portfolio.com/interactive-features/2008/02/New-Five
http://www.portfolio.com/interactive-features/2007/12/cdo/
http://www.portfolio.com/interactive-features/2008/01/Twilight-of-the-SIVs

World Cup
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_sports/worldcup_10/index.html
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_sports/world_cup_goal/index.html

Tiger Woods Apologizes
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_sports/tiger_apologies/

Gulf Oil
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/oil_spill/index.html

Vatican Letter
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_international/vatican_letter/index.html

West Wing 3D
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/wdc/west_wing/

Motown at 50
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/motown50/

Iraq Elections
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_international/iraq_election2010/

AP Stress Index map
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/stress_index/index.html

Session: “Documentary filmmaking”

Panelists: Bill Kubota (KDN Films), Chi Tung (dGenerate Films), Abe Ferrer (Visual Communications), Marissa Aroy (Media Factory), Jonathan Reinert, Christopher Wong

Moderator: Emil Guillermo

I grew up in a town where I was pretty much the only Asian American person in a six-mile radius.

- Jonathan Reinert, who was adopted, on his hometown of Kirkwood, Mo.

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