The Berlin Project is pushing the boundaries of new media and broadcast journalism.
By covering a modern day Germany 20 years after the fall of the Berlin wall, this five–member team – whose work has been published and broadcast on various high profile media outlets including the BBC, CNN, Sky News, Reuters, CBC and CanWest Media Works – will use multiple platforms to represent a new generation of interactive journalism.
The Berlin Project is merging traditional print, radio and television coverage with online social media tools making the coverage extensive and instant. Along with ‘traditional’ equipment, the team of reporters will have mobile phones [and other gadgets] with applications allowing them to stream live video and audio onto the web.
By using Twitter, AudioBoo, and Qik, among other tools, they’ll be keeping both the baby boomer and the web-savvy generations informed with up-to-date, accurate coverage.
This project is the successor to G20 London Live, a mobile reporting experiment which went on to be featured by the BBC. The high volume of visitors [80 000 unique hits] to a then unknown site showed that there is clearly a demand for an aggregation of traditional and new media coverage.
The Berlin Project team is backed by Reuters – the world’s leading news agency – for this one week project. With this support and positive feedback from the new media community, it’s set to be a success.
Material that’s produced by the Berlin Project team will be fed onto this host site, Facebook, and Reuters Online, making the coverage easily accessible [for you] across multiple platforms.
This is News 2.0.
You can contact the team here.
Alex Wood is a multimedia journalist, web designer, social media consultant and visiting lecturer in Online Journalism at London Southbank University.
He started his career in journalism as the first foreign intern in a Japanese newspaper. Combining this with a background in web development, Alex fused his two passions together to create G20 London Live, a groundbreaking mobile reporting experiment which went on to be featured by the BBC.
Alex has gone on to work with the BBC, Sky News and Reuters in new media. He now combines his interests in journalism and the internet by consulting on social media strategy. He is co-writing Journalism 2.0, a guidebook for reporters working in a new media world.
Sheena Rossiter is a multi-media journalist based in London, UK since 2008. She was previously based in Barcelona, Spain for a year, and she has covered stories from Turkey, the Netherlands, Cuba, and, of course, her native Canada, where she started her career in Edmonton, Alberta.
Her specialism is sociology of the Internet, and her work has been featured through print, broadcast, and online mediums on the BBC, CBC, and in CanWest Media Works publications, among others. She is currently working on her first book, Calle Carme 16, a creative non-fiction account of life as an illegal immigrant in Barcelona.
Sheena has a BA in Sociology and English from the University of Alberta, and an MA in International Journalism from City University London. She is fluent in English and Spanish, and she currently works as a finance journalist.
Interest: Sociology of the Internet, Sociology of technology, Latin America, modern history, the sociology of popular culture, travel literature
Marcus Gilroy-Ware is visiting lecturer in Online Journalism at City University, director of VSC Creative - a group of new media service businesses, and a proud contributor to the Berlin Project at various levels.
Having journalistic, artistic and technical insights, Marcus aims to make this versatility itself his main contribution to the Berlin Project.
These activities range from writing press releases and producing content to designing and developing user interfaces and advising on overall strategy and planning.
Marcus has a keen interest in the legal and cultural issues facing content producers as a result of digitisation and the network, and is conducting research in these areas. He is a graduate of Hampshire College's School of Cognitive Science, speaks four languages (though unfortunately not very much German), and is also an adept musician.
Dominique van Heerden joins the Berlin Project after being part of the G20 Experiment team, a project that also created content using social media tools. She is currently based in London, UK, a city that she has called home for the past six years.
In April 2009, Dominique went to her native South Africa to cover the one year anniversary of the xenophobia attacks on foreigners--mostly focusing on Zimbabwean migrants who have sought economic stability in South Africa. She has also reported from the UK, Kenya and the United States.
Dominique graduated with a BA in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa, and has just completed an MA in International Journalism from City University London. She has most recently been involved with CNN International's primetime business programme Quest Means Business. In addition to English, Dominique speaks fluent Afrikaans.
Marco Woldt is what you might call a 'global nomad'. Born near Cologne, Germany, he spent his youth growing up in the UK, America and France. After completing his BA in 'Film and Television Studies' at the University of Warwick, he went on to do a post-graduate degree in 'International Journalism' at City University.
Recently Marco has worked for CNN International's world cinema show 'The Screening Room' and has contributed to 'Euromaxx', a lifestyle programme on Deutsche Welle TV. His ultimate goal is to become a producer/correspondent and to make documentary films. He is particularly fascinated by stories blending culture and politics.
In his spare time Marco writes songs and produces soul music under the name 'essensual' (www.myspace.com/essensual). He loves travelling and exploring foreign cultures, and (somewhat frustratingly) is a fervent supporter of 1. FC Köln.
