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Reuters conducts mobile experiment to 'transform the way journalists file news'

Posted: 23/10/07 By: Oliver Luft

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Reuters has been conducting a mobile journalism trial looking at 'transforming the way journalists file news reports' when on the move.

Working in partnership with Nokia, reporters in the field have been equipped with lightweight kit - based around a videophone - to file and publish stories without the need of any additional technical or editorial support.

Reuters has been running the trial since the summer with reporters editing, producing and publishing their own multi-media stories.

The trial involved journalists filing stories on topics ranging from New York Fashion Week, to the Edinburgh Film Festival and the US presidential primary campaigns.

Reuters has also developed a mobile editorial interface that links the toolkit to the in-house editorial process, allowing stories to be published almost instantly from the field.

Metadata facilities in the mobile automatically combine all the information the device has about the context for the story - location, time, date.

"This is a very easy-to-use application that takes account of the demands placed on journalists in the field," said Nic Fulton, chief scientist of Reuters Media.

"By running on handheld devices, rather than on bulkier laptop computers, the mobile journalism application enables us to create complete stories and file them for distribution, without leaving the scene.

"This saves us time and benefits our audience by ensuring that they receive high quality news that is absolutely up-to-date."

Reuters intends to give a group of university students access to the kit in coming months, to give an idea of how it could possibly work in a future citizen journalism context.

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