Windows 8 Capstone Lecture
By Dalton Barker Min Hee Kim
Executive Summary:
As the news industry continues to be more mobile-driven, it is imperative for journalists and newsrooms alike to be pragmatic at using new tools to report through multi-platform pieces. Using Windows 8 and devices like the Nokia Lumia 920 and the Surface RT, we were able to research, evaluate and test the hardware and software to determine its efficacy in the field. Windows 8 is a brand new Operating System released by Microsoft in October 2012 and it presents new opportunities and challenges not only for individual users, but for journalists. We have properly evaluated Microsoft Windows 8 and it’s periphery and drawn some pretty clear conclusions.
The current problem is how do journalists report and transmit useable clips in real-time while in the field. The 24/7 news cycle only continues to accelerate as the audience becomes accustomed to instantaneous news from social media, especially Twitter. This has reflected in newsrooms who cannot wait to drive back to the studio to produce their stories, but must be able to write, edit and produce while in the field. This has given rise to mobile-reporting, and the devices who can capture the necessary data, in newsroom around the country.
Over a sixteen week period our group has looked at the viability of Windows 8 devices as mobile-reporting tools. We reviewed over 40 apps we felt would be beneficial to journalists and used the devices in live settings to document not only stories, but the viability of the devices in the field. We tracked the development of Windows 8 as it went through a challenging period trying to establish market share and a friendly user-interface. We have been some of first individuals to properly assess the devices as it pertains to journalists.
Because of issues relating to the lack of apps and a difficult user-interface, we recommended that any further testing of Windows 8 devices as reporting tools, should be suspended until a proper video capturing and editing app is released and the relaunch of the product takes place sometime in the Fall. With only 60,000 apps (800,000/Apple & Droid), the flexibility of the software is severely harnessed and that reflects in the ability to produce content in multiple mediums.
The Test Subjects:
Nokia Lumia 920:
As you can see, it's a pretty close match. From a design standpoint, the Lumia 920 may be the only smartphone that has several colors; while iPhone 5 has two colors, black and white. But the iPhone definitely wins for size, at just 4.87 by 2.31 by 0.30 inches (HWD) and 3.95 ounces. The Lumia 920, on the other hand, has a size of 5.12 by 2.78 by 0.42 inches (HWD) and 6.52 ounces.
The functions are very similar and the component details such as RAM, CPU Cores are exactly the same. But the main difference comes in from the picture quality. The front camera quality of iPhone 5 is 1.2 megapixel but the front camera quality of Windows 8 phone is 2.1 megapixel.
“Nokia's unique pureview camera with Optical Image Stabilization and a Carl Zeiss lens ensures its pictures and videos are stunning, bright and blur-free, no matter what the lighting conditions are.” – Jacob Koshy from TechnoBulb
Microsoft Surface RT - The Microsoft RT was the first generation of tablets released with Windows 8 fully installed natively. Branded to compete against the Ipad, the Surface RT and new iteration, Surface Pro, were priced similarly and contain near identical hardware specs.
As you can see above, Microsoft purposely targeted Apple’s market share, not only with the initial price, but with the similarities in specs. After falling to capture any substantial market share with Windows 7 tablets, Microsoft completely overhauled their OS to go after a younger, broader demographic with their Live Tiles. The Tiles would provide users with tactile interactions, the ability to touch and operate much like current smartphones, with the aim that the OS would user-friendly and easy to adapt. However, this ease-of-use was not as simple as it seems with the initial launch gaining criticism for it’s complex way of handling basic functions and fews apps in its application library. Early criticisms included this from CNET
“The fact is, I'm fine running Windows 7 -- which is pretty darn good -- and don't see any compelling reason to upgrade the machines, particularly because none of them has a touch-screen display … I just don't see myself upgrading until Microsoft offers up a better deal.”
There & Now:
This tone hasn’t really changed since the October 26th release. However, the slimmest rays of sunshine are piercing through the dark clouds. The recently released Q1 show Microsoft has gained a 1.8 percent market share.
Still a little fish and in an ever growing digital pound, Microsoft has at least entered the ring. When looking at the numbers of shipped and sold licenses, it’s easy to get lost in the scope of the numbers. Last week Windows Chief Marketing Officer Tami Reller announced that Microsoft had sold 100 million licenses for Windows 8 since its launch. That sounds like an impressive number until you factor in how ubiquitous the OS was before the launch. CNET has the caveat:
“Gartner pegs the global PC market as 47 percent consumer and 53 percent business. So, if we assume virtually 100 percent of the consumer PCs sold were running Windows 8 then that would be 71 million (47 percent of 150 million). That would leave 29 million Windows 8 machines sold to the enterprise. Essentially, only one-third of the Windows PCs sold to businesses have been running Windows 8 since its launch last October.”
The article goes to cite the lack of users using Windows 8, as low as 15 percent, and in some cases, buying new computers with Windows 8, only to delete the OS and install Windows 7.
Familiarizing Yourself:
Getting to know the Windows 8 products is the 1st step in using the devices in the field. From understanding basic functions like the Camera or Word, to more complex like downloading specific apps for unique tasks. This video by the New York Times gives a good description and shows the nuances of the Surface RT.
In earlier blog posts, we reviewed and recommended apps that would aid journalists. In total we assessed over 40 apps for the Nokia Lumia 920 and Surface pro. From various photo-editing and audio capturing applications to news application, we looked at the full gamut of applications that a reporter might need while reporting.
In the Field:
Here are some examples, one from the Nokia Lumia 920 and the other from the Surface RT.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Columbia – From April 16 to 23, reporters from North Korea visited University of Missouri – Columbia for US Professional Exchange program hosted by East-West Center.
Reporters visited Newsy, Missourian, KBIA and other newsrooms in Columbia and also had a chance to get to know about School of Journalism at University of Missouri – Columbia.
Janet Saidi, News Director of KBIA Radio, talks about radio journalism at RJI.
One of the sessions the reporters from North Korea attended is Broadcast Journalism: Radio and digital convergence by Janet Saidi, News Director KBIA Radio and Assistant Professor. Saidi talked about the local NPR KBIA as well as the principles of journalism.
“It’s being credible, also being honest, accurate also objective, not letting other people influence what you do, no matter who it is.”
All the sessions were presented in English and translated to Korean by a translator.
The reporters who attended sessions were all escaped from North Korea and now they live in South Korea. Sung-Il Oh, a reporter at Open Radio for North Korea also known as NK Radio, shares his story and passion for journalism..
Oh is a reporter at broadcasting production team of NK Radio. He describes his job as a multi-tasking reporter, “I write articles, I do anchoring, I do editing, I do planning, I do interviews as well.”
Chosun April 26 Children’s Film Studio
Oh graduated from Pyongyan’s Art college in 2003 and began to work for the “Chosun April 26 Children’s Film Studio.” The company has done European animation for several countries including France and Italy.
The studio team has two different parts; one team works primarily on cartoons for North Koreans and the other teams works on foreign projects to sell to European countries.
“For 20 minutes of production, we received about 30,000 to 40,000 dollars. We produced about two animations per month so in one year we earned bout 800 million dollars and we gave it all to Kim Jong-Il. The money was used to create a secret slush.” He added, “maybe he used that money to produce missile, I don’t know but I didn’t know at that time.”
In 10 years, he worked on numerous animations including, Titanic, Lion King, and Pencil Bomb.
Even though he worked in the film studio for a long time, he said he did not choose, rather he was “selected” to do it. He was a high school student when the North Korean government was going around to scout people who were good at drawing.
“I was scouted by North Korean authorities. Since then, I worked to produce animations” Oh said.
In most of the animations, U.S.A. is often portrayed as a wolf and North Korea as beautiful animals. Oh explained, “There isn’t any rule that says USA should be portrayed as a dangerous animal but since we grew up learning about anti-Americanism and anti-Japanese, when we make the movie, we portray other countries as dangerous animals and North Korea as good ones. In the stories, good animals always win the bad ones.” When he was making animations, he often portrayed the Americans with a tall person with big nose and blonde hair.
Questioning the communism
Every month he earned, a dollar, regardless how much he contributes to the company. But he never doubted about the country or regime. “I never questioned about Jung-Il Kim’s regime nor about the communism until it destroyed my family.”
He described him as a diligent worker who was always the first one to arrive at office, worked hard and never mentioned anything about the work outside of his office as he was taught.
However, after working at the studio, he realized that there is a bigger world outside of North Korea.
“As I worked to produce animations for Capitalist countries, I realized that communism is not the best system as I was taught.”
People around him were sent to jail and sometimes, he thought that “a good person also makes mistakes.” However, when similar things happen to his family, he realized that maybe the leader is not the nicest person as he was taught and the country is not the safest country
as he learned.
His Drawings
After he came to South Korea, he continued to draw but this time, not for the company or to earn money but just to share the story with other people. “My drawings about North Korea are all based on the true stories.”
“He told me about the time he had to execute his friend after his friend stole weapons from reserves and escaped to China. The story was really interesting, and I wanted to portray it.”
In 2012, he even opened an exhibition at London Olympics and one of the drawings that he shared at the exhibition is based on the story of his friend who worked as a soldier in North Korea.
The picture shows a soldier tied up to a big wood pole bleeding from his mouth. The story goes like this. The hungry soldier escapes to China but was caught by Chinese police and sent back to North Korea. Because he escaped from “the greatest country” and also because he escaped to an allied country with his gun, he gets a death publishment. To create the fear so that other soldiers would not escape from the country, all soldiers at there. From the high military rank, everyone has to stab him.
Oh’s friend told him that when he went to stab the prisoner, he was bleeding from the mouth. When he was about to stab him, the prisoner looked up and looked at him. Oh explained, “my friend said that the eyes of the prisoner were telling him not to do it. He did not want to but he had to because if he didn’t, then he would be the next one to get stabbed in front of his own family.”
Oh said, he could not imagine the face of the person who got stabbed because he never saw something like this in his life. “That is why we can’t see the face and the person who stabbed him does not know what to do in the picture. It’s not like he hates the prisoner, but he just doesn’t know what to do,” Oh Said.
New Job, New Country
After becoming a citizen of South Korea, he got a job as a designer but since last year, he works as a reporter.
“I know it’s a dangerous job and in society, when we say North Korea, and our broadcasting system is a NGO organization so I earn a small income. But after living in Capitalism, I just can’t just sit and watch. It’s like a sense of duty.”
He explained, “North Korea is a closed country so people outside of the country do not understand how North Korea works. Also if reporters just deliver news about what is happening in North Korea, cosmopolitans do not and cannot understand. But people like me who had lived under communism and now in capitalism, we are good for relaying roles in the middle.”
Columbia – For Chris Billups, Landscape Specialist at MizzouRec, attracting the eyes of people is a full-time job. The last year, Billups has overseen the maintenance and landscape of MizzouRec and surrounding areas which include Stankowski field.
Billups oversees a small crew whose sole task is to make MizzouRec presentable and an epicenter for student life on campus. Besides working in conjunction for campus staff, he tries
to make the recreational center standout on a campus that maintains a botanical garden.
A new retaining wall outside the east entrance of MizzouRec.
Billups said he just installed a new irrigation system to help maintain the area and hopes the previous two seasons of harsh drought won’t return.
“The drought really affected us last year. It killed everything,” Billups said.
Before he began working with the fauna around the facility, Billups installed a retaining wall, which is calls the “symbol of his work at the rec.”
During the winter he maintains seasonal shrubs and plants while clearing away any precipitation that could impede patrons. As Spring arrives, the real challenge begins as he plants new shrubs and occasionally replaces trees.
Billups said that campus facility allow interferes when it comes to dying trees because they like to maintain uniformity around campus.
Min Hee: There are not many recording apps on Windows 8 App store. On iPhone, I use Voice Memos or 1stVideo Net to record audio interviews. On Windows 8 phone, I downloaded 5 apps; Recorder, Voice Recorder, Free Recorder, Audio Recorder and Mini Recoder Free. Out of five apps that I downloaded and tested, I used the Recorder because it showed the time of recording as well as the level of the sound so that I knew where to put the phone. However, after I was done recording, there wasn’t an option to do share it (send it to e-mail or message it). Three options that I had were edit the name of the file, delete, and save to skydrive. Also when you re-listen to the audio on the phone, you need to listen from the beginning; it does not let you to go forward or select the specific part.
Dalton: Using the Surface RT was very difficult throughout the semester. In the field, the overall dimensions and lack of weight made it very easy to slip out of your hand. This also led to difficulty capturing images or just recording an interview. The lack of a video app really hurt my reporting ability. There is no app currently on Windows 8 that lets you shoot video, edit it, and produce something exclusively on the tablet. I did enjoy the touch screen function, but it got difficult to use if anything happened to get on the screen. Other issues stem from the difficulty to manage photos, videos and other files on the device. While the frontend of the interface is designed to highlight the Live Tile and touch-screen ability, the background is complex and difficult to navigate simply with your finger. This is an issue when time is crucial and you’re messing around with files while you could be covering an event.