By Karen Rodriguez, Laishi Zhou and Haoyang Zhang

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Our semester reporting with Google Glass

By Karen Rodriguez, Laishi Zhou and Haoyang Zhang

Executive Summary

Over the course of this semester we have reported and experimented with Google Glass. Our focus was one question: is Google Glass an effective tool for journalists?

We divided our semester into three coverage areas: event, breaking news and feature/ mini documentary coverage. Throughout the semester we stuck to covering stories that professional newsrooms would cover. For event coverage we approached each event how a magazine would cover it. We had two pairs of Google Glasses so we were able to cover a four-day festival. For the event coverage videos we added music from creative commons because the sound captured on the Glass was unusable in most cases and since it was for a magazine, there was greater creative freedom. For breaking news, we covered weather and a fire. For the weather, we used Twitter to post our coverage because we wanted to simulate actions that a broadcast news station would make. Because we were in a capstone setting and not in a real newsroom, it was hard to find breaking news stories as they were happening. So we downloaded the Police Scanner Plus app to listen to the police call in breaking news. For our mini doc/ feature stories, we wanted to test out the power of first person perspective. Therefore we chose stories,which we could give our subjects the Glass and to see how that process would work. We wanted to know how long it would take for the subject to understand how to use the Glass and also how could the images captured by the Glass blend into a video where other footage was captured with DSLR cameras and gopro Hero2 camera.

Throughout the semester we explored a variety of apps that a professional newsroom would use. We used twitter, Google+, YouTube and Wordpress to distribute our work. Because journalists need to be informed, we downloaded apps that provide news updates like the New York Times app and Winkfeed. We found that these apps bombarded the Glass with many news updates throughout the day, making it difficult to search for content that we made. Also the New York Times app can only read out headlines of the news, and users can’t see the whole article or any related pictures. Winkfeed did a better job in this part. It can lead to the real web page and users can zoom the page and read from that.

We also tested the Glass connected to an iPhone and an Android. We found it works best with the Android. It had constant connectivity issues with the iPhone.

We had many expectations before we started using Google Glass. We thought it would revolutionize journalism, be the new cell phone and we were skeptical about the novelty of new technology and the problems it could have. We also questioned how practical it would be to have a computer attached to your face. In total we had nine videos.

Distribution links:

Wordpress: rjiglass.wordpress.com

Twitter: twitter.com/rjiglass

Google+:

Youtube:

How Glass works

Google Glass is essentially an extension of your phone. You first download the MyGlass app (Figure 1) that is located in your google play store or your app store on your iphone.

Figure 1 The MyGlass App by The Verge

Glass connects to this app via wifi and bluetooth (for the iPhone you need to connect to your personal hotspot).

The prism is the screen where you see all of the content on Glass and it is essentially a mini projector that projects onto a mirror backwards and shows up to the user. The Glass also features a touchpad that allows you to navigate its settings as an alternative to voice control. We found that voice control was fidgety so we mainly used the touchpad. In order for you to make a call via the Glass, you first need to program the person you are calling into the MyGlass app address book so that they can show up as an option to call.

You can also program Glass to wake up when you nod your head or take a picture when you wink. Google released Glass to the public and it is selling for $1500.

Throughout this paper, you will see QR codes. Scan them to be linked to each individual video.

What other journalists have done with Google Glass

We received Google Glass a year after it came out to glass explorers. Within that year, Glass was used for: education, fashion, crime fighting, medicine and some journalists were trying it out. The very first reporter who used Google Glass to report was Tim Pool. Pool used the Glass to cover the Istanbul protests, which is breaking news. Jen Reeves, who we tried to do an interview with, lent a KOMU reporter her Google Glass to report. Across the globe, a reporter from People.cn in China wore a pair of Google Glass to report the National People's Conference and the National Committee of the People's Political Consultative Conference. However, because Google Glass was so new, the reporter herself soon became the breaking news. There are many other journalists also experimenting with the Glass's capability in reporting.

We tried to reach out to some of these reporters, briefly asking a list of questions:

• How long have you had Google Glass?
• What have been some pros and cons?
• What apps have you used with Glass?
• Have you used Glass journalistically?
• How long do you use it every day?

Most of them did not reply to our questions. But we did not stop trying. We sent a list of questions to Jeremy Littau, an assistant professor of journalism teaching a Google Glass course, asking his opinion about Google Glass compared to other reporting tools, and what kind of improvements he thinks could be made to make the Glass better. But so far, we haven’t heard back from him.

Examples:

Event Coverage #THROUGHGLASS

For event coverage, we covered a 2-hour reception and a 4-day event to test out Glass in two different time spans. We partnered up with Vox Magazine to cover the True/False documentary film festival.

Art Show: Marni Gable

Marni Gable Gallery Show was the first event we covered for our capstone. We decided to cover this event because it was a 2-hour gallery reception that fit into what we were looking for to test, a short event that a magazine would be interested in covering. This was the first time we used Google Glass for reporting and we found problems but also good things that Google Glass could offer a reporter.

When covering the reception, we noticed that the novelty of the Glass affected reporting. People who noticed the Glass would yell out “Wow! Is that Google Glass?” and interrupt the filming. But at the same time, it was hard for people to notice the Glass and that they were being filmed. To provide transparency, the reporter wore a sign that said “You are being taped for a story with Google Glass”. We did this because we had heard about the legal and privacy issues surrounding Google Glas and wanted to avoid any problems. There was one person who didn’t want to be filmed at the reception.

The Glass did well with battery life for this 2-hour event, but by the end the phone and the Glass were dead. We also noticed that the quality of the sound recording was bad. It was impossible to get good sound in a loud room because the mic captured everything. During the interview with Marni Gable, the artist, it was awkward to try and physically move your head closer to her to capture her voice.

The camera also had some limitations; you cannot control the camera settings. Which meant you were not able to zoom in and out, you could not control the ISO or the exposure. The reporters had to constantly remind themselves that their head was the camera and the tripod. Which made it difficult to gather tight shots because you had to physically move your head close to the objects you wanted to film. The Glass captures what you see, and just like your eye, you only see medium shots.

It would normally take a reporter about 30 minutes to cover a 2-hour event, but for us it took the full 2 hours, because we had to spend time trying to figure out how the Glass works.

This event taught us that in order to use the Glass effectively we had to look at the event as if we were there to enjoy it and not report it. So the reporter asked herself, “what would I look at if I was at this reception?” and it went from there. The reporter had to think about the video and what they wanted the video to look like, they had to micromanage and calculate what head movements to make and what to focus on.

Apart from all of these negatives, this video was a success because the video quality was good and the reporter was able to make a successful video that a magazine would publish on their website.

True/False Documentary Film Festival

As part of our event coverage, we wanted to cover a festival because it is an event that magazines would cover in real life. So we covered the True/False Film Festival. We looked at the individual events that were happening in the festival and we planned which capstone member would cover it. We broke down what videos we wanted to produce in a spreadsheet.

Jubilee:

The Jubilee is the kick-off party for the festival, a masquerade. The party is only for pass holders and press. So as part of our magazine coverage, we decided to make a video that would open up this exclusive party to our viewers. We wanted a video that would capture the atmosphere of the party. The Glass made it easy for the reporter to show the viewer what the Jubilee is like. It was easy to be a fly on the wall and capture people being themselves, which is hard to do with a video camera since it’s so big and people tend to edit their actions in front of a camera.

It was also easy to be creative with the Glass, the reporter had to constantly think about her head movements and the goal of how to capture the atmosphere of the party.

The sound quality was terrible because of the crowds and the battery only lasted for an hour and a half, because we filmed for a video and we posted to twitter. The wifi was also going in and out and posting was taking a while since there were a lot of people from the festival connected to the wifi.

Volunteers

As part of our coverage, we decided that a behind-the-scenes video would be something a magazine would be interested in including in their coverage of the festival. So we waited outside the theaters before the movies started, and then interviewed several volunteers, including the press volunteer and the Q line leaders (who directed traffic for the movies). They answered these questions: why they chose to volunteer, how many costumes they had for the festival, and how many people they saw in the lines a day.

One big issue we noticed throughout the coverage was the frequent blackouts of the Glass. It took a long time to take b-roll because sometimes the Glass just stopped automatically. Even worse, when a person was ready to do the interview, the Glass blacked out. Which made us look unprofessional to the subject. But what was good about the Glass for reporting was everybody seemed to be excited about the Glass, and so they were willing to wait to see how it worked. Additionally, sometimes our hair just got into the screen, which made the scene quite messy.

Next time, we would have two Google Glasses out for this kind of story. Having one as a backup and use it to interview others at the same time to make the time go by faster.

We found that this kind of interview only video is not ideal for Google Glass only because it was hard to capture the interviewees voice without awkwardly leaning into them. This can be fixed with an external audio source like an H2 Zoom recorder.

Man on the street

As requested by Vox Magazine, we a Man on the Street style video. We interviewed ten random people who just picked up their movie tickets from the box office and we asked them which movie they were expecting to see the most from this year’s festival.

We did all the interviews outside of the box office at 4 p.m. of the first day. Although it was very close to the street, the sound quality is surprisingly good. The Glass did not record too many car noises and the audio of the interviews was loud and clear.

However, we did discover some other issues that we would avoid in the future. The first one is exposure. Among all the interviews that we did that day, three were overexposed. Also framing was a challenge while recording with the Glass. Since our head is the camera and the tripod when we are wearing the Glass, we could not nod or make normal confirming sounds like “uh-huh” because it would be captured on the Glass. So we had to remain eye contact with the interviewee. With that being said, we cannot keep checking the Glass prism screen to make sure our subjects are centered in the frame. Sometimes, we lost control of what was being recorded. The last problem that we discovered from making this video was the volume of the interview.

Traditionally when you record an interview the voice of the interviewee has to be louder. But in this case, the voice of the reporter was louder.

Another issue we found was height. People vary in height, therefore a short reporter and a tall subject caused problems with framing. Sometimes the subject’s head would be cut off.

Business

As part of our coverage, we decided to cover the money aspect of the festival and how the flood of new people in Columbia impacted local businesses.

So we interviewed the owner of Main Squeeze, a locally owned restaurant to see how they were doing with sales. We asked the owner, Leigh Lockhart: What food were people eating, how crowded was her restaurant, and why did she think people wanted the food her restaurant made.

We noticed a few things during the interview. Because the Glass camera is so small, people had a hard time noticing that Lockhart was being interviewed on camera, so they would interrupt our interview. We also had a hard time gathering b-roll for this video because the camera cannot be controlled. Unlike the Jubilee, it was hard to be a fly on the wall during this story. When we tried to get close to people to get footage of them eating, they would notice the Glass and say “Wow! Google Glass! How did you get it? How much is it!”

Having the Glass was a huge distraction for people. Compared to a smartphone, which you can zoom in and out, the Glass was difficult to use for this story.

Next time, we would introduce the device to the customers so that they can familiarize themselves with it and not overreact when we formally start recording.

Documentary/Feature #THROUGHGLASS:

Here are two stories we did where we gave the Glass to the subjects we were covering to capture the first person perspective.

Stylist

For our first story, we reached out to this student stylist, who works at Muse Clothing downtown Columbia. We asked him to wear the Glass and participate in the shooting process. So after a short training session, the stylist put on the Glass and recorded how he usually styles his clients. The nature of the work required the stylist to look into the mirror frequently, meaning audiences can see the stylist wearing the Glass. It is hard to say this was absolutely good or bad. At least, it is not traditionally preferred in traditional journalism reporting.

It also took time to train the stylist because the touchpad by the side is very sensitive, and we accidentally deleted one of the footages we shot. But luckily that was not the best one we recorded. But overall, the first-person perspective in this video really worked, and confirmed us the possibilities that the Glass offers. It can be used in more lifestyle stories in the future.

One thing we would change if given the chance while shooting is to record audio separately. Since we did the interview in the store, which had background music playing, the interview audio was really bad.