Eureka!

In, out, trim, overwrite, capture, sequence, interplay, frame, bin…Indeed, I just spent 11 hours editing what turned out to be an amateurish-looking rough cut of my soon-to-be more professional-looking web video.

Most imortantly, I finally realized how important it is to look technology in the eye and not be the first to blink. For once, I didn’t lose the game of chicken, admit defeat, or toss in the towel.

I’m actually quite grateful for the opportunity to be thrown blindly into the daunting world of multimedia reporting. What better time to learn these skills than when most news organizations are looking to provide more and better web content for their Internet-surfing news consumers?

Lesson of the day: One of my professors recently said that print journalists can’t let the multimedia reporters take over and get away with it. We need to stand up to them. How? Learn their tricks and do them better!

Ride-along…

I spent yesterday afternoon in the front seat of a yellow cab, listening to the driver speak candidly about the inner workings of his days on the job.

Some of the highlights? According to this particular driver:

1. He prefers short routes. It means less money per ride but more rides overall.
2. He might choose to turn people away if their ride won’t be lucrative. He added that sometimes he’ll refuse service at night if the person “looks like a gangster.” He said that GPS will make him susceptible to getting in trouble if there’s ever a complaint and said it’s an infringement on his privacy.
3. Yes, some drivers do work longer than the maximum 12-hour shift. He said that if you want to make money in the business, then you have to work more than the Taxi & Limousine Commission says you can. He said that GPS will prevent him from being able to work those extra hours.
4. He said he’s worried that the GPS devices will someday be used to track his speed, adding that he feels as though this is another infringement on his privacy.
5. He starts off each day more than a hundred dollars in debt and fears that his costs will increase with the installation of the GPS system. He added that he’s frustrated that the medallion owners and vendors will make money from the installation of the GPS system.

Now to edit the footage and work on a rough cut for Friday’s class.

Traffic update

The pedal was put to the metal this week as the GPS debate was thrust into third gear.

What Happened: The New York City Taxi Workers’ Alliance, as well as eight cab drivers, filed a lawsuit against city regulators over the requirement that GPS devices be installed in all New York City taxis.

What Else is New?: Yesterday’s announcement brought a previously less-vocalized issue to the fore. The lawsuit claims that the software will give away trade secrets by disclosing taxi route patterns. According to the suit, the cabbies regard their driving patterns as proprietary.

What lies ahead?: That’s a good question. With the October 1 installation deadline less than two weeks away, it will likely become clear sooner rather than later whether drivers and the Taxi & Limousine Commission will remain stuck at a crossroads over this requirement.

Putting the wheels in motion

I managed to kill two birds with one stone during Friday night’s taxi ride to the movie theater. The journey was one part mode of transportation and one part research.

From behind the glass partition, I listened to the driver speak about the taxi technology debate. With the rear-view mirror facilitating our “face-to-face” conversation, we spoke briefly about what he thought were the most significant issues at hand. In no particular order, these were some of his concerns:

• the 5 per cent fee to be paid by the driver for each credit card transaction
• the potential increased cost to lease a vehicle
• privacy
• possible system failures during a shift
• questions about the necessity of this requirement
• the potential for the machines to be used to track speed and location…

Our arrival at the cinema interrupted the driver’s train of thought. He offered to meet with me again next week and added that he isn’t camera-shy.

Learning curve…

I just gave myself a pat on the back: I woke up and my blog is still alive.

I’m proud of myself (perhaps undeservedly) for managing to create a website where I can post my thoughts and discoveries. I’m one of those people who is entirely intimidated by all things “html” and fears anything that requires even a basic understanding of technology.

Hence the reason I’m taking the aforementioned multimedia journalism class (see post below).

Through four years of undergrad in Canada’s capital city, I put off enrolling in any course that had to do with new media reporting. But alas, I can’t ignore the online trend any longer. I think it’s fair to say that my hand was forced by the almighty 24-hour news cycle, offering up-to-date information on the hottest stories and available at the click of the mouse.

So I plan to hit the ground running, or typing, or taping, or whatever is necessary to prepare myself for a multimedia newsroom. Tomorrow is a new day: one that involves a video camera and raw footage for my taxi tracking multimedia project.

Will all hail break loose?

I knew I was in New York when I hailed my first yellow taxi. While this was somehow an exhilarating and validating experience, I soon joined most New Yorkers in becoming nonchalant about the ubiquitous yellow cab.

But then I was asked to come up with a topic for a multimedia journalism class at New York University. Moving recently from Canada, I didn’t know the ins and outs of the city and felt slightly disadvantaged. After a number of frustratingly unfruitful brainstorming sessions, I finally realized that a story was literally driving all around me.

The recent taxi strike, while it didn’t bring the city to a standstill, brought to the fore a number of concerns facing many New York cab drivers. This was the first strike in nearly a decade and the main issue is the new requirement by the Taxi & Limousine Commission that all cabs be equipped with a global positioning system (GPS) and a credit/debit card payment system.

My project, with this blog as a platform, will delve into this technology debate and look into the
potential economic issues and privacy concerns facing the cab industry. Primarily, why is this requirement being put in place and how will medallion owners, drivers, passengers, and GPS vendors be affected?