This is a bittersweet post for me. It’s one of my final posts, in my final graduate school class at Syracuse University. I’ll of course still be documenting my capstone adventures, but my class time is coming to an end. I almost don’t know what I’m going to do with my life after grad school, but I’m sure with today’s emerging media technologies, I’ll have no problem figuring it out.
Throughout class, I was introduced to a number of new technologies, including (but not limited to) sensors, drones, 3D photogrammetry (which I am currently in the process of using for my final project), 360 videos, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, self-driving vehicles, wearable devices, chatbots and intelligent devices like Amazon’s Alexa, Google Home, Siri, Cortana, etc.
One thing I learned that really interested me and stood out, was the fact that virtual reality and 360 videos can be used to showcase traumatic situations, as you can see here and here. I want to make it so that one day, people will be able to understand and feel the pain that people experience; and it’s all being done through technology.
Some days, I think back to when I was young; in middle school, perhaps. I was such a nerd. It felt like we had so many computers in my house; an iMac G4, two HP desktop computers, a Dell laptop. I would spend hours playing computer games and chatting with friends online. I spent hours on my computer(s) and I thought I was so cool.
Now, learning about all of these new technologies makes me feel like I’m falling behind. Humans are even using this technology to re-create skin. We’re creating robots that are giving compelling speeches, and people a run for their money. And, virtual reality is helping people head to far-away destinations, without ever leaving their homes.
Hell, you can even play Jeopardy with an Amazon Echo device (this is quite entertaining). Everything is becoming digitized, and we need to step up our game and get used to it.
However, we must also remember: “with great power, comes great responsibility”. It’s not just a quote from the great Uncle Ben of “Spiderman”. There are now many more ways our safety and security can become compromised. Every time we click on a website, we’re giving social media platforms the permission to track what we’re doing and tailor advertisements to what we’re looking at.
Now is the time to bring these technologies to the news industry. What if self-driving cars could soon be the ones that we take for live-drives in our shows? What if packages can be stitched together using 360 videos? How about digital departments at news and radio stations, using chatbots to bring tailored stories to viewers and listeners? I am going to be sharing my new ideas from this program, in my role as a producer and a journalist, to help make news more compelling, interesting, wide-reaching and even fun. Just as many journalists live stream their locations from the scene of a story, they can certainly do the same by, for example, utilizing 360 videos to show their worlds, up close and personal. I am looking forward to using all that I’ve learned in my job and in my life, moving forward. Now is the time to get excited and embrace our technology-filled lives.
Mitra Zolfaghari 