July 11, 2008
A delegation of students, alumni, faculty and staff from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism used mobile blogging, video cameras and other high-tech tools of their trade to cover the UNITY: Journalists of Color Convention in Chicago July 23-28. The gathering, which attracted nearly 6,000 attendees, featured addresses by presidential candidate Barack Obama and Abdoulaye Wade, President of Senegal.
During the event, CUNY J-School representatives posted audio and video reports, articles, blogs, interactive pieces and live streaming video on a dedicated Web site, CUNY J-School at UNITY '08. Even students who couldn't make it to Chicago took part: They filed reports from summer internship assignment locations around the world, including London, Nigeria, the Dominican Republic and New York City.
Among the equipment CUNY convention goers used were five Nokia N95 multimedia camera phones recently purchased by the J-School. These devices allow users to take video footage and stream it live to the Web, among many other functions. J-School journalists also taught others how to use the Nokia phones through a series of "Mobile Blogging Walking Workshops."
The J-School team involved attendees in other ways as well. "We invited anyone to join our Web site and post pictures, comments, stories and videos," said Scotti Williston, senior producer in residence at the CUNY J-School who oversaw its UNITY '08 coverage.
The nerve center of the J-School's journalistic activity was Booth 401 in the exhibit hall of the McCormick Place Convention Center. There, too, the Office of Admissions kicked off its Class of 2010 National Recruiting Tour, providing in-depth information about the program of study, conducting informal interviews and helping prospective candidates fill out an application.
The theme of UNITY's fourth quadrennial convention and career expo was "A New Journalism for a Changing World." UNITY is an alliance of four organizations for journalists of color: the Asian American Journalists Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the Native American Journalists Association.
