REACHING OUT
Last report in a series on how local stations can use their Web sites to generate new content
By Jeff Gralnick

The first three parts of this series were aimed at helping you to use your Web site and Web tools in new and different ways, to broaden your coverage and reach. But there is another capability, of perhaps equal or even greater importance, that this technology can give your entire news operation.

Using existing Web tools, you can take your broadcast viewers to places (and in ways) you may not have imagined and even include them in your broadcasts, creating a competitive edge for your station and even saving you money.

With very little fanfare, a fascinating example of this popped up on ABC recently when Good Morning America covered an archeological expedition in a remote part of Central America and interviewed the team leaders live. What makes this unusual is that GMA did it without the usual crew, uplink and network production staff on site. All it took was laptop computer, a Webcam and telephone to get the two scientists on the air. Take a look at the result.

This admittedly is not perfect video or perfect television but it certainly works, and it's technology that any local station could put to use today. . What CNN did with its "video phone" when the Chinese detained an America spy plane, can be done on your Web site and directly to your air from anywhere you have a laptop, a Webcam and a telephone. As bandwidth increases, software is refined, and broadband wireless (802.11 [a OR b]) continues to develop, it will only become easier to do and the quality will get better and better. Places where crews cannot go and stories that seem to be out of reach can suddenly become accessible. Deadlines that once were impossible to meet because crew and truck were out of position are now beatable. Think about the endless possibilities here for redefining "exclusive."

This is a long way ahead of where most local stations are today when it comes to the use of Webcams. While it's true that many users love those weather and traffic shots, much more can be done with existing technology to make it two-way. KDVA-TV, the Telemundo station in San Antonio, has been equipping viewers with Webcams, and making them part of its nightly newscasts. "We're letting people speak for themselves on issues important to them," general manager Emilio Nicolas, Jr., told the San Antonio Express-News. The station solicits the participation of what it calls "neighborhood correspondents" depending on the news of the day. Fox Sports Net has an interactive program called Gameface that allows viewers with Webcams to send "v-mail" questions and comments for use on nightly sports shows in New England and New York. The network also uses RemoteStudio technology from LightWave to put fans on the air live from local sports hangouts. Consider the possible news applications of this kind of "touch back technology," which allows for live, broadcast quality inserts into your programming, entirely under your (remote) control. It's a step beyond the video kiosks some stations are using now to collect audience input.

As important as these "tools of today" are to expanding your Web capability, you'll also want to keep an eye on the tools of tomorrow. The University of Southern California's Integrated Media Systems Center, for example, has developed what it calls "Immersive Audio"--10.2 channel audio that is deliverable over the Internet to desktop or laptop. Imagine how this kind of robust audio can add a totally new dimension to what is being broadcast and Webcast. Think about how the user's understanding of an event can be enhanced, if the sound your site delivers has this kind of depth and range.

There is still more just over the horizon. IMSC is developing a haptic system (from the Greek "to touch") which ultimately will allow a user to "feel and touch" elements of a story in ways never before thought possible ( click here to see a report on this technology from KNBC-TV). These systems will take time to reach the mainstream because they are true bandwidth hogs, but according to Dr. Max Nikias of IMSC, it is only a matter of time. "'ImmersiPresence' is our vision of the future of the Internet; the next great breakthrough in our digital era that will transfer our two-dimensional world of computers, TV and film into three-dimensional immersive environments," Nikias says. How soon? "Within ten years we will shop from the convenience of our living room," Nikias predicts, " by interacting in ways that will allow us to see and talk to remarkably life-like 3D, full-bodied avatars of remote store clerks and within 15 years we will be able to 'touch and feel' the products."

Nikias believes these same tools will be available in the same time frame for use in the coverage of news and the delivery of information by news organization Web sites. "It is only a matter of wanting to do it," he insists. To that end, IMSC already is working with USC's Annenberg School of Journalism to develop what is being called ImmersiNews. The aim here is to create systems for reporters and news gatherers that will marry all of the current and coming technologies from 360-degree picture and sound to haptic and beyond. "Simply put," says USC's Larry Pryor, "in some situations the viewer can be immersed in a news story," such as a natural disaster or a major spectacle. "The real event would be digitally re-created as a virtual event that surrounds the viewer with a visual, aural and even tactile experience." Blue sky for now, but tangible blue sky. And if all this sounds too "gee whiz" to you, remember that fewer than 10 years ago the Internet was terra incognita for most people and you hadn't yet received your first email.

And this brings me back to where we started. Don't think you can ignore this. Taking advantage of what exists now and knowing what will exist "just around the corner" is potentially as vital to your operation as your Web site can be today in dominating the communication of news, information and knowledge in your market.

That is hardly peanuts.

Previous topics:
Making it easy for viewers to make contact.
A suite of interactive tools for involving users.
Enlisting users to supply content.

References:

1. Jeff Gralnick was in broadcast news for 43 years until electing semi-retirement in 2001. His background includes 24 years at ABCNews as executive and executive producer. While there he oversaw development and launch of ABCNews.com. Currently he is doing Internet and media consulting for a number of organizations including the University of Southern California's Integrated Media Systems Center http://imsc.usc.edu