Fall 2009 Technology Guide

From Larry Fried, Asst. Dean for Technology

Dear Students:

Greetings from the technology staff at the Journalism School. Our department will be working closely with you during your time here.

Our mission is to help you use various forms of technology in ways that are integrated with our academic courses and best suited to the curriculum and your assignments. We are not primarily a technology school, so everything we provide is in the service of journalism.

In conjunction with the faculty, we teach some technical skills while expecting you to be fast learners willing to, as they say, practice, practice, practice. Any technical skills (using digital cameras, image editing, web production, etc) that you can acquire before you arrive here will be useful, but not mandatory. Depending on the courses you take, you will learn these and other skills.

The School's equipment room keeps, for student use, dozens of video and still cameras, radio recording kits, etc. – enough to service many classes and projects simultaneously. However, given the way the news business is changing and how many students and faculty use technologies, we are unable to stock the vast amounts of cameras, audio recorders and portable storage media that would be needed to cover every contingency or more than 300 students’ personal interests. The equipment we have is earmarked for use within each class, which means there may not be gear available for students pursuing their own projects or looking for equipment outside of class sessions.

Therefore, we recommend that you look through the attached equipment guidelines and bring with you the items that fit your budget. While none of these are mandatory, owning your own gear will make your year a lot smoother.

Please note: One thing we do NOT do is serve as a repair shop. You will be responsible for the maintenance and servicing of your own equipment.

We welcome your comments and feedback on this guide at equipment@lists.jrn.columbia.edu and look forward to seeing you in August.

Hard Drive

If you plan to purchase only one item prior to your arrival, it should be an external hard drive. You will be creating many text and media files during your time at the School. While the Journalism School provides network and local storage for student data, students are ultimately responsible for securing their personal data. Because of this, we strongly recommend that all students bring a portable, external hard drive.

The drives should meet the following specifications:

USB2/FireWire 400/800 ports
Minimum of 120GB (500GB or more recommended for Digital Media/Broadcast concentrators)
5400 or 7200 RPM (7200 recommended for Digital Media/Broadcast concentrators)

We recommend the G-Technology G-Drive. It offers good value for the price, durability, does not require a power supply, and supports USB2, FireWire 400 & 800 connections. The drive comes in a variety of sizes and prices. Before you make a purchase you should consider what type of work you plan on doing. Students producing a lot of video may want to purchase a larger drive. For students working on minimal amount of multimedia projects, a smaller capacity will be adequate.

Having a portable hard drive is a sound practice. Not only does it allow you to transfer files among computers, it also provides a means of backup, which we strongly encourage. Your data is your responsibility.

Laptop Computer

The Journalism School is equipped with seven computer labs and various other computer terminals. Having your own computer is by no means required, but we recommend that you bring your own laptop so you can work in the field, at home, in spaces that don’t have computers inside the School, or on the sunny steps of the Journalism building.

Laptop computers should meet the following minimal specifications:

Operating System: Apple OS 10.5 or Windows XP/Vista
Microsoft Office 2003
Wi-Fi Connectivity
USB 2.0 and/or FireWire Connectivity
512MB RAM (we recommend 1GB for Print and 2GB for Broadcast/ New Media)

For most print students, a laptop (Mac or Windows) with wireless connectivity and Microsoft Office should meet your needs. For students involved in multimedia applications, we recommend using a Mac. Macs come with a variety of basic video, audio and photo editing tools. Intel Macs are also capable of running Windows through either Boot Camp or virtualization software like Parallels or VMWare’s Fusion.

If you plan to purchase a new Mac, the Apple MacBook will be sufficient for most students. The Apple MacBook Pro is recommended for students interested in editing professional video on their laptops. Please note that the School has extensive video editing capabilities with Final Cut Pro labs, and individual Final Cut edit suites, so the purchasing of video editing software is not required.

Mobile Phones and Handheld Devices

With the advent of mobile computing, technology can easily follow us anywhere in compact form. Apple’s iPhone and the various smartphones available are great devices for organizing one’s schedule, remaining in contact, and as a tool for research. They are however not required or essential for any aspect of the J School’s programs.

Photo

During the school year, students will use digital cameras to capture stills for their print and web stories. Students learn advanced photojournalism skills and work with our Canon Digital SLR cameras. Canon 10/20/30/40D cameras are provided by the School's equipment room and are checked out to students usually for no more than 48 hours at a time. These cameras are adequate from a training perspective and allow the School to balance the cost/quantity ratio for the number of cameras required. These are advanced cameras with full manual controls and removable lenses.

The number of camera kits available to students is more than adequate to fulfill the curricular needs of the School. That said, because of the limited quantity of SLR cameras available to students during peak times, students might have difficulty gaining access to SLR cameras.

Students might want to consider owning a small point-and-shoot camera, if not their cell phone camera. For those who don’t own a digital camera, the School maintains a stock of Canon point-and-shoot cameras.

For students interested in purchasing their own digital camera here are some guidelines:

Records in standard formats (.jpg, .tiff, RAW) (no proprietary software required)
At least 6 mega pixels
Offers full manual controls
Records to removable flash media

Here is a range of models we recommend. While the School only uses Canon camera models, students can use any brand they are comfortable with.

Point and Shoot: Canon A470
Mid-Level SLR: Canon 40D
High-Level SLR: Canon 5D Mark II* (for Journalists interested in pursuing a career in photojournalism)

* While the Canon 10/20/30/40D produce images that are more than acceptable for most forms of publication, they may not be considered suitable by professional standards for photojournalism reporting.

Audio

Audio recorders are used by students for recording sound for radio broadcast and web stories, and as a general reference for interviews.

All students will be required to capture audio in their RW1 class. The School provides a variety of audio recorders, some of which are reserved for Broadcast radio students.

Since the School cannot guarantee access to audio recorders to all students at any given point in time, students may want to consider acquiring their own recorder. Recorders should meet the following specifications:

Records digitally preferably to removable media (flash card)
Able to transfer audio files to the computer via USB
Has external Mic input for plugging in a professional microphone either XLR, 1/4” or 1/8” adaptable to XLR
Records or converts to standard audio format (.wav) without third-party software (exception for some professional Sony Hi-MD recorders: MZ-M10, MZ-M100, MZ-M200, MZ-RH1)

The Zoom H2 recorder has become the School’s standard for non-broadcast applications. It comes with 512MB SD flash card.

For students in a broadcast concentration, the School is purchasing new primary audio recorders this summer. The two models under consideration are the Marantz PMD620 and the Olympus LS-10.

New flash recorders models are regularly hitting the market. As long as the audio records to a broadcast format (WAV) and can easily be transferred to a computer via USB, there are a large number of audio recorders that will be compatible with the School’s audio editing facilities. Here is a range of models we recommend.

Low-Level: Zoom H2
Mid-Level: Olympus LS-10/Marantz PMD-620
High-Level: Marantz PMD-661

What to avoid: Be wary of recorders that only record in WMA or other proprietary formats that require software conversion before being imported into Pro Tools and other NLE Audio editors.

A good source of information on audio recorders for journalists is at http://www.transom.org/tools.HYPERLINK "http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=Search&A=details&Q=&sku=446847&is=REG&addedTroughType=search"

Video

The School provides video cameras in its equipment room for the students enrolled in courses and projects that require them. This year the School’s standard format is changing to XDCAM EX. This is a professional tapeless HD format. Video editing is done via Apple’s Final Cut Pro, which is capable of supporting multiple formats.

The School has standardized the production video camera by acquiring multiple JVC GY-HM100Us.

For simple low-tech video situations, the School’s equipment room also lends low-tech Flip Ultra video cameras to all students.

We do not recommend students purchase their own video cameras. The resources of the School are adequate for meeting the needs of the students.