Technology Guide

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 regarding this guide or any other equipment questions at: jschoolgear@columbia.edu

 

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.  Wireless access is available throughout the Journalism School and Columbia Campus.

Laptop computers should meet the following minimal specifications:

• Operating System:  Apple OS 10.6 or Windows XP SP3
• Microsoft Office 2003
• Wi-Fi Connectivity
• USB 2.0 and/or FireWire 400 Connectivity
• 2GB RAM for Print and 4GB 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. 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 Air with the 128GB flash storage option or a base model MacBook Pro 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 Pro edit suites -the purchasing of video editing software is not required.  

 

Hard Drive 

Students create many text and media files during their 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:

• FireWire 800 and USB 2.0
• 250-500GB (1TB 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.

 

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.  

 

Equipment

The School’s equipment room maintains and supplies equipment to students.  Checkout lengths vary by equipment and availability but are usually for no more than 48 hours at a time. 

 

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 30D cameras are provided by the School's equipment room and are checked out to all 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.   The school also provides Canon Rebel T2i SLRs, which are available to students enrolled in advanced photojournalism courses or the five-week photo skills class.  Both the Canon T2i and Canon 30D 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 30D produces images that are more than acceptable for most forms of publication, they may not be considered suitable by professional standards for photojournalism reporting.

 

Audio

Students who expect to do a great deal of audio work may want to consider acquiring their own recorder.

For students interested in purchasing their own recorder, we suggest that it:

     -Record digitally preferably to removable media (flash card)

     -Be able to transfer audio files to the computer via USB

     -Have external Mic input for plugging in a professional microphone either XLR, 1/4" or 1/8" adaptable to XLR

     -Record or convert to standard audio format (.wav) without third-party software

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 transom.org

 

Video 

For video production, the School provides JVC GY-HM100U video cameras (Broadcast) and Canon T2i SLRs (Digital Media) to students enrolled in courses and projects that require them.  

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

 

Online Technology Training

In addition to the training that you will receive as part of your course of study at the Journalism School, there are two online tutorial portals available to you:

1) Lynda.com: an on-line technology training site that contains over 500 videos which provide training on a wide variety of technology topics. Tutorials include Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office, Final Cut Pro, operating systems and web programming. The training videos are available to all members of the J-School.

To access the site, go to http://www.lynda.com/portal/columbia and log in with your Columbia UNI and password.

2) Our Digital Media Fellows maintain an excellent repository of tutorials for all your digital media needs, available here: http://digitaltutorials.jrn.columbia.edu/

 

Purchases

If you are looking to make purchases, Columbia University has discounts for students from vendors like Apple and B&H.  Please visit our website for more information.