Mobile 360 reporting: What's in my backpack

As a somewhat ~mobile~ journalist, I carry a lot of things inside my backpack whenever I get to go out to cover something (even though I'm technically an editor and I'm supposed to be at my desk but whatevs!)

Because I also work and experiment with mobile 360/VR journalism, I carry some extra equipment. So I try to make it so that the accessories and cables can be interchangeable, and that the equipment can help me cover something efficiently for quick publication in our small newsroom.
What follows is a list of the equipment I carry when I go out.



Smartphones
I have two phones, one personal and one for work. I currently have an iPhone 6 and a 7 with ATT and Verizon. I also carry an iPad mini 2nd gen, but that has no data plan so I'm not including it here. Because of the work with 360 cameras, I have found myself repeatedly using the two phones at the same time, including using one as a hotstop for other devices or to live stream while doing other things. Suffice it to say that a smartphone is indispensable and all other devices and accessories are dependent on it.

360 cameras

I have three, not because I need these many cameras but because they are getting better and cheaper quickly and I'm starting to have a collection:

• I started with the Ricoh Theta S, which uses wifi and it's the official company camera. It shoots 1080p video, which is too low in resolution for actual workable video, so nowadays we just use it to quickly upload photos to Google Maps, using the StreetView app. We have a bunch of photos. I once live-streamed from it using a hack with a laptop and a phone for data, but it was pretty cumbersome (it did allow me to put other floating elements - a video and a logo - within the live stream, but resolution was too low).
• Next up is the Insta360 Nano, and this little guy delivers. Video is 2K and its smartphone app allows you to upload quickly to Facebook or Youtube, plus you can live stream to Facebook, Periscope or Youtube. It's better used clipped to a phone. This is the cheapest of the cameras. 
• The Insta360 One is a recent entry in the consumer 360 camera landscape and is now my default camera to shoot video (at 4K) and photos (24MP). As with the nano, you can live stream when attached to a phone, but its app and stabilizers really set it apart.

Attachments

• The first pole I obtained was a basic monopod to replace the bulkiness of a tripod, which didn't fit in my backpad (collapsed, the monopod barely does, at an angle). the monopod extends to 67 inches. 
• I have a selfie stick with a stand that I've used repeatedly — and not for selfies! It can also be attached to the monopod. Add the Insta360 One to the top, and you've got yourself a floating camera.

•  I have a clamp with a phone mount, which you can pretty much attach to anything, including your bike as you live-stream in 360. That's the clamp attached to the bike, holding an iPhone with an Insta360 nano. For this purpose, I add rubber bands to secure the phone, the 360-camera and the clamp, just in case.
• I also have a super clamp, one of the heaviest things in the backpack and not one thing that needs to be brought to cover all events. The mandatory flex arm to go with it is pretty heavy as well, and I fold it in a "U" shape so it fits in the backpack. You can attach the selfie stick to the top of the super clamp and that'll open up more choices for where your 360 camera can be placed. If you use the Insta360 One, it will look like the camera is floating.

Miscellaneous

• I have a Jellyfish tripod mount and that can be used in a number of combinations with a phone and a 360 camera, including a monopod or a clamp. It can help with live-streaming in 360 from very unique angles or just from very high up.
• Duct tape. Solves all the problems. ALL OF THEM.
• I have a micro SD card for the Insta 360 Nano. I use 64GB to keep me from going overboard.
• I have two portable batteries, one old one I can't recommend anymore because it's garbage and I can't even, and a KMASHI battery (which I got as a #wjchat Secret Festivus present!) that can charge two devices at the same time. It's saved me from going dark a number of times. The 360 camera, phone, and data plan will consume more energy than normal and you'll need it for anything longer than an hour.
• Asparagus rubber bands. I get nervous when I attach the phone to the Insta 360 cameras, so I use the rubber bands to secure them to the phones and the phones to whatever is holding them. The issue with the Insta360 cameras is that your phone can't use a protective case (I have Otter Box heavy duty cases; don't mess with your phones, kids), so the rubber bands make sure that nothing flies away when your phone and 360-degree camera are attached to a monopod or clamp. Also, asparagus is delicious.
• Expansion screws. I have two small expansions that I initially was using to be able to plug the Ricoh Theta while using it (which I still use when using the Theta). But nowadays is mostly used in conjunction with the Jellyfish tripod mount or just to give the camera a bit more distance. They're easier to screw and unscrew on clamps and monopods, so they come in handy often.
• Cables and plugs. I have two iPhones and three cameras so I carry at least two lighting cables and three USB cables, with 3 power adapters that work with USB in case I can plug somewhere. 
• Lens cleaner. The Insta360 Nano came with one, but I had one just in case. The 360 camera lenses are exposed, so you'll find yourself cleaning them often.
• I also have a 360/VR viewer (cardboard) to do quick demos. I used to carry a  Homido clip, which was good, until it broke, which was not good.

Not pictured: Sometimes I bring my laptop in the backpack if I know I'm going to be writing something from the field. But mostly I can upload from the phone itself, so I'm not including it.

I should also note that, partially, the reason I carry all these things is because I'm also likely taking photos, regular videos and sending live updates from the field, if I'm to cover something or help others with coverage. There's no need to bring the kitchen sink if you know what you're covering and how. Also, I wouldn't impose on others the tasks I give myself, so make sure you just bring the right equipment for the story.

And yes, I know it looks like a lot of things. But it all fits neatly!

Can you be a fly on the virtual reality wall?

Pretty things are pleasant to look at, but that doesn't mean they work.

For more than a decade now, I've been trying to figure out the many ways of not just how to cover the news, but how to present the news in the best way possible.

I've been doing this from my little corner of the news landscape and I've been using the tools available to me as the baseline, if you will, for what can be done. I also do this because it's fun.

In the old days, this would come in the form of developing a new type of feature for the paper. Slowly (too slowly, if you ask me) but surely, these efforts evolved into it what encompasses the digital world. That is where things really started to bloom. There's always a risk of getting carried away by the latest shiny thing, but the underlining focus is always about what is the best tool to use to cover the news as best as possible with the limited resources that we have (and limited, they are).

Anyway, there's a new virtual reality live stream function that can be shared with people in a two-dimensional format, and I decided to take it for a spin. When Facebook Spaces first came out, I gave my first impressions. Now that it has a livestream function (and beards!), I gave it another go.

RamsHorn-Livingston Sanctuary, in 360 degrees and virtual reality

Yet another cool hike around the area is the Ramshorn-Livingston Sanctuary in Catskill, a pleasant hike with neat sights and sounds and a marsh overlook that's fantastic (and shakes a bit on top, which makes it better in my view).

As with previous tours posted here, The Street View map below constitutes many 360-degree images, all connected so that you can 'walk' around the trails. I did a big loop so I ended up touching on all trails. There are more than 30 images, all taken on June 3.

Take a virtual tour of Falling Waters Preserve in Saugerties

Another one of my favorite hikes around the area is the Falling Waters Preserve in Saugerties, an easy hike with some rewarding views of the Hudson River and the falls, two of them, that give the preserve its name.

As with the previous tour of Shaupeneak Ridge The Street View map below constitutes many 360-degree images, all connected so that you can 'walk' around the pond. This time, there are more than 40 images, all taken on May 29.

Let's take a virtual reality hike around Louisa Pond at Shaupeneak Ridge

One of my favorite hikes around the area is located at Shaupeneak Ridge in the town of Esopus, an amazing park kept by Scenic Hudson. The tour you see below is the park's easy blue trail, a 1.18-mile trek around the pond.


The Street View map below constitutes more than 30 360-degree images from May 14, all connected, so that you can 'walk' around the pond.

Virtual reality and emerging technologies for small news organizations

The following are more (long) excerpts from a Slack chat with members of The Little Rebellion. part of Nancy Heiz's SUNY New Paltz's advance editing journalism class. Here's part I.

In this follow-up post, I'll explore immersive storytelling and emerging technologies, specifically virtual reality and 360-degree content as they relate to journalism and small newsrooms.

Let's get right to it!



Will virtual reality have a transformative role in journalism?

Virtual reality is not going to fundamentally affect journalism in a revolutionary way, for a number of reasons, which include its limitations (too expensive, blocks your view or reality); and penetration (not many people have it and nobody has it at all times).

It is, currently, another tool that helps tell stories in a new way.

However! Some of virtual reality's parts and other technologies are starting to form a new paradigm, which I do believe will change the way we consume information in a fundamental way, which could shake and disrupt journalism's forms and distribution, just as the Internet and social media have done before.

Because with these new technologies, everything's a platform.

With Facebook Spaces, all your 360 content is now in VR, but is that a good thing?

Lot’s of people, or #foreveralone?

First impressions about Facebook Spaces for Oculus Rift:

TL;DR: Facebook Spaces, the recently released virtual reality app for Facebook-owned Oculus Rift, is basically a bit like AltspaceVR, but with Facebook bolted in.

That is to say, you get to go to a ‘space’ where you can hang out with your Facebook friends in virtual reality with an avatar.

How and why to do 360-degree video: DFM chat

weeeeeeee

A post shared by Ivan Lajara (@ivanlajara) on Mar 8, 2017 at 11:44am PST

Digital First Media friends and other journalists, members of the community and fans of journalism are invited to take part in a Twitter chat Wednesday at noon, Eastern Time, to talk about all things journalism.


Today we're talking about what the why, how of 360-degree (and VR) video. Should small newsrooms invest on such tech? What kind of stories would benefit from this? How would you go about it? What are the best tools to use for 360/VR video for a newsroom with limited resources? What about live-streaming?



If you want to be in the post chat archive, post a comment in the container or a tweet with the hashtag "#dfmchat" so it can automatically appear below.

The cloud is broken

How dependent are we on technology? How do we act when we lose access to television or the Internet or our cell phones? It's a question I like to return often, especially when we lose power or services and the only input I get is the turbulence of my thoughts.

I also remember having to go to the library and having to physically comb through index cards and rows and rows of books to find things. You might be nostalgic about the process, but it wasn't an optimal search experience, in that it took a long time to find what you were looking for.

So I'm a fan of technology, but I also try to be in touch with what it means to us, and how it shapes what we do and who we are.

Floating cats in the age of dogs

There's a hidden gem on Hurley Mountain Road, but if you get too close and are not careful, you might hurt yourself. Such is seemingly the current state of online discourse.

There is a difference between staying informed and driving yourself crazy, and information overload can result in unbearable stress and unnecessary and unproductive conversations, if you can even call them that.

So limit your social media consumption if you're finding yourself engaging with things that are not the original purpose of your visit to the networks. I get paid to do all news all the time and it can be exhausting.

What can you do? Glad you asked.

Then and now, a center

I went through the old library earlier today, looking for some old images and testing some new technologies.

 I was able to live-stream video in 360° to Periscope while moving around and was also able to do a static live-stream for more than 30 minutes without the need for a battery. These are developing technologies that can be useful during a potential breaking news situation, and I want us to be ready for when that happens.

#periscope360 from the @dailyfreeman's old library https://t.co/S4ScEBLlvj

— Ivan Lajara (@ivanlajara) January 24, 2017

Nothing exciting, other than the ability to do it (and getting tangled in my own cables).

***

After that successful experiment, I was also able to find a collection of quintessential anti-war protests from way back when, containing local demonstrations about Vietnam, the draft and the Contra affair.

One particular image's location was instantaneously recognizable for me (and I imagine for many others).

So I went ahead and did a slide in case you couldn't place it. 

That news problem

Don't you sometimes wish, in this world of instant news where everything looks the same no matter where it comes from, that you could get a reliable, filtered summary of the day's news at some point during the day?

Thinking of a way to do this, as a sort of evolution for Yesterday's Internet, Today!, I glanced upon two emails I get daily. The first one is the epaper email in the morning, that you should be getting if you're a subscriber. It's basically the paper as it appears in print, which comes in handy if you're away (you might notice that all the pages are in color as well). 

"But those are yesterday's news!" astute Yesterday's Internet, Today! readers might say. And you would be correct! What if you want what's happening up to now, but in email form, and without a subscription maybe? Why, there's an email alert for that! And a breaking news email alert if you don't want to wait. 

There's also text alerts,  and Android and iOS apps. 

And you can keep up on Facebook and Twitter. Or maybe you just want to get away from it all and simply get nice photos from Instagram. And we do that too.

So perhaps the problem is not so much that we don't do this but that we haven't told you about it well?

The final countdown

Relive the countdown!

Livestreaming in 360°

It begins (crudely, but hey)

#periscope360 test! https://t.co/pDYJ0z42K9

— Ivan Lajara (@ivanlajara) December 31, 2016

The Greenkill Avenue bridge, before and after

Here's a couple of 360° images of the Greenkill Ave. Bridge over Broadway in Kingston.

The first one, at night, is when they were working on the beams, from Monday night. The drivable part of the bridge was already gone.




This next one is from almost the same spot (the sidewalk was closed so I couldn't get to the precise location, but close enough). It is from this morning.




Big difference!

Worry, and be happy again

There’s an outpouring of ~feels~ permeating the American landscape, so I’ll spare you the lamentation and vindication takes. There are plenty of those on your Facebook feed, including those that say that your Facebook feed is part of the problem. But the important thing, as things are with all cycles, is not how we feel or even what does it mean, but what are you going to do with the information that you have?

360°-mapping the Mid-Hudson Valley

We have been recently (and no-so-covertly) adding 360-degree images to Google Maps, not just from streets, as the tool is usually used for, but events and inside buildings and off-road locales.
Case uses will come as we get them.

In the meantime, here's a football game.

Take a 360-degree ride inside the Trolley in Kingston

The Kingston Trolley Museum offers rides in Downtown Kingston from the bottom of Broadway to Rotary Park (by Kingston Point) from noon to 5 on weekends through Oct. 10. It makes a stop at the museum (though passengers seem puzzled at the stop on a recent visit, because the museum doesn't look like a museum) and a 10 minute stop at the park. Rides are $6 for adults and $4 for children (ages up to 5 ride for free). Fun for kids and a nice break if you're about town. There was a bit of a smell during a small part of the ride on this particular visit, but 360 videos don't have smell-o-vision. 

YET

Side note for journo-types looking for freebie audio files: Song is "Respira" by Jacopo Tore, used under Creative Commons license 4.0, shortened for length. You can get that for use (even commercially) and others where it came from at the Free Music Archive site.

How to incorporate 360-degree imagery into your stories, and why

How many times have you read a story where something happens at an address and you're like, "I have no idea where that is, but, OK, sure, guy, if you say so"?

Same.

When a less-than-familiar address is available, reporters generally use a mapping tool to get a general sense of where the story happened and/or to go there.

If the reporter is mapping the place to better understand the story, why aren't those maps added to the stories?

Reporters craft stories, and whatever tools the reporter used to help craft her story could be part of them.

It's easy!

Furthermore, I would argue that reporters already did the work, only that the work is not being added to the story.

Maps are one of the easiest multimedia features that can be added to stories, Maps can make a story go from "ok whatevs" to "OMG THAT PLACE!"

Put an address in your, uh, address bar, or simply google an address like, say, "79 Hurley Ave., Kingston" and Google will return a map. Click on the map image so the full map comes in and hit share on the left. That link (or embed) can be added to stories. If you click on the little yellow guy at bottom right, you can get the Streetview image, which in Google can be older, so you'd have to be careful if you want to embed those.

Enter "Streetview" app. With a smartphone, you can take a 360-degree image (it's easier with a tethered 360-degree camera but you can also do it from a phone) and upload it to Google Maps. The rest is the same as embedding a map.

Like this:





Any police story with an address, accidents where traffic is affected, etc, can be improved with this. Further, like in the image above, If you take your own Streetview images, you can go inside places or take current images, like restaurant or travel stories, for instance, or anything that could benefit from a 'virtual tour.' We've been playing with some of these for a while, and I'm planning to start implementing these to the general workflow, whenever they help and whenever it makes sense to use them.

TL;DR: If you googled an address when working on a story, your readers would also like to know. Add that map to your story by hitting share on the map and adding the link or embedding the map, in 360-degrees when appropriate.

But you tell me, what kinds of stories can immediately benefit from a 360-degree image?

Extra: There's a way to add 360-degree images natively, but I'm focusing on Streetview here because it's extremely easy that way. The other way looks like this:

How come nobody's done a virtual reality version of a-ha's "Take On Me" video?

Just curious. It's doable.