Newsplex coordinates presidential coverage Click, tap-tap, send, post, read. Technology has made blogging a nearly instantaneous form of journalism. USC students took to the technique to create a unique perspective on the elections of 2004. Of course, there’s more to it than a click and a tap. Election Connection coverage spanned both national political conventions and a two-day, multi university election day blitz. Nearly 1,300 pictures were posted to the moblog, which can be seen at http://wec.textamerica.com. "This is a substantial body of work," said Randy Covington, Newsplex director. "It demonstrates how technology can be used to produce quality journalism in new and innovative ways," he added. Four students from USC teamed with students from Emerson College and Northeastern University to cover the Democratic National Convention in Boston. For the Republican Convention in New York, the journalism graduate schools at Columbia University and the University of California – Berkeley each provided four reporters. Students from USC, the University of Georgia, the University of Florida and American University covered the election itself. All work was edited in Newsplex by faculty from the USC School of Journalism. A mobile weblog combines the immediacy of broadcast journalism—pictures are posted to the moblog just minutes after being taken—with the broader scope of print journalism. Cingular Wireless provided phones, cell service and underwrote the costs for the project. More than a thousand web sites linked to the Election Connection. CNN called the effort "a surprise hit" among the bloggers at the Democratic Convention. On the Web: |
Using camera phones while text messaging their captions,
the students filed reports to the Cingular Wireless Election
Connection, a mobile weblog (moblog). The work
was coordinated through the Ifra Newsplex at USC. 
"The Election
Connection brought international recognition to our School
and is already leading to new opportunities
for Newsplex," Covington said.