User Directed News (UDN)
As journalism moves into the Twenty-First Century, new forms of information technology and integrated media systems (IT&IMS) stand to revolutionize methods for acquiring, packaging, organizing and delivering information content. With these advancements in IT&IMS will come both opportunities and challenges for creating experiences (and systems to author them) that humans will find to be usable, useful and preferred options for interacting with "newsworthy" information content. While some of the basic issues that have existed for evolving journalistic contexts over the centuries (from word of mouth to print, radio and television) remain relevant, new issues will emerge for how humans will effectively interact with the deluge of digital content that will continue to expand in both quantity and scope as we move further into the information age.
User-Directed News applies different IMSC technologies, especially immersive media such as panoramic video and Remote Media Immersion, to journalism. UDN will also explore how new content systems, such as Immersive, Interactive, and Individualized Information (I4), can be adapted to the industry. These technologies allow people to become more immersed in journalism stories. Introducing IMSC technologies into the journalism industry changes both the consumer news experience and the underlying newsgathering and authoring process. The User-Directed News project or UDN envisions customized, interactive, immersive news 'experiences' in which people are more than passive readers or viewers. Rather than just reading or watching news, people will experience news events and stories.