Putting mobile reporting to the test (again…)

Frontline Club bloggers seem to be meeting up and working together a lot of late. Guy Degen recently worked with Matthew Collin on a story about the breakaway territory of Abkhazia for Al Jazeera English and the latter is currently in Armenia filming two news reports for the same on the case of Mariam Sukhudyan, a youth activist now facing legal action after exposing allegations of abuse at a specialized children’s institution, and hopes for a breakthrough in negotiations to normalize relations with neighbouring Turkey.

That provided me with the opportunity for another fixing gig as well as a return visit to two subjects I’ve recently blogged about on this site. It also provided me with a chance to again check out whether the Nokia N82 can be used as a tool for photojournalism even if only as a last resort, the idea being that I always carry a phone with me if not my camera equipment. One advantage to mobile reporting, of course, is also being able to send out images, videos and text direct to the Internet.

For activists and reporters, especially in the regions of countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, the potential is certainly there. In Africa such a modus operandi is already in place for many reporters, but it has yet to take root in the South Caucasus. The possibilities are almost revolutionary and the situation will likely change at some point, but until then l’m looking forward to Matthew’s reports being aired. Oh, and thanks to Guy Degen for introducing the technology to readers of this blog.

Photos: Gyumri with Nokia N82, Shirak region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2009 (Top) Specialized Boarding School #11 with Nokia N82, Nubarashen, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2009 (Bottom)