User-generated content (UGC) is not new to television, but it has never been so widely used. Many things have changed in the 46 years since Abraham Zapruder accidently filmed the most important piece of UGC ever, but the powerful impact even the most shaky and blurry image can have remains the same. Because of the ubiquitous mobile phone, virtually everyone has a camera with them 24 hours a day. High-quality digital cameras, even HD camcorders, are cheap and easy to use, and even easier to share on the Web. Social networking Web sites have changed people's perception of media and created a desire to contribute and not just consume. There is virtually no breaking news story that can't be captured as it happens. When US Airways Flight 1549 crash- landed in the Hudson River, it's no surprise that the first pictures were posted to Twitter before the news crews got there.
Persuading viewers
How can broadcasters participate in this revolution? One must actively encourage viewers to contribute and to develop a workflow for managing that content efficiently all the way through to the control room. Getting those images to air is the easy part thanks to the convergence of consumer electronics, computer and broadcast technology.
A major factor in encouraging viewers to contribute is an active Web site. Only a small fraction of UGC will ever make it to air, so a Web site becomes the forum for displaying the bulk of the viewer-contributed content. The Web site also develops into a platform for providing feedback to contributors, teaching basic reporting skills and securing terms-of-use agreements.
Some broadcasters are taking even more proactive steps to encourage viewers to contribute. Some broadcasters have given away “Flip” digital camcorders to local bloggers and feel it's well worth the little money spent. It may even be worth the expense to provide station staff members with camcorders so they can shoot videos and use their BlackBerrys to e-mail the videos back to the station if regular news crews are not on-site.
Managing images
Ideally, UGC should be treated like any other news graphic once in the newsroom. A MOS newsroom graphics system makes it easy for a producer to find the content, format it in a template and then drop it into the news rundown using familiar tools. User-generated content is based on a variety of consumer and telephony standards. The good news is that there are many powerful and easy-to-use software tools that can be creatively used to develop a smooth production workflow.
Maintaining useful metadata is central to the entire process and starts when the image is first contributed. The front-end Web site should harvest contact information and comments supplied by the contributor and other viewers. Consumer JPEG image files contain EXIF metadata (Exchangeable Image File format is the camera manufacturer's de facto standard for embedding metadata in image files), which time and date stamp the image. 3G iPhones and GPS-enabled BlackBerrys can tag pictures with GPS coordinates as well. This metadata should be extracted and logged for immediate use in the production system using a variety of consumer, commercial and custom software. For long-term storage and reuse, metadata can be embedded in most UGC file formats using the eXtensible Metadata Platform (XMP) standard. Embedding metadata in the essence file means it will never get lost as the image is passed from one system to another and eventually archived. XMP, as the name suggests, is extensible so that it's possible to create new metadata containers to fit your need.
Finally, of course, the images and video need to get to air. Most user-generated image files will be in JPEG format. Resolutions vary from 640 × 480 pixels for a cell phone image to more than 4000 × 3000 pixels for digital cameras. Depending on the playout device, the image may need to be scaled offline and enhanced and/or cropped for better presentation. Older still store and graphics devices may require fixed resolution files, but modern production equipment will usually reformat content with built-in image scaling and compositing.
Managing video
Managing user-contributed video can be a little more difficult. Non-standard frame rates and file formats have to be converted. Captured quality can vary from near broadcast quality from 1920 × 1080 consumer AVCHD cameras, to cell phone video captured at 176 × 144 pixels 25fps that conform to 3GPP and 3GPP2 standards. These video standards are named after the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, which specifies standards for phone systems based on GSM technology, and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2, which specifies standards for phone systems based on CDMA technology. Luckily, there are many video format conversion utilities available from professional quality to relatively low-cost shareware products. Fast-Forward MPEG (FFmpeg) is popular and free under a GNU license.
There are two basic methods for getting computer-based images to air. The first is to use a scan converter, to play an image from a computer desktop directly to air (or tape). The advantage of this is that it will work with any Web- or file-based media. Another method is using a graphics compositing device to embed an image or movie file of any size and almost any format into a graphics template for play to air. The latter method will be better integrated into the standard news production workflow, which is a benefit if you are using UGC frequently.
And don't forget the audio. Scan conversion systems don't generally process audio, so consider using an AES-UBU digital output card to improve audio quality. A broadcast graphics playout device should natively provide for embedded or discreet digital audio outputs. (See Figure 1.)
The Holy Grail of user-generated content is live streaming from an on-location cell phone to air. Cell phone companies have been planning two-way video calling for years, but because of high bandwidth requirements and low demand, it is having limited success in Europe and has yet to be deployed in the United States. Several third-party vendors — such as Qik, Ustream, Fring and Flixwagon — have live video streaming applications for popular 3G smart phones that look promising. These typically require 250Kb/s upload speed for acceptable video, and though this is on the edge for the best 3G connections, it is highly dependent on coverage area and network traffic. An alphabet soup of new 3.5G and 4G cellular technologies promise to increase that bandwidth a factor of 10 or more in the near future, so we are not far off. Meanwhile, citizen journalists can also connect to the hardwired Internet, WiMax and even municipal Wi-Fi to use more ubiquitous teleconferencing applications such as Skype for sending reports. While this lacks the potential immediacy of the cell-phone connection, it has significantly better quality and reliability.
As the role of UGC in media continues to grow, it is up to broadcasters to keep an open mind and embrace the opportunity and the variety of the new consumer and commercial technologies it is built on.
Jim Martinolich is vice president of integration technologies for Chyron.
FRAME GRAB
A look at the issues driving today's technology
User-generated content is increasing
By 2013, there will be 114.5 million user-generated content creators.
U.S. user-generated content creators, by content type (millions) 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 User-generated video 15.4 18.1 20.6 22.7 24.9 27.2 Social networking 71.3 79.7 87.7 94.7 100.1 105.3 Blogs 21.2 23.9 26.7 28.5 30.2 32.1 Virtual worlds 11.6 13.9 15.4 16.9 18.4 19.9 User-generated content creators82.588.895.3101.7108.0114.5
Source: eMarketer
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