Technological advantages and disadvantages for NBC
Today’s society is thriving off of the developments of new technological advances in order to adapt to ever-changing news demands. Some such techologies are automations, drones, animation and digital gaming, 360 video, computer-generated virtual reality, sensors and augmented/mixed reality.
The National Broadcasting Company, also known as NBC, is is a division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal News Group, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, in turn a subsidiary of Comcast (nbc.org).This company is a bigger named corporation, and is widely successful across the country. Some of these new technologies will be immensely advantageous for NBC, but some will be less beneficial.
“This is the whole point of technology. It creates an appetite for immortality on the one hand. It threatens universal extinction on the other. Technology is lust removed from nature.” — Don DeLillo
Automation can be defined as an automatically controlled operation of an apparatus, process, or system by mechanical or electronic devices that take the place of human labor (Merriam-Webster dictionary).
Automation has been advantageous for NBC, and utilizing it more frequently is a goal of the company. Robots are utilized through a program called Wordsmith that relies on if/then decisions. These are called algorithms, which are a series of steps taken to solve a problem or accomplish an outcome. NBC used automated journalism and robots when covering the 2016 election.
“Several prominent media organizations, like the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and NBC, already have automated systems that are expected to be used for election coverage. And that lineup will only increase in the coming years. Moreover, a number of organizations, like BuzzFeed, are using bots in Messenger to deliver short dispatches and updates to users. While generating no revenue on their own, these are able to drive traffic towards websites, increasing ad revenue.” — futurism.com
Drones are an unmanned aerial vehicle, commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system; which include a UAV, a ground-based controller, and a system of communications between the two (dictionary.com).
Drones have been incredibly advantageous for NBC, and will continue to become a successful means of sharing and presenting news. NBC recently used a drone to record the damage from Vanuatu locals after a Category five storm’s 200 mile per hour winds reduced buildings to rubble and the storm surge washed entire villages into the ocean.
“Drone technology allows us to apply a unique perspective to every aspect of news coverage. When a fire recently destroyed a local landmark, the DroneRanger fleet delivered a bird’s eye view of the event and helped our station deliver a visual of local breaking news unlike any other station in the market. From capturing distinctive views of local news and weather events to changes in the seasons, nothing compares to the viewpoint from high above the New England landscape.” — Susan Tully, NBC Connecticut
Drones have strict policies on usage in each state, but utilizing drones in the newsroom, especially for NBC, is extremely effective. NBC is a big company with a huge market and are able to afford the high-cost drones that are needed for successful storytelling. Drones also preserve the safety of journalists and leave them free to perform less harmful tasks. It would have been extremely risky for NBC to send a journalists to Vanuatu after the hurricane; sending a drone was not only a safer option, but it was able to record more footage from various angles and in a timely manner.
Drones allow for news to be more widespread, because most individuals don’t know where Vanuatu is or what happened there. By having drone footage, it allows more viewers to be aware of what’s going on and be able to see what they would generally be unable to.
Animation is the process of making the illusion of motion and the illusion of change by means of the rapid succession of sequential images that minimally differ from each other (dictionary.com).
NBC Universal has an animation program called DreamWorks.
“DreamWorks Feature Animation (DWA) is a division of the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group (UFEG). Its 21-year feature-film heritage includes many beloved characters and animated franchises, including Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, Trolls and The Boss Baby. DWA’s 35 feature film releases have generated more than $14 billion at the global box office, garnered numerous awards, and fueled a robust consumer products business.” — NBC Universal
NBC Universal bought out DreamWorks for $3.8 billion in cash. It has been used mainly for film, television and consumer product business. This corporation has the potential to utilize DreamWorks for more journalistic purposes. Owning DreamWorks allows NBC to bring in more revenue, and NBC has the means to make animation a key storytelling tool, but has yet to do so.
360 video, also known as immersive videos or spherical videos, are video recordings where a view in every direction is recorded at the same time, shot using an omnidirectional camera or a collection of cameras. During playback the viewer has control of the viewing direction like a panorama (dictionary.com).
NBC incorporated 360 video during the solar eclipse, and the footage was acquired from the deck of the USS Yorktown in South Carolina. 360 video is effective because, in this particular situation, it allowed people from around the country who may not have gotten a good view of the eclipse, to see the magnitude of it from the place where it was most prominent (South Carolina). 360 video is better than just a normal camera view because 360 gives the viewer a wider picture of the event that can be seen from various angles.
Other NBC 360 videos can be viewed here.
Virtual Reality is the computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors (dictionary.com).
According to Nieman Lab, NBC has incorporated virtual reality into its live news broadcasts.
“With live VR, the news organisation aims to give audiences the chance to interact with its anchors in a more intimate way” — journalism.com
For example, For each presidential election cycle in the US, NBC News takes over the space outside Rockefeller Center in New York City to create an interactive experience that celebrates democracy. People can visit the Democracy Plaza in the run up to election day to have their picture taken in a replica of the Oval Office or to record a mock report as if they were NBC News anchors, for example. They can also watch the results as they come in on the day the vote takes place, when the ice rink in the plaza is turned into a map of the US and the states are coloured blue or red depending on which candidate is leading (journalism.com)
NBC has also experimented with virtual reality Q&A session with Today Show anchor Al Roker, an analysis of the polls and the state of the race conducted by MSNBC political correspondent Steve Kornacki, and a conversation about cybersecurity and democracy with Kor Adana, writer and technology producer on TV series Mr Robot.
Sensor journalism refers to the use of sensors to generate or collect data, then analyzing, visualizing, or using the data to support journalistic inquiry. This is related to but distinct from data journalism. Whereas data journalism relies on using historical or existing data, sensor journalism involves the creation of data with sensor tools (dictionary.com).
Sensor journalism is not currently implemented at NBC. The National Broadcast Company doesn’t need to invest in sensor journalism because it isn’t the right platform for it, and NBC has invested in other technological advancements such as automation, drones, animation, 360 video and virtual that best cater to NBC’s successful storytelling tools.
Augmented reality is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are “augmented” by computer-generated or extracted real-world sensory input such as sound, video, graphics, haptics or GPS data (dictionary.com).
NBC hasn’t utilized augmented reality yet, but the potential for it is definitely there. A beneficial way could be to implement it would be with the iPhones used for mobile broadcasts, however I think it’s best for NBC to use the technologies it is already implementing because they work so well for the company. NBC published an article discussing the up and coming new technology of augmented reality and its relationship with iOS11.
“It is coming to a platform that you already have in your pocket or purse. With ARkit, augmented reality is changing what people think and increasing that overall interest. It is raising the tide for the industry.” — Nguyen
Augmented reality is still a work in progress, with Apple and Google actively working on perfecting iOSS 11 and Google Glass. NBC broadcasts news in a professional, yet conversational way that is filled with facts and live or recorded footage from events. Using augmented reality such as with Pokemon Go for example, would make the news presented feel fake and unrealistic, in my personal opinion. NBC has a plethora of success with the new technologies currently being implemented and should stick to using those more frequently, rather than add augmented reality which wouldn’t be beneficial to them.
NBC is already implementing and having success with many of the technologies discussed throughout this semester. This corporation has thrived off of utilizing new technological advancements in order to expand the companies means of sharing news and having different ways of storytelling, as well as reaching wider audiences. Since NBC is a big company, cost isn’t setback and they adhere strictly to the legal limitations and ethical concerns in regards to each tecnology. NBC will only continue to thrive and implement these technologies more frequently into its everyday use.
