Great Lakes Climate Change Video Site

From Great Lakes Wiki

A group of Michigan State University students are explaining Great Lakes climate change with a new way of doing journalism.

The project draws upon regional climate change experts who attended a recent MSU conference on the subject. Instead of a print or broadcast news story, the students created online video clips that boil the session down for the public.

The simple interface allows news consumers to decide which questions about climate change they want answered. A series of videotaped experts answer them.

It's a method of communicating that journalists are just beginning to experiment with, said David Poulson, associate director of MSU's Knight Center for Environmental Journalism. It is particularly interesting because it takes on a subject that journalists are struggling to explain to the public.

An intriguing aspect of the project is that unlike a newspaper story or even a broadcast piece, it can remain before the public for months, Poulson said. And it can be augmented with more interviews and material, making it a living news production.

The effort is a project of a video production class taught by Amol Pavandgadkar who has joint appointments with the Knight Center and with MSU's College of Communication Arts and Sciences.