Cutting-edge visual tech at Global Investigative Journalism Conference
- Wits University
Cutting-edge visual tech on display in virtual reality showcase hosted by Emblematic Group and presented by award-winning film producer Cassandra Herrman.
The room-scale walk-around VR experience will place users inside a scene, allowing them to move through, interact, and play with the story. Using state-of-the-art technology such as photogrammetry and volumetric 3D video, the experience pushes the boundaries of immersive storytelling while exploring what virtual reality can bring to journalism.
Emblematic, a California-based studio pioneering immersive video for investigative journalism, will set up a virtual reality experience at GIJC17 at Wits University, Johannesburg, on November 16-19. The group will demonstrate its work done in collaboration with Frontline, the U.S. Public Broadcasting Corporation’s flagship documentary series.
The conference will also feature state-of-the-art panels on corruption, cross-border reporting, and online search strategies, over two dozen sessions on the best data journalism, workshops on mobile journalism, security and funding, and more.
There will be lots of time for networking, brainstorming, and collaborative thinking. ICIJ’s Panama Papers team will be there, as will cross-border sleuths from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. There will be tracks on data, corruption, finance, new models, security, and more. We’ve also got an academic track for professors, plus special sessions on human trafficking and LGBTQ issues.
GIJC17 participants will also be treated to a screening of “We Who Remain,” a 360-film experience created by Nuba Reports and Emblematic, produced with the New York Times, AJ+ and Arte. The film ushers the viewer into the heart of a forgotten conflict in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan after war broke out between the Sudan government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) in 2011.
The 14-minute film tracks and highlights the stories of four individuals – a student, a rebel soldier, a journalist, and a mother – who struggle to improve their lives in the midst of a relentless war.
The immersive video showcase will be one of 150 sessions at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference. Interested in more cutting-edge techniques? Stay tuned: we’ll be posting the conference schedule, with sessions on drones, sensors, satellite imagery, big data analysis, online sleuthing, and lots more.