Becoming the Utility Player

Dr. Cindy Royal defined many web-related terms for the packed discussion. Royal, along with fellow panelists ,Ben Olivo and David Ryan, also asked the audience to redefine visual media and their journalistic role.

Dr. Royal referred to the role of utility player as a person who can adapt by relying on a broad skillset. Coming from an educator's perspective, Royal emphasized the need to instill skills in students that allow for more adaptability involving visual story-telling.

"I tell all my students to have a broad base of skills. Once you have that broad base, you need to decide what tool best tells the story," Royal said.

Royal also suggseted media packages to create interactive opportunites for the audience. Royal played former Texas State student media packages, "Mutt Strutt", "Children of Men", and "Sakura Festival".

Ben Olivo of www.mysantonio.com followed Royal's presentation and elaborated on using the web-base tools to create a collaborated vision.

Olivo presented "Life of the Party", which mimics the quality of YouTube and "Spelling Bee", to demonstrate non-traditional visual combinations.

David Ryan, www.ljworld.com, was the last to address the topic of what tools aid the utilitary player. Ryan explained the concept of consistently adding to your workflow instead of working on a new idea each time.

"It's not about going out, gathering, and then writing a story. It's abut getting into your workflow and using your existing practices," Ryan said.