The basics: applications for drones in journalism
M. Ryan
Because I was interested in drone applications in journalism, a
colleague of mine pointed out this Google group. I thought it would be
good to get the ball rolling.
For starters, I think it would be good to ask what use drones could
have in journalism. A good case study is the damage survey done after
the Joplin, MO tornado (http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/05/02/news-
severe-weather-5a-10/).
There's a lot of potential for drones to survey damage. And perhaps
one of the most useful purposes of a drone could be in a watchdog role
in "hot zones," where journalists can't tread for fear of life and
limb, but still the need to document violations of human rights is
terribly important. But I think a drone also needs to be more than
simply a platform for a camera. So applications beyond simple footage
would be very important.
Some more advanced ideas I've been thinking about includes air and/or
water sampling (following man-made and natural disasters, such as
nuclear power plant explosions, volcanic eruptions, forest fires, dust
storms, and large-scale industrial emissions and industrial chemical
spills). Journalists could relay the data to scientists and other
experts for them to examine and comment on. Additionally, drones can
scan an area and provide topographical information, which has
ramifications for urban/suburban/rural development, city planning,
natural resource management, environmental stewardship, and industrial
impact on the environment.
Does anyone have other applications in mind?
Best,
Matthew Schroyer
Social Network Analyst for the National Science Foundation
Data Journalist, MentalMunition.com, IJEC.org, CU-CitizenAccess.org
M.S.J., University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2011.
CT Bon
the possibilities of drone journalism. Thanks for starting this group.
Bob Blanchett
Thanks for shining a light on this novel usage.
Journalists will likely apply current technology to new purposes:
Fixed wing and VTOL drones/UAVs of varying sophistication are used in civil and scientific roles already,
Agricultural( fence patrolling, herd supervision, pasture survey)
Geosciences.. (you name it, theyre doing it already)
Scientifically in addition to taking/retrieving samples I see uavs working in roles of isolated or networked
wireless sensor emplacement, polling,
(think ASW sonobuoy model) using zigbee ieee 802.15.4 low power PAN radios as beacons/transmitters.
sensors can incorporate varying instrument packages using microfluidic/lab on chip technology.
dko...@gmail.com
I work with our county emergency management agency on search and
rescue and disaster response efforts. We're actively researching the
application of UAV's to damage surveys. We've not even started on
policy, but a policy option to consider would be sharing EMA drone
imagery with the press. I suggest this as the FAA will likely
drastically limit UAV activity over a disaster site as UAV flights
cannot currently coexist with manned aircraft, and likely will not be
able to do so for many years.
There are many more opportunities to apply UAVs outside of the US.
-David