Most organizations don’t have the resources or knowledge to test all the different tools out there, so we were hoping to expedite the mobile evolution and shed some guidance and best practices on what works and what doesn’t. Obviously, we couldn’t review everything on every platform. Our focus was Android and Apple tools because they’re growing quickly and the most innovative and open platforms, but many of the hardware devices and some of the website apps are available on Blackberry, Windows Mobile and other platforms.

The majority of this guide is written for the perspective of news reporters — especially those covering extremely timely events, such as breaking news or sports — but most people in the newsroom could gain something from it. From photographers looking for quicker ways to transmit, tag and caption content to desk editors looking to collect reporting resources from multiple mobile reporters in the field. Organizations from the biggest traditional mainstream publishers to the new journalism start ups with limited resources can benefit from this guide. Hopefully, putting more reporting tools in more professional journalists hands will help create better journalism with more perspectives, especially among underserved communities and issues.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Mobile reporting — especially working with community members who have some of these — is going to grow for years to come as devices become more sophisticated, quality rises and network speeds. Citizen journalists, activists and anyone near a news event also stand to benefit substantially from this guide. Journalism organizations need to understand how to use the tools, as well as partner with others using them.” Source: Will Sullivan, Reynolds Journalism Institute