Joel Sucherman Multimedia Editor, USATODAY.com I started in radio at my college station at the University of Illinois. I covered Fighting Illini football and basketball for radio stations and networks throughout the Midwest. Here I was a college student myself, and my family was able to hear my reports on powerhouse stations like WGN and WBBM in Chicago. I've always been attracted to the power of the spoken word, natural sound and, of course, video. Online journalism combines the best of the printed word, audio and video. I spent five years with Gannett New Media. When USATODAY.com decided to get into Multimedia, they asked me to start up a department.

Q: How has the advent of the Internet affected news journalism as a whole?

A: It has changed journalism and our world in so many different ways - some good, some not so good. First of all, it has made the world a bit smaller. I grew up in Chicago. Now I can read the Chicago Tribune every day if I choose, despite living in the Washington, D.C. area. That may seem like a small thing for anyone who has grown up with the Internet, but think about this, when I first moved to D.C. in 1989, I was having the Tribune mailed to me. It reached me at least one, sometimes two days late.

The 24/7 nature of the Internet has changed the notion of deadlines. USA TODAY may have its evening deadline, but not here at USATODAY.com. Every minute of every day is its own deadline. A story that appeared on the front page of today's newspaper is old news for dot-com, maybe as old as 20 hours. That's a lifetime online.

The Internet is about nothing, if not communication. I used to write an NFL column for USATODAY.com. At the bottom of my column, I had a link to my email. Some of the greatest satisfaction I got was hearing from readers who were touched by the piece I wrote, or those that hated my guts because of what I had to say. I even heard from long-lost fraternity brothers!

Our bulletin boards and chats have also changed journalism in a way because now, instead of having stories and text, readers become amateur journalists and enter into what can sometimes be a very stimulating discussion in a virtual USATODAY.com community.

Multimedia makes stories jump off the page as never before. It used to be you had to take a journalist's word that a newsmaker said this or that. Now, in addition to reading a story, you can see video clips of the interview with that person. You can hear an audio clip from a CD being reviewed. You can see an entire multimedia presentation using text, graphics, animation and video like nowhere else.

I mentioned earlier that message boards make everyone a journalist. Certainly homepages do the same thing. You can start your own sports page or video game review page. It does help to have a few million dollars in venture capital money behind you, but you can certainly find a niche and build a community around it.

Because online journalism is so new, there are some pitfalls. Due to the immediate deadlines, many news organizations rush to get stories out more quickly, without doing as much fact checking as they may have in the past. It pays to be first, but the cost is very high if you're not accurate.

One of the things I love most about the Internet as a journalist is the ability to do so much research so quickly. It's incredible for finding sources and background.

Q: What does the significance of being on location at the Olympics mean to you as a journalist?

A: It means being in the midst of one of the two biggest stories of the year - the other is of course the National Political Conventions, which we will also be covering on location. I look forward to being in the midst of this ideal of the world coming together every four years in one spot. I'll meet journalists from all over the world and get to share some ideas and learn some things.

Q: How do you anticipate the schedule for your typical day to appear while you’re at the Olympics in Sydney?

A: As of now (late July - early August), we're still planning exactly what my day will consist of. I expect to do a fair amount of traveling, long days and nights. I imagine I'll build some muscles carrying around all of my gear.

Q: What is the most rewarding thing about your job?

A: Working on the Internet is a bit like settling the Wild West. Anything goes. In multimedia, each day is different. We could be working on a story on Redskins training camp, the anniversary of the Korean War or the Microsoft trial. I love the fact that the technology we're dealing with - streaming media - is so new, and the fact that you never know what a given day will bring.

Q: What major preparations must be made in order to employ multimedia coverage for something as substantial as the Olympics?

A: The fact that this summer the games are in Sydney, Australia adds a dimension that makes it a real logistical challenge. Think about this: we have to set up a working newsroom a half-a-world away as if it was inside our corporate headquarters in Arlington, Va. Believe it or not, it's cheaper to buy PC monitors in Sydney and give them away after the games, then to ship our monitors back and forth. Beyond the basics, we need access to a T1 line in Sydney at the Main Press Center in the temporary USA TODAY newsroom there and I'll bring the rest of the gear to make it happen. ...

Q: How will multimedia like streaming video and audio be incorporated into the online coverage of the Olympics? What sort of equipment will be needed on location in Sydney to make this possible?

A: Well, let's start out with the fact that NBC is limiting access to other media outlets that plan to shoot video. It will be the most restrictive Olympics ever from that standpoint.

So... it's still a bit unclear as to how much access I will have with the video camera. I expect to be able to shoot post-event news conferences, one-on-one interviews, etc.

As far as the equipment: I'll be taking a Canon XL1 mini DV video camera, using FireWire to transfer to our custom 500 MHz PowerPC G3 laptop with an 18GB hard drive. I'll have Apple's Final Cut Pro non-linear editing software and Real Network's Real Producer Plus to compress the files, then use proprietary software to publish the files and FTP them to our host. On my Dell laptop, I will have Adobe Premiere non-linear editing software and Real Producer. I will have Syntrillium's Cool Edit Pro software for audio editing.

Throw in a Bogen tripod and my luggage, and how I'll get around is anybody's guess.

Q: Is multimedia going to be used in anyway to cover the cultural and traditional aspects of the Olympics and not just the sports? If so, how? If not, why?

A: Yes, but we want to make sure not to turn our coverage into a travelogue video. NBC already does far too much of this. Because of the time difference between the East Coast and Sydney (15 hours), no one will be sure what time it is 'Down Under,' or what is actually being shown live on TV (almost nothing). News organizations on the Internet, like USATODAY.com have a real opportunity to satisfy reader's interests to know who won what as it happens. Come to USATODAY.com to get the results now, watch the highlights tonight.

Q: What technological advancements do you predict will be instrumental in affecting the future of sports journalism?

A: Bandwidth is one of the keys. Right now, Interactive Television doesn't offer a whole lot. But in a few years, we'll all have settop boxes, be able to see any stats we want, see a game from any angle on the field, be able to pull up past highlights, feature stories, buy the latest team jersey with our remote controls. But at its most basic level - good writing and good storytelling, in whatever form, will always be in demand. The only thing that will really change is the paperboy. Do you want your news on paper, your phone, your pager, your Palm, your re-writable digital ink eNewspaper, your TV, or oh-by-the-way your computer? I would ask your readers, what do YOU think it will be. YOU are the future.