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Recorses livestream of the Future of Digital Media panel at the beginning of the dedication of the S.I. Newhouse School's Dick Clark Studios and Alan Gerry Media Innovation Center. Moderated by Professor Dan Pacheco, Horvitz Chair of Journalism Innovation. Panelists included Kristina Hahn of Google, Larry Hryb of Xbox Live, Mitch Gelman of Gannett Digital and Ed Wise of Turner and Funny or Die.

Nonny de la Peña had this to say about Professor Pacheco after her acceptance of an I-3 Mirror Award. "Once the [Oculus] Facebook sale happened, $2 billion dollars, you're not so nuts. But before that happened, a lot of people thought trying to do journalism in virtual reality was crazy. But there's somebody in this room who didn't. And this is really important about why innovation is crucial in journalism schools. Not only did that Hunger project start at the USC school of journalism, but a really important person here put on the goggles -- we both had been Knight Grant winners earlier -- Dan Pacheco. And he said, 'Holy shit, there's something real here.' And he invited me up to S.I. Newhouse. At that point I'm carrying 22 motion tracking cameras, huge tripods, crazy equipment, I show up with the flu and 103 degree fever. Something had broken in transport and Dan and I worked until midnight until finally one person in the lab instructed me, and I managed to fix it with a paper clip. And then the next day, Syracuse students were introduced to virtual reality. But something else happened. Dan went on to work at Gannett. He then got them interested in virtual reality. And then Gannett and USA Today began their thrust. Because of Dan's interests, S.I. Newhouse became the very first school to offer an immersive journalism class. And because of Dan's support of this medium, a lot more … many many many new minds were opened to using VR for journalism. So really in many ways, the fact that I'm here is down to having somebody like Dan Pacheco be one of the very first people in my entire trajectory to say to me, hang on, there's something real here. So, you know, I really have to thank him, and I have to thank S.I. Newhouse because I don't know if I would have had the type of trajectory I have without what happened at your school. So thank you so, so much."

'For a couple of days in journalism circles, "Harvest of Change" was the hot trending topic. Never before had you been able to virtually step inside a story and be enveloped by 360-degree video and hyper-realistic 3D renderings of a landscape you could move inside of. And while the full effect was achieved through the Oculus headset, there were also 2D versions made for desktop computers, which let more people experience the story. You can find it at desmoinesregister.com/pages/interactives/harvest-of-change. The seeds of this "harvest" were planted when Dan Pacheco, chair of journalism innovation at the S.I. Newhouse School at Syracuse University, met with Mitch Gelman, vice president of product at Gannett Digital. '

Professor Dan Pacheco's list of journalistic uses of drones includes "documenting the aftermath of tornadoes and other natural disasters (something Little Rock, Arkansas, station KATV did in April); providing an overhead view of such widespread environmental issues as pine-beetle infestation in his former state of Colorado; and gathering aerial footage of outdoor gatherings and travel destinations."

""The more difficult and complicated the subject, the more we seem to want to close the news app and open up Candy Crush," said Daniel Pacheco, a journalism professor at Syracuse University who specializes in VR storytelling. "VR can counteract this tendency because of its ability make you feel physically present somewhere and to comprehend information by exploring it in an almost physical way. It's hard to tune out or forget something you experienced as if you were there." Great storytelling is evocative and with VR can transport the viewer into another, time, place, and mindset complete with a range of emotions. Take Waves of Grace, a documentary on Liberia's Ebola crisis and how one woman used her immunity to help children orphaned by the disease's spread in 2014. The documentary's co-creator Chris Milk used 360-video to capture the protagonist's, Decontee Davis, surroundings - sights and sounds that put the viewer in the midst of an epidemic. "You relate differently to every other story you read about pandemic disease. Why? Because after that you feel like you were there, as if you stood inside an Ebola clinic while a dying victim was being treated and comforted. It can almost feel like one of your own memories," Pacheco said. "This ability to transport people's consciousness somewhere else is so powerful that I have no doubt it will change the way people relate to issues in the news.""

"Immersive journalism is picking up now in part because the necessary technology has gotten better, cheaper, and more portable. The smartphone's ability to stream high-definition video as well as its increasing popularity-58% of Americans had one as of January 2014, according to Pew Research-have further accelerated adoption. Add to that the more widespread use of interactive data visualizations and advances in wearable computing and the stage may be set for a more robust adoption of virtual reality. "It's not just the media coming to you," says Dan Pacheco, professor of journalism innovation at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. "You move into the media.""

Pacheco has visions of how the Oculus could be used in the future. Maps could be interactive and 3D, said Pacheco. Pacheco also said natural disaster stories would be perfect for the Oculus Rift, especially when it comes to flooding. He envisions a project where "you can dial in a city, go to one of the coastal areas of that city, and see what the water level is like now and see what it's like in 10, 20, 30 years." "That would be pretty powerful, because instead of reading about the possible effects of climate change, you're going to be in it," he said.

Dan Pacheco, professor of practice and chair of journalism innovation at Syracuse University's Newhouse School, has experienced the issue firsthand. As an online producer for the Post's website in the late 1990s and later for America Online, some of the work he helped build has disappeared. "This is really about the problem of what I call the boneyard of the internet. Everything that's not a piece of text or a flat picture is basically destined to rot and die when new methods of delivering the content replace it," Pacheco told CNN Business. "I just feel like the internet is rotting at an even faster pace, ironically, because of innovation. It shouldn't."

'Syracuse University Professor Dan Pacheco, who worked as a consultant on the Gannett farm presentation, eventually sees a variety of other uses. He says virtual reality can transform travel reporting, allow journalists to recreate historic events, help science reporters illustrate potential sea level rise, and enable sports fans to "virtually attend" the World Cup or other marquee events. "This is an area of growth for anybody who's into storytelling," Pacheco said in a phone interview. "This is an opportunity to move from storytelling to story experiences." Pacheco also sees revenue opportunities in the technology through product placements and other kinds of new virtual ads. That's not a small consideration for a company like Gannett, which has seen a steady drop in print advertising revenue, recently completed another round of newsroom layoffs, and plans to split its digital and broadcasting divisions from its financially troubled newspaper business next year.'

"Last year, I had the opportunity to take a course called "The Next News Startup," a class that was taught by Dan Pacheco, the Chair of Journalism Innovation at Newhouse. The class taught students how to think about the future of the news industry as well as work on our own media startups. Our goal was to reach readers/viewers over mobile phones, tablets, the web and various digital platforms; one student used 3D Printing to create fishing lures and another created a website to promote diversity in the workplace. Pacheco was ultimately running a 'mini accelerator.' While the course was challenging at times, it was one of my favorite college courses. I never felt as if I were in a real class, but instead I was a growing a business while pitching, getting feedback from other students, Skyping with experts, and learning the "ins and outs" of how to create a business concept."

"Pacheco sees this as one part of a growing field of what he calls Experiential Media. Over the next decade, media will increasingly move into our environment, and we will move into media, Pacheco says. Your body itself, rather than a mouse, computer or phone, will increasingly become the primary mode of navigation through content. Pacheco brought an Oculus Rift to Gannett and helped the company locate a 360-degree photo team and 3D modeler from the gaming industry. The process of building the virtual reality farm included 2D photos and videos, which were then superimposed onto Google maps to recreate the scene. Pacheco says, 'It was like watching a pop-up book come to life.' "

The chairman of journalism innovation at Syracuse -- and a drone owner himself -- discusses the issues raised by the FAA's blanket ban on the commercial use of drones.

The chairman of journalism innovation at Syracuse -- and a drone owner himself -- discusses the issues raised by the FAA's blanket ban on the commercial use of drones.

Columbia Journalism Review just listed the "Harvest of Change" virtual reality journalism project that Professor Pacheco co-produced at Gannett as one of 11 noteworthy journalism experiments today. BDJ senior, now graduated, also contributed as a developer.

Prof. Pacheco predicts the future media-disrupting technologies for CommPRObiz: "Part of my job as the Peter Horvitz Chair in Journalism Innovation is to look on the horizon and identify trends that might lead the next waves of disruption. I also challenge my students to do field tests of disruptive technologies, then use what they learn to predict where things will be in another 5 years. Following are some trends I believe will uproot current media businesses and empower entirely new ones."

Two years ago, former journalist and media entrepreneur Dan Pacheco departed the tech startup hub of the Denver metro area to serve as the Chair of Journalism Innovation at the S.I. Newhouse School, Syracuse University. Since then, he and his students have been working to help bring together segments of the local tech-business ecosystem that's been spurring an economic renaissance around Syracuse -- and learning lessons that can apply elsewhere. "It's amazing to see how much has changed in Syracuse since I got there. The whole community has galvanized," said Pacheco.

"Dan Pacheco compared the news industry to Hollywood. "In the golden age of movies, the studio controlled everything, hired all of the actors in a company-town model," said Pacheco, "Now everyone is a free agent." While the sources themselves remain a big deal (Time, WSJ, The New York Times), "the journalist is increasingly the brand," noted Pacheco.  Just look at the incredible following new personalities now have on Twitter, due to its uniquely popular open forum."

Professor Dan Pacheco's class at Newhouse had some fun before winter break by 3D scanning and printing "exact replicas" of their heads; a technology, according to Isaac Budmen, SU grad and co-author of "The Book on 3D Printing," that will permeate most every aspect of American homelife in the next two to three decades.

"Dan Pacheco, professor of journalism innovation at the S.I. Newhouse School at Syracuse University, served as a consultant with Gannett Digital and the Des Moines Register on Harvest of Change. He describes team-building as part two of a "three act" process. (Act one: Find the story and conduct preliminary research.) Pacheco hired a game designer to handle 3D rendering who enjoyed the experience so much that "he got the journalism bug" and stayed with Gannett. They also brought in a second intern who had experience with Unity, a multiplatform gaming engine. The team was rounded out with Total Cinema 360, a New York-based film company."

Prof. Pacheco was interviewed by CBS Interactive's TechRepublic about using virtuality for journalism in the story: "Immersive journalism: What virtual reality means for the future of storytelling and empathy-casting." The piece also referenced Pacheco's Virtual Reality Storytelling course and included a link to a 360 video of the SU football team by class member and football player Eric Jackson.

Dan Pacheco, a chair in journalism innovation in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, teaches a tech for new media course. He's working with students on using Arduino microcontrollers and sensors to "measure everything from air quality to temperature," he says. "When you connect the Arduino to the Internet, it can upload data to a database so that others can see it and compare to their own data. These citizen sensor networks provide an alternative to government-reported data sources," he says.