Ryerson returns to Hong Kong

A team of 15 Ryerson University students have wrapped up a weeklong experience in Hong Kong using 360/VR documentary storytelling to visually capture iconic aspects of the city’s cultural heritage.

This is the second consecutive year that the Ryerson School of Journalism/FCAD have offered the “Hong Kong 360” summer intensive program. The six-week course offers students a glimpse of life as an international reporter, as they hit the streets of Hong Kong pursuing stories, interviewing members of the community and documenting the sights and sounds (and flavours) of this dynamic, complex city. In addition to reporting work, the students also gained many opportunities to connect with media professionals in Asia, visiting the newsrooms of CNN International and the South China Morning Post, and attending events at the HK offices of Google and Bloomberg, as well as the city’s legendary Foreign Correspondents Club. They also attended engaging panel sessions and helpful workshops at the N3 Media Conference, presented by the Asian American Journalists Association and hosted at Hong Kong University.

This year’s group explored stories about how several influential cultural traditions in Hong Kong — including traditional kung-fu, Cantonese Opera, fishing villages and community wet markets — are coping in the modern age, and the efforts by some citizens to preserve their history, legacy and relevance. The group will publish their 360/VR multimedia documentary series by the end of the summer.

Their work builds upon the success of last year’s “Hong Kong 360” project, which has recently received several accolades, including winning the Google News Initiative-sponsored AAJA-Asia Digital Journalism Student Award 2019, and placing runner-up at the 2019 Emerge Media Awards for Best Multimedia project.

The school would like to attract donations to subsidize students on future courses involving international travel to ensure such ‘foreign reporting courses’ are accessible to all.

Preview clip of the project the Hong Kong 360 students are working on.