Thursday, February 26, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Week 5: David defeats frustration
This week was a great learning experience. I competed my second shift at the Missourian as a convergence reporter. Originally, I was planning to produce multimedia for the child soldier story the Missourian was going to run, but because I did not go through the proper procedure the story was given to someone else. Although I was mad when I lost the story, it taught me to always contact at east one of the editors and make sure they know I am doing a story so they do not assign it to someone else. I quickly picked up a story about the exercise phenomenon Zumba. The class has been offered at the Mizzou student recreation center for a few semesters now and it is steadily growing in popularity. The reporter doing the story wanted some video for it so readers and viewers could get a better idea of what the class is like. I enjoyed shooting the video for this assignment although it was difficult because the studio where it as held is lined with mirrors. It was difficult to get a good shot without getting footage of myself in the mirror. I had to play around with the angles a lot. Once I finished shooting I went back to the Missourian newsroom to start editing, but as I was halfway done editing the footage the program crashed and I lost everything. It was a huge setback so I decided to take a break and then start over in the futures lab. Because I had to do so much extra editing though, I learned a lot more about how to use Avid and even Final Cut. I believe this story really helped me improve my video editing skills.
Once I had finally finished editing it was time to export the movie and get it onto the Missourian’s production server. This task should have been easy but it proved to be the most difficult part. The convergence editor Jacqueline Brixie and I did trouble shooting for about 3 hours before we finally got it to work. IF IT DOESN’T WORK THE FIRST 30 TIMES, TRY AT LEAST 30 MORE!!! My patience was definitely stretched to the limit during this assignment, but I gained a great deal of experience through it. I must have ran back and forth between the Missourian and the futures lab about 5 times over the course of the night. Although this part was very frustrating, I think it helped me learn more about using the computers in general. I am glad the story is done and I think it turned out well. I am still waiting for it to go up onto the Missourian website but it should be soon.
Once I had finally finished editing it was time to export the movie and get it onto the Missourian’s production server. This task should have been easy but it proved to be the most difficult part. The convergence editor Jacqueline Brixie and I did trouble shooting for about 3 hours before we finally got it to work. IF IT DOESN’T WORK THE FIRST 30 TIMES, TRY AT LEAST 30 MORE!!! My patience was definitely stretched to the limit during this assignment, but I gained a great deal of experience through it. I must have ran back and forth between the Missourian and the futures lab about 5 times over the course of the night. Although this part was very frustrating, I think it helped me learn more about using the computers in general. I am glad the story is done and I think it turned out well. I am still waiting for it to go up onto the Missourian website but it should be soon.
Week 5: David defeats frustration
This week was a great learning experience. I competed my second shift at the Missourian as a convergence reporter. Originally, I was planning to produce multimedia for the child soldier story the Missourian was going to run, but because I did not go through the proper procedure the story was given to someone else. Although I was mad when I lost the story, it taught me to always contact at east one of the editors and make sure they know I am doing a story so they do not assign it to someone else. I quickly picked up a story about the exercise phenomenon Zumba. The class has been offered at the Mizzou student recreation center for a few semesters now and it is steadily growing in popularity. The reporter doing the story wanted some video for it so readers and viewers could get a better idea of what the class is like. I enjoyed shooting the video for this assignment although it was difficult because the studio where it as held is lined with mirrors. It was difficult to get a good shot without getting footage of myself in the mirror. I had to play around with the angles a lot. Once I finished shooting I went back to the Missourian newsroom to start editing, but as I was halfway done editing the footage the program crashed and I lost everything. It was a huge setback so I decided to take a break and then start over in the futures lab. Because I had to do so much extra editing though, I learned a lot more about how to use Avid and even Final Cut. I believe this story really helped me improve my video editing skills.
Once I had finally finished editing it was time to export the movie and get it onto the Missourian’s production server. This task should have been easy but it proved to be the most difficult part. The convergence editor Jacqueline Brixie and I did trouble shooting for about 3 hours before we finally got it to work. IF IT DOESN’T WORK THE FIRST 30 TIMES, TRY AT LEAST 30 MORE!!! My patience was definitely stretched to the limit during this assignment, but I gained a great deal of experience through it. I must have ran back and forth between the Missourian and the futures lab about 5 times over the course of the night. Although this part was very frustrating, I think it helped me learn more about using the computers in general. I am glad the story is done and I think it turned out well. I am still waiting for it to go up onto the Missourian website but it should be soon.
Once I had finally finished editing it was time to export the movie and get it onto the Missourian’s production server. This task should have been easy but it proved to be the most difficult part. The convergence editor Jacqueline Brixie and I did trouble shooting for about 3 hours before we finally got it to work. IF IT DOESN’T WORK THE FIRST 30 TIMES, TRY AT LEAST 30 MORE!!! My patience was definitely stretched to the limit during this assignment, but I gained a great deal of experience through it. I must have ran back and forth between the Missourian and the futures lab about 5 times over the course of the night. Although this part was very frustrating, I think it helped me learn more about using the computers in general. I am glad the story is done and I think it turned out well. I am still waiting for it to go up onto the Missourian website but it should be soon.
This Week
This week we presented our preliminary research and our goals for how we are going to proceed at this point. I think the presentation went well as a whole. As there were five of us and were really covering two capstone projects we want to make sure to be a thorough as possible and I think we succeeded at that. Mike was actually giving us the wrap it up as we were winding down. Some of the thing we covered in our presentation were our SWOT analysis, our primary and secondary research, and our analysis of our main competition for both sites. In doing our research for our presentation I came upon an interesting article about our target market and am going to reflect on it for a minute. Amazingly, even though we are in a recession, college students (18-30) will be spending $230 billion dollars this next year which is a 13% jump from last year according to bizreport.com. I don't know where they are going to get the money, but apparently students spend money. This is a great encouragement for us trying to hit this market and their wallets. Likeme.net should be encouraged because this can be a way to get our demographic out into the neighborhoods and spending money. And for Backstagegallery.com because as a site selling a product there always needs to be someone to buy it. The article also talks about students being brand loyal and how it has become "Cool" to be good. It is seen as a positive for companies to be economically, environmentally, and morally responsible in there business dealings. I found that interesting.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Reflection Catch Up!!!
I completely forgot we were supposed to be blogging and I actually wrote these blogs before seeing how long most other people's blogs were...so they're kind of long and much more formal than they should be. But on the up side they're also very in depth! I see I’m not the only one who has forgotten to do this so excuse my tardiness as well. I promise to keep up from now on. Well, on to the reflections!
Week 2:
This week Erica Zucco and I completed our first team assignment. I learned quickly that convergence reporting is a whole lot of work. There wasn’t a single day since we were assigned the project that I was not working on the story in some capacity. I must say that I really enjoyed the story we chose to do, so I did not mind spending so much time on it. Erica and I did our story on the Modern Whig Party, focusing on the membership base here in Missouri. Everyone we talked to was very cooperative and eager to talk to us about the party, which made things really easy. We were even able to get all of our interviews done early in the week, which gave us a lot of cushion for completing the rest of the assignment. We were very prepared for this story and had really great interview subjects, which made it a wonderful experience.
I ended up doing the voice overs for our NPR style story for KBIA, but apparently I have a “lazy voice” (says Karen and Lynda) and I am a P-popper. So much for my broadcast career. But I shall overcome. It was really cool that KBIA wants to air our story, although we still have not gotten around to getting the extra material we need in order for it to air, although we plan on doing that very soon.
Week 3:
This week I began working at the Missourian. For my first shift I covered a story that dealt with the construction at Brady and the way it has affected pedestrian traffic at the new bookstore. Since Brady commons is being remodeled, students without a meal plan have nowhere to eat on campus except for the small cafeteria at the new bookstore. The problem with the cafeteria is there are inadequate seating accommodations. The small seating area cannot handle the high volume of students that choose to eat there, meaning that students must eat on the floor, in the book stacks, or simply take their lunch elsewhere.
This assignment was a greater challenge than I thought it was going to be. I expected to be able to shoot video for this story in about half an hour to an hour, and edit it in about 3 hours. But things didn’t work out that way. First of all, I was at a disadvantage because I took 4802 over the summer, and that was before we started using the new video cameras. So in order to cover this story I had to quickly learn how to use the new video cameras, including how to calibrate al the settings. When I finally got to the new bookstore to begin shooting, it was halfway between classes, so there weren’t that many people eating there. I had to wait another half an hour for classes to get out so that the cafeteria would fill up with people again. Then the issue was getting people to talk to me on camera. Some people were willing to talk, but not on camera. Others just wanted to be left in peace while they ate their lunch. Many of the people I talked to said that it was their first time eating there so they could not speak to the issue I was asking them about. I finally collected about five solid interviews and then went back to edit my piece.
It took me a little while to get my Avid feet back under me, but when I did it was just like riding a bike. I picked out clips, b-roll, and wrote a script. Then I discovered that I had made a crucial error. I lost the names of the people I interviewed! I was so angry at that point I thought that all was lost. Fortunately I remembered the name of one of my interview subjects and was able to use her for my story. This setback (and may I add bonehead move) significantly shortened the length and strength of my piece, but overall I think it turned out decent. Valerie Chew, the convergence editor who helped me put my package together, provided an invaluable service. She really helped me salvage my story after I discovered my mistake. I learned to be absolutely certain that I have all of the info I need before I leave an interview or site. It was a difficult feat to complete this assignment, as it was my first day turn. I believe that I learned a great deal though, and it definitely gave me a taste of what it was like to work under a tight deadline. I am looking forward to my next shift at the Missourian.
Week 4:
This week I completed my second team assignment. Right off the bat I had more difficulty with this team assignment than I did my first, simply because of the story ideas we came up with. Our story ideas were not as well researched as they should have been, and because of this Jordan and I left the story pitch meeting without a clear idea of which story we were going to pursue. It was not until Monday that we actually had a clear idea of what our story was and even then we ended up changing it Monday night. Essentially, this gave us about two and a half days to complete a weeklong story.
The reason we changed our story is because when we interviewed a union representative (as our original story was about unions) she told us that MU’s new pension plan was severely impacting the lowest paid workers in a very negative way. Jordan and I were not very familiar with the pension issue at this point and thought that we had come across a great angle to the story. Upon further examination we realized that perhaps we had gotten swept up in one side of the story and we were not approaching it in a very objective way. Nonetheless, we were running out of time and had to turn something in, so we went with a reaction story to the change in MU’s pension plan.
This story proved to be very difficult for the sole reason that we could not get any of the workers this change was affecting (i.e. custodial and maintenance) to talk to us about it. It seemed that they were scared to say anything about the issue to reporters for fear that they would lose their job. It seemed like there was definitely something deeper going on in the story. Several employees said that they were told not to comment about the issue, which seemed very suspicious. I felt that we did not really have enough time to fully explore the issue, however, since we got such a late start on the story.
I learned quite a bit from this assignment. First of all, a strong story idea is key to turning a good story. Our story ideas were not strong to begin with, and it hurt us in the long run. Second, persistence pays off. We thought our story was dead in the water when we couldn’t find any custodial or maintenance workers to talk to but we didn’t give up. Thursday morning we were able to find a few people to talk to us and we ended up with a decent final product. Unfortunately the piece failed to give very much additional insight and context to the reader that had not been covered by other news sources already. I do think it raised an important issue though, and if reworked could make for a good story.
Week 2:
This week Erica Zucco and I completed our first team assignment. I learned quickly that convergence reporting is a whole lot of work. There wasn’t a single day since we were assigned the project that I was not working on the story in some capacity. I must say that I really enjoyed the story we chose to do, so I did not mind spending so much time on it. Erica and I did our story on the Modern Whig Party, focusing on the membership base here in Missouri. Everyone we talked to was very cooperative and eager to talk to us about the party, which made things really easy. We were even able to get all of our interviews done early in the week, which gave us a lot of cushion for completing the rest of the assignment. We were very prepared for this story and had really great interview subjects, which made it a wonderful experience.
I ended up doing the voice overs for our NPR style story for KBIA, but apparently I have a “lazy voice” (says Karen and Lynda) and I am a P-popper. So much for my broadcast career. But I shall overcome. It was really cool that KBIA wants to air our story, although we still have not gotten around to getting the extra material we need in order for it to air, although we plan on doing that very soon.
Week 3:
This week I began working at the Missourian. For my first shift I covered a story that dealt with the construction at Brady and the way it has affected pedestrian traffic at the new bookstore. Since Brady commons is being remodeled, students without a meal plan have nowhere to eat on campus except for the small cafeteria at the new bookstore. The problem with the cafeteria is there are inadequate seating accommodations. The small seating area cannot handle the high volume of students that choose to eat there, meaning that students must eat on the floor, in the book stacks, or simply take their lunch elsewhere.
This assignment was a greater challenge than I thought it was going to be. I expected to be able to shoot video for this story in about half an hour to an hour, and edit it in about 3 hours. But things didn’t work out that way. First of all, I was at a disadvantage because I took 4802 over the summer, and that was before we started using the new video cameras. So in order to cover this story I had to quickly learn how to use the new video cameras, including how to calibrate al the settings. When I finally got to the new bookstore to begin shooting, it was halfway between classes, so there weren’t that many people eating there. I had to wait another half an hour for classes to get out so that the cafeteria would fill up with people again. Then the issue was getting people to talk to me on camera. Some people were willing to talk, but not on camera. Others just wanted to be left in peace while they ate their lunch. Many of the people I talked to said that it was their first time eating there so they could not speak to the issue I was asking them about. I finally collected about five solid interviews and then went back to edit my piece.
It took me a little while to get my Avid feet back under me, but when I did it was just like riding a bike. I picked out clips, b-roll, and wrote a script. Then I discovered that I had made a crucial error. I lost the names of the people I interviewed! I was so angry at that point I thought that all was lost. Fortunately I remembered the name of one of my interview subjects and was able to use her for my story. This setback (and may I add bonehead move) significantly shortened the length and strength of my piece, but overall I think it turned out decent. Valerie Chew, the convergence editor who helped me put my package together, provided an invaluable service. She really helped me salvage my story after I discovered my mistake. I learned to be absolutely certain that I have all of the info I need before I leave an interview or site. It was a difficult feat to complete this assignment, as it was my first day turn. I believe that I learned a great deal though, and it definitely gave me a taste of what it was like to work under a tight deadline. I am looking forward to my next shift at the Missourian.
Week 4:
This week I completed my second team assignment. Right off the bat I had more difficulty with this team assignment than I did my first, simply because of the story ideas we came up with. Our story ideas were not as well researched as they should have been, and because of this Jordan and I left the story pitch meeting without a clear idea of which story we were going to pursue. It was not until Monday that we actually had a clear idea of what our story was and even then we ended up changing it Monday night. Essentially, this gave us about two and a half days to complete a weeklong story.
The reason we changed our story is because when we interviewed a union representative (as our original story was about unions) she told us that MU’s new pension plan was severely impacting the lowest paid workers in a very negative way. Jordan and I were not very familiar with the pension issue at this point and thought that we had come across a great angle to the story. Upon further examination we realized that perhaps we had gotten swept up in one side of the story and we were not approaching it in a very objective way. Nonetheless, we were running out of time and had to turn something in, so we went with a reaction story to the change in MU’s pension plan.
This story proved to be very difficult for the sole reason that we could not get any of the workers this change was affecting (i.e. custodial and maintenance) to talk to us about it. It seemed that they were scared to say anything about the issue to reporters for fear that they would lose their job. It seemed like there was definitely something deeper going on in the story. Several employees said that they were told not to comment about the issue, which seemed very suspicious. I felt that we did not really have enough time to fully explore the issue, however, since we got such a late start on the story.
I learned quite a bit from this assignment. First of all, a strong story idea is key to turning a good story. Our story ideas were not strong to begin with, and it hurt us in the long run. Second, persistence pays off. We thought our story was dead in the water when we couldn’t find any custodial or maintenance workers to talk to but we didn’t give up. Thursday morning we were able to find a few people to talk to us and we ended up with a decent final product. Unfortunately the piece failed to give very much additional insight and context to the reader that had not been covered by other news sources already. I do think it raised an important issue though, and if reworked could make for a good story.
Friday, February 13, 2009
This Week
This week for our capstone we were focusing on the research aspect of our project. Compiling data on the websites traffic and figure out just how we are going to focus in on our overall goals:
1. Find a way to utilize our convergence skills in the world of social media.
2. Define the market for our products.
3. Figure out the best tactics to reach that market.
4. Increase awareness and usage of the product.
5. Use our research and skills to make suggestions to improve the product
We also tried to connect with the strat comm groups and see what they are doing and reflect on how we can work with them to learn what we can from them as they might have a little more experience in this particular topic. One of the big things we need to start doing is "secondary research". Basically trying to find research that is already there. One thing that was talked about though was that backstage is really the only website like it. So perhaps something to try and find are the top websites that sell posters/art/whatever and trying to get an idea of what they are doing for marketing, how new products are getting their name out to the public, other things like that. This may or may not be what we need to be looking for, but you get the idea. We will be meeting again soon to continue our process.
1. Find a way to utilize our convergence skills in the world of social media.
2. Define the market for our products.
3. Figure out the best tactics to reach that market.
4. Increase awareness and usage of the product.
5. Use our research and skills to make suggestions to improve the product
We also tried to connect with the strat comm groups and see what they are doing and reflect on how we can work with them to learn what we can from them as they might have a little more experience in this particular topic. One of the big things we need to start doing is "secondary research". Basically trying to find research that is already there. One thing that was talked about though was that backstage is really the only website like it. So perhaps something to try and find are the top websites that sell posters/art/whatever and trying to get an idea of what they are doing for marketing, how new products are getting their name out to the public, other things like that. This may or may not be what we need to be looking for, but you get the idea. We will be meeting again soon to continue our process.
Monday, February 9, 2009
iPhone Applications
Hey Everyone,
For the group of us that are working in the Strat Comm oriented Likeme.net and Backstagegallery.com Capstone projects we are looking for a way to set our group apart from the Strat Comm students that are doing similar projects. We had a project meeting yesterday and tossed out the idea of designing an iPhone application for Likeme. Now we aren't positive that this is a direction that we would like to go, as it could be a huge undertaking, but I was just wondering if anyone had any previous experience with designing applications and would like to give me a small rundown of the process and all that is required. If you have any tips and want to help out, e-mail me your comments @ Apple2k@gmail.com. Thanks guys.
-Andrew
For the group of us that are working in the Strat Comm oriented Likeme.net and Backstagegallery.com Capstone projects we are looking for a way to set our group apart from the Strat Comm students that are doing similar projects. We had a project meeting yesterday and tossed out the idea of designing an iPhone application for Likeme. Now we aren't positive that this is a direction that we would like to go, as it could be a huge undertaking, but I was just wondering if anyone had any previous experience with designing applications and would like to give me a small rundown of the process and all that is required. If you have any tips and want to help out, e-mail me your comments @ Apple2k@gmail.com. Thanks guys.
-Andrew
Friday, February 6, 2009
Week 1
It feels like the capstone project that Ryan and I are working on (redesigning the convergence Web site) couldn't be more open ended. So, it was nice to finally talk to Karen and Lynda about some of the things that they are hoping to change about the site. Before the meeting, Ryan and I talked and had a ton of ideas for the new site, so it was nice to be able to narrow it down after talking to the staff. I think for next week, it is important for us to talk to Mike, and begin more deeply researching the type of content management system that would most effectively let us achieve all of the things we want to do, along with making it easy to update the site on a regular basis at the end of this project.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)