2009 Online Journalism Awards: The Best, The Brightest

Student Journalism, Small Team

The Online Journalism awards...at first going through all the multimedia pieces that won was a little like sifting through a big basket of information/stories. I wasn't sure which one I liked, or disliked, and I didnt feel like one really stuck out to me in a specific 'multimedia' way. And then I found 'It happens one night' and this particular story/ the elements involved stuck with me.

"Lisa Pickoff-White, University of California, Berkeley, It Happens at Midnight Creative; and had a lot of stuff going on. It's fun it's entertaining, it's creative.The design, tools and interactivity are even better than the basic report told, so that elevates it as a fine example of how to tell an online story in multiple components," from the journalists.org website.

I love the name first of all, what a creative, subtle way to hint at the topic but not give away exactly what they are reporting about verbatim.

I love the aspects, the elements--video, website, audio, different angles, maps of the midnight mover theaters in your area, helpful blurbs about midnight movies. It's so full of everything, it isnt just one piece, its multiple pieces put together to form a really interesting website. It Happens at midnight

Final Project...the ideas?!?

Initial Ideas:



1. Art in Everett
-Everett has many artist, art galleries, and art in general. I think it would be interesting to showcase a few of the artist that reside here and the work that they do...It would not be just on campus, it would be Everett in general.
-My first stop would be 3231 Creatives, so I could take to the artist there and see and if Iris Lemmer knows anyone else that would be willing to have their art photographed.
-I would say this story is good because it focuses on local artwork and local artists.
-Photos, definitely. I have become very interested in photography and I think this would be a perfect opportunity to take some amazing photos, or at least try to.


2. Paint me a picture
-For our last assignment I took some pictures of some painting student work and it got me really interested in painting and the work they do in that class, I think I would enjoy really focusing on Painting for the final project.
-Sandra Lepper, she is a painting guru...and she teaches most of the painting classes so she would be my first stop!
-We have a lot of talented people on campus and I think showcasing their work would bring more awareness to that fact!
-Photos, again I think this would be a really great place for them...maybe some audio too!


3. Circus!
-I am doing a story for the Clipper on Emerald City Trapeze Arts and it has made me so interested in the circus world and  all that is involved. I think it would be really cool to showcase the circus world that is in the Seattle area.
-Gary Kirkland first, he is the owner and founder of Emerald City Trapeze Arts and then there is  a school called SANCA or School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts that is also local...
-The circus is a really interesting world and it is kind of hidden in Seattle I think it would be really cool to shine a light on the people and the places that are circus-y here. Plus I am totally obsessed with flying trapeze now!!!
-Photos, possibly video!!!

Source: oddhero.com via Teri on Pinterest

Now to make a decision?

Savvy Slideshow

An off-Broadway theater company "Classic Stage Company" found that a concession stand brought more life to their spaces when productions aren't going on.

'Coffee Drama' Slideshow Here

"Classic Stage Company" isn't the only company discovering the beauty of opening their concession stands during the day, other theater company said during the article, Click Here, that they would be opening up similar stands as well.

Source: tea-n-coffee.tumblr.com via Amanda on Pinterest

The captions really help you understand the story, they are essentially to realizing the point of the story...while there is a general arch to what is happening in each photo. You would never know about the addition of a concession stand, the name of the company, etc.. if the captions were missing.

Do I Sound Drunk?

An American Life article entitled '#1 Party School' was the audio story I listened to this week. What better way to learn about interviewing using a recorder/doing an audio story then to actually listen to one.

For the drunken debouchery.

While the reporting done/the commentary were excellent addition to the article, I found the background noise to be the most beneficial part of the story for me. It allowed me to get a better sense of the drunkeness. is a specific sound that drunk college student make—it can be heard on any good for nothing teenager drama. The background noise, or natural sounds in this audio are exactly what you would expect to here from a piece entitled ‘Party School’

It was a lot of first-hand reporting, while their were some background bits, like mentioning the previous schools named the #1 Party School, or including the Penn State President's comments towards this issue I believe most of the reporting was done on Campus.

Using audio for this story instead of words really allowed me to become invested...I mean a girl was peeing on her lawn. How drunk do you have to be for that to be a good idea...?

Twitter and Journalists, My Final Thoughts

Yesterday, in my Multimedia journalism class we spent an entire period--2 hours scavenger hunting. But with twitter.

               
And if you have read my other two posts about the 'bird' you will know that I have not taken to twitter all that well. But...

I think it may be growing on me, I have been doing some research about journalist on twitter and how they use the program to benefit their reporting and their stories...
click here:http://www.twitterjournalism.com/2009/06/27/10-pros-and-10-cons-of-twitter-for-journalists/
click here:http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2011/02/twitter_isnt_journalism.html
and click here:http://mashable.com/2009/05/14/twitter-journalism/

So while I am still having some serious trouble, tweeting, I do understand the benefits and I enjoy seeing all the news from all the different newspapers/new sites I follow at the same time--it does make things alarmingly simple. Oh! and I finally got up a picture, hurray for me!



be a follower:http://twitter.com/#!/kaitlynnewsynew

Kaitlyn vs. Twitter

Problems have arisen, twitter is a no go...

from http://pinterest.com/

The problems:
-I cannot for the life of me get an actual picture up, so currently I am displayed as an egg.
-I have nothing interesting to say, or at least not something I can explain in 140 characters.
-There is no sarcasm font, no one will know that I am joking, and I'm not all that funny when you don't realize I am trying to be.
-Whoever came up with the name 'twitter' I just cannot get myself to say. "I'm logging onto twitter," or "I'm tweeting."
-I think twitter secretly dislikes me as well, I've received five 'over capacity' messages in the last two days.



So you tell me, am I meant to be a twitterer?

if you think so you can follow me, although I must warn you. I have nothing/zero/zilch profound or somewhat interesting to say. Plus, I may possibly single-handily break twitter (if that's at all possible) so proceed at your own risk.

be a follower:
http://twitter.com/#!/kaitlynnewsynew

 from http://pinterest.com/

Twittering, Tweeting, Tweets!

As far as my first impressions go twitter is useful, useful but not exactly my bag. While the news that can be found on twitter is convenient, I find twitter first of all difficult to wade through and secondly actually checking twitter is a serious ordeal.

            The information that can be found on twitter, while informative is literally a pit…for me it is hard to find which information I want—and which information I don’t want.

            While checking my email or a news site is a one-two click. Checking twitter is more like a nine-ten click.

            So even though there is all that information—live no less actually getting to the information takes more time and effort then checking my email or scanning through the front-page of a newspaper site.

            First impressions—not so good. We’ll see how I like tweeting after a few days actually using it.

from http://pinterest.com/ via  web.resourceshelf.com

Twitter Search:http://search.twitter.com/

The Seattle Times:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home/index.html

Twitter vs. email article: http://socialnetworking.lovetoknow.com/Twitter_vs._E-mail