DETHAWED
It's a good time to reflect on the live blogging assignment, since I'm now in class and almost completely dethawed. My mission this morning: to live blog from the annual Help the Homeless Walkathon which started and ended on the National Mall. You can see the blog HERE.
What a crazy and cold experience. What I'll probably remember most is how I almost lost all my digits to frostbite. At one point, I could barely move my fingers to type on the laptop. I had regressed to simply tapping my index finger on each key - one by one. Also, the mousepad on the laptop stopped recognizing my finger because there was no warmth left in it. It added about ten minutes to each blog entry.
When I started the morning the temperature was in the 20's. Around 8 a.m. I parked on Madison Street next to the Mall and got to work. I interviewed a woman sitting on a bench, waiting for the walk to start. She was wrapped up like a baby. I interviewed her about the unbearably cold weather and later posted that video on the live blog.
JUST THE FACTS, MAME
I then interviewed one of the main organizers of the walk. She gave me details about the event including how many people were expected (despite the cold) and how much money they were hoping to raise. I put all the factual stuff in my first post, to get it out of the way. I knew that afterwords, it would all be about the people and mood of the event.
I actually enjoyed posting the video elements. They added a lot. I shot everything on my little Nokia camera phone and used a mini usb to connect to my laptop. I have a Verizon aircard so I was able to make blog entries at americanobserver.edu while at the same time uploading video clips to Youtube and imbedding those clips on my blog.
YOUTUBE TROUBLE
The second, but most important video, took forever to upload. That video was the start of the walk around 9 a.m. It was a great shot of thousands of people on the move. You can see it HERE. I tried to upload it about 10 times before it finally took.
In between shooting video, I posted details on who I'd been talking to and, of course, what they thought of the bitterly cold day. Some complained, some didn't. I liked mixing it up with both perspectives.
It's a good time to reflect on the live blogging assignment, since I'm now in class and almost completely dethawed. My mission this morning: to live blog from the annual Help the Homeless Walkathon which started and ended on the National Mall. You can see the blog HERE.
What a crazy and cold experience. What I'll probably remember most is how I almost lost all my digits to frostbite. At one point, I could barely move my fingers to type on the laptop. I had regressed to simply tapping my index finger on each key - one by one. Also, the mousepad on the laptop stopped recognizing my finger because there was no warmth left in it. It added about ten minutes to each blog entry.
When I started the morning the temperature was in the 20's. Around 8 a.m. I parked on Madison Street next to the Mall and got to work. I interviewed a woman sitting on a bench, waiting for the walk to start. She was wrapped up like a baby. I interviewed her about the unbearably cold weather and later posted that video on the live blog.
JUST THE FACTS, MAME
I then interviewed one of the main organizers of the walk. She gave me details about the event including how many people were expected (despite the cold) and how much money they were hoping to raise. I put all the factual stuff in my first post, to get it out of the way. I knew that afterwords, it would all be about the people and mood of the event.
I actually enjoyed posting the video elements. They added a lot. I shot everything on my little Nokia camera phone and used a mini usb to connect to my laptop. I have a Verizon aircard so I was able to make blog entries at americanobserver.edu while at the same time uploading video clips to Youtube and imbedding those clips on my blog.
YOUTUBE TROUBLE
The second, but most important video, took forever to upload. That video was the start of the walk around 9 a.m. It was a great shot of thousands of people on the move. You can see it HERE. I tried to upload it about 10 times before it finally took.
In between shooting video, I posted details on who I'd been talking to and, of course, what they thought of the bitterly cold day. Some complained, some didn't. I liked mixing it up with both perspectives.
Posting video to the americanobserver.net blog was pretty easy. After my editor, Erin, helped me figure out how to get into "full html" mode, I was able to simply copy and paste the embedded player url of the Youtube clip right where I wanted the video to play.
WIMPING OUT
It was way too cold for me to go all around the Tidal Basin and through East Potomac Park. I decided to stop right at the Tidal Basin and cut-off the front of the line back on Independence Avenue. I had already fallen far behind the start of the line with my uploading nightmare.
After walking with a few more poeple, I was getting close to the finish line. Once there, I did another video interview with two friends who just finished the walk. I ended the blog by posting that interview and summing up the event.
TRUE MULTI-MEDIA
I think the video added a lot to the blog. It gives visitors the option of just reading, or getting a first hand perspective of the event. Also, having a clip that only shows people walking was important. It felt like you didn't even have to get out of your warm bed to be at the event. You can just click on the blog video.
WIMPING OUT
It was way too cold for me to go all around the Tidal Basin and through East Potomac Park. I decided to stop right at the Tidal Basin and cut-off the front of the line back on Independence Avenue. I had already fallen far behind the start of the line with my uploading nightmare.
After walking with a few more poeple, I was getting close to the finish line. Once there, I did another video interview with two friends who just finished the walk. I ended the blog by posting that interview and summing up the event.
TRUE MULTI-MEDIA
I think the video added a lot to the blog. It gives visitors the option of just reading, or getting a first hand perspective of the event. Also, having a clip that only shows people walking was important. It felt like you didn't even have to get out of your warm bed to be at the event. You can just click on the blog video.
Overall, I'd say it's a really effective way to report on an event as it happens.
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1 comment:
I'm glad you had some video because words really couldn't describe the turnout and the organizers couldn't give us a good approximation of the crowd size.
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