Still Alive After Week Five

Shift Work
This week’s shift at KOMU.com seemed to be the first that everything went rather smooth. I spent the shift correcting minor mistakes on the website such as lead image size, AP Style and other little mistakes. One thing that I have noticed that needs to be corrected is last names. I know that Megan Murphy and Sarah Hill often refer to the people in their stories by their first name, but we need to change them for our medium.

I ran into a few problems as for a time the computer keyboard was not working. I had to move to the blue room to do work, but I thought that Adrienne, the two convergence editors (Steven and Sarah), and I all worked well in coordinating everything. The few things I could see improved include better communication with the convergence reporters and getting those lead images in. One reporter I was working with just wasn’t getting that image in. I think the checklist we talked about in class might help out the dot commers.

Project
Our group is very eager to begin working and we understand we simply need to wait until smartdecision08.com us up and running. We have a great start as lists have been compiled of over 60 potential bloggers. To give a brief update on where we sit, we plan to visit the bloggers and persuade them face-to-face. People have a tough time turning offers in person so that should help us out. The personable touch could also help persuade the bloggers.

ePortfolio talk
Like I said in the email, I am going to use Dreamweaver. I originally like what it could create. I like how the video can be watched on the page. I think Jason Lamb’s ePortfolio is excellent and would like to have mine look a lot like his. The price put me off a little, but the fact that I can work on this on campus or in the blue room makes me really like the possibilities of Dreamweaver. The fact that I can also buy server space for 20 dollars is also very attractive.

I guess the only other thing I have to say this week is I am excited about learning flash.

Closing the Door on Week Four

The interactive website I chose to discuss this week also happens to be one of my favorites and most visited, ESPN.com. First and foremost, it has practically all of the sporting news one could possibly need. The site not only gives information about the meat and potato sports (football, basketball, baseball and hockey), but also about tennis, boxing, golf and NASCAR. I say almost, because my favorite sport and the one I read about the most is college baseball. As this sport is not quite mainstream, I must find additional sites to discover the news in the sport. ESPN.com however provides a link to sites when they know they have not covered it completely. College baseball was such the case.

I think the site holds attention because of the presentation number one, and the ease of finding the information the viewer wants. Right when the page opens, a large photograph of today’s most recent news appears. To the right is all the AP stories and breaking news. Commentary on the breaking news is listed as well. The final third of the screen has video after video. Almost 50 different videos can be accessed through the front page. The videos are broken down into the different sports or categories. The scoreboard at the top, along with the different sport tabs also make gaining the up-to-date information literally a click away. This site not only holds attention, it keeps people returning.

To say the site offers good information would be an understatement. The site almost gives too much information. The site provides a minimum of five links per story. First things first, the site posts current, accurate, well-written sporting news stories. Second, the site wrote the book on web extras. They have video, charts, graphs, blogs, forums, links and sidebar story after sidebar story. Wow what a site!

Shift Work
This week I updated smartdecision08.com, but ran into problems as “your people” constantly worked on the site. While I could have called it a day, I spent some time giving an extra pair of eyes to KOMU.com. I corrected mistakes and brushed up on some additional AP Style rules I did not know.

Group Project.
I thought I might just write a line or two about this. I feel real confident in finding mid-Missourians to blog on smartdecision08.com. I found several possible candidates who seem real involved in pushing a candidate or party. Next, we plan on working up a letter to possibly send to them discussing the idea and what we are looking for.

And we're done with week three

Shift Work
This week my shift was to update KOMU.com. Like I said last week, I enjoy KOMU.com more than smartdecision08.com (for now at least) as it seems to be faster paced. I spent quite a bit of time reading through stories that had already been posted and making corrections. AP style needs to continue to be stressed, as does some misleading headlines. The one improvement that needs changing is the communication among the dot com staff. During my shift, the paid staff started to post reporter’s VO/SOTs as the online stories (rather than the 6 p.m. package stories). Then as the 5 o’clock paid “dot commer” told me, we aren’t supposed to do that and we had to take all those stories down and lost time. I am just not sure the communication between the paid reporters and the Advanced Internet Application students (at least me) is where it needs to be. I don’t want this blog to serve as a rant or a complaint box and I hope you don’t see it that way, but if this is to be a true reflection, I must include it. I know that I myself can facilitate this communication and will work to make the transition from shift to shift better.

I did however continue to learn more about the site and how to make it look better and improve the credibility by putting out the best product. One thing I know I will work on more is finding web extras when I am reporting on Monday nights. After seeing some of the reporter’s extras, I really see how that adds to the story. Not only that, they are kind of fun in a way to see the neat things people can do with technology. The biggest lesson I learned however dealt with my roommate Mark Welsh. As we commonly talk about our shifts at our apartment, he told me how a reporter had a story wrong and HE needed to fact check. Too many times I take the reporter’s story and simply correct a few grammar errors and spelling. I need to read the stories part by part and make sure they are 100% correct.

Project
I don’t have any new information, as our group still needs to meet.

E-portfolio
I have spent some time this week thinking about what I would like to do with my e-portfolio. As for now, I am really considering the Foliotek. While money usually is not an issue when I am working on school, I think I would like to use Foliotek to begin my portfolio. It might be a deal when later down the road I would like to change to Dreamweaver, or iWeb. I guess I need to look into the options more and I would really like to see more examples of what I can do with each. This might even be a deal where I need to sit down with someone and discuss the options. I am not set in stone with anything yet, but as of now am leaning toward Foliotek.

Shift Work
During my second week working at the station, I spent about an hour browsing through KOMU.com’s site. I found several mistakes, many dealing with AP style. I found and corrected mistakes on articles Empty Seat for Congress, Wintry Weather is Back, Opening Eyes and Glancing Back at Governors. Your email definitely affirmed what I have thought for the past two weeks. With a focus on broadcasting news style, many of us have forgot AP style.

After that time, I began learning the basics for updating smartdecision08.com. I really like the shift I pulled for updating that site. As I pass it off to the later shift, it is easy to communicate what I have done and what needs to be done as I have a good working relationship with Mark Welsh. He is my roommate after all.

Through the first two weeks, I enjoy working with KOMU.com more than smartdecision08.com, as there is more to do. I think once the election picks up speed and more blogs, stories and other items need updated, the site will require as much work if not more than KOMU.com. I think once my project begins with mid-Missouri bloggers, I will like smartdecision08.com more as I will have a more personal stake it it’s success.

One improvement could be bettering communication between the paid web editors and the students in Advanced Internet Applications. That might just be a first couple of weeks thing. The AP style also needs improvement.

Project
My group will need to meet this week sometime to start deciding what goals we would like to accomplish and how we plan to carry out these goals. I spent the weekend at home so I haven’t put too much thought into the project, but I have brainstormed a few ideas. I think we could target mid-Missouri residents who campaign for presidential candidates to blog as they have “insider” information and could give great stories inside the election stories. (For example, a thing like “Life on the campaign trail,” etc.) Like I said, the project is still in the infancy stage as we have yet to meet, but I think if something could be formalized by Tuesday, we might be able to visit some mid-Missouri communities at the polls during Super Tuesday.

Website Focus
It is a little tough to blog about this section as my group and I have not met. Once we begin to formalize plans, this will become clearer.