I fear I forgot to post a blog for last week, so hopefully, a Spring Break blog will suffice.
A few times during each year really pound home to me the whole “I’m supposed to be a journalist” thing. It’s during winter and spring breaks, when I’m not too terribly concerned about my classes and have no major stories to work on (with this break being an exception…oh web shells), that I realize just how deeply the reporting bug has burrowed into my skin.
It doesn’t matter what I’m doing. I’ll be waiting tables, driving around the city, talking to my mom about how worthless the student health center is (warning: take my story idea, and I’ll kill you)…and I constantly find myself saying: man, that’d be a great story.
With all the stress this semester has brought, I’m pretty constantly at work. I’m on campus from about 9-6 almost daily. After that, I’m either at my job or toiling away on homework or stories for the paper. I have no social life anymore. It’s enough to make anyone whine.
On a quick trip home for Easter this weekend, I had a conversation with my dad.
“God, I’ll be glad when I’m out of school, and when the end of the day comes, you’re done with work,” I said. “I can’t handle constantly being busy much longer.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “You absolutely work all the time, but you don’t seem all that unhappy. You always seem like you’re at your most content when you’re working on an article.”
“And,” he added, “keep this in mind. If you’re really going to be a reporter, your work is never done. I’m sure you know that. You’ll constantly be rooting out a story, even when you’re relaxing. It’s the nature of the job.”
Good old Dad. He always has a way of condensing my thoughts into perfectly formed statements. He’s completely right: sure, I’m insanely busy this semester, but I’m never happier than I am when I’m reporting a story. So it’s not so much that I dream of a day when I have a job from 9-5 Monday through Friday. I dream of a day when all I have to do is concentrate on what I love: journalism.
Sure, this is a meandering blog, but I think it’s appropriate for Spring Break. The moral of the story? I’m not sure, but I think it’s this: no matter how insane stress drives me, and no matter how much I crave free time, I’ll always love journalism. Sometimes, it just takes a little break and time to breathe to remember.
Progress Report: Still thinking about how to “make sewers sexy” for the Growth shell, and I’m running out of time — fast. As for grabbing information for developments to the Southwest of the city, Justin and I divided and conquered, taking one locale each. I picked the Thornbrook subdivision and already have most of the basic information I need, although I have to call the developer for a few more answers tomorrow. As a side story to cover what’s unique about Thornbrook, I’m planning to synthesize the history of the debate and compromise between city and state about fire protection for the subdivision. I’m working double shifts almost every day for the remainder of the break because I’m dirt poor, but with some luck, I’ll be able to get it all done. Sigh.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
More Questions than Answers....
I am writing this post on Tuesday night as I am trying to motivate myself to write a news article to be posted on the web tomorrow morning, because a meeting ran late this evening. The fact that I am writing this late has nothing to do with the rest of this post. I enjoyed attending the meeting this evening as the Columbia branch of the NAACP had the opportunity to listen to 1st Ward City Council Candidates. This meeting is very important for numerous reasons and I was very happy that I had the opportunity to attend.
After receiving the email about how many posts each of the Advanced Newspaper Reporting students have done this semester I felt jealous and angry because I did not have the most posts in the class. Even if I came close, I didn’t feel like I was the best, and not only was I not “number one”, but I was letting myself down. This reminded of the class discussion we had last Wednesday, because we often do not want to accept minute amounts of congratulations in such a competitive environment. In feeling jealous I remembered numerous conversations I have had with fellow journalism students about the Missourian, the J-School, and the positive and negative effects of our education. The class discussion, the conversations with fellow classmates, and my jealousy lead me to two questions. First, if many of us spend literally almost all day in the newsroom and have very little social life outside of journalism how do we maintain sanity as those we are closest to are the same people we are competing with not only for grades but also, as many of us approach the working world, for jobs in an economically volatile time? Secondly I am left wondering what is the goal of journalism when journalists are often competing so intensely that they lose sight of informing the public and enabling the public and are left with hundreds of clips, a good job, and no friends?
I often have to remind myself that the work I am doing is for people. “I am working as a journalist to help and inform the public.” Although I think Sean’s point made in class last Wednesday supports this idea, I also think Sean’s point is a catch-22 leaving the journalist feeling that his/her work is never enough. I don’t think the death of an individual is cause for celebration, but when a reporter and a newsroom covers a story well should he/she not be humble enough to receive praise?
I watched as numerous fellow journalists last week wondered around the newsroom frantically trying to get stories done while they hadn’t slept in days and were quite ill. I wonder to myself as we provide a public service do we need to ensure that we are supported?
It is often a fear of mine in this newsroom to show vulnerability, because at the end of the day I want that “A”, I want that job in a big city, and I want to know that I have “made it.” This has been my dream for most of my life, but as I look around at the young faces in my classes outside of the Missourian, KOMU, and KBIA I wonder will many of these people be happy living in the suburbs of Kansas City or St. Louis with the friends they made in college and the spouse they meet at some Greek event or was my fight worth it? Were the late nights of studying, early mornings of reporting, and constant questioning of any form of congratulations worth it?
Only time will tell…but at least I have 8 posts up now.
After receiving the email about how many posts each of the Advanced Newspaper Reporting students have done this semester I felt jealous and angry because I did not have the most posts in the class. Even if I came close, I didn’t feel like I was the best, and not only was I not “number one”, but I was letting myself down. This reminded of the class discussion we had last Wednesday, because we often do not want to accept minute amounts of congratulations in such a competitive environment. In feeling jealous I remembered numerous conversations I have had with fellow journalism students about the Missourian, the J-School, and the positive and negative effects of our education. The class discussion, the conversations with fellow classmates, and my jealousy lead me to two questions. First, if many of us spend literally almost all day in the newsroom and have very little social life outside of journalism how do we maintain sanity as those we are closest to are the same people we are competing with not only for grades but also, as many of us approach the working world, for jobs in an economically volatile time? Secondly I am left wondering what is the goal of journalism when journalists are often competing so intensely that they lose sight of informing the public and enabling the public and are left with hundreds of clips, a good job, and no friends?
I often have to remind myself that the work I am doing is for people. “I am working as a journalist to help and inform the public.” Although I think Sean’s point made in class last Wednesday supports this idea, I also think Sean’s point is a catch-22 leaving the journalist feeling that his/her work is never enough. I don’t think the death of an individual is cause for celebration, but when a reporter and a newsroom covers a story well should he/she not be humble enough to receive praise?
I watched as numerous fellow journalists last week wondered around the newsroom frantically trying to get stories done while they hadn’t slept in days and were quite ill. I wonder to myself as we provide a public service do we need to ensure that we are supported?
It is often a fear of mine in this newsroom to show vulnerability, because at the end of the day I want that “A”, I want that job in a big city, and I want to know that I have “made it.” This has been my dream for most of my life, but as I look around at the young faces in my classes outside of the Missourian, KOMU, and KBIA I wonder will many of these people be happy living in the suburbs of Kansas City or St. Louis with the friends they made in college and the spouse they meet at some Greek event or was my fight worth it? Were the late nights of studying, early mornings of reporting, and constant questioning of any form of congratulations worth it?
Only time will tell…but at least I have 8 posts up now.
Friday, March 21, 2008
You gotta carry that weight...
Yeah, one of the few times when the Beatles being right is actually a bad thing.
I'm glad we talked a little about stress in class this week. It's definitely something that's been a problem lately. Spring break will be glorious.
Not much happened for my stories this week. I worked a little bit on Sean's video about being tasered yesterday. I mic'ed him up and we shot a quick interview, which Vinti and I edited into the video to make it a slightly more completely package. Overall, what a fun idea for a story! Props to Sean. Also for voluntarily being tased and NOT screaming. That was my favorite part of his post-tasering interview - he basically said that the first thing on his mind was to not look like a wimp in front of the SWAT guys and not scream. Haha. Good job, buddy.
I'm also working on a bit of a profile piece about the new director of the Boone County Democrats. Apparently it's some kid from Mizzou. He's just graduating. He beat out 30+ applicants from a bunch of other states. How cool is that? I'm excited about the story, but it comes at kind of an inopportune time. I think people with real jobs should take spring break, too. Although, I guess if that happened, journalists would still be in the newsroom.
We also got to meet with the web producer, who is hilariously quiet and shy-seeming. I was afraid that I might have scared him a little. He seems like he has a pretty good idea of what we want, and I think our communication went really well.
I'm glad we talked a little about stress in class this week. It's definitely something that's been a problem lately. Spring break will be glorious.
Not much happened for my stories this week. I worked a little bit on Sean's video about being tasered yesterday. I mic'ed him up and we shot a quick interview, which Vinti and I edited into the video to make it a slightly more completely package. Overall, what a fun idea for a story! Props to Sean. Also for voluntarily being tased and NOT screaming. That was my favorite part of his post-tasering interview - he basically said that the first thing on his mind was to not look like a wimp in front of the SWAT guys and not scream. Haha. Good job, buddy.
I'm also working on a bit of a profile piece about the new director of the Boone County Democrats. Apparently it's some kid from Mizzou. He's just graduating. He beat out 30+ applicants from a bunch of other states. How cool is that? I'm excited about the story, but it comes at kind of an inopportune time. I think people with real jobs should take spring break, too. Although, I guess if that happened, journalists would still be in the newsroom.
We also got to meet with the web producer, who is hilariously quiet and shy-seeming. I was afraid that I might have scared him a little. He seems like he has a pretty good idea of what we want, and I think our communication went really well.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Not reporting per se, but journalism at the Missourian
Let me start off this late post on the blog by talking about our meetings with Joe from Bright Tree last week.
I will say first it was good to kind of here from him Wednesday because it gave me, at least, a better understanding of where we need to be. Friday's meeting, however was better because meeting with each group gave us a better chance to lay everything out in front of him.
That said we speak two different languages and I think this may cause issues because neither of us know what the other is saying. I have to believe this will develop as we move (quickly) forward, as I have to imagine this happens a lot with new clients. But it is a bit disconcerting that we are this late in the game and still having communication issues.
So, on to my greater issue for the week. My lateness has granted me some leeway in topic, as I had greater look into the explosion and my role.
No, I wasn't one of the reporters digging through singed mail on the Sneed's front lawn, which, may I say, I found particularly wrong. Not as a journalist but as a reader, when I heard about this from one of the people, I was disgusted by the thought of digging through these citizens charred garbage.
But that's an aside, my role in all this was my other job at the Missourian. I am a sports' desk TA, and I specialize in the Friday Night Live featured Web site.
For those that don't know, this semester at the Missourian we are beginning a new Friday night presence online that will get sports news to people that care on a night that we were usually dark.
I was running around Friday trying to get photos of the baseball game for our centerpiece. The centerpiece changed as the news did. As the news side was prepping newsletters I was rebuilding news bursts and redirecting sports fans to another site.
The traffic of the sports stories was obviously down, there were more important stories going on. As an example, the baseball story, written by our very own Sam Miles, that would have been centerpieced was the top sports story on the night with about 200 hits over the weekend. The coverage of the Rock Bridge girls' basketball team last Friday night received closer to 300 hundred last weekend, and a brief about a Mizzou basketball recruit got close to 400 hits over the weekend.
All that said, we did post 11 new stories on the site Friday night setting a new record for us, our average even on Stefhon Hannah arrest nights had been eight.
So while significant applause should be given to the excellent reporters who covered the explosion, the sports reporters have really bought into something new here at the Missourian and are doing something cool with it.
I will say first it was good to kind of here from him Wednesday because it gave me, at least, a better understanding of where we need to be. Friday's meeting, however was better because meeting with each group gave us a better chance to lay everything out in front of him.
That said we speak two different languages and I think this may cause issues because neither of us know what the other is saying. I have to believe this will develop as we move (quickly) forward, as I have to imagine this happens a lot with new clients. But it is a bit disconcerting that we are this late in the game and still having communication issues.
So, on to my greater issue for the week. My lateness has granted me some leeway in topic, as I had greater look into the explosion and my role.
No, I wasn't one of the reporters digging through singed mail on the Sneed's front lawn, which, may I say, I found particularly wrong. Not as a journalist but as a reader, when I heard about this from one of the people, I was disgusted by the thought of digging through these citizens charred garbage.
But that's an aside, my role in all this was my other job at the Missourian. I am a sports' desk TA, and I specialize in the Friday Night Live featured Web site.
For those that don't know, this semester at the Missourian we are beginning a new Friday night presence online that will get sports news to people that care on a night that we were usually dark.
I was running around Friday trying to get photos of the baseball game for our centerpiece. The centerpiece changed as the news did. As the news side was prepping newsletters I was rebuilding news bursts and redirecting sports fans to another site.
The traffic of the sports stories was obviously down, there were more important stories going on. As an example, the baseball story, written by our very own Sam Miles, that would have been centerpieced was the top sports story on the night with about 200 hits over the weekend. The coverage of the Rock Bridge girls' basketball team last Friday night received closer to 300 hundred last weekend, and a brief about a Mizzou basketball recruit got close to 400 hits over the weekend.
All that said, we did post 11 new stories on the site Friday night setting a new record for us, our average even on Stefhon Hannah arrest nights had been eight.
So while significant applause should be given to the excellent reporters who covered the explosion, the sports reporters have really bought into something new here at the Missourian and are doing something cool with it.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Weight
I have been getting the RoyalRunAround.
Sunshine law requests that take nearly 2 weeks to be filled... administrators requesting to see my article before it is printed...
Not to mention the heartbreaking school board meeting where I had to sit through a 2-hour-long barrage of cuts the school district will soon be making. Not painless — these are funds that will be taken out of the "special" programs. Minority Achievement, Gifted, Special Education programs will all suffer.
Writing about this is difficult.
On the one hand are these administrators who are, by now, practiced regurgitators of fluff. On the other are academics who see only a waste of money in the district.
And there are real people and real children and I am nearly paralyzed. I'm not from here. I'm young, I don't have children, I don't pay Columbia taxes, and I will be gone soon. Where is my authority to weigh in on these issues?
Frankly, the fear of the "media" focusing on the wrong information or missing the big picture is the only thing that keeps me going.
It's exciting that our blog is getting traffic. It's exciting to hear people talk about it when I'm sitting in a coffee shop, it's exciting to discuss educational policy theory with an experts...
But at the end of it all, this exciting opportunity for analysis and "good" coverage is just sad. It's a sad, difficult situation.
--------
I missed Wednesday's class this week because I had an interview with one of the very busy people yanking me around, while promising information this week.
I think I'm doing good work on the K-12 beat, I just feel like there isn't enough time for us to cover everything that needs to be covered before the April 8 election.
I'm feeling about 100 times better about this shells project.
Friday, March 14, 2008
I would write my own personal blog, but instead I am simply posting my Growth group upate
Today Bria, Justin, Lyndy and I had the opportunity to speak to Joe, who is constructing the web shell. The meeting was productive and I feel on a whole we are headed in the right direction. The web shell will be accessible through the Missourian website and will keep the Missourian website heading. Those of us that were present at the meeting had the opportunity to see a prototype for the future design of the Missourian website.
For our own project we will have six maps
The Arial and Annexation maps will be similar as they are animated and show time laps changes in growth in Columbia. The sewers and roads will be more stagnant, but people will have the choice to pick on certain pictures on the bottom of the map area to see previous map layouts of sewers or roads. The development and schools sections will be similar in that people will be able to roal ovr icons to get facts such as cost, population, etc.
Sean, Bria, or myself will try to gather the information on approved/built homes as we are gathering maps. Bria, Sean, and myself will hit the ground running by gathering the map information on Monday. Hopefully we will be able to gather numerous maps throughout the week, but we will have to see how this turns out.
There will be a meeting next Thursday with the web developer. We will be schedualing aroud Lyndy’s schedule as she is taking a major role as our design expert. Please make an effort to be at this meeting. Timing is still being sorts, but it looks like the meeting may be at 11 a.m. I will keep everyone updated.
Breakdown of workload:
1.Maps (sans Schools)
a.Arial (photo)----Sean, Bria, Paul
b.Annexation----Sean, Bria, Paul
c.Sewers----Sean, Bria, Paul
d.Development (Everyone NEEDS to find their 8 areas of growth/development A.S.A.P. This information will be on a map with icon/dots highlighting the areas of growth that people can roll over to see the most recent data including size, cost, when it was finalized or expected to be finalized, and the number of people located there)---Evryone, get your info!
i.South West
1.Justin
2.Rebecca
ii.North East
1.Audrey
2.Sean S.
iii.South East
1.Sam
2.Matt
3.Vannah
iv.North West
1.Paul
2.Bria
e.Roads
2.Schools- Audrey
3.Approved/Built ---Sean, Bria, Paul (we will try to gather this info as we are getting our maps)
4. BoCo Smart Growth Economic Impact/$30,000 as cost of home for tax payer---Matt Heindl
For our own project we will have six maps
The Arial and Annexation maps will be similar as they are animated and show time laps changes in growth in Columbia. The sewers and roads will be more stagnant, but people will have the choice to pick on certain pictures on the bottom of the map area to see previous map layouts of sewers or roads. The development and schools sections will be similar in that people will be able to roal ovr icons to get facts such as cost, population, etc.
Sean, Bria, or myself will try to gather the information on approved/built homes as we are gathering maps. Bria, Sean, and myself will hit the ground running by gathering the map information on Monday. Hopefully we will be able to gather numerous maps throughout the week, but we will have to see how this turns out.
There will be a meeting next Thursday with the web developer. We will be schedualing aroud Lyndy’s schedule as she is taking a major role as our design expert. Please make an effort to be at this meeting. Timing is still being sorts, but it looks like the meeting may be at 11 a.m. I will keep everyone updated.
Breakdown of workload:
1.Maps (sans Schools)
a.Arial (photo)----Sean, Bria, Paul
b.Annexation----Sean, Bria, Paul
c.Sewers----Sean, Bria, Paul
d.Development (Everyone NEEDS to find their 8 areas of growth/development A.S.A.P. This information will be on a map with icon/dots highlighting the areas of growth that people can roll over to see the most recent data including size, cost, when it was finalized or expected to be finalized, and the number of people located there)---Evryone, get your info!
i.South West
1.Justin
2.Rebecca
ii.North East
1.Audrey
2.Sean S.
iii.South East
1.Sam
2.Matt
3.Vannah
iv.North West
1.Paul
2.Bria
e.Roads
2.Schools- Audrey
3.Approved/Built ---Sean, Bria, Paul (we will try to gather this info as we are getting our maps)
4. BoCo Smart Growth Economic Impact/$30,000 as cost of home for tax payer---Matt Heindl
Leisure Time
For those of you (males, probably) who haven't seen the movie Almost Heroes, I'm hereby recommending it. The movie stars Matthew Perry and Chris Farley (it was his last movie), and is generally hilarious.
The plot of the story is that Matthew Perry leads an expedition to the coast to beat Lewis and Clark, and there is a scene where he tries to socially engage the poor, unlearned men he has hired. It reminds me something of my interaction with my friends and family at this point, with them being Perry, and me being poor and unlearned.
"What do you do in your leisure time," Perry asks.
He's met with blank stares.
"Lets move on," Perry says, realizing that they don't even understand the concept of leisure time, because they have none.
This is my life, minus the time available to discuss what I do in my non-existant leisure time.
In the next 10 days, the Missouri baseball team has brilliantly decided to schedule 8 games. Eight. That, for those counting at home, is a lot. A reasonable approximation for how much time I'll spend on JUST GAMES AND GAME STORIES during those 10 days is somewhere around 50 hours. And these are game stories...which my editors don't even want. They want mini-features which, for 30 games a year, is impossible. This has nothing to do with the time I'll be spending on the feature stories I'm hoping to get a job with. Or with the job I work at to make sure I get to do things like this and, say, eat. Or with school itself.
As far as the shells go, I'll admit to being less than enthused. Fortunately, that doesn't really matter, because I have to do it anyway. My only real worry is that everyone else has a LOT of knowledge about this stuff, while I have less than none. I think I'm a fantastic baseball/sports reporter because I just know what to ask and where to look. With this, I go from being good to significantly below average, just because I don't know anything about what we're talking about. The only thing saving me from depression over it is the hope that we can find a way to utilize some of my skills (yes, I have some) so that I don't drag us down, if not be a real asset.
Also, I'll be on a class field trip all spring break, so there goes any hope of catching up or, heaven forbid, even relax.
Thank you for allowing me to vent.
---------------
Progress Report
I'm currently putting together my first big profile story for the baseball team, and it's starting out great. The guy is just a great story...my only job is to not screw it up. I have nothing done with the shells, since I just figured out what we were doing yesterday, and Monday is looking like the very earliest I'll be able to do anything...and then Thursday...and then a week after that. So yikes.
The plot of the story is that Matthew Perry leads an expedition to the coast to beat Lewis and Clark, and there is a scene where he tries to socially engage the poor, unlearned men he has hired. It reminds me something of my interaction with my friends and family at this point, with them being Perry, and me being poor and unlearned.
"What do you do in your leisure time," Perry asks.
He's met with blank stares.
"Lets move on," Perry says, realizing that they don't even understand the concept of leisure time, because they have none.
This is my life, minus the time available to discuss what I do in my non-existant leisure time.
In the next 10 days, the Missouri baseball team has brilliantly decided to schedule 8 games. Eight. That, for those counting at home, is a lot. A reasonable approximation for how much time I'll spend on JUST GAMES AND GAME STORIES during those 10 days is somewhere around 50 hours. And these are game stories...which my editors don't even want. They want mini-features which, for 30 games a year, is impossible. This has nothing to do with the time I'll be spending on the feature stories I'm hoping to get a job with. Or with the job I work at to make sure I get to do things like this and, say, eat. Or with school itself.
As far as the shells go, I'll admit to being less than enthused. Fortunately, that doesn't really matter, because I have to do it anyway. My only real worry is that everyone else has a LOT of knowledge about this stuff, while I have less than none. I think I'm a fantastic baseball/sports reporter because I just know what to ask and where to look. With this, I go from being good to significantly below average, just because I don't know anything about what we're talking about. The only thing saving me from depression over it is the hope that we can find a way to utilize some of my skills (yes, I have some) so that I don't drag us down, if not be a real asset.
Also, I'll be on a class field trip all spring break, so there goes any hope of catching up or, heaven forbid, even relax.
Thank you for allowing me to vent.
---------------
Progress Report
I'm currently putting together my first big profile story for the baseball team, and it's starting out great. The guy is just a great story...my only job is to not screw it up. I have nothing done with the shells, since I just figured out what we were doing yesterday, and Monday is looking like the very earliest I'll be able to do anything...and then Thursday...and then a week after that. So yikes.
Just do it.
Man, oh, man. It may be spring, but there is no break. I might be physically located in northern Illinois for a week, but my heart, soul and energy will be given to a little publication in central Missouri. I plan on putting in 3-4 hours a day of work at home to get everything done - my shells reporting, 5 ideas, my ag/energy law impact story - and that's just for this class. I have two exams next week, so I have a feeling I'll really only be able to do a lot of Missourian work on Monday and Thursday afternoon and that's just not enough to be where I need to be. For me, whether I survive the next week or am crushed under it all depends on how well I plan. I've always been moderately annoyed by my mother's to-do lists, now I'm finding that I'm hardly a functional human being without one that's twice as detailed as hers.
I used to be like Rebecca, stressing out about everything. And I used to be more productive. Last year, it took 1/3 of a reporting semester and a series of panic attacks to drive me over the edge and realize that that type of stress was making me miserable and driving me to the grave. In the past year, I've had to radically readjust my attitude and fight for sanity. I'm a lot happier now, but I just don't feel like I'm getting enough work done (but at the same time I know I am). I'm hoping that a new commitment to keeping an updated, organized, thorough will be a way to help me recover my productivity while keeping my sanity.
My agriculture and energy story is halfway there, sort of. Everytime I've talked to my editor, the focus changes just enough to make me feel like I'm back at square one. I want to kick this gorilla out of the room. I need to finish building the cage (frame) around him, explain his presence (put him in context) and send him out into the real world (get him published)! After yesterday's meeting, I think we planned the best framework for this story. It's just time to do it. I'm spending my morning at work drafting an intense, prioritized to-do list.
Then there's shells. I spent last night working on that stuff. I'm realizing I really love the brainstorming and planning of projects like these but follow through hasn't always been my strong suit. I was organizing our scattered, multicolored web of potential ideas into a neat little diagram and it hit me: I could do this. After high school, I vowed I never wanted to be an editor. But just maybe, down the road, if I had the chance to plan projects without having to execute them, I could do it. I could be an editor. And I'd enjoy it. But first, I must work on getting things done.
I used to be like Rebecca, stressing out about everything. And I used to be more productive. Last year, it took 1/3 of a reporting semester and a series of panic attacks to drive me over the edge and realize that that type of stress was making me miserable and driving me to the grave. In the past year, I've had to radically readjust my attitude and fight for sanity. I'm a lot happier now, but I just don't feel like I'm getting enough work done (but at the same time I know I am). I'm hoping that a new commitment to keeping an updated, organized, thorough will be a way to help me recover my productivity while keeping my sanity.
My agriculture and energy story is halfway there, sort of. Everytime I've talked to my editor, the focus changes just enough to make me feel like I'm back at square one. I want to kick this gorilla out of the room. I need to finish building the cage (frame) around him, explain his presence (put him in context) and send him out into the real world (get him published)! After yesterday's meeting, I think we planned the best framework for this story. It's just time to do it. I'm spending my morning at work drafting an intense, prioritized to-do list.
Then there's shells. I spent last night working on that stuff. I'm realizing I really love the brainstorming and planning of projects like these but follow through hasn't always been my strong suit. I was organizing our scattered, multicolored web of potential ideas into a neat little diagram and it hit me: I could do this. After high school, I vowed I never wanted to be an editor. But just maybe, down the road, if I had the chance to plan projects without having to execute them, I could do it. I could be an editor. And I'd enjoy it. But first, I must work on getting things done.
The Pre-Break Rush
Ever since I've started college, the pressure really seems to ramp up in the time right before a break. It happens almost without fail. On the curricular side of things, there's always multiple tests or papers those last few days — everything comes to a head.
Both of my semesters in reporting have mirrored this feeling to some extent. Last winter I finished three stories that last week before break and even stuck around through break to make the last five weeks or so less breakneck. I won't be doing that this semester, but I have a good feeling that things are starting to come together. I've got one of my assignments for the shells project basically finished, and another is about ready for the interview stage. I co-wrote an article on the House's higher education appropriations bill. I'm waiting to receive information from a FOIA e-mail request, and I've gone to a career fair at Columbia College to get the feel for the local atmosphere surrounding a school that is spreading its wings to adult learning in states across the country. I feel much better than I did a few weeks ago.
I hope today's shells meeting with the Web designer helps us get the formatting, etc. of the Web page cleared up a bit. That's my one worry with the green group about the shells project. Once that gets ironed out, I'll be ready to keep my nose to the grindstone with more long-term work, hopefully get my second shells story finished, and take my third turn at Five Ideas before a much-needed week to recharge.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Calm Down
This morning, when I opened my inbox, I had an e-mail from a Pulitzer prize winner. This is what it said:
“What a lovely piece! Thanks ever so much. You handled all the issues, and handled them with grace and sensitivity. I am very grateful. “
With about three, maybe four hours of sleep under my belt after what I can only describe as a nervous breakdown last night, I should have been comatose all morning. But that e-mail made an overcast, gross day a little brighter. The funny thing about it, though, was that it took me reading that e-mail to Liz to realize that, whoa…that’s a pretty big deal.
Liz literally sprung out of her seat and gave me a huge hug.
The e-mail was from Tim Page, an epically talented music critic who wrote for the Washington Post for 12 years. He’ll be visiting campus on Monday and Tuesday. Here’s the thing about Mr. Page…
He has Asperger’s Syndrome, an autism-spectrum disorder that impairs social interactions and entails offbeat and often disruptive fixations on very specific topics. Without supportive friends and family and strong adaptive skills, Asperger’s can be a genuinely debilitating disorder. Page coped…he made the syndrome work for him. One of Page’s fixations was music. He had a knack for writing, too, and as you might guess, things unfolded from there.
It’s pretty freakin’ inspirational stuff. Enough so that, after I interviewed Mr. Page, I couldn’t help but feel uplifted.
Don’t ask me how writing about someone who’s had an insanely rough life made me feel this way, but I realized I’m being entirely too hard on myself. By tomorrow, I’ll have three stories printed in the Missourian this week. One was a Sunday centerpiece. Another was a front-page centerpiece that jumped to Second Front. Who knows what’ll happen with the Page story, but regardless: I need to stop feeling guilty. I don’t have to be Superwoman. I’m already doing a heck of a lot, and maybe it’s time to slow down a little.
This semester’s been rough. The shells project is driving me crazy. I was personally insulted when the Safety shell was collapsed, especially when we were already approaching the execution phases. It’s been really challenging to get back up after being knocked down by that kind of frustration. Thankfully, Paul’s really on the ball with the Growth shell, so for once, I don’t feel like I have to micromanage an entire project. (It doesn’t matter if I have the greatest group of all time; I’m always going to be the one who freaks out about everything.)
Life is literally driving me crazy right now, and I need to stop making it worse by stressing myself out about it. I’m stressing so much, it takes a hyperactive hug from my editor (seriously though, thanks Liz) to realize I’m doing a good job.
“What a lovely piece! Thanks ever so much. You handled all the issues, and handled them with grace and sensitivity. I am very grateful. “
With about three, maybe four hours of sleep under my belt after what I can only describe as a nervous breakdown last night, I should have been comatose all morning. But that e-mail made an overcast, gross day a little brighter. The funny thing about it, though, was that it took me reading that e-mail to Liz to realize that, whoa…that’s a pretty big deal.
Liz literally sprung out of her seat and gave me a huge hug.
The e-mail was from Tim Page, an epically talented music critic who wrote for the Washington Post for 12 years. He’ll be visiting campus on Monday and Tuesday. Here’s the thing about Mr. Page…
He has Asperger’s Syndrome, an autism-spectrum disorder that impairs social interactions and entails offbeat and often disruptive fixations on very specific topics. Without supportive friends and family and strong adaptive skills, Asperger’s can be a genuinely debilitating disorder. Page coped…he made the syndrome work for him. One of Page’s fixations was music. He had a knack for writing, too, and as you might guess, things unfolded from there.
It’s pretty freakin’ inspirational stuff. Enough so that, after I interviewed Mr. Page, I couldn’t help but feel uplifted.
Don’t ask me how writing about someone who’s had an insanely rough life made me feel this way, but I realized I’m being entirely too hard on myself. By tomorrow, I’ll have three stories printed in the Missourian this week. One was a Sunday centerpiece. Another was a front-page centerpiece that jumped to Second Front. Who knows what’ll happen with the Page story, but regardless: I need to stop feeling guilty. I don’t have to be Superwoman. I’m already doing a heck of a lot, and maybe it’s time to slow down a little.
This semester’s been rough. The shells project is driving me crazy. I was personally insulted when the Safety shell was collapsed, especially when we were already approaching the execution phases. It’s been really challenging to get back up after being knocked down by that kind of frustration. Thankfully, Paul’s really on the ball with the Growth shell, so for once, I don’t feel like I have to micromanage an entire project. (It doesn’t matter if I have the greatest group of all time; I’m always going to be the one who freaks out about everything.)
Life is literally driving me crazy right now, and I need to stop making it worse by stressing myself out about it. I’m stressing so much, it takes a hyperactive hug from my editor (seriously though, thanks Liz) to realize I’m doing a good job.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Revelations
This week was full of revelations.
First the class met with the editors concerning the shells. I think it was good idea for the reporters to meet and discuss the project and progress we’ve made so far. There was a lot of feed back concerning what the different groups have been working on and what direction they are taking for the future. It definitely helped to discuss our ideas because they sound different being dissected in a room of our peers than they do during a quick group meeting – they can be looked at more objectively.
Personally, the growth group realized that we were taking our topic in too many directions. I think everybody in the group had great suggestions, but accomplishing all of our ideas isn’t realistic. We all learned that we really need to hone in on a focus and make our project more detailed than general.
I like the fact that we are focusing more on the people because I really want this site to be relevant and useful to those who come in. I think focusing on aspects that affect people allows this shell to be a resource for the community more than a class project.
The second realization I had was about the reporting aspect of the class.
I realize I need to pay more attention to my work. I am so used to being able to get something together in a relatively short time, but that strategy hasn’t been so successful lately. Additionally, it is hard to focus because it seems like so many things are demanding my attention right now; but somebody had to do it before me, so I can do it.
I had the opportunity to turn a story this week, but instead I got a lesson on what not to do: I shouldn’t assume the story can be turned quickly, I should get back to accuracy checking stories and I need to spend more time on my writing.
First the class met with the editors concerning the shells. I think it was good idea for the reporters to meet and discuss the project and progress we’ve made so far. There was a lot of feed back concerning what the different groups have been working on and what direction they are taking for the future. It definitely helped to discuss our ideas because they sound different being dissected in a room of our peers than they do during a quick group meeting – they can be looked at more objectively.
Personally, the growth group realized that we were taking our topic in too many directions. I think everybody in the group had great suggestions, but accomplishing all of our ideas isn’t realistic. We all learned that we really need to hone in on a focus and make our project more detailed than general.
I like the fact that we are focusing more on the people because I really want this site to be relevant and useful to those who come in. I think focusing on aspects that affect people allows this shell to be a resource for the community more than a class project.
The second realization I had was about the reporting aspect of the class.
I realize I need to pay more attention to my work. I am so used to being able to get something together in a relatively short time, but that strategy hasn’t been so successful lately. Additionally, it is hard to focus because it seems like so many things are demanding my attention right now; but somebody had to do it before me, so I can do it.
I had the opportunity to turn a story this week, but instead I got a lesson on what not to do: I shouldn’t assume the story can be turned quickly, I should get back to accuracy checking stories and I need to spend more time on my writing.
My thoughts about the shells
This was definitely the craziest week of the semester so far for me, so I may be speaking out of exhaustion, but I do think we should collapse at least one shell. Not because I don't think we could do it, but because I am not sure if three web shells could be sustained in the long run.
My greatest fear for this project was that we put a bunch of work into it, and come May, no one takes up the mantle and it just dies. I think only one or two shells could more easily sustained, and maybe could be someone's regular beat in the future.
I think there are considerations about how much the project takes us off of our regular beat. I'm kind of in a special position because the legislature goes on break after next week, so I was planning on trying to do a lot of my stuff then. But I know it's difficult for those working on a beat that is continuous.
Progress Report-
In my story this week about Missouri's undecided superdelegates, I interviewed a U.S. Congressman from STL (Lacy Clay) who said that Obama would pick up 50 undecided superdelegates at the same time "later this week". It was a statement that, if true, would have been close to national news, and the story on our web site was picked up by a lot of different political web sites on Wednesday night (Politico, Daily Kos, Politics 1). I was even called by a Fox News reporter on Thursday morning to ask if the story was true. I spent most of Thursday chasing that story and found the Obama Campaign and Clay's office to be rather tight-lipped about it, leaving me. It was crazy to chase a story that important though, and I enjoyed it a lot. I also am happy about my other story about a package of crime bills heard by the Senate on Monday. All in all, a good but busy week. for me.
My greatest fear for this project was that we put a bunch of work into it, and come May, no one takes up the mantle and it just dies. I think only one or two shells could more easily sustained, and maybe could be someone's regular beat in the future.
I think there are considerations about how much the project takes us off of our regular beat. I'm kind of in a special position because the legislature goes on break after next week, so I was planning on trying to do a lot of my stuff then. But I know it's difficult for those working on a beat that is continuous.
Progress Report-
In my story this week about Missouri's undecided superdelegates, I interviewed a U.S. Congressman from STL (Lacy Clay) who said that Obama would pick up 50 undecided superdelegates at the same time "later this week". It was a statement that, if true, would have been close to national news, and the story on our web site was picked up by a lot of different political web sites on Wednesday night (Politico, Daily Kos, Politics 1). I was even called by a Fox News reporter on Thursday morning to ask if the story was true. I spent most of Thursday chasing that story and found the Obama Campaign and Clay's office to be rather tight-lipped about it, leaving me. It was crazy to chase a story that important though, and I enjoyed it a lot. I also am happy about my other story about a package of crime bills heard by the Senate on Monday. All in all, a good but busy week. for me.
Risk evaluation. Supply and demand.
I agree that we need to pare down on the web shells. I've really enjoyed the project planning side, but I'm feeling the follow-through crunch. And I'm wondering how it fits into my ultimate goal of the semester: to leave the Missourian with a portfolio that will get me a job. If shells as we see them now work out, it could get me a job. But not necessarily one I want.
Yet, I think trying something new is refreshing, necessary and a way to test my skill set. I think compromise is best. By working as a larger group with each of us taking on a smaller piece of a pie, we lower the risk of not having the portfolio we want when the semester's over. But we also increase the chances of success. In my energy reporting, I've been diving into a stronger understanding of supply and demand and how the biofuel boom is changing the equation. So please, pardon the economic comparison.
We have 15 advanced reporters or so. We have a set supply. The supply could be supplemented by 4450 students who aren't up to speed on the project and are still trying to get used to reporting. It's almost like replacing 24 karat gold with a metal alloy. It can pass some people's muster, but a jeweler or news connoisseur will know the difference. Fixed supply.
Now for demand. Non-journalism classes. Other journalism classes. Copy editing (boo...). Jobs, ones we have to do to attend school in the first place and ones we need after graduation. Extracurricular commitments. Friends, family, significant others. Advanced reporting for a beat. Delegating and working on an in-depth web report we've endearingly called shells and they're no where near a beach. Long reporting projects. There are countless demands for our time and energy.
There's also another demand - the demands of our reader for quality reporting. From what everyone is saying, and what I feel, is that we want this project to be a quality project. We want something we can point to and say "Yessir, we did that. Isn't it thourough? It gives you all the context you need. It's interactive. Newest technology. Fresh format and all, but, damn, isn't that good reporting?" At this point in our journalism careers, we grasp what quality work is and we know what goes into producing it.
Looking at supply, demand, risk, I think it's best that we condense. And get moving.
Progress: I wrote two stories in one day this week. Both were about the same thing: a release from FAPRI projecting an agricultural outlook for the nation given the changing supply and demand balance. The first story was national in scope and was on the internet by noon. By 3:30, I got Missouri Soybean Association and the Missouri Corn Growers to weigh in on the results, and had a Missouri-wide story for the paper and the internet. Then I did a copy editing shift, ugh. The stories more or less set out a roadmap from my energy project and a potential focus.
Yet, I think trying something new is refreshing, necessary and a way to test my skill set. I think compromise is best. By working as a larger group with each of us taking on a smaller piece of a pie, we lower the risk of not having the portfolio we want when the semester's over. But we also increase the chances of success. In my energy reporting, I've been diving into a stronger understanding of supply and demand and how the biofuel boom is changing the equation. So please, pardon the economic comparison.
We have 15 advanced reporters or so. We have a set supply. The supply could be supplemented by 4450 students who aren't up to speed on the project and are still trying to get used to reporting. It's almost like replacing 24 karat gold with a metal alloy. It can pass some people's muster, but a jeweler or news connoisseur will know the difference. Fixed supply.
Now for demand. Non-journalism classes. Other journalism classes. Copy editing (boo...). Jobs, ones we have to do to attend school in the first place and ones we need after graduation. Extracurricular commitments. Friends, family, significant others. Advanced reporting for a beat. Delegating and working on an in-depth web report we've endearingly called shells and they're no where near a beach. Long reporting projects. There are countless demands for our time and energy.
There's also another demand - the demands of our reader for quality reporting. From what everyone is saying, and what I feel, is that we want this project to be a quality project. We want something we can point to and say "Yessir, we did that. Isn't it thourough? It gives you all the context you need. It's interactive. Newest technology. Fresh format and all, but, damn, isn't that good reporting?" At this point in our journalism careers, we grasp what quality work is and we know what goes into producing it.
Looking at supply, demand, risk, I think it's best that we condense. And get moving.
Progress: I wrote two stories in one day this week. Both were about the same thing: a release from FAPRI projecting an agricultural outlook for the nation given the changing supply and demand balance. The first story was national in scope and was on the internet by noon. By 3:30, I got Missouri Soybean Association and the Missouri Corn Growers to weigh in on the results, and had a Missouri-wide story for the paper and the internet. Then I did a copy editing shift, ugh. The stories more or less set out a roadmap from my energy project and a potential focus.
Bathwater or the Baby?
What if... we looked at this project as a way of organizing information?
What if we stayed in each of our groups and spent the remainder of our time taking what the Missourian produces (and has produced) and organizing it in the same way that the best websites on the internet organize information?
The immediate result would be a critical look at where the Missourian is missing the story in the topics of Growth, Green and Public Safety.
I see great potential for shells to exist as webs of information categories, to provide more context than a nutgraph can by connecting the dots of articles, editorials, online resources and statistics so that niche readers can really delve into what interests them.
And then, respond. And we can answer back.
Furthermore, if we begin laying the groundwork for those connections, we are making a resource for future reporters, and creating the space for non-narrative story-telling to begin. At least for me, the missing visual presentations become more visible when I see many stories on a topic connected on a page. Those connections let me see others that should be available to our readers.
When I think of what the work would be for that, I see hyper attention to what our reporters churn out at the Missourian, I see pages and pages of lines illustrating relationships in what we produce, and I see us using the work that our designers have already done.
And I think that approach would let us see what is missing in our coverage. And then I think we could then follow those missing relationships and turn them into stories, graphics, slideshows and photos.
Plus, we would have made three awesome finished products that continue to grow and contribute to the Missourian's website and the knowledge of our readers.
What if we stayed in each of our groups and spent the remainder of our time taking what the Missourian produces (and has produced) and organizing it in the same way that the best websites on the internet organize information?
The immediate result would be a critical look at where the Missourian is missing the story in the topics of Growth, Green and Public Safety.
I see great potential for shells to exist as webs of information categories, to provide more context than a nutgraph can by connecting the dots of articles, editorials, online resources and statistics so that niche readers can really delve into what interests them.
And then, respond. And we can answer back.
Furthermore, if we begin laying the groundwork for those connections, we are making a resource for future reporters, and creating the space for non-narrative story-telling to begin. At least for me, the missing visual presentations become more visible when I see many stories on a topic connected on a page. Those connections let me see others that should be available to our readers.
When I think of what the work would be for that, I see hyper attention to what our reporters churn out at the Missourian, I see pages and pages of lines illustrating relationships in what we produce, and I see us using the work that our designers have already done.
And I think that approach would let us see what is missing in our coverage. And then I think we could then follow those missing relationships and turn them into stories, graphics, slideshows and photos.
Plus, we would have made three awesome finished products that continue to grow and contribute to the Missourian's website and the knowledge of our readers.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Green Means Go?
I just saw the ultimatum for the discussion board, and some things are clear. For one, the general consensus is that three shells up and running by the end of may will likely not work. I thing I'd have to agree with that.
Where I'm not so sure is voting on whether to pare down the groupings to two or just one. I feel slightly uncomfortable simply because I don't have a good enough idea just how viable the safety and growth groups think their shells are.
I don't know if I speak for the entirety of the green group, but we've met enough and have done enough outlining and reworking to where I think we have something that is feasible, to lay as a groundwork for others to add onto in future semesters. Again, however, that is currently based on just my time and experiences, for I've had a good week of getting some of my pieces together.
I'll pretty much post this same thing on Blackboard, too — I'm not sure where to vote. I'd want to hear from other groups how they're feeling. Because I think green could be OK. The question to me is between one and two shells, and I don't know enough about the groups' progress to make a decision with all available information in mind.
Progress: Briefly I'll discuss my workings. 1) Shells. 2) FOIA-ing some e-mails about the reprimanding of a staff member in regards to Norman Finkelstein's visit to campus Monday. 3) Beginning research on my new long-term project: the growth of Columbia College to various stations around the country, including Guantanamo Bay. Do Columbia residents fully realize the scope and audience to which Columbia College is now catering?
TOM WEIGHS IN
I see we haven't gotten much response so far to your proposal, Rebekah. So let me jump in anyway and see if it prompts any more:
The technology:
As I said in my earlier e-mail, the Smart Decision comparison isn't appropriate in this case, because totally different players are involved. I have contracted with an outside company, Bright Tree, to do the shells programming. These are consultants who do nothing but this kind of work.
It may be true that creating something within the Missourian content management system takes more time -- too much time. If that's the case, we'll put something up anyway.
Resources:
I trust from your note that it didn't go well with the editors. I'll hook up with them in the next couple of the days. In the meantime, if you have specific reporting you need help with, send the requests to me and I'll see if I can help.
To that point, I am canceling a trip to Ft. Myers planned for next week. I'll be physically in the office Wednesday morning.
On innovation: Saying we have to do "something innovative" freezes you from doing anything innovative. Enlightened trial and error beats lone genius every time (not my words, but I wish they were.)
So don't worry about it. You're doing work you haven't done before -- even those of you in the convergence sequence. To date you all have operated in the safe confines of a beat or a class assignment or an internship. You haven't had to deal with the hardest assignment of all -- freedom.
This project has already seen one great leap, in the way you all came up with ideas and talked about them and imagined them. It has shown how much really smart students can do -- you've organized yourselves to make this happen.
I'm OK if the group wants to boil it to one. Or keep three.
I'm putting in an assignment on the blackboard for everyone to vote by 3 pm Friday.
Tom
The technology:
As I said in my earlier e-mail, the Smart Decision comparison isn't appropriate in this case, because totally different players are involved. I have contracted with an outside company, Bright Tree, to do the shells programming. These are consultants who do nothing but this kind of work.
It may be true that creating something within the Missourian content management system takes more time -- too much time. If that's the case, we'll put something up anyway.
Resources:
I trust from your note that it didn't go well with the editors. I'll hook up with them in the next couple of the days. In the meantime, if you have specific reporting you need help with, send the requests to me and I'll see if I can help.
To that point, I am canceling a trip to Ft. Myers planned for next week. I'll be physically in the office Wednesday morning.
On innovation: Saying we have to do "something innovative" freezes you from doing anything innovative. Enlightened trial and error beats lone genius every time (not my words, but I wish they were.)
So don't worry about it. You're doing work you haven't done before -- even those of you in the convergence sequence. To date you all have operated in the safe confines of a beat or a class assignment or an internship. You haven't had to deal with the hardest assignment of all -- freedom.
This project has already seen one great leap, in the way you all came up with ideas and talked about them and imagined them. It has shown how much really smart students can do -- you've organized yourselves to make this happen.
I'm OK if the group wants to boil it to one. Or keep three.
I'm putting in an assignment on the blackboard for everyone to vote by 3 pm Friday.
Tom
I'm just the sports guy, but...
So I really don't know anything about designing a website, or how to use Flash, or even really what Flash is. I'm not the leader of my team, and I'm not overly knowledgeable about even my own shell.
Now that I've destroyed any credibility I might have had, I think I'm about ready to second Rebekah and Paul's thoughts on these shells...we may have taken on a bit much.
Sure, any student is going to opt for less work if he or she can, unless they're irrationally excited about it or something. But I think we've underestimated the time commitment that is going to be needed for this to work. It's easy to think, hey, if we each just put in five or six hours a week on this thing, we can get it all done. That might not even be true...it might take a lot more, which is only going to be compounded by how disjointed all of our schedules are. And even if five or six hours was a good estimation, where are these hours coming from? For me, baseball season just started, and I have to fit a semester's worth of reporting into the remaining two months of school. This, while still having all my other classes and homework, and while holding a job that allows me to attend here in the first place, social life be damned.
Okay, that was all just a little rant of mine. I'm down for whatever anyone wants to do...I have no problem in admitting that everyone else's perception is probably a lot clearer than is mine. I just thought the goal here was to get something workable - and good - done. At this point, three shells may be wishful thinking.
Progress
-------
The baseball team was to have their first home game Tuesday...it got cancelled. And then they were supposed to have it Friday...it got cancelled. So it looks like Saturday and Sunday will be big days for me, if the weather permits. I had a nice introductory/get to know you conversation with the coach this morning, and I think it went over really well. My goal in having the meeting was to establish some trust and, hopefully, to make him more comfortable with me wanting to steal his players for interviews all the time.
Other than this, I have little to report. I should be exceptionally busy starting this weekend though, so next week should be a bit more progressive...
Now that I've destroyed any credibility I might have had, I think I'm about ready to second Rebekah and Paul's thoughts on these shells...we may have taken on a bit much.
Sure, any student is going to opt for less work if he or she can, unless they're irrationally excited about it or something. But I think we've underestimated the time commitment that is going to be needed for this to work. It's easy to think, hey, if we each just put in five or six hours a week on this thing, we can get it all done. That might not even be true...it might take a lot more, which is only going to be compounded by how disjointed all of our schedules are. And even if five or six hours was a good estimation, where are these hours coming from? For me, baseball season just started, and I have to fit a semester's worth of reporting into the remaining two months of school. This, while still having all my other classes and homework, and while holding a job that allows me to attend here in the first place, social life be damned.
Okay, that was all just a little rant of mine. I'm down for whatever anyone wants to do...I have no problem in admitting that everyone else's perception is probably a lot clearer than is mine. I just thought the goal here was to get something workable - and good - done. At this point, three shells may be wishful thinking.
Progress
-------
The baseball team was to have their first home game Tuesday...it got cancelled. And then they were supposed to have it Friday...it got cancelled. So it looks like Saturday and Sunday will be big days for me, if the weather permits. I had a nice introductory/get to know you conversation with the coach this morning, and I think it went over really well. My goal in having the meeting was to establish some trust and, hopefully, to make him more comfortable with me wanting to steal his players for interviews all the time.
Other than this, I have little to report. I should be exceptionally busy starting this weekend though, so next week should be a bit more progressive...
Thank you, Rebekah!
I'm usually idealistic. I'm capable of recognizing, though, when I'm being too idealistic. And with this shells project...well, I let the idealism get a little out of control. It just took a little while to realize that what I thought were healthy nerves surrounding a big project are actually a giant, red flag waving in front of my face. We've bitten off more than we can chew.
Even having paired down the Safety Shell, I feel like I'm demanding way too much work of reporters who are already extremely busy. Forgive the cynicism, here, but I've about had my fill. I signed up for advanced reporting to report in-depth stories for a beat. I don't know if this has to with group dynamics or the fact that my shell has nothing to do with my beat, but I'm spending a pretty inordinate amount of time planning meetings no one has time to show up to, writing outlines no one has time to read, and coming up with ideas no one has time to discuss or flesh out. I'm really worried that I'm pouring several hours of work each week into organizing something that's going to fall apart when it comes to execution.
I'm not trying to say I'm doing everything. I'm not. I've just fallen into the role of the de-facto group coordinator. And I'll be honest. It's too much for me to handle. I trust my group, and I know we're capable, but even with the degree to which we've steamlined our plan, I still can't help but think we're taking on too much.
I'm with Rebekah. I don't know about the other groups, but I'm gripping on the last thread of my sanity this semester. If we can bring some of our ideas together and maybe shift focus to one shell project, I think I'd be much less likely to jump off the deep end. Because I'm feeling pretty crazy right now.
I really, really, really like this shells project. I just think that the way it's set up right now, it's going to push my sanity a little too far. Coming together to work on a single, really well-developed shell, would ease the individual burdens and would give our readers a much better project to look at.
This week's progress:
Matt and I organized a formal outline for our shells project. I didn't get much feedback about what stories people wanted to tackle, so I delegated the assignments out in hopes that no one would feel like they'd been given too much to do. Besides that, I did about 10 million interviews this week: several on an article that I'll write on Monday, hopefully, about Tim Page coming to town, and several more on an article I'll be writing dissecting some crazy shorts that ran before films at the True/False festival last weekend.
Even having paired down the Safety Shell, I feel like I'm demanding way too much work of reporters who are already extremely busy. Forgive the cynicism, here, but I've about had my fill. I signed up for advanced reporting to report in-depth stories for a beat. I don't know if this has to with group dynamics or the fact that my shell has nothing to do with my beat, but I'm spending a pretty inordinate amount of time planning meetings no one has time to show up to, writing outlines no one has time to read, and coming up with ideas no one has time to discuss or flesh out. I'm really worried that I'm pouring several hours of work each week into organizing something that's going to fall apart when it comes to execution.
I'm not trying to say I'm doing everything. I'm not. I've just fallen into the role of the de-facto group coordinator. And I'll be honest. It's too much for me to handle. I trust my group, and I know we're capable, but even with the degree to which we've steamlined our plan, I still can't help but think we're taking on too much.
I'm with Rebekah. I don't know about the other groups, but I'm gripping on the last thread of my sanity this semester. If we can bring some of our ideas together and maybe shift focus to one shell project, I think I'd be much less likely to jump off the deep end. Because I'm feeling pretty crazy right now.
I really, really, really like this shells project. I just think that the way it's set up right now, it's going to push my sanity a little too far. Coming together to work on a single, really well-developed shell, would ease the individual burdens and would give our readers a much better project to look at.
This week's progress:
Matt and I organized a formal outline for our shells project. I didn't get much feedback about what stories people wanted to tackle, so I delegated the assignments out in hopes that no one would feel like they'd been given too much to do. Besides that, I did about 10 million interviews this week: several on an article that I'll write on Monday, hopefully, about Tim Page coming to town, and several more on an article I'll be writing dissecting some crazy shorts that ran before films at the True/False festival last weekend.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Webshells....
I don’t want to come off as passive aggressive in writing about webshell in my blog post and not to any individual in person, but I feel that there is a lot of altruism surrounding the webshells project and very little realization of how much time and effort goes into development of websites. Even if there has been an established design, idea, and content, the actual development can take a long time. An example of this would be the Smart Decision website, which is still being developed, even though it had a launch date set earlier in this semester.
I personally feel that if anyone wants to get the web shells project done, and really do it well, we have to have a lot stronger commitment, and based on what I am currently seeing it seems like people have more commitment to daily and longterm reporting for the paper. This is not a bad thing in regards to the webshells, but we need to start getting stories ear marked to go on the web shells if this is going to be finished.
Also, I have two items in the works. One should be published tomorrow. It is a break down of all of the ballot issues in Boone county outside of Columbia. Also, I am working on a story about a bond issue on the April ballot. I think this should be done by Friday.
I personally feel that if anyone wants to get the web shells project done, and really do it well, we have to have a lot stronger commitment, and based on what I am currently seeing it seems like people have more commitment to daily and longterm reporting for the paper. This is not a bad thing in regards to the webshells, but we need to start getting stories ear marked to go on the web shells if this is going to be finished.
Also, I have two items in the works. One should be published tomorrow. It is a break down of all of the ballot issues in Boone county outside of Columbia. Also, I am working on a story about a bond issue on the April ballot. I think this should be done by Friday.
This is not going to work.
Let me preface this by saying that I do want all of our projects to succeed, and I do support innovation within the Missourian and the advancement toward being a cutting-edge online news source.
However,
There is no way that the web shells project will succeed in this semester with the way we are going. Not a chance. And here's a few of the reasons why:
1) The basic fact that we have not even submitted designs to a web development company. If the company we are using is in fact the same as who's doing Smart Decision, we are going to have to wait until they are done anyway (they are months late, by the way), and people, WEB SITES ARE MADE OVER THE COURSE OF MONTHS. MONTHS! Not a week, not even a few weeks, and not by just copying and pasting a design someone makes in InDesign onto a page.
In addition to that they have to adapt it to the content management system. All large-content websites operate with a program where attaching certain tags in a program to a story/video/photo designates its place on a web page. And that takes time, and it happens AFTER the design is done (in code, not InDesign).
2) We don't have the manpower to do virtually anything we have planned. A few things to consider:
- Clearly, we can not do all of the reporting we've planned ourselves. Do we abandon our beats? We didn't touch this in our meeting today.
- The editors had NO IDEA that we were even thinking of using their reporters. And honestly, what authority do we have to take those resources away from what they're already doing?. They aren't sitting around doing nothing, and the Missourian almost never makes their goal of 30 posts a day.
- We don't have people to do these interactive graphics. The graphics department has their hands so full, and most of them are not trained in Flash (the software that you need to make graphics interactive) I defy any one of you to go up to Mary Nguyen and have her tell you otherwise. And just to put things in perspective, anything that responds to user input IS MADE IN FLASH. These projects take weeks for full-time Flash specialists at media outlets.
- We have talked about gathering an incredible amount of data. Sure, this data exists somewhere. But I guarantee you it doesn't all exist in a usable format online that we can just link to. We can't just take for granted that all of that information is there for us already. We will have to take time to put much of it in a usable format.
I'm not saying that people's ideas are bad. All of these things are doable, but not in the time that we have or with the number of people that we have.
When I've brought this or any similar cautionary comment up in class, I've been told that we are trying to be "innovative." That term is not usually a relative one, but in our situation it is because everything that we have planned has been fundamentally done already by someone else. The "how" is not a mystery, it's something that's already been figured out and we're choosing to ignore it. There is no reason for us to go around with a blindfold on.
What I am saying is that we are in way over our collective head. If the entire class was working on a single web shell, I think we could be successful.
So I guess that is what I would like to propose. Three is not going to happen. One might. Let's choose one topic, concentrate our efforts and come up with a quality, sustainable product that will outlive our stay in Advanced Reporting or even at the Missourian.
However,
There is no way that the web shells project will succeed in this semester with the way we are going. Not a chance. And here's a few of the reasons why:
1) The basic fact that we have not even submitted designs to a web development company. If the company we are using is in fact the same as who's doing Smart Decision, we are going to have to wait until they are done anyway (they are months late, by the way), and people, WEB SITES ARE MADE OVER THE COURSE OF MONTHS. MONTHS! Not a week, not even a few weeks, and not by just copying and pasting a design someone makes in InDesign onto a page.
In addition to that they have to adapt it to the content management system. All large-content websites operate with a program where attaching certain tags in a program to a story/video/photo designates its place on a web page. And that takes time, and it happens AFTER the design is done (in code, not InDesign).
2) We don't have the manpower to do virtually anything we have planned. A few things to consider:
- Clearly, we can not do all of the reporting we've planned ourselves. Do we abandon our beats? We didn't touch this in our meeting today.
- The editors had NO IDEA that we were even thinking of using their reporters. And honestly, what authority do we have to take those resources away from what they're already doing?. They aren't sitting around doing nothing, and the Missourian almost never makes their goal of 30 posts a day.
- We don't have people to do these interactive graphics. The graphics department has their hands so full, and most of them are not trained in Flash (the software that you need to make graphics interactive) I defy any one of you to go up to Mary Nguyen and have her tell you otherwise. And just to put things in perspective, anything that responds to user input IS MADE IN FLASH. These projects take weeks for full-time Flash specialists at media outlets.
- We have talked about gathering an incredible amount of data. Sure, this data exists somewhere. But I guarantee you it doesn't all exist in a usable format online that we can just link to. We can't just take for granted that all of that information is there for us already. We will have to take time to put much of it in a usable format.
I'm not saying that people's ideas are bad. All of these things are doable, but not in the time that we have or with the number of people that we have.
When I've brought this or any similar cautionary comment up in class, I've been told that we are trying to be "innovative." That term is not usually a relative one, but in our situation it is because everything that we have planned has been fundamentally done already by someone else. The "how" is not a mystery, it's something that's already been figured out and we're choosing to ignore it. There is no reason for us to go around with a blindfold on.
What I am saying is that we are in way over our collective head. If the entire class was working on a single web shell, I think we could be successful.
So I guess that is what I would like to propose. Three is not going to happen. One might. Let's choose one topic, concentrate our efforts and come up with a quality, sustainable product that will outlive our stay in Advanced Reporting or even at the Missourian.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
How do you deal with an angry school board?
It was an interesting week for me with reporting. Perhaps the most interesting part of that being work I did on someone else's article:
Two of the K12 kids were working on a story about the school board releasing the results of a recent study that asked employees what could be trimmed from the budget to help alleviate this $10.3 million "shortfall."
What was interesting about the survey results was the comments section of the results. When you pulled them up on the site, however, all the names had been redacted. "A person outside this newsroom" was able to unredact (I don't think that's a word) the names and show us how. The thing is you didn't really have to do that because you could print out the results and read through the black bar. Not to mention there's no doubt who they were taking to task anyway.
So, I placed a call to Lynn Barnett. She was kind enough to call me back. The call didn't start so well. I asked simple numbers questions:
Q: How many responses were there?
A: It's on the summary.
So, it's a little tense, right.
I finally get to the question I wanted to ask. Why did you decide to redact the names?
I didn't get to ask it. I started the question and she ripped into me. She told me that she had found out that we had been able to unredact the names. ( We don't know how she found out.) And she just killed me. She said the names were redacted as to not hurt people's feelings. (I checked, the Sunshine Law does not have a feelings exemption.)
I had the kids write a simple report on what the survey said.
The next morning there was an email in Liz's box from Karla DeSpain. It kind of questioned the integrity of the reporters and the Missourian. I got a little lesson in how to manage my manager, Liz said.
It was a good chance to learn how to manage a source, a little Sunshine Law primer and other lessons.
Two of the K12 kids were working on a story about the school board releasing the results of a recent study that asked employees what could be trimmed from the budget to help alleviate this $10.3 million "shortfall."
What was interesting about the survey results was the comments section of the results. When you pulled them up on the site, however, all the names had been redacted. "A person outside this newsroom" was able to unredact (I don't think that's a word) the names and show us how. The thing is you didn't really have to do that because you could print out the results and read through the black bar. Not to mention there's no doubt who they were taking to task anyway.
So, I placed a call to Lynn Barnett. She was kind enough to call me back. The call didn't start so well. I asked simple numbers questions:
Q: How many responses were there?
A: It's on the summary.
So, it's a little tense, right.
I finally get to the question I wanted to ask. Why did you decide to redact the names?
I didn't get to ask it. I started the question and she ripped into me. She told me that she had found out that we had been able to unredact the names. ( We don't know how she found out.) And she just killed me. She said the names were redacted as to not hurt people's feelings. (I checked, the Sunshine Law does not have a feelings exemption.)
I had the kids write a simple report on what the survey said.
The next morning there was an email in Liz's box from Karla DeSpain. It kind of questioned the integrity of the reporters and the Missourian. I got a little lesson in how to manage my manager, Liz said.
It was a good chance to learn how to manage a source, a little Sunshine Law primer and other lessons.
A Fresh Start
Part of learning is by researching and not getting much out of anything, I guess. After finally getting a good week and a half blocked out for some long-term reporting following the hubbub surrounding Gary Forsee, which had me filling in missing pieces here, covering his first day there, etc., I thought I would get somewhere with m investigation into some study abroad programs at MU and if they were doing some thigns that other universities in New York were doing which made the state's attorney general quite upset. Not to be.
I wasn't horribly frustrated about my findings — I did a good amount of research and it just didn't pan out the way we thought it could — but it was mildly disappointing. Nonetheless, it's better to find these things out now than after doing weeks upon weeks of research for a project only to find nothing. There's still time.
My meeting with Liz had to be pushed back to Friday since she was gone, hence the lateness of the blog post. We found another solid project that could be accomplished in a decent length of time provided I can properly balance it with the shells project. My other daily work has been fine, and contributions to Five Ideas this week was a nice stop-gap clip while doing this research.
Progress: The extended investigation I've done still taught me a lot about in-depth reporting. It's definitely not always (or maybe even often) going to work out just the way you want it to. But at this stage, that's OK. I know of some techniques I can use to more quickly get to a conclusion next time, and now the project notes from lecture will help me make sure that the new project I'm working on will get accomplished on time. In deciding which side of the desk I enjoy more, learning is the best possible outcome from anything I do this semester.
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