Posted by kamckinney on February 18th, 2010 — Posted in Costa Rica
The gear arrives from B&H.
As I am documenting this adventure, I want to make sure to make note of the milestones along the way. Certainly, the first was the day late last fall when Rachel walked into my office and said, “So what do you know about Costa Rica?” I didn’t think my job could get any better at that point, so as she poured out the idea of “embedding” me with the Jazz Combo I think I was waiting for the punchline.
Yesterday I met the first “jazzer” – Dan came in to interview with Erika about his very interesting story (will post a link to the feature soon) and just so happened to mention that he will be on the trip. Last night, I attended the faculty mardi gras show and was entertained by UR’s finest, namely Mike Davison, the leader of all things jazz at UR and the professor organizing the trip. I was delighted to find that he’s as relaxed and fun-loving on stage as he is off – I’m going on a trip with some really good people.
And then today, the gear arrived.
Three months after Rachel’s visit to my office and I’m still waiting for someone to say, “Kidding!” The gear arriving, and knowing that I now have to make friends with all of it, is making it more real. Next week, Rachel leaves for maternity leave which has always been one of the big milestones I could see farther down the road. Now it’s here and I’m on my own with this thing.
Posted by kamckinney on January 29th, 2010 — Posted in Costa Rica
Tags: Costa Rica, Jazz, Reporters, Social Media, University of Richmond
This coming May I’ll be lucky enough to travel with the University of Richmond Jazz Combo on their tour through Costa Rica. As the social media reporter and documenter for the group, I will be video taping the combo’s performances, tweeting out about their adventures, and posting to Facebook and Flickr as we learn and play our way through Costa Rica.
The concept of an embedded reporter is of course familiar to most of us. Instead of blocking the media from telling the story of the Iraq war, the U.S. Government opened the door to reporters who signed contracts limiting what they could report. While I will not be “a reporter attached to a military unit during conflict”, my mission for Costa Rica is similar. The interviews and images gathered on the trip will be used to tell the story of what it’s like being a liberal arts student at the University of Richmond – including the great opportunities that are available, such as traveling with your jazz professor to Costa Rica.
Think of all the tools that available to all of us to tell a story. We have blogs to tell our personal or business stories. Flickr, YouTube, and Vimeo provide the visuals. Twitter is our town crier to attract readers to these images and stories, with Facebook as the community where we share it all. And these are only the popular platforms.
Years ago, before digital cameras were readily available, I sent along disposable cameras with a group of students attending a billiards tournament in California. I asked that they take pictures of the competition, maybe themselves and their surroundings or arm and arm with new friends they’d meet at other institutions. Do I have to tell you what came back from the trip? Dozens of pictures of laughing students in a hotel room surrounded by beer cans. Not exactly helpful in telling the story of the University’s new women’s billiard champion.
If you can now imagine a group of twenty-something music students traveling outside of the country (possibly for the first time) ON TOUR (also, possibly for the first time) you’ll probably understand why they might not be interested in recording their every move. With entirely new cultures and customs to experience, let alone the bonding of a band on the road, “the jazzers” could not possibly be expected to deliver a measured and balanced retelling of the group experience.
And so, I will attempt to document this “beta trip” as a means of creating some best practices for other higher education communications professionals looking for ways to harness new social media platforms as an effective means for telling their university story. Stay tuned.
Posted by kamckinney on April 7th, 2009 — Posted in Design, Media, and Education, Green
Tags: newsletter
Recently within the state government of Virginia, all state agencies have been ordered to abide by a printing moratorium. As a print designer, this made things much more challenging. However, as a web designer – I’ve been very excited to report that my agency has embraced the option of doing electronic communications. Not only have we cut back significantly on the printing we do in-house, but we took our first step this week in publishing our quarterly newsletter as an electronic, e-mailed PDF.
The timing on this issue could not have been better. We were able to merge our idea to do an issue on green initiatives at institutions with a green approach to publishing. I have created such publications before for past employeers, but this was the largest to date. We have received many compliments so far, and I’m hopful that in the future we will continue to publish electronically and make the most of the technology that is available to our constituents. Let me know what you think!
Posted by kamckinney on February 9th, 2009 — Posted in Design, Media, and Education
Tags: Design, Media, and Education, freelance
I’m pleased to have been spending my freelance time recently with the good folks at the Richmond Association of Realtors, the organization responsible for hosting the annual Affordable Housing Week in Richmond.
The essential need for affordable housing in the Richmond Metropolitan area is an issue of growing importance, as it affects the health and economic well-being of communities and people across the region. To highlight this shared concern, eleven local non-profit housing organizations are partnering together to hold the first ever Affordable Housing Awareness Week, April 19-25, 2009. The purpose of this week is not only to bring attention to the issues surrounding housing affordability, but also to encourage area professionals to get involved with the groups that support these causes.
To help with this important event, I’ve designed print pieces, advertisements, and the Affordable Housing Week 2009 website.
If you are interested in volunteering or becoming involved with affordable housing in Richmond, visit the website. (and keep an eye out for my next web project, a website for the Partnership for Housing Affordability – coming Spring 2009).
