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The not-so-obvious bit
July 21st, 2010
I think I’m far enough away from the trip now to talk about the part of it that took me by surprise and that was the emotional connection I felt for the students and the group as a whole. I don’t know whether it was a maternal instinct that kicked in or if it is just a typical group dynamic, but I felt very proud and protective and terribly impressed with the students on the trip.
It was about 5:40 a.m. the morning of May 10…we were rolling off campus, and my role in the group was established.
“Kirsten, do you know when our flight is?”
We had all received the same information from Doc, we all should have had print-outs of the agenda, etc. in our packs. But from that moment on, I was the go to person for information. I also felt like a mother hawk – circling the group and trying to get a birds eye view from 50 feet up. Watching, paying attention to who was lagging behind, who might be late, who might look like they could use an Advil.
The only time I walked through the streets of San Jose alone was the morning we left for Pochote. I hiked it on up to the grocery store and bought a case of water for the group. Some of the students had been up a bit late the night before and I knew that a 3 hour bus trip and then a ferry ride would not go over well while being dehydrated.
So, it was that kind of thing…always the one with the Benedryl spray, the Deep Woods Off, the Kleenex. The effect of being needed for a reason outside of my original purpose was maybe not surprising, since this is the kind of thing I always seem to end up doing, but maybe that it took hold so quickly. I must have the words “den mother” stamped on my back.
This kind of emotional attachment was probably good – but I also know that it can get in the way. You can lose focus and maybe not be as objective in your story telling when your feelings are in play. You can forget your role and lose track of the goals. It’s a delicate line to walk – but keeping the emotions in check while remaining a member of the group was a big challenge for me on this trip.
Embedded Reporter: What Google turned up
June 15th, 2010
Corporations have begun to embed their staff at events, like Keith Childs at an important international car show. His blog post on the changing role of communicators syncs exactly with our Costa Rican project.
Taking it literally, journalism professor Tom Hewitt of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, embedded himself and four of his students in Iraq in the Summer of 2009.
From a journalists POV, embedded PR people may be the only way to fill the new 24-7 news cycle created by social media.
A pdf of the Ground Rules for Embedded Reporters, according to the Secretary of Defense.
Researching the Embedded
June 1st, 2010
I’m noticing embedded reporters more and more in the news- and not just on the war front. President Obama’s Facebook page is starting to show images of him working on the ground in Louisiana. While these photos are probably just as much PR as the others that appear in his FB albums, they have the authenticity of being topical, current, and up-to-the minute. The President has taken his photographer on the road to get the real story in real time!
Recently on The Daily Show, author Sebanstian Junger talked about his new book WAR and being embedded with soldiers in Afghanistan. What he says about becoming emotionally involved with the troops rings very true for me – more in the next post.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Sebastian Junger | ||||
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The obvious bit: Technology – Part One
May 24th, 2010
When I complained about the hotel internet, Eric joked, "What do you expect of wi-fi run by a gerbil in a cage?"
I do not even remember posting that last entry two weeks ago. It has now been two weeks since we left, five days since we arrived home, and I”m still processing so much – and sleeping.
The first two days of the trip I was up late into the night, waking up earlier than needed and essentially getting about three hours of sleep. The internet just moved faster when no one was on the lobby computers or attached to their laptops. In the middle of the San Jose night, the wi-fi was all mine.
I did my best to edit in camera. After moving clips from the camera to the laptop, then adding titles and exporting, then the painstakingly, agonizing wait as the clip uploaded to YouTube, watching the colorwheel spin spin spin…I could not imagine if I then had to add some hard editing to the mix. I picked the best tunes of the day, worked with the medium resolution, and waited. I often became impatient and would pace the room humming or singing Nina Simone quietly to entertain myself. “Okay, get through all of Love Meor Leave Me and then check the upload progress.” Sometimes I’d just walk out into the hall and back. I did all of this to keep myself from also trying to update Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and the like – added stuff would just slow it all down.
Funny…I never once turned on the T.V. If there was some quiet time, like in the morning when I was up way too early for breakfast, I’d upload photos, check in with home base, Tweet…or watch footage from the night before. I was in love with my footage – but not so much so that I couldn’t see the flaws and try to fix them next time. But for certain, I was focused.
Twice I was able to go to the Cultural Center earlier than the musicians call – I got in a good couple of hours of faster uploading that way. That was when I would do Flickr uploads – those are a beast. I could set that in motion and check Facebook.
By far, the Facebook page was the biggest success. I believe that this is simply because it is the most well known, oft used medium. It’s where the people are – incoming freshman, parents, jazz professionals, friends, family – everyone is on Facebook. As of today, we have 249 followers – almost 50 more than the School of Arts and Sciences. I think this has to do with the aforementioned population of Facebook but also specificity.
Twitter seemed to also pull people in, although we always directed them somewhere else (Check out the YouTube video…Facebook post…Flickr photos…website). Where the people really are not (yet) is Tumblr. I had set up the Tumblr page as the blog, prepared to give access to students to blog about their experience and linked it to the Twitter feed, but it became an afterthought – much like this blog. I was micro-blogging on Facebook and Twitter.
As this trip was an experiment, we wanted to try it all – or as many social media outlets as we thought we could handle. Since we already have accounts with most, it became difficult to link them together – for example, Twitter into Facebook. Twitter will not feed into our Facebook fan pages, only our personal pages. So we have to tweet and Facebook separately. I thought I had solved a great problem by linking Tumbler to Twitter, but it only because one more thing I had to update.
This seems obvious now – but my advice is to watch your culture, figure out where your audience is, and focus on that outlet. YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook were enough for one person to keep up with. Having a team at home on campus to take care of web page updates was very important. The Flickr page has been more useful after arriving home and Tumblr was the weakest of all performers, never gaining one follower. While it is a great way to microblog, it is not connected enough to rely on as a mainstream outlet.
I worked very hard the first four days of the trip…and then we left for Pochote. Next time – Leaving San Jose or, What To Do as a Social Media Reporter Without Internet Access.
