Project Rolling

Our CBS EyeMobile has started, and it's already opening my eyes to a few different things. My first test was with a young lady who was a communications major. I thought it was a very helpful test because she didn't understand some of the basic concepts that a journalist would. It's not that the EyeMobile website is a bastion of great journalism yet, but there are ideas, like the sub categories and news tags on the website.
As the testing goes on through the next week I wonder what will be different if I interview journalism majors. This will most likely be a main component of our presentation to the class. I wonder how important the people at CBS will find it. I know the most accurate gage for all of this is how regular people respond to it, but I do find the differences in perceptions amongst our peers very intriguing.

Good talk with the Fellows

Monday's class was quite intriguing, both fellows know a lot about journalism and the conversation was very insightful. We discussed the election, which made me happy that I had followed a lot of what we covered and I varied my viewing on election night. The discussion makes me want to sit down and find out what people want in election coverage heading up to the election and on election night. We had some good insights in class and really got at what builds the intrigue around our democracy.

I also enjoyed the class because we talked about journalism evolution. We constantly hear about how journalism is a changing industry. I enjoyed the discussion because we didn't focus on theory of how journalism is changing but how to adapt and think as an enteperuner and a journalist, like Nate Silver did with fivethirtyeight.com. We discussed a site whose name escapes me right now. Essentially it answered a question I had in the spring. I wanted to know how to break down the Bear Stearnes collapse in simple terms for consumers, I thought it might lead to something bigger. Turns out it did and it turns out somebody broke the budget collapse down by aggregating stories and analysis about the bailout. That helped consumers understand it better. So perhaps the future for individuals and conglomerates alike is learning how to convey information in simpler more effective ways.

My First Job Interview This Year

I had my first job interview yesterday, with ESPN. Even as I write this, I have to sit back and reflect on how big that is, in and of itself. I've essentially been training to work at ESPN my entire life, I've forgotten more obscure stats than most people know. I've been watching Sportscenter and Baseball Tonight since 1994, when the Texas Rangers moved into the Ballpark in Arlington. It will always be a dream of mine, and here I was perhaps two interviews away from realizing the said dream at 21.

The interview itself had it's great moments, and some moments I'll personally reflect on and improve on in the future. The greatest thing I took away from it was this: I'll never be that awestruck by another interview, and in my opinion, I was one or two missteps away from saying everything I wanted. I was very pleased with the energy and confidence I brought in, which is something I hope to build on. I think I've set my personal bar pretty high, and I am hopeful to hear back from them sometime in December.

I really think I got a great head start getting my resume in and proofed and improved. It looks sharp and it stands out, it gives me hope that I can apply for any job and get my foot in the door. I've long dreaded being one of those people who has their resume thrown in the discard pile. This will save me from those moments. I now need to work on making my e-portfolio a little bit better. It's a good a shell right now, it needs a couple more things, much like a culinary work that is good but not great. These won't be major things, but more subtle things that bring out major things.

As the year matures, hopefully greatness lies in a few more turns of the calendar. I am finally excited that this is my senior year.

Lessons Learned

I learned a few things from my newsroom shift this past week. First, it's more valuable to go out and do work on stories that are being worked on, as easy a concept as this seems, it takes experience sometimes to hammer the simplest lessons home. I started doing work and looking for elements on a John McCain story, and about 30 minutes into working on it, I realized it would be a lost cause because it was an old story. It would take serious commitment from a viewer to go and find the content I found for this story, and while somebody may still view that story, I think in this case I will start working smarter.

I am also learning how to operate within the KOMU newsroom, and while I wish I were a bit more outgoing, I know that will come with time and knowledge. After our meeting I now understand the workflow much better and this will lead to more optimized production for my shifts, starting with mine tomorrow evening.

Last and certainly not least, I'm learning that my background in convergence is going to be my greatest asset. Producing good multi media is more than meets the eye. Getting quality material is all about thinking in the mode of multiple platforms and understanding what works best for your purposes. Knowing that people that take the time to read the text story obviously want some deeper vocabulary and story telling. Understanding your story material will also help your to find better resources to shed more light on the story.