I don’t know why I like doing these horizontal scrollers so much, but here is another one (still have some art left to add). I found out yesterday that they were doing a sports tab to preview the upcoming winter sports and thought, again, that this would be an easy way to aggregate all of this disparate content (each preview goes to a specific area page on our high school sports site) in one place. I could definitely use more art and probably more stats such as last season’s record, coach, returning players, etc.
The past few days have seen me try to learn as much as I can about creating custom maps as possible. There are plenty of ways to go, from the simple My Maps, to more elaborate, yet still code-free sites, such as ZeeMaps, Wayfaring and Platial, all the way to learning to manage your own databases and work with the Google Maps API. This is my first attempt at a user-populated map, which would potentially feature garage sales in Garden City, Kansas.
Below, you will find a map I created on mapalist.com, which I have since linked to a spreadsheet. It is set to update automatically, though I do not know how often it refreshes. Currently, the balloons on the map vary depending upon the date. I only wish you had the option of turning various dates on or off while browsing the map. It ain’t pretty, but it’s a start.
Flat land, expansive skies and cold winters. After twostints in Minnesota and one in Iowa, I find myself back, once again, in the Midwest/Plains area. One week ago I started my new job as the web editor at the Garden City Telegram in Garden City, Kansas.
As the web editor, I will be maintaining the main web site as well as a few niche sites that the Telegram has developed. I will be maintaining the Telegram’s presence on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, working with reporters and photographers to develop multimedia content, shoot and produce my own content and paginate and copy edit for the print edition.
In my first week, I have helped to put out three videos and one audio slideshow. We have also started to experiment with using blip.tv to host/stream our video, as opposed to embedding .mov files into the story and sidebar.
We have a talented staff that, overall, is excited about new media. Of course, there is a ton of work to be done, and I know one of the biggest constraints will be resources, be it staff or equipment. If you have any ideas on how a small newsroom can approach new media in a realistic way, I would love to hear them (though I think that I have already asked the two or so people who read this blog).
Speaking of the blog, I am not quite a photojournalist anymore, and I am officially no longer a student (my mother can rest easy now), so I am no longer sure that the name is appropriate. In any case, while I figure that out, I will try and document the successes and failures along the way in the hope that someone reading will either be able to offer advice or learn from my mistakes.
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