Category: Home/Work

New American Media EXPO

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(This post has not much value unless you were there … just saying.)

On Friday afternoon I spoke to a room full of journalists from all types of media and from across the country about multimedia storytelling on the cheap. Several folks asked for a link to the presentation itself, which is now available.

Several others asked for a list of the recommended hardware and software, so that’s up now, as well.

I mentioned some of the storytelling my students have been doing, so here’s a couple of things to check out:

  • The Grady Journal – This is an online news site we created for our students this past year. Content comes from two places – class projects and an independent group of students who meet every Wednesday morning to plan coverage. (Go to the staff page and you can see who they are.)
  • Giving Voice to Us – This was a joint project between my class and a social work class looking at life inside public housing in Clarke County, which has the highest poverty rate in the state of Georgia and is also home to the University of Georgia.
  • A Day at UGA – Another collaborative project, this has 24 multimedia stories produced by my class.
  • Rural Health Care – This was a project with Prof. Patricia Thomas’ class looking at rural health care issues in north Georgia. 

(Those last three, by the way – all the photos, videos and audio slide shows were produced by the same 16 students. I kept them kind of busy …)

Found

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It has been a long time since I have been trailering. (I call it that and not “camping” in deferance to those who claim it is not camping unless it involves hanging your food in a sack to keep it away from bears.)

My first nine summers were spent in a series of travel trailers – a 20 foot Ace, a 30 foot Prowler and, in the waning years of our excursions, a Jayco pop-up. Excepting a three week stint in a borrowed pop-up around 1990, hauling my youngest brother to Florida and back, it’s been nearly 30 years since I lived the trailering life.

But a few weeks ago, we found the perfect camper for us – a 21 foot hybrid travel trailer by Trail-Cruiser – and, of course, got it for practically a song as it as a bank repo. A month of afternoons with the tools and Internets taught me how it worked and Friday afternoon we hitched up for our maiden voyage.

It’s Sunday morning now and the family is mostly asleep. As I sit here at the dinette and watch the sun stream around the blinds, I think I have found a little piece of it.

iPhone, run through the Helga filter on CameraBag

Downtown at Night

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It’s a good time to be in Athens – the weather’s been warm and most students have wandered off for the week, leaving us locals to have the place to ourselves. (Yes, the irony of me, a damned yankee, being a “local” is not lost.)

The Mrs. and I headed downtown for dinner (disappointing, from a place I’ve always enjoyed) and then wandered about for a bit. R.E.M.’s “Gardening at Night” kept popping into my head, though these have nothing to do with that.

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