After some training

This is how I, and I suspect many of my collegues felt about online reporting before this week's seminar. (No cheating, watch the whole video)

With just a few sessions, this is how I feel now.

Thanks!

- Salvador Hernandez

The audio game

Following Mindy McAdam's lecture on audio, my mind was cluttered with worry.

Copyright, the very stuff that protects our news stories from plagiarism, will make audio editing hell if there is music playing in the background. For some reason, I hadn't thought about how the RIAA would come after me for using a minute of song in a little news segment only seen by a measly 100,000 readers.

OK. It makes sense. But geez! There's nothing out there we can use for background, is there? To make things slightly worse, we have to worry about picking up snippets of pop songs if we are recording at Starbucks?!

The biggest let down of all: Time Warner owns the freakin' Happy Birthday song?

Just for that, you may soon see me on YouTube singing my little heart out!

--Kelly Cuculiansky
The Daytona Beach News-Journal

I can edit copy...audio, not so much

Today was the first time I edited audio in I don't know how long. I dabbled a little bit in audio during my assistantship in grad school for the campus radio station, but things have changed so much since them (okay, now I sound like my mother).

The problem wasn't the program as much as the user. But, like any new skill you learn, it takes practice.

When I made my first foray into editing on the desk, "the dark side" as some of my reporter friends like to call it, there were many times that I wondered whether editing was really for me.

I didn't happen overnight - and I am still learning - but I eventually got to the point where I felt comfortable in my new role and confident in my abilities.

So, it's okay that the sound quality on my interview was barely above a whisper, or that I chopped toooo much out of more than a few sentences when I tried to piece the clip together.

I know I will get the hang of it. I can't wait to see what I can do with a little practice.

- Erica Pippins

R-S-S-P-E-C-T

So I thought I'd try out some of the stuff we've been learning since the seminar began. First up: Setting up an RSS feed. After Mark Briggs' session, I wanted to try it out.

I'll have to admit, it's kind of "different." I'm used to reading a newspaper on the Web, and I've kind of familiarized myself with that process. However, after setting up a simple RSS feed on Google Reader, I've noticed that it does serve its purpose.

If information and connectedness is what you're looking for, then, as we were told, an RSS feed can be very helpful. Already, I set up an account and picked several newspaper Web sites that I frequently read. This is what a typical Google Reader page looks like:

Now, I can say I have respect for this wonderful tool. Has anyone else tried to do this as well? Share your thoughts.--Martin Ricard

The learning curve

I was apprehensive about giving my first interview as part of our audio exercise today. I'm typically the one who asks all the questions. But I passed that test OK, despite all my uhmms and uhs. Long pauses, too.
Victor Cristales of the Abilene (Texas) Reporter-News and I took turns interviewing each other in this assignment.
I had no problem holding the big microphone up to him and peppering him with questions about his childhood recollections of him migrating with his family to the United States from his native El Salvador. (What a treat to meet a paisano! I'm Salvadoran, too.)
I'm sure I could have interviewed him for at least an hour. We limited the interview to under 11 minutes for the sake of the exercise, and trust me, it was more than plenty. Almost an hour after I began editing the file, I'd only shaved off some 45 seconds. That didn't include instruction time our class received from Mindy McAdams of the University of Florida or the help from more experienced colleagues who also are getting trained. Mind you, Mindy had asked we strive for 90 seconds to two minutes.

I'm blown away by the incredible amount of work involved in editing an audio file.

Times like this make me feel overwhelmed and completely helpless.
Needless to say, I have a newfound appreciation for short interviews, clarity in sound, complete sentences and the power of technology.
I'm comforted in knowing I'm not alone in my quest for proficiency in the digital age. It will take its time.
Having said that, I take to heart Chips Quinn Scholar coach Mary Ann Hogan's comment that yes, the technology is new, but it's not the story.
-Jenny Espino

Listen and learn

We just recorded interviews with each other and now Mindy McAdams of the University of Florida is going to teach us audio editing. I've never done this before and I'm excited to learn something new.

-- Kendra Johnson

Audio woes

As if creating audio slideshows wasn't scary enough, now I find out I could get my paper sued if I get music in the background during my recordings.

Yikes!

-- Nancy Yang