With Westboro’s well-publicized schedule of appearances, it seemed an easy opportunity to try something new with our live coverage at spokesman.com. Drawing from advice I got from Danny Gawlowski at the Northwest Video Workshop, I decided to try Ustream to shoot some live video.

For a trial effort, it went well. I shot live feeds of the counterprotests at Gonzaga University, Whitworth University and Eastern Washington University. Below you can check out the (choppy) replay of the EWU counter demonstration, easily the biggest of the day, then read on for some specs, tips and observations about using Ustream with an iPhone.

Interested in trying live coverage yourself? Here’s what I learned.

Have an ally at HQ: I set up a player for the Spokesman-Review channel in a story spot and arranged for our city editor to make the story live when I called to give the signal. Make sure you have that ally’s phone number on speed dial.

Mobile is mobile, but laptop+webcam is stable. I shot the video with my iPhone 3GS, which allowed me to be agile. Honestly, a laptop and webcam would not have worked well for the settings. But it made for shaky video. Anticipate your setting, and choose accordingly.

Buy a battery extender. As you can tell from this query, options abound. I used the Mophie Juice Pack Boost because that’s what I was able to get on short notice. I don’t recommend it. While it added significantly to my battery life, the physical connection was very wobbly. The Boost also is bulky, but although that might annoy people simply looking for some juice, it gave me something to hold onto for greater stability.

Get a grip. That said, I wish I had purchased a Zacuto iPhone holder, like the folks at the Seattle Times use. Next time.

Download the right app. Ustream offers three free apps for download in the App Store, each with a specific function. You’ll want Broadcaster to do a livestream. Recorder lets you shoot and upload later, and Viewer allows you to do exactly what you might expect from the name. (Broadcaster and Viewer are available for Android phones as well.)

Have a great team. The stream I shot was nice and all, and quite a few people tuned in. But it would have made for laughable coverage without the reporting of Kevin Graman, John Stucke and Chelsea Bannach; editing by Addy Hatch, Carolyn Lamberson and Liz Kishimoto; and photography and videography of Dan Pelle and Colin Mulvany.

Tips and tools to innovate with during election night coverage

| Online Journalism Review Oct 25, 2010

Northwest Video Workshop – storify.com

| Storify.com Oct 20, 2010

Storify page on NW Video Workshop, which I attended last weekend.

Why KREM 2 News is covering the Westboro protests

| www.krem.com Oct 20, 2010

Interesting.

“As Benjamin Franklin said when faced with this same kind of editorial quandary three hundred years ago, ‘when men differ in opinion, both sides ought equally to have the advantage of being heard by the public; and that when Truth and Error have fair play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter.’”

The 10 web skills every journalist must have

| 10,000 Words Oct 19, 2010

Very, very basic, and not scary at all.

Where are you going? Breaking the airport codes

| Dallasnews.com Oct 11, 2010

“Genevieve Alvarez shows journalists ‘How to gear up’” by Monica Guzman: A Story on Intersect

| intersect.com

Want.

What “engagement” means to Voice of San Diego’s Grant Barrett

| RJI Blog Sep 29, 2010

I love this idea about finding the right audience through Google and sharing it directly with them via email list.

That, in a nutshell, is Grant’s job: getting the content to the right readers, and bringing the right readers to the content. Hunting down the people who need to see it, even calling folks (like, on a telephone!) to introduce them to the content, and then hoping they find value in it.

Community-content opportunities: Conversation « The Buttry Diary

| stevebuttry.wordpress.com

A summary of the Block by Block summit

| Lost Remote Sep 24, 2010

Interesting idea: Creating forums and letting users moderate themselves. (from West Seattle Blog)

What “engagement” means to TBD.com « RJI

| RJI blog Sep 21, 2010

I like the aspect of staff members being real with the people formerly known as the audience.

His staff encourages engagement by being available, personable, human and funny, both in person and online. TBD throws parties, for their network of bloggers (more on that below) and for the community.

I attended the Northwest Video in Workshop in Seattle on Oct. 16. I made new friends, talked shop with other journalists and picked up some inspiration. A couple of (seriously overdue) notes and musings.

By design, the conference was high on inspiration and low on technical training. And that’s cool. The speakers shared more than a dozen great examples of video storytelling that reminded us of why good journalism matters.

Anne Herbst gave, for me, the most useful presentation on how to be a one-man band. Of course, it was geared toward TV news photographers, but I took away several useful tidbits:

• Warm up your subjects. A good time is while you’re setting up your gear or framing your shots. Break the ice, especially for features. For hard news interviews, try to find some common ground with officials or witnesses on how strange/terrible/impressive the event is, then start with a question to get the subject’s reaction.
• Try to get subjects to sit or lean against something to keep them from moving out of the frame.
• Try to sit on the viewfinder side of the camera so you can keep an eye on it during the interview.
• Shoot a variety of shots – wide, medium, tight – of the interview.
• At the end of the shoot, get 10 to 15 cover-your-ass shots: extremely tight shots that relate to the story that you can use in a pinch while editing.

Boyd Huppert of KARE-TV in Minneapolis easily had the most polished presentation. This man is a natural storyteller. Check out his story “Tyler’s Fiero” to see why.

As a video hack from a newspaper, the most valuable moment came at the after party when I snagged Danny Gawlowski, video editor at the Seattle Times. Danny tipped me off to Snapz Pro X, the advantages to Ustream for mobile video and the drawbacks of the camera I shoot with — he used the same model to help livestream the workshop.

In fact, I’ve already used Ustream in the field since returning from the workshop. Here’s a sneak peak. I’ll expand on that soon.

Overall, the workshop was worth far more than the price of admission. Thanks to the NPPA for organizing and KING 5 for hosting.

Bonus: Check out this Storify presentation on the workshop by Mai Hoang of the Yakima Herald. Some of my Twitter posts from the workshop *might* be in there.

“Genevieve Alvarez shows journalists ‘How to gear up’” by Monica Guzman: A Story on Intersect

| intersect.com

Want.

What “engagement” means to Voice of San Diego’s Grant Barrett

| RJI Blog Sep 29, 2010

I love this idea about finding the right audience through Google and sharing it directly with them via email list.

That, in a nutshell, is Grant’s job: getting the content to the right readers, and bringing the right readers to the content. Hunting down the people who need to see it, even calling folks (like, on a telephone!) to introduce them to the content, and then hoping they find value in it.

Community-content opportunities: Conversation « The Buttry Diary

| stevebuttry.wordpress.com

A summary of the Block by Block summit

| Lost Remote Sep 24, 2010

Interesting idea: Creating forums and letting users moderate themselves. (from West Seattle Blog)

What “engagement” means to TBD.com « RJI

| RJI blog Sep 21, 2010

I like the aspect of staff members being real with the people formerly known as the audience.

His staff encourages engagement by being available, personable, human and funny, both in person and online. TBD throws parties, for their network of bloggers (more on that below) and for the community.

In a hamster-wheel world, is there room for journalistic creativity? Evidence from The New York Times

| Nieman Journalism Lab Sep 20, 2010

I do think the challenge is greater at smaller newspapers, but when has that not been the case?

The Journalists Formerly Known as the Media: My Advice to the Next Generation

| Jay Rosen: Public Notebook Sep 6, 2010

A collection of advice to future professional journalists on how to change the way they conceive of the audience and themselves.

10 Ways Newspapers Can Improve Comments

| Derek Powazek’s blog Jul 28, 2008

Some good ideas here: Employ a community manager, sculpt the input, enable private messaging.

If you can’t name your community manager, it’s probably you.

Newspaper comments: Forget anonymity! The problem is management — Scott Rosenberg’s Wordyard

| Wordyard. Apr 13, 2010

So turning things around isn’t easy. In fact, it’s often smarter to just shut down a comments space that’s gone bad, wait a while, and then reopen it when you’ve got a moderation plan ready and have hand-picked some early contributors to set the tone you want. If I were running a newspaper with a comments problem, that’s how I’d proceed.

So turning things around isn’t easy. In fact, it’s often smarter to just shut down a comments space that’s gone bad, wait a while, and then reopen it when you’ve got a moderation plan ready and have hand-picked some early contributors to set the tone you want. If I were running a newspaper with a comments problem, that’s how I’d proceed.

Forum newspapers shift the comment cesspool

| MinnPost.com Jun 14, 2010

Newspaper chain moves comments to separate site after being overwhelmed with moderation.

Fargo-based Forum Communications, which owns more Minnesota newspapers than anyone else and has struggled with commenting policies, is now distancing reader input from its stories and editorials.

MediaShift . 5 Ways a Community Manager Can Help Your Media Outlet | PBS

| Mediashift Jun 12, 2009

Pondering the need and feasibility for a community point person at our paper.

A good conversation means that the journalist actually listens to reactions and suggestions, intervenes if reactions threaten to lower the quality of the discussion, and asks for input on upcoming stories or for feedback on published ones.

U.S.-China Trade: How Long Will the U.S. Be China’s Doormat?

| The Huffington Post Aug 24, 2010

After three decades of double-digit growth, China just passed Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy behind only the United States, and it will now pass the U.S. as the world’s biggest economy as early as 2030.

Multimedia jobs are for robots

| retoNet Aug 24, 2010

Sounds familiar.

The First Thing You Should Do With Facebook Places: Don’t Let Other People Tag You

| Gizmodo Aug 18, 2010

I’m not inherently opposed to sharing my own location on Facebook, but other people sharing mine? Better safe than sorry.

10 Ways to Make Video a More Interactive Experience

| PBS Aug 17, 2010

Interesting brainstorm, but Second Life? Are we still talking about that?

Too little effort is being made to evaluate and integrate interactive and community aspects into video.

10 Tips For Aspiring Community Managers

| mashable.com

One of those lists I wouldn’t have predicted even five years ago.

Community managers, who come in all shapes and sizes depending on the company and its mission, are often the online face of their companies, and more increasingly, offline as well. They’re the social strategist, community builder, storyteller, marketer, product manager, designer and evangelist rolled all into one. But most importantly, they’re responsible in projects and initiatives that strengthen the community of consumers, users and customers of the company.

Twitter’s Tweet Button Launches: See What It Can Do

| Huffington Post Aug 12, 2010

We have something like this already, though third-party.

Veteran bomb-sniffing dog served in Iraq, Afghanistan, now retiring

| KREM Aug 9, 2010

The reporter did not actually attend the event. KREM must have sent her out for a standup later. I’m sure this is a regular thing in TV, but it seems weird. As a result, they got it wrong: The dog is only being recommended for retirement. It’s far from settled.

After multiple deployments Lucky ready for retirement

| KXLY Aug 10, 2010

KXLY’s Jeff Humphrey’s story on Lucky, an Air Force dog, focuses on the tactics and training aspects of the work.

Like most people in the military Lucky – a 10-year-old Belgian Malinois – has been crossed trained in a variety of disciplines.

Google & Verizon Propose Enforceable Net Neutrality

| ReadWriteWeb Aug 9, 2010

Good overview of the news of the day and some of the reax.

Both companies are talking the innovation-talk, saying that fat, unfettered pipes will lead to more innovation that will make the pie bigger for everyone involved.

TBD.com Takes a Community-Driven Approach to Newsgathering

| Mashable.com Aug 9, 2010

A loose overview of the Albritton experiment.

The site will not only produce original content, but more importantly will incorporate community content from a network of 127 local bloggers, launch with two mobile applications, will be heavily focused on community engagement and newsgathering through social tools like Twitter (Twitter) and Foursquare (Foursquare), and will have the advantage of providing its audience with high-quality web video from two TV stations.

Leadership needed for high-speed Internet access law

| Susan Crawford blog Aug 9, 2010

Points out gaping holes in the Google/Verizon policy suggestions.

What’s needed now is leadership. Here’s a quote sent to me yesterday – from LBJ to regulators: “Let the venal and the self-seeking and the tawdry and the tainted fear to enter your building.”

Marketing EWU’s red turf could be a bloody mess -

| Spokesman.com Aug 8, 2010

Great sendup of a dubious campaign to market a ridiculously colored football field.

Him: The Blood Stain? This is college football, not a hacker movie.

Leo posted this screed on Monday, covered by Pitchfork, among others. And then today, the reveal.

If nothing else, it’s a reminder of why fans of (indie) rock and the media need to keep a sense of humor. And another reason why John Hodgman is great.

We’ve been hard at work these past few months on an ambitious series about the 1910 forest fires that consumed huge swaths of the Inland Northwest. The series, titled Flame and Ruin: The fires of 1910, launched Sunday, and I encourage you to explore it. It’s a treat for history buffs and lovers of the outdoors.

My favorite parts of the online package are the above video scripted by Jim Kershner and produced by Colin Mulvany and a then-and-now presentation inspired by the New York Times featuring photographs by Christopher Anderson and a Django+jQuery app by Ryan Pitts and Mike Tigas.

But I certainly don’t want to overlook the reporting and writing that went into this package. I especially recommend Jim Kershner’s opening narrative and Becky Kramer’s story about Ed Pulaski, the tunnel in which he saved his fire crew, and that tunnel’s discovery in 1979. It runs Tuesday and will be found on the main page of the special series.

I pay for this server space, and I’ve spent the time to populate this site with thoughts about my profession. It seems silly to let that all go to waste. I hope to continue spreading pearls of wisdom about online journalism. But I also reserve the right to post the occasional Tumblr-like post about whatever I’m thinking, reading, watching or doing. It could be completely unrelated to journalism. Consider yourself warned.

I hope you like the new layout. I’m no CSS pro like Ryan Pitts, but the Atahualpa theme in WordPress does let me pretend. I welcome suggestions about improvements to the appearance. Seriously. Font, line space, padding. Just post it in the comments.

What moved me about this story was the barely spoken relationship between Lucky the Belgian Malinois and his handlers. Just listen to the way Staff Sgt. Gerald Martinez talks to Lucky as he’s running him through the obstacle course. The way Tech. Sgt. Levi Wilson wishes he could adopt Lucky. This dog has seen far scarier situations than I ever will, but he’s had good people taking care of him.

I received some nice compliments about this effort, but I know there’s room to improve. I let a TV cameraman into my shot. I could have asked better questions. I refrained from putting my wireless mike on Tech. Sgt. Wilson when he played target for Lucky. I had focus issues during my interviews. And I had to rush the edit because of other responsibilities and the daily deadline, so the audio is rough in spots. Those reporters from the TV stations? They could teach me a few lessons in turnaround.

Despite all that, I’ve got a good feeling about this story. It was prepackaged by the Air Force public affairs office, but Lucky made a sympathetic subject. He puts a different face on the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And he’s a damn good-looking dog.

Today I watched the stories produced by our TV competitors. My favorite was KXLY’s. Jeff Humphrey leveraged his expertise in public safety reporting, focusing on the tactical aspects of Lucky’s service. (And I enjoyed watching him work; he’s got it down to a science.)

KHQ shot some great video (warning: popup). The script relied a bit much on superlatives for my taste, but Kaitlyn Bolduc and the cameraman impressed me with their take. I like how they brought in the details about how toys are Lucky’s reward and motivation for service.

And the third TV station…. well, I give props to the cameraman for his B roll and interview skills. He was more pro than me. But KREM was apparently too short-staffed to send a reporter to the dog show, and as a result their story contained a crucial error: Lucky isn’t assured retirement. His veterinarians and handlers are certainly recommending that outcome, but the decision is still months off. Really, though, good use of gas money to send that reporter to the base gates for the live standup.

And for the stones-in-glass-houses crowd, let me be clear: We print the occasional inaccuracy at the S-R, so I’m not claiming perfection in that arena. But you’ve got to get the essence of the story right.

Final note: TV reporters and shooters do these kinds of stories every day, and I’m sure it’s all very standard for them. But my duties are pretty varied. When I get to go shoot a video like this, it’s a welcome exception to the norm. And there’s always something to learn.