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May 25, 2008
A Camel Eating Cantaloupe
Tags: animals | camels | cantaloupes | fruit
Posted by acarvin at 3:02 PM
May 24, 2008
Jane Goodall Autographs a Busted Fender?
Today in the parking lot at the Ikea in College Park, MD, we spotted a car that appeared to be autographed by Jane Goodall just above a busted fender. The signature includes the line "I did not do this!!"
At first I thought it was a joke, but then when I got home I found a couple of Jane Goodall autographs online, and the letters J and G are eerily similar to the signature on the car:
What do you think? Real or fake? -andy
Tags: autographs | bizarre | cars | fenders | Jane Goodall | signatures
Posted by acarvin at 4:21 PM
May 23, 2008
Vic Chesnutt Live at NPR
It's a good thing I had to work from home today, because otherwise I would have seen Vic Chesnutt play at NPR today.
Okay, that sounds strange, so lemme explain. I'm a big fan of Vic's, ever since helping organize a free concert with him and Bob Mould at Northwestern 15 years ago. Today, though, I got an email just as I arrived home that he'd be playing a few songs at NPR, at Bob Boilen's desk. I was really bummed about missing it, and Jon Foreman twittered that it was a shame he didn't have my Nokia N95 on hand to stream it. So I suggested he set up a Mogulus account on Bob's laptop so I could watch it from home. The result is this live video stream:
It's currently 2:20. Still waiting for Vic to perform. Looking forward to it. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 2:17 PM
Impromptu Interview with Jacob Soboroff of Why Tuesday?
So I was working at my desk yesterday when Weekend Edition Sunday producer Davar Ardalan suddenly appeared with Jacob Soboroff of Why Tuesday?, a nonpartisan group that produces a fascinating video blog about electoral reform. (In case you're wondering about the name, it's based on the question of why on earth U.S. elections are held on a Tuesday, when most people are stuck at work.) Jacob has been participating in Weekend Edition's Sunday Soapbox blog, which features political commentaries from video bloggers and podcasters, and he was in town for some meetings. (He's also headed to a Memorial Day clam bake at Joe Trippi's horse farm; hope he shoots some video while he's there.)
We ended up running across the street to the local Starbucks to grab a drink and enjoy the first tolerably warm temps we've had in a few days. It didn't take long for me to whip out my N95 and record an impromptu interview with Jacob about Why Tuesday? and electoral reform:
Tags: Bill Nelson | election 2008 | electoral reform | Jacob Soboroff | Joe Trippi | Nokia N95 | npr | politics | Why Tuesday?
Posted by acarvin at 9:48 AM
May 15, 2008
Union Station, West Hall
Low-res version of a giant panorama photo I took at DC's Union Station. View the high-res version.
Posted by acarvin at 8:23 PM
May 13, 2008
Almost Arrested for Taking Photos at Union Station
As some of you may know, I've been testing out a Gigapan panorama photo system over the last week, after I received a loaner of their robotic camera mount from Carnegie Mellon's robotics lab. I brought it in to NPR to demonstrate it to colleagues and go on a photo safari to photograph the architecture at Union Station. Apparently, as far as Union Station's security operations are concerned, that's a criminal offense, since we nearly got arrested.
Here's a low-res version of the photo. Click the image to see the extreme high-res, half-a-gigapixel Gigapan version. (Don't worry, it loads dynamically, so don't worry about the size of the pic.)
Earlier in the day, I did a brief demo of the Gigapan on the NPR roof. My NPR colleague Wright Bryan expressed interest in watching it in action elsewhere, so I offered to join him for a trip to Union Station, since it has some of the most beautiful architecture in the city. (Our photo editor was going to join us as well, but changed her mind at the last minute.)
We arrived at Union Station just before 4:30pm, where we set up the tripod and the camera at the western end of the main hall. I set the Gigapan to take a 180-degree sweep facing east, which took about 15 minutes to complete. We stood around chatting with passers-by, and were eventually joined by a journalist colleague of Wright's, who was visiting DC for a few days.
About halfway into the panorama, a security guard approached us and asked if we were taking pictures. We said yes, we were, to which she responded "okay" and left. She expressed no concern about our activities and didn't communicate anything with us otherwise.
After the panorama was complete, we relocated to the center of the main hall and proceeded to start the process of taking a 360-degree panorama. Since this would involve around 200 separate photos, it meant we got to stand around for at least 20 minutes. Wright's friend took a few pictures of us posing with the Gigapan, as commuters went about their business, a few giving us quizzical smiles.
Then the security guard returned. She informed us that we would have to cease taking pictures immediately and leave. I asked what the problem was, and she said that this is a private space, and we didn't have permission from management to take pictures. I told her that we were testing equipment for potential use by NPR, showed them our press passes, and noted there were plenty of other people walking around with cameras. She seemed sympathetic to our position, but said she was relaying orders she'd received from someone higher up. I asked if we could speak with them, then twittered it:
Just got told by security to leave. Asked to speak with a supervisor to explain why we can't take pictures at union station.
Soon a second security guard arrived; he said he wasn't a supervisor. He reiterated that we had to stop taking pictures and leave, or we would face arrest. I said we wanted to speak with a supervisor before we would comply. Again, I twittered.
Being asked to leave union station. Still asking to see supervisor.
By now a third security guard arrived. He noticed that the camera was still taking pictures. Not only did he ask us to stop immediately, he told us to erase the pictures, particularly any photos that might include images of them. The first guard repeated his demand we erase the pictures. We refused. The twittering
continued.
Union Station security official saying we'll be arrested if we don't comply. Also told to erase pics of security guards.
Throughout the conversation, which I should point out was conducted in a cordial, but firm tone, we received mixed messages from the security guards. One told us the problem was that we were using a tripod, while another insisted it was because we had "that thing" on top of our tripod. They then changed the story again, and said that journalists couldn't take pictures without permission from management, and that Union Station is a private space run by a private company, not a public space. They never gave us an answer as to why we were first allowed to take photos in the first location, but could not do the same here.
Contradictory messages. First they say tripod is problem, then the gigapan. Either way, cease or be arrested.
I debated them, telling them the story of the security guards who tried to prevent someone from photographing downtown Silver Spring by arguing it was a private space controlled by a private corporation, but was eventually overruled by local officials after much public lambasting. Their reaction was that they were just following orders. I said I wouldn't leave the premise until someone would go on record as to why we were being stopped, and would supply their name as well.
Meanwhile, the Gigapan continued to take photos. They'd ruined the panorama, of course; the first guard got in front of the camera at one point and obstructed the view. They reiterated that we were going to be arrested, so I finally tried to shut off the camera. But the damn thing wouldn't stop taking pictures. It never occurred to me that I'd have to learn how to abort a panorama under pain of arrest, so I fumbled for about a minute as it kept shooting pictures. (I think I heard Wright laughing at this point.)
I managed to shut the camera, and started to disassemble the Gigapan from the tripod as a fourth security person arrived. He was dressed differently than the other three people, and had a former-marine-turned-middle-management air about him. I twittered as he spoke:
Official saying Union Station is a private space, no right to photograph without approval.
I asked for his business card and he handed it to me: Robert H. Mangiante, Assistant Director, IPC International Corporation. He then summed up the situation: pack up your gear and leave now, or we'll arrest you. It's our choice. Our gear was already packed up at this point, and Wright and his friend had an event at the National Press Club anyway, so that was that. The Gigapan went into my backpack, I folded the tripod and we went our separate ways.
I'm still trying to sort out the incident. While I have no doubt that Union Station is managed by a private company, I think it's hard for them to argue it's a private space, and that journalists cannot take photographs there without permission. Granted, it's not a public street like the Silver Spring incident, but the situation is otherwise similar. I also question their right to demand that we erase photos, and am puzzled by the capriciousness of their overall position, given how they first allowed us to take photos but then changed their minds, offering mixed messages as to why.
What do you think? Were we within our rights or not? -andy
PS - Take a close look at the high-res version of the picture. You can make out the first security guard standing in front of the camera at one point, as the second one approaches from behind her, just to her right.
Tags: corporations | First Amendment | NPR | photography | public spaces | rules | security guard | Union Station | Washington DC
Posted by acarvin at 5:59 PM
May 8, 2008
Dizzy vs the Gigapan
I just got my hands on a Gigapan, a robotic camera mount developed by Carnegie Mellon University's robotics lab that allows you to take gigapixel-resolution pictures. And what does Dizzy try to do? Take over the photo shoot. Typical. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 8:18 PM
May 1, 2008
Public Broadcasting and Twitter? Engagement and Authenticity!
Yesterday, I saw a note from the WBUR Twitter account pointing to a blog post about their recent experiments with Twitter. For those of you who don't know WBUR, it's an NPR member station in Boston that's been doing a lot of tinkering in the social media space as of late, so I follow their work pretty closely.
In his blog post, WBUR's Ken George talks about some of their social media projects, and how they're now heading into unknown waters with Twitter:
Now our media giant lumbers head first into the world of Twitter.After dusting off the mostly dormant WBUR Twitter account, and fortified with copious amounts of coffee, I managed to accrue a modest following (hey its quality, not quantity right?). But in all honesty, I remain uncertain - to the point of apprehension - about what I should "Tweet" about. Do you want WBUR news updates? Irreverent musings? Programming information? Personal trivia? Shout-outs to my peeps? A running chronology of my day?
An excellent example of Twitter's utility is public radio station KPBS using it to receive updates on wildfires then consuming swaths of southern California, information they then could relay over the airwaves. My own personal "ah-ha!" moment came yesterday afternoon when someone Tweeted me about a misspelling on the site. It just then dawned on me that WBUR too now has a potential army of researchers and fact-checkers at its disposal. The cranial cavity expanded six inches yesterday... cue "Also Sprach Zarathustra."
So maybe the right question is: In what ways can we help each other?
Lemme spin that question another way, if I may: What would I expect of WBUR - and any other public broadcaster, for that matter - as far as Twitter is concerned?
Above all else, I would expect two things: engagement and authenticity.
Since I first started encouraging NPR folks and shows to use Twitter last year, I've seen us try a lot of things: Twitter accounts like nprnews, which is just a rehash of our primary headlines RSS feed; bpp, the Bryant Park Project account used to chat with their community of users on a wide range of topics; and accounts like nprnewsblog, which blends automated blog updates with occasional comments from Tom Regan or me, particularly on primary nights.
Which of these work best? Well, it depends on your perspective of course, but for my money, BPP is the best thing we've got going on Twitter right now. It took a while for it to reach critical mass - it averaged less than two tweets per day in October - but as Bryant Park staffers saw the number of folks replying to their tweets, a rolling conversation erupted. They began incorporating it into their work routine, and kept the tweets going after work as well. Now, they're averaging upwards of 20 tweets a day. And looking at their tweet stream, you'll see that just over a quarter of their posts are actually public replies to others, either answering questions or participating in multiple conversations simultaneously. The team has gotten very good about signing off each tweet so you know if it's Laura, Allison, Matt or someone else writing the message. And it doesn't take long to recognize who's who - they each have their own style, even though they're compressing their thoughts into 140 characters or less.
Meanwhile, they're using these conversations as sources for on air dialogue as well. BPP staff regularly ask users questions via Twitter for topics they're trying to cover on air. Sometimes Twitter users will suggest stories or guests - and in some cases, they become guests themselves. One of my favorite examples of this happened when BPP began chatting it up with redsoxcast, a twitter account that offers play-by-play coverage of Red Sox games. It didn't take long before the conversation blossomed into a radio story as well as an online slideshow. Conversations generate coverage, which generate more conversation - a virtuous cycle that's a win-win for show producers and their community of fans.
The BPP Twitter strategy is beginning to rub off on nprnewsblog as well. When we first set up that account in the fall of last year, it was just an automated rehash of blog posts, with a headline and link for each new post. That in itself was perfectly okay for a while, but it didn't exactly generate much interest. By the time we got to Super Tuesday in this past February, it had only attracted a few hundred followers. But that night, we shifted gears in a big way. While Tom concentrated on posting new blog entries, I manned the Twitter account, writing summaries of precinct results as they came in from the AP, asking Twitterers about what was going on in their precincts, and passing along the calls when NPR's election unit called a race for a particular candidate (sometimes beating our on-air coverage, much to the amusement of our Twitter fans).
Since then, the nprnewsblog account has grown to nearly 4,000 subscribers, making it one of the largest news services on Twitter. While most days the bulk of messages are still automated summaries of blog posts (63% of them, for those of you keeping score), Tom's gotten comfortable in chatting and answering questions much more often than he used to do it. "It's a great tool," Tom told me earlier today. "I often get story ideas from the folks on Twitter. It's like having a whole lot of people looking for stories or passing along interesting ideas."
Meanwhile, I still chime in as well from time to time, along with Michael Olson of our election unit, particularly during major political events. Even if we're not physically present at an event like a caucus or campaign rally - and personally, I'm never present at these things - there's a good chance that other Twitter users are there, so we're able to use Twitter to track these folks down, find out from them what's happening on the ground and join them in a conversation as the story unfolds.
In each of these cases, I've pushed really hard for our Twitter experiments to embrace authenticity and engagement. Tweets from NPR folks need to be written in their own voice. Public relations-speak on Twitter is the kiss of death; you just don't get the medium if you're using it to spew talking points. If other Twitter users don't have a sense of the human being behind the Twitter account, they're gonna lose interest in you real fast.
Even if you're being true to yourself when you're posting your tweets, you can't ignore the fact that there are all sorts of people who want to interact with you. That's why I'm trying to get us away from feeds like the nprnews Twitter account where we just publish, and embrace feeds where we converse. Even though the Twitter tag line is "What are you doing?" the heart of twitter is really "What do you want to talk about?" And it doesn't take long to notice that Twitter users are serious news junkies; they want to talk about what's going on in the world and in their lives. Twitter is helping my NPR colleagues tap into these conversations for ideas and inspiration, while providing users with even more things to talk about. Creating a more informed public is at the heart of NPR's mission, and Twitter is an emerging tool for us to accomplish that mission.
So as far as WBUR is concerned, here's my advice. Don't publish - converse. Use your Twitter account to start new conversations in your community and learn about what people are saying. Get some of your colleagues using it, though if you do it all on one Twitter account, be sure to sign your tweets individually so users know who they're talking to. Follow as many people as you can manage, even if they're not all following you back. Whenever possible, answer user questions publicly. Organize local tweetups, or attend ones that others have organized. Become a part of the local Twitter community. And above all, explore ways of using these conversations to improve the quality and diversity of your journalism, whether it's on air or online. There's a huge community of people out there rooting for you and eager to help. Open the doors and invite them in. -andy
Tags: community | conversation | journalism | news | public broadcasting | public radio | Twitter | WBUR
Posted by acarvin at 2:40 PM
