This week we found out that we have the opportunity to make our own videos for the website as extra content on top of stories and pictures. This change is very exciting as it gives us the chance to make the website even more appealing to viewers.

Sarah speaking:

Last year, Broadcast classes got hundreds of thousands of dollars of new equipment that they can hardly use. For example, the classes got fantastic new HD camcorders, however, the older computers that are still in the Broadcast room can’t handle HD footage. Editing videos and then rendering them (the final step in preparing film) must be done over night because the computers are so slow. The classes also got new hand-held camcorders that could be used for shooting shorter film segments, which they again can’t use. The camcorders don’t have the necessary software on them and a work order put in two weeks ago has still not been addressed. These technology issues hurt the Broadcast classes as well as the Newspaper staff.

This year, we have relied on the Broadcast class to make a few videos every month to go with web stories for mvnews.org. Unfortunately, the classes could only make a few videos each month because of such slow technology. Broadcast would make videos and then post them to schooltube.com, an unblocked site that could be accessed from the journalism room. However, two months ago, schooltube.com updated their site and it is no longer compatible with Internet Explorer, the only (and awful) browser allowed to be used in the district. To circumvent the problem, Broadcast began uploading videos to vimeo.com, but again there was a problem. Vimeo is blocked in the district to students. Through the transition, mvnews.org wasn’t able to post video content for a month. Even after things were figured out a bit, video posting was still obnoxious because a student would have to log on to a teacher’s computer to post a video. Additionally, newspaper websites are heavily judged on the amount of multimedia posted online, without regards obviously to the obstacles in place.

Last week, our staff realized two of the journalism staff cameras can shoot video. Photographer and Broadcast student Miranda Snyder tested shooting video first, and it worked! So in the course of 24 hours, our staff made three videos and I edited and posted the first video made exclusively by journalism students on Friday, Jan. 20. Rendering and editing is still very slow and Vimeo is still blocked, however, we are well on our way to creating multimedia. I probably got a little too excited about this but I couldn’t be happier. Look for a multimedia tab next week.

Jill speaking:

Sarah’s face absolutely lit up when she found out that we could make our own videos for the website, and I love seeing how she jumped on the opportunity and already made her own video (which, by the way, was great). I am excited for the video content because I know that when I get on news sites, if there is a video to go along with the story, I almost always read that particular story and watch the video. I feel like this just allows us the opportunity to be even more competitive in competitions and will make the website that much more user friendly. I also like that it gives us the opportunity to make whatever videos we want and put them up on our own time. It makes us a more well-rounded news outlet for the school and it makes me even more excited for what this staff will do with second semester.

Lesson of the week:

1. It’s always nice to be self sufficient control the future of our website.

Lesson 20 of being an editor-in-chief: Check.