Web and Social Media
“With the expansion of the Web and the ever-decreasing size and cost of camera phones and video cameras, the ability to commit acts of journalism is spreading to everyone.”
-Arianna Huffington, Author and Businesswoman
Something to think about…
Media consumption is ever-evolving, and it is journalists’ job to keep up with it.
Using technology to my advantage is what I consider one of my strongest skills as a journalist. Through utilizing various different social media platforms, I have been able to garner more attention to my work, put out information faster and build a distinct brand for myself.
Navigating social media is an extremely vital tool a journalist needs in their arsenal. It puts their work right at readers’ fingertips as fast and easily as possible. I feel the way I navigate these platforms will help me make notable steps in the journalism world.
To see my overall engagements, check out my Marketing and Audience Engagement page.
Live Sideline Coverage
As a sideline reporter, not only do I provide coverage of a game through my standups and interviews but also post live score updates with footage. I use my camera and a RODE microphone to capture the best quality video possible. I use an SD card reader that is phone compatible to upload videos to the phone quickly. I post videos of scoring and significant plays supplemented with the score, time left and a brief description. I also try to post videos that show storylines in the game, whether it be the insane crowd turnout or a team sharing a special moment.
Click on the tweets below to view examples of my coverage.
Live National Signing Day Coverage
Signing a National Letter of Intent to play collegiate sports is a huge deal. As a student athlete myself, I know how much time, commitment and effort it takes to be offered a spot in a university’s athletic program. A good number of Bridgeland athletes sign each year. I find it important to give those athletes the recognition they deserve while also informing the public about this major event.
Click on the tweets below to view examples of my coverage.
The More You Know
What I’ve learned from live coverage
Producing real-time updates on-site via social media platforms like Twitter
Reporting on a company social media account with tens of thousands of followers
Prior research before events to get updates out quicker
Social Media Work For CADY Studios
This summer, I received an invitation to assist with content creation for CADY’s Model Day at their Houston studio. CADY is a leading high school photography company specializing in state of the art portraits. I filmed B-roll, in addition to CADY photographers in action and interviews with the CADY models on their experience for a video they intended on creating. I was also tasked with promoting the studio on social media. After receiving a few of the company’s social media graphics and templates, I was off to creating and posting content.
Below is a look at some of the posts made on the Instagram story to promote the studio.
PROFESSIONAL WORK
The More You Know
What I’ve learned from social media creation
Designing graphics for different social media platforms
To utilize promotion strategies to draw an audience to a business
Preparing graphic templates for easy, quick editing and usage in stories
Involving Multimedia In Story Planning
An additional adjustment my co-editor-in-chief and I made to the story planning sheet this year was making it mandatory every staffer fill out a graphics and multimedia planning section to present it in front of the entire staff. The Law, Ethics and News Literacy page also contains more information about the story planning sheet changes made. We made our staffers include at least one photo of inspiration to give them a sense of vision for what they wanted to create. That way, the staff could help them expand upon their ideas and understand where they are wanting to go with their multimedia. This has helped the staff incorporate more multimedia into stories by making them plan it out before they start the writing process, giving them an actual path to do so. By making them present it in front of everyone when doing their story planning presentations, they take it more seriously and are less likely to neglect thinking about it.
PACKAGING OPTIONS
Utilizing Multimedia On Web Stories
Presenting a story the right way is super important, and multimedia is an excellent medium to do so.
Here are a few ways I used multimedia to supplement my stories. Click on the images to see them in action with their respective story.
In my story about how Bridgeland’s baseball and softball programs prepared for their 2021 season amidst their season cancelation from COVID-19, I used Knightlab to create a timeline taking the reader through the start of the sports’ 2020 season. It includes the decisions that led to its end and the precautionary orders put in place for workouts heading into the new school year. I did this in order to provide better context for the reader and to add a visual element that was engaging yet informative.
I incorporated a photo gallery into my news story about the League of Women Voters of Cy-Fair’s efforts to register and educate new voters. I used a SNO Element to compile my photos and their captions in an organized, user-friendly way.
In my open letter to the education system, I felt adding some statistics to the highly passionate opinion piece I wrote would bring a sense of validity to those heavy emotions. I designed an infographic that went along with the letter using reliable sources for the statistics.
Behind the Design
How I created an infographic in Canva
1.) Researched significant statistics concerning mental health and education.
2.) Decided on a consistent color palette for the design.
3.) Found inspiration for monochromatic designs on Pinterest.
4.) Created a static gradient background and placed the information on Canva.
5.) Rearranged information to be cohesive and added graphics to each one.
I wrote a news story about how Bridgeland’s Peer Assisted Leadership (known as PALs) group spearheaded an initiative to support a Houston-based wheelchair basketball team through a charity game at the school. Although the main idea of funding the team’s trip to nationals stands out, I thought the potential impact on the school PALs pitched was really interesting. I had the PALs teacher send me the presentation they showed to the administration. I took information from that to make an interactive diagram in Flourish to show the possible large scale participation of Bridgeland’s population in the event.
Behind the Design
How I created an interactive diagram in Flourish
1.) Selected a suitable Flourish template for the information.
2.) Recoded the data spreadsheet to properly organize the categories and numbers.
3.) Input the data acquired from the presentation into the recoded spreadsheet.
4.) Adjusted the color scheme to the colors used in the presentation.
5.) Sized the circles to represent the population of students they encompass.
6.) Formatted a headline and a secondary headline in the spreadsheet to where they would appear.
The More You Know
What I’ve learned from web and multimedia
To teach staffers to incorporate multimedia into every story
Utilizing different software to expand the type of multimedia used in stories
Mixing notable statistics with a design element relative to the topic