Dreaming

A fun little assignment I got from the powers-that-be at The Star: Create a list of all the ways the Star Car can be used. Here's what I came up with ... not a bad list, if I do say so myself. What do you want the Star Car to be able to do? Post your comment below.

Here are several scenarios the Star Car can be used in:

Drive to a crime scene. People in the newsroom can use the mounted camera to show online consumers what’s happening, while the reporter uses a handheld camera to shoot video from a different angle, a digital recorder to capture press conferences, and a blog to describe the scene.
Then the reporter can upload all this content moments after capturing it, so the consumer gets a near-live experience.

Attend a meeting like never before. Take a mobile video camera into the average meeting and transmit it almost live. Blog about individual talking points and post documents online using cell phone technology.

A standoff happens, and The Star is live on the scene as, hours later, the gunman still hasn’t surrendered. The mobile newsroom has a generator to make sure reporters don’t have to leave the scene when the news is happening.

There’s a tornado in the northern part of the county. The reporters can go storm chasing. Consumers can log online to watch as the Star Car goes to find tornadoes…and, just maybe, see the storm itself.

There’s a police chase, and the Star Car can follow along. So can online viewers, who can watch the Star Car as it’s tracked online using the on-board GPS tracking system.

The Star Car makes an appearance at a local school, where we teach kids to treat the Internet safely and let them upload pictures of themselves to www.clevelandcountykids.com.

Attend a movie premiere, and let the public post to a blog talking about their opinion of the movie from a computer in the back of the car.

Record and broadcast live from sporting events like football games. Point the SUV at the action and let the camera run, while a videographer shoots more stuff from a different angle.

Be in two places at once. The Star Car’s mobile range would allow one reporter to report on one aspect of a story while, down the road, something else is going on. For example, one reporter could talk to family members of someone hurt in a crime, while down the street another reporter provides near-live coverage of a suspect being arrested.

All possible because the mobile newsroom gives both some level of connectivity in the field.
Edit on the fly. Reporters become producers when they put audio and/or video on the computer in the car, edit it, post it online without having to return to the office.

The online public could ride in a Christmas parade with The Star as the car records the route.

A reporter is posting live story updates from somewhere. An online consumer could read the story, post a question at the bottom, and the reporter could get that question answered while still on the scene. It allows for total interactivity.

The bottom line: Reporters and editors can minimize the amount of time between the story happening and the public finding out about it in ways that no other news gathering organization can. News consumers aren’t just reading a story, they’re becoming part of the newsgathering process.