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You did it! Congratulations to everyone who survived the second iReport boot camp, a seven-week special that challenged iReporters to sharpen their storytelling skills through a series of challenges.
Today at 2 p.m. ET, we will host the final boot camp roundtable. The iReport team will be on hand to answer any questions you might have regarding boot camp and storytelling. We would also like to hear about your boot camp experience
For the final boot camp assignment, we received more than 30 stories from iReporters around the world. Shari Atukorala reported on no-kill animal shelter in Sri Lanka; Esther Tanuadji shared the story of a school in Indonesia that's helping students realize their dreams; and Umari Ayim took a closer look at overpopulation in Nigeria. Their stories are just a handful of the fantastic submissions we received.
All of the boot camper iReporters worked extremely hard on their stories, so please take the time to check out their work. And at 2 p.m. ET, please come back to the comments section below for our roundtable discussion.
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If I am unable to get up on time... Boot Camp was fun but I think it was a bit too long... cos when the end story came out most of the people had known what the story was all about and it was sort of re-reading it all over again. However it did give us an opportunity to learn more on story telling, and building our story, thanks to the great tips and advice given to us by top Journalists on CNN. Also without proper sound equipment it is really difficult to conduct or carry out an interview in a noisy envioranment like I had to undergo, and when your camera is just a point and shoot one, it is even more difficult to catch the interview without a proper microphone.
Each week it was very exciting to get ready for each assignment,(though I must say I was impatient to get on with it... rather than wait till Friday!!!)and at times it was a bit confusing...and frustrating to get on with the editing. I enjoyed doing my story on the" No Kill Shelter" and had to make three trips to the Capital City of Colombo to conduct the interviews as each time there was some kind of problem with background sounds. This was one of the longest interviews I had ever conducted in my life, and my very first ever serious interview (not counting last years' one)
I take this opportunity of thanking Ms.Carly Costello for all her great advice and tips and Wish her all the Best for the future.
Boot Camp has taught me'how to conduct an interview' and 'ask questions'from my interviewees and take better photographs and videos more professionally... and it was great for me to get to know about a No Kill dog Shelter in Sri Lanka.
I also wish to thank all those who helped me out in getting these interviews, namely Mrs.Hemanthika Jayatilleke, Ms.Shiona Weerasekera, Dr.S S B Dissanayake all of the Animals' Welfare and Protection Association in Colombo,Sri Lanka and Mr.& Mrs.Robert Devanesan for their unstinted support to make these interviews into a great story and success for Boot Camp
I am sorry for the long harangue!
As usual, I'm either late or early.
Hey Sunethra! Thanks for all your feedback! And I am glad you were able to stop by for a bit.
Hey Twosee! Thanks for stopping by.
Thank you for the great tips!
Following Sunethra's post, we would love to hear about your boot camp experience. Did you find it helpful? Would you do it again? We want to hear your thoughts!
hello...so sorry for missing the last one..was not keeping too well.
Hi!
Yes would do it again... but in one go please
Hey Ruchi and Esther! I am so glad you could join us today!
Hi All!
Hi Carly. Thanks also Carly and for all the experts who gave us tip. I did enjoyed it. Hi Shari and everyone
Nice work with the last bootcamp, some amazing stories and tips!
Hello Sherbien
Well, I like Sunethra's suggestion about finding out what our assignment is before Friday.
I wasn't so much interested in promoting my ability to make a video, but I am very interested in promoting my cause. I wish I could get more people to see my video.
Thanks for all the feedback so far! For those who did boot camp last year - did you like this year's more or less? Did you find this year to be more helpful? What did you like and what didn't you like?
Hello everyone!
Hi Ma'am and everyone! Good morning from the Philippines! -Jon
@Twosee and @sunethra, we did post all the assignment from the beginning. Are you saying we should have opened them for the start?
Can you tell me will you be publishing more stories, or this year's boot camp is over?
Hey Valeriu and Jon! Thanks for stopping by. Valeriu, did you get my feedback?
Hi everybody.
Each one helped, though this last one was a little confusing on where things were.
I guess I didn't look at the right place.
I would do it again, but my family keeps shaking their heads, "No! No!" Apparently, the last adventure to the swamp upset them.
Hey Ivan! We hope to feature several of the other boot camp stories on different blogs around CNN.com in the next month or two.
This years' one was good. but would have liked it to be one assignment instead of breaking it up into 7 weeks. Yes all the assignments were up from the beginning, that was ok.
Hello Veronica! Thanks for posting your updated video!
I will make note of that, Sunethra. Thank you.
Hey everyone, happy I could join you all for the last roundtable although I was not able to join in many before!
I am delighted to have taken part in this year's Boot Camp. It's been an useful experience, learning from professionists on how to write a well-researched news-story.
I am sure that the knowledge gained will help me in my future work.
Thanks to the whole CNN team who gave us advices and feedback!
Thank you Carly for information!
Hi Carly. Thanks for all the assistance.
Also I would like to introduce our intern for this semester! Everyone, please meet Joelle!
I have a suggestion for the next boot camp. What if boot camp using iphone or android. All interviews and brolls are taken by a camera phone and edited using cnn editing apps for android and iphone. Im very frustrated with my editing software.
Hey everyone! Congratulations on your Boot Camp Round Two success!!
Hello, Joelle.. Nice to meet you
Thanks Valeriu and Veronica! What did everyone find to be the most helpful? What about the least helpful?
Sherb, I think that is a great idea! We have been trying to think of new, different ways to apply the boot camp concept. Thanks!
Also, big thank you Carly for your help, hope to hear from you soon!
@ccostello3 I received your feedback! I find it very helpful. Thank you a lot for your attention, time and interest! I really appreciate that.
Now, my hope is to be featured on CNN.com. That would be a great achievement for me.
Hello Joelle! Nice to meet you!
Happy that Filipinos dominate the bootcamp. Hi veron and jon and to all
@sunethra Thank you! Nice to meet you, as well.
Hi This was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, if you read my last story you will see I had a lot of problems and I was told not to tell the rest of my story on the hole in the sky. I could have lost my real job. Nevertheless, this taught me a great deal. Thanks to you all.
Thank you everyone! I am glad my feedback was helpful!
@earlyesther Thank you!
@randy24 That's a great aspiration. You should definitely keep working toward it.
Everyone was most helpful,
Aiyo Sherbien can't use my Android to upload an ireport as long as for Boot Camp any other small thing it is ok.
I really appreciated the help of the iReport team, the speed to respond to e-mails and so on. You guys are great!
Likewise Joelle! Being new is hard.
The most helpful was the every week open discussion with a panel of CNN experts. Their advice was helpful not just for the current story but for the long run. Although I do wish we had lesser assignments, in the sense if there could be a little mystery about the story till the end. Just as Sunethra suggested. Thanks. Overall a great learning experience.
Thanks carly. Hope editing for android will soon be come true though im itching to buy. The new iphone4s with mouth watering 8mp and full hd feature. . . Thanks to steve
Great, Ruchi! I think that the weekly discussions were a big help too! I learned a lot from out experts as well!
I can't use my cell and I have witnesses to prove it.
Thanks Ruchi. I also think we could've had, if not fewer, maybe optional assignments... but then I think some people just took that route anyway :)
Does anyone think that the assignments from last year's boot camp were more helpful? Do you wish you had more time to complete the assignments?
On the down side, I just felt a bit that the end of the boot camp remained in the air. But after my last e-mail exchange with Carly it's clearer for me. Is there a space on iReport where the final stories from the people that made it until the end will be featured somehow?
The most helpful was the information about how to find the sources.
It was very interesting the fact that a story should mainly focus on a character and their personal story. Then, we should relate the information we gain from this character to the official sources.
Also, I used to write my news stories without doing an outline. After this experience I found that one can do a better job when he organizes the information.
I didn't find very useful (taking for myself only) the info about how to take a good picture. I believe that as long as I don't have a professional camera, I might still take bad pictures. But that's only my point of view.
Hi joelle. My tab is very helpfull in uploading shari. Sometimes i dont use my dlsr in taking photos, i use my tab, its choosing the effects, shoot and upload. Try to see your settings shari.
Hi everyone,
I just came out of a meeting, so I'm a bit late. But I wanted to congratulate all of you for the great work you did over the past few weeks.
I've been really impressed by how much progress you all made.
I agree, Carmen, that the ending was a little confusing, and I apologize for that. There is no place in particular. We are working with a couple other blogs at CNN.com in hopes of being able to feature some of the stories there.
@randy24- Thanks for the feedback. I think that the finding sources week was one of the most helpful as well. Did you find Steve's advice on editing in week six helpful?
I don't have a tab. Sherbien and picture quality from the LG phone is not all that good for uploading. Perhaps I should get a tab.
yes ;) very helpful
@ccostello3 Yes, the editing part - that was a great peace of information. As you've seen, I still have to work on that feature.
Can anyone share a thing or two that they leaned during boot camp that might help you with any iReports you do in the future?
Thanks @david - just noticed it! Also looking forward to more bootcamps, though missed this one.
How to use people's name when I mention them, always think about the context in which the material will be published (found the advice from one of the editors great when it came about social benefits and how the situation is different in the US than in European countries from that point of view)
Also I really liked Sherbien suggestion about applying the boot camp idea to shooting video and photos with a camera phone. Does anyone else have any other topics that they would like to see boot camp applied to?
I learned on how to take an interesting picture and how to maximize the video quality I take
Great! I am glad to hear that, Carmen!
probably we can add more time to discus the writing itself ...
Thanks Randy! Glad to hear you rocked the boot camp and got so much out of it.
I did like the tips on editing and finding sources. I really liked the tips on taking photos and videos.
Ok Esther. Do you think we should make the editing week longer?
Thanks for the opportunity!
Boot camp to me is helpfull in making rochelle story bec, im planning to make a documentary movie about it, i just follow rochelle's life 2-3 times a month until her time comes. When boot camp came, i became closer to rochelle until she revealled her bf, she met her father and now im with her family reunion here in boracay, philippines. But im sad her brother is not here. The only brother of rochelle is a victim of bullying and was operated for severe bone fracture. Rochelle is bit sad. But hopefully this will pave way of forgiveness to mom and dad.
Bec of CNN roundtable I was able to get in touch with progeria research foundation in Boston and learned that the foundation is looking for Rochelle to help her. I learned that thete are 2 cases of progeria in the Philippines and 80 around the world.
Each week is a tough challenge, i went to see rochelle 2 to 3x in a week.
And the biggest challenge for me is the editing, i got tons of material and my laptop crushed and redo editing. I learned that taking shoots you only needed is crucial if you are beating a deadline.
Shari, wait for iphone 4s
Hey Nathan! Welcome! I am glad you found those weeks helpful.
The writing aspect is definitely a harder skill to develop. It takes time and it's difficult to improve with just a few "tips." The biggest tip is definitely to keep doing it and getting feedback and doing it again and again.
Hey Nancy! Glad you could make it.
And using cnn ireport template editing carly. :)
I agree with elchueco. I find hard time in writing
That's awesome that your story had an impact, Sherbien.
Sherbien, that is wonderful that you are working on a documentary of Rochelle. She seems like such a wonderful person. And I am sorry that you had so many editing issues.
@elchueco: agree ...
@Carly: probably ... or we can try different task with different kind of writing ... for example, writing a report, not a story, where the inverted pyramid structure is needed and the reported speech has to be used intensively ... haha ... that's difficult ... or writing an opinion piece perhaps ...
Yes Sherbien I would like to get an iphone 4s but it will be very expensive here, treble the amount in the US when it gets here.
@carly..I do have a query..can we post any more stories(besides bootcamp) on ireport hence forth and also be able to get in touch with you regarding the same?
Yes, Jackie used the iReport editing template on her video, which you can view here http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-679027
What are the websites you'd recommend to us as a model of professional journalism, besides CNN.com and BBC.com?
@ruchi, please share your stories with us! You can upload anytime. You can always contact us too, if needed.
hi guys! just peeking out here, am late.
Thanks Carly!
@randy - New York Times is always a good one.
@randy24: New York Times, international herald tribune ... some magazines also feature good writings. For consumer magazine, I like Hearst ...
What about the first week of boot camp? Do you wish you had more time to come up with your story idea? Or did we give enough time?
Maybe I missed the first day perhaps all the dealine dates should have been posted the first day or was it part of being a real reporter to rush for dealines? I would like someone to suggest me a good editing program anyone have the perfect tool to work with?
Sorry, I think I am behind, but what is the iReport editing template you mentioned Carly?
Maybe a extra week to come up with a final idea. But I assume most people had their ideas already.
@ruchi: Yes please! We'd love for you continue to be part of the community. You can always come up freely with ideas, and also participate in the assignments we put out.
We have a template available on iMovie. It's pretty much font and graphics that you can add to your video when editing in iMovie. Did you see Jackie's video?
@carly: should be sufficient, I suppose ... or probably we can add one more week if it is needed. I was in a business trip at that time, therefore I needed more time ...
Unfortunately, the template is only on iMovie at the moment.
carly, thanks to all of you for putting out this bootcamp together. really a learning experience.
I have a PC, which means I can't really use iMovie, right? :)
Yes im thinking of making a docu but dont know where to. Just shoot and shoot. Thanks to boot camp.
I forgot, jackie use the template. Hope soon its available in androids.
Hi lia.
Does anyone think that combining some of the weeks would have been helpful? For example, combining capturing images and editing images?
Carmen- Unfortunately, I think that is true. But you can still come up with cool titles and graphics on a PC.
Hello all, sorry I am late
Lia- Thank you! I am glad you enjoyed it and learned something from it.
Yes, I read The New York Times on a daily base. NYT uses a very 'easy-to-read' language, especially for those who don't speak English as their native language. I like that.
Can we consider the articles published by a newspaper such as NYT and the ones published by CNN that they are somehow written differently in style?
Hey Umari! Glad you could join us.
@ccostello Can the music or sounds from iMovie be used in iReports without infringements? Is there a place to download the ireport the graphics and fonts?
@carly: should be ... what about combining capturing image and editing the story (or something like that) so we can learn how the picture and the story complement each other ...
@Randy- That is hard to say. It really depends on the writer and topic. For example, my writing for a blog post is much different than when I write a story.
Hello all!
Also, I had a question about the outline. Maybe a sort of outline template (or at least what should be in it) was needed when we were asked to provide an outline. I saw many people did it differently, probably depending on what they've learned in school/professional life. It would be nice to know how people at CNN do an outline of a story. Sorry, I am a CNN junkie! :)
Esther- That's a good idea. Thanks!
Wausau - The music offered in iMovie iReport template is OK to use. Also you can create your own on Garage Band to use in your iReports.
Carly, good to see you too. Just sent you a mail when I thought it was difficult sending comments
I am still trying to upload my video but the server here is kind of slow.
I wanted to talk about the music on my video. It was suggested that I either change it or remove it from places where it interfered with the interviews. I did my best to lower it and removed it from the places where it disturbed the interviews.
hi carly, on your question earlier, for me the most helpful was giving us the step by step procedure on creating a good story. giving us the tips and suggestions were really helpful in trying our best to convince our readers that we have a good story to tell.
Carmen - That is a really great idea! I think that would be a big help too. I will make note of that.
@randy: there must be some differences between CNN and NYT. How the words flow in the articles of each publications are also different. I usually read the opinion piece from NYT, the way they present it is different from how CNN present their stories. There is also a little difference in what is emphasized/point of view taken when covering an event
Thanks for the feedback, Lia.
We only have a few more minutes left. What else do you have to share about you boot camp experience? We want to hear it all! How can we make boot camp better?
When the next story is going to be published?
Really enjoyed the process. Glad to get advice and feedback from people at CNN.
We are not sure on that. It all depends on daily news and breaking news.
@Carly: provide a page where all bootcampers can know each other! At least we can say hello and introduce ourselves to each other so we don't feel as if we work with a bunch of strangers ... =)
Nathan- We appreciate all your hard work.
Everyone did a great job and everyone should be really proud of themselves!
Maybe the way we do the roundtable? It is a bit difficult to follow through this comment thing. :)
Carmen- We here at iReport totally agree. We are trying to come up with a new way to host the roundtables.
Everyone- Does holding the roundtable a 2 pm work good? Or would earlier or later work better?
That's a wonderful idea, Esther. We would have never thought of that.
@carmen: doing roundtable, yes! and the time, Carly .. it will be great if we can do roundtable a few hours earlier =)
Yes, I agree with @brotozaur. The chat (from a technical perspective), should look different.
Well any last comments before we close up for the day? Everyone's feedback has been really, really helpful. Thank you!
To be honest, when you work with people from all over the world, you can never get the time right for everybody :)
@carly: earlier or later will do me good ... at around 10 or 11 am your time, or later at 5 or 6 pm your time ... ;)
We also will hold a rountable a week from today to talk about iReport stuff in general. It will not be a boot camp roundtable. And it will be held on the blog, like it is today.
Thank you Carly and Germain and the experts and everyone involved in this from the CNN side!
AWESOME!!!!
Hello everyone
This is very true, Carmen. What I noticed with boot camp is that most of the boot campers were international, so maybe earlier would have been better. We usually hold roundtables at 3, but decide to move it up an hour for boot camp.
Please send us a reminder Carly! I will love to join if my job allows me to!
bootcamp is a taste of the real journalism world, and i believe we are all learning from it. it means we still have a lot of work to do to be a good journalist.
@carly: just send us the invitation link
Carly, I think the boot camp experience was worth it. However, I think the round table in future boot camps should be longer.
Carmen- Will do.
Hey @Sigho. I am sorry you had trouble with posting comments.
Completely agree Sunsetlady!
Thank you all, guys! Especially to you, Carly!
@umari: agree! ;)
Had some challenges in getting here,want to thank the iReport Team for all your contributions to my work. i really appreciate.
Well unfortunately, we are out of time. Thank you to everyone who took part in boot camp. I think it was a great learning opportunity for all of us. I cannot wait to see what other stories you come up with!
Hi Sigho!
Thanks everyone! And thanks for all your feedback!
I sincerely plead for the extension of today's roundtable time since its going to be the last. We need to express ourselves completely and need time to do that.
Thanks everyone, the boat is leaving now
Bye people from all over the world! Looking forward to your stories! And super-congrats to Rachel, who got the CNN byline!
@Esther, its nice to meet you again!
Sigho- What would you like to share? I am all ears.
I agree with Sunset Lady. We citizen-journalists still have lots to learn. The CNN i-Report boot camp has been a wonderful learning experience for each of us who have participated in it. It was some kind of a n online journalism-workshop.....
Sorry,Carly.I didn't see this in time.
Its been so wonderful for me in taking part in this year's boot-camp. It gave me an opportunity to learn new things about Journalism. If there is any thing i have learnt in this boot-camp is that: "What worth doing is worth doing well". It tells me that if i have to capture an image,i should do it well and more professionally. If i have to record a video,i should be more purposeful and creative.
My participation in this exercise gave me an opportunity to see things differently especially when it has to do with the media and storytelling.
I really appreciate the regular feedback i got from Carly and Perez,your commitments to our stories has been so wonderful. I want to make you aware that,at a point i had so much challenges in getting my story together because of my Job, but each time i receive your mails, i feel like taking a step further to get it done at all cost!
I also find the stories from other iReporters in this exercise so interesting. I agree with "Earlyester" on her view about having a link where all Bootcampers can meet and discuss and also a link where iReporters can chat with CNN iReport TEam on iReporting.
Thank you all for the Bootcamp Experience. I learned a lot and look forward to the future success of this great program.
SORRY! Editing time. When I wrote my commentary I was so mad I could have spit nails. That, plus my experiences with other "comment" offerings timing out if you write more than a Twitter-length response (well-conceived, thoughtful and complete essays apparently are passe' in the 21st century), I "leaped" before I looked prior to posting. Bad move! Anyway, whether or not anyone reads this correction post or not, I would be remiss if I did not at least make an effort to correct the record. So with those thoughts in mind here goes. "99" percent (you know, the non-billionaires and soon-to-be-so folks) NOT "00" percent. "rose" NOT "have rose." And in conclusion --- "outrageous" NOT "outrages." There. . . finem coronat opus! BJG.
Is there any proceedings after the last bootcamp?