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Please join us here in the blog for our weekly roundtable discussion. We are looking forward to talking with everyone about what's going on in the community.
If you've got questions, suggestions or concerns, this is a great time to share them. We'll open comments at 2:30 p.m. ET. If you can't make it then, feel free to private message anyone on the iReport Team or email me at david.williams@cnn.com
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Hi everyone,
Welcome to the iReport roundtable.
hey
Good afternoon, everyone! Hello, davidw!
Hey, David
hi David
Hi All
Greetings to all from Mexico City
Hello everyone from Berlin, Germany!
Hey, davidw, are we getting any closer to being able to know who is following us?
I was going to start by introducing everyone to Supraja, our Spring intern, but she's not in this afternoon.
You can get to know her here: http://ireport.cnn.com/blogs/ireport-blog/2012/01/31/meet-supraja-ireports-spring-intern
Good afternoon, all.
Hi everyone!
Greetings David...Thank you for your help..
Vernon
Hello, markpel!
saw her bio.
Wow,
Good crowd so far.
Getting a list of followers is on our punch list, but I don't have an ETA k3vsDad. I'll let you know when I have more info.
Hey, eco!
Ok saw the bio also
Hello to ALL!
@davidw
1) Currently our views count is not being updated for folks who embed the video in websites. This does not give an accurate view of the viewcount which is informative for the iReporter
2) When will they fix the WMV issue. Your support has the bad wmv files since I uploaded several videos that were subsequently deactivated,
Thanks
Greetings!
Thanks, davidw.
Hi JV. I just discovered you. You'll be busy this election, yes?:)
hey guys! sorry i'm late :)
Hi Egberto,
We are still working on the wmv issue.
I am not aware of the view counts not updating in embedded video. I'll let the team know about it and see what I can find out.
Hi everyone! How's it going?
hey, rachel8...shame on you being late...LOL
Good morning everyone. It's 3:35am on this side of the world.
Hi all, from an astonishingly cold Europe!
And a special welcome to Supraja!
Alun
Ecotraveler:
yes sir, I will
Afternoon, nsaidi!
I have a question for you guys.
We've been talking a lot about Google+ and the potential of using their hangout feature to talk to iReporters.
Have any of you tried doing this?
I so seldom use my Google account for anything other than email and texting via Google Voice
Never used google+
have google+, haven't used the feature you describe.
Hello from Wisconsin!
Hi 'Dad. Love how you stir that pot:). I have absolutely no complaints that I can think of; still enjoying the quality of photo presentations and larger format, David. Just here to learn and e-see everyone.
Good Afternoon David and fellow iReporters!!
btw, any chance of posting an agenda before future roundtables?
I've been dabbling with it and it has some cool features, but I haven't gotten the hang of it.
@davidw
I tested it out by embedding the video in my website. I then monitored the counts of folks that watched it. The views did not change. I then created a link and the counts started to change.
Right now for videos I want to embed I use youtube so I can keep counts. Please let them know that this is a big lost opportunity for traffic by using the CNN embedded player for promoting other CNN stuff.
I do not use Google at this time
Just a reaffirmation on the new look of the iReporters. I have heard great comments. Also, I am finding iReporter from all you guys, as great teaching aids!
We're over a million iReporters now, I see, so bigger than 90 countries!
Google+ another Facebook. I created an account but have not sat down to try to figure it out. SHould I?
Posting an agenda is a good idea wjoreilly.
I frequently don't have an agenda for these meetings, but we should change that.
What sort of things would you like for us to talk about here -- sky's the limit.
Can't promise I can make it happen, but I can try.
how many on this roundtable? is that ever posted?
Welcome, Supraja!
Hey, ChrisMarrow!
Eco, I try...and most don't realize I often post just to stir things up and not necessarily my personal views are reflected.
G+ hangouts - I've tried it UK to UK and UK to Russia - each time a terrible lag, impossible to use.
I use their other features, especially their messaging / email all the time and love it, though.
agendas are good, cause they make you prepare; don't have to get to ALL the items
Hi @mediaman,
That's really good to hear. I linked one of your iReports in yesterday's Wisconsin recall story.
Chris....
I also do the same thing just to get people thinking
Not real sure about Google after the information out this past week on how they will be monitoring anything and everything you do and all of your personal information if you use their services. Still looking into all of the ramifications.
The agenda could be as simple as a specific topic...which could all then bring our questions or concerns about in relation to iReport.
BTW, Howdy, everyone.
Hello k3vsDad :)
Interesting feedback on the hangouts Alun. We were going to play with them in the newsroom and see if they're something we should try with y'all.
Google+ is aiming to be a lot like Facebook with some different sorting features.
It's worth checking out, I think.
mab, may be right with the new privacy policy that Google has adopted and no way to opt out.
What is the CNN Imbeded Player???
yes, k3vsDad, it could be a "guideline" suggested ubertopic
I totally agree on the agenda.
What do you want to talk about next week?
Havent tried google +
Just dropping by and have a good weekend ahead.
Manila iReporters will be flying today to Northern Mindanao to do our second outreach program.
Agenda's would be a workable idea, but I also like the free flowing style now. I've found that many get so restrictive about the agenda that no "tangents" are allowed at all and that has a tendency to stifle conversation at times.
btw, like the changes--stayed away for awhile cause they were daunting at first, but now have the hang of them....the question of the day is: "what is the next level and how do we get there?"
There's an option to take iReport videos and include them in a blog post, so they play from there.
@davidw
Thanks for the link. More news coming from the Dairy State, sorry California we have better cheese. Anyway teh story from here is there have been reports than nearly $100 million will be spent on the recall advertising. What is happening in WI can happen in your state, e.g. Ohio, Indiana.... iReports is playing a huge role in the discussion, no matter what side of the aisle you are.
david, the blog post is good idea; more exposure, more hits
i want to throw out there for next meeting "what is the next level and how do we get there?"
Perhaps, davidw, why some uploads get hung and just hang, then 2 or 3 days later get notification that the upload failed.
I've learned now if I am still waiting 15 minutes later the upload is hung up somehow and repost.
Google: I'm a Yahoo gal myself. When I google to search, I get the ads now that people have paid for to be top 'o the list, vs them taking me directly to the site where the relevant info will be found. Feel like they're taking me the long way home. Huge waste of time when you're in a rush to research. Everyone googles you up; nobody every "yahoos," but if getting to the goal is anything like trying to find a site on Google, I would probably get frustrated so hopefully it's more direct? Just my two cents.
That's a great point @mabc91. I wouldn't want to be super strict about the agenda unless we had a guest or if there was some other special circumstances.
@DavidW - I love most things Google and am happy to share my surfing habits with them to get better search results.
Do try the hangouts - i may just have ben unlucky each time! It's a great concept and G+ overall is very useful - lots of CNN staff use it and I can keep tabs on stories, ideas etc.
It will be interesting to see how you get on.
I heard today that my telephone exchange is to be upgraded to fibre in about 8 weeks, so my surfing speeds will go from 2 or 3 mb to somewhere between 40 and 100mb, which will be nice - more relevantly, my upload speeds will increase from half a mb to about 10, which will aid uploading iReports, commenting on the news!
i have a perfectly mad idea about running ads with stories, counting click throughs and sharing revenues with iReporters!!!storm the bastille...
That's cool Alun,
You can never have fast enough Internet, if you ask me.
Hi everyone!
Hey, zdan!
David:
Have you given any thought about the CNN-I-report caps I emailed you about earlier this week.
Thanks for bringing up that point k3vsDad.
If your iReport isn't uploading after 15 minutes or so, something's wrong and it's probably not going to work.
When that happens, go ahead and upload again.
davidw, any possibilities of looking into occasional b'cast news formatting for iReporters, featuring the work in some revolving or cyclical way..?
We don't have hats yet, JVHill.
That would be cool though.
We do have iReport TShirts, so if you send me your address I will get one in the mail to you.
Nice seeing a lot of people gathering here so what is the topic Davidw? : )
Re: question about upload failure. David, when I have a larger number of photos, I now cut down the narrative and if I have a large narrative, I deliberately post fewer photos and haven't had the upload problems since doing this. Could that be affecting the people having upload problems or just my imagination. Do you guys have a sense of how many words is the max for the 10 photo max?
Sorry my connection was out I am back my last posting was not available on my ireports any idea why?
If I send breaking news from Berlin you don´t accept them as breaking news; why?
For me, eco, I can have one image and a relatively short text narrative and it still can hang up sometimes. So I don't really don't think that's a big factor. Just my 2 cents.
Hi rafagomezd - This is sort of a round-robin discussion. We're talking about whatever anyone wants to talk about.
Are their things you think we should talk about in depth in the future?
I am not posting copyright materials and the story is too long just for the space so used some links and pdf evidency with images, is anything wrong on that?
Hi ecotraveler,
I was not aware of that problem, but I'll check it out.
One thing you could try is post a short narrative with your 10 photos and then go back in and edit the text to add more information.
Hi Guys and Gals!
Goggle+ thing, not really interested.
@ewillies Agree on the counting thing!
@DavidW a couple of things...Is CNN working on any kind of incentive or thank you program for iReporters? ie....gifts, money, more recognition (ie like @kcrep scoring tickets to SAG, which was awesome!)
Yes davidw, a bit more space for pictures and I am posting for latinamerican public, the space for being used on the reports is very small so i uploaded all pictures available plus some links so ppl can see the pdfs as are available to anyone on a court trial regarding debbie cook, scientology and france decision
Hi rafagomezd - I just took a quick look at your iReport that was pulled, but I don't speak Spanish, so I need more time to look at it and see what the issues are.
I think our moderators escalated it because they saw the court documents and the references to the person and were worried that there were privacy concerns.
I will look at it after this roundtable.
ok I will do that, but the story is huge and was uploaded succesfully then not available.
suggest that ireporters here may volunteer to report on some topic for next time, kind of like delegating responsibility towards the agenda...
Agenda: David, didn't you try that once or twice. I believe iphones was one. It worked in that people were prepared and stuck to the topic; but a lot of people didn't log on because they weren't interested in that topic. So we would stick to one topic; but the other side of the coin is that important issues may be missed so if you can balance that and it's more efficient David, I'm in.
What ho, all? Checking in
Is not privacy matters as they were released by court house and disclosured at Tampa Bay Times
David:
Just a thought, could you include more different assignments.
I would like to do some videos on "Non Profits" as some need to be exposed for their greed. but can't fine anything to put them under.
Hey, hhanks!
@hhanks doesn't love me anymore... :(.....
@hhanks doesn't love me anymore... :(.....
in support of jvhill, may the ireporters suggest topics, if they aren't already?
HI Henry.
Hi MelissaF
We are looking at new ways to recognize and encourage iReporters. The SAG thing was awesome and hopefully we can do more things like that in the future.
We're always looking for new ways to showcase iReporters' work and find new audiences for them.
ok..site messing up...
I have to go. With best...
Apologies if this appears twice!
If anyone is in the UK and wants to meet up / joint film, as ever, let me know, please.
I"m also covering most of Germany, probably late April / early May, so all there, same offer applies!
(and I"m away for the next roundtable, sorry, meetings in London, planning some visits!)
@wjoreilly Of course! You can always contact us (particularly David) if there's something you want to chat about that hasn't been brought up.
Also I would like to suggest a CNN mexico to handle mexican iReporters about the stories if possible or spanish spoken people? I publish very wide on diferent media for all spanish spoken people. Just as I suggest a spansih spoken person would be nice to have contact with the things for latinamerica aswell not to offed you of course is just to have reality point with a person.
hi everyone...
Warning! I may very soon be video reports! Unfortunately that means I will have to clean up and can't be my normal slouchy self.
What ho, Henry!
All top hat and spiffing here in Blighty!
@davidw
ok..but just know t-shirts aren't going to cut it anymore..you need to think a little bigger...jackets, gift cards, electronics (iPad, flipcams) stuff like that...CNN is making money off our stuff, so they do need to give some more goodies..cold hard cash is great too!!!
Hi all, I am from Iraq.
davidw, I have published a post about Developmen Club, which improves developmental projects in Iraq. I wonder if you have seen it or not.
Thank you
That's awesome Alun,
I'd love for iReporter meetups to become a regular thing.
That might be a topic for a future roundtable, so if you can think of something that y'all would be interested in doing in a real-life setting?
For those of us who do not do video (by choice in my case or who can't in others) it seems that regardless of the political bent or topic, the "CNN/iReport" logo is sorely lacking. Not really looking for constant or instant gratification, but any reason? Are videos looked at as more significant? Just curious.
I agree with MelissaF 100%
Thanks @JVHill
:)
There is a team at CNN Mexico that helps us with Spanish-language iReports. They're a huge help.
@AlunHill - I saw you mentioned it was cold in the UK. CNN International is really interested in photos and videos of the cold snap in Europe. Feel free to submit something to the Winter Weather assignment, if you like.
Ahhh cool! thanks @davidw
@mab91c
I think you would be so good on video. We could even do a dual program on Skype. You are one of my most sensible opposers and you make me think.
Well, I guess I'll yet the outlyer, but I disagree with MelissaF & JVHill. I do not, nor ever have, posted here or discussed here in the hopes of getting more "stuff". I'd be extremely happy, though, if I was offered "stuff" and I could say "No thanks, but whatever you were going to spend gift-wise, please donate to a local food bank, shelter, hospital, charity in my name."
Everything I uploaded was not private, was public and the trial is public with the release of the documents, and I am saying the source on the article is HUGE and i didnt have more pics to show or space to write I will start to video some stuff maybe.
I agree, mab, for me I'm not looking for any "compensation" of any kind.
@mab91c Couple things: On particular assignments, we often specify whether we're looking for photos or video. So that might be the key to what you're seeing. Check out the assignment before posting to see which format we're looking for! Other than that, we don't generally prefer one format over another. It might just be that on any given day, a video iReport is more newsworthy than a photo iReport.
@zdan - ok will do (I'll admit to mostly staying in this week, after being very warm in Spain last week!)
@mab91c...that's actually a great idea! Charitable donation system...I don't do it for goodies either...I do it because I love to get my pov out. But you could also take your "goodies" and donate them yourself! I have donated a few extra t-shirts from CNN..
:)
EW - I have video capability, however, I chose not to. I have to speak, talk, console, treat, teach, etc. on a daily basis so when I get home, I attempt to get away from that. I prefer text and photos; not saying I'll never video, just not my "cup of tea" as it were at this point in my life.
Hi Alun, Manila iReporters had a regular meetups either volunteering, outreaching, hiking, going to festivals, drinking at Mslady Sunset place etc. Today we will be going to Iligan then on Feb 10 we are planning to go to Hot air balloon festival.
mab91c....It would be nice if we had something that would make it "semi-pro-amateur- reporters so that we could get in
some news worthy events without a lot of BS explaining the situation to a guard for example..... The money is not important to me, just easy access.....
Thanks, rachel. I appreciate it.
@davidw Well: 1) i would like to propose we could propose the asignments with a proper justification for it and if is approved be authorized for it.
@MelissaF and JVHill - You guys should know that if we make money off your iReports by licensing them, you get a cut. So if you've sent in something reallyreallyreally compelling and we decide to exclusively license it, you do, in fact, share in the dough!
@Sherbien - that's great to hear!
I'll have to see if I can come over and join you ...
Trying again.... David, so we don't clog your inbox, could you post " Blog Agenda" as an "Assignment" and guage the interest in each topic suggested on the comments you receive, for one?
Hi Chris! Loving the animal pieces
Ho Henry!! And z' and rachel!
O'Reilly, send me some of your vitamins:). Good to see you back
Hi everyone, pardon my tardiness, my calendar was set to the 12:00 meeting
~ stefan
@rachel8 can u explain that please? ireporters will get money? or what?
@mab91c You might want to consider experimenting with shooting some photos from your community to help tell your story, or finding other ways to share what you're thinking. But as Rachel said, the things we look for vary by assignment and by what kind of coverage we're doing on a particular topic.
Thanks ecotraveler. I will be doing the Animal Profiles every Wednesday in 2012 :)
I can accept that, JVHill and MelissaF, just not my thing. I've been here for years and have received a nice little carry all sack. I didn't ask for it, but it does come in handy when going out and about relaxing and taking nature photos (my way of relaxing from a high stress job).
Hey, that's a thought David, et al, how about an assignment on our jobs? The ups, the downs, the good, the bad? I'd love to see what my fellow iReporters do when we're not all sitting around expressing ourselves on iReports!
@rachel8
That's true, but I have been here for 3 years and that has not happened..when I say making money...I mean advertisements on our iReports...YouTube has partnership program to put ads on your videos and get $$ from clicks on ads..not a lot, but something.
@JVHill ~ Press credentials are as hard to get as they are to use. However, the ability to be at events and get ireport credentials may allow us to be in areas utilized by CNN if there was a background check procedure to do that and if we asked Really nicely
~s
@rafagomezd IF your content gets licensed. It's explained in our terms of use:
"In the event CNN licenses your material as stand-alone content outside of CNN's programming to third parties unaffiliated with CNN, CNN will pay you a percentage of the license fees it actually receives according to rates determined by CNN's licensing division, ImageSource."
Access is an interesting issue JVHill - I think that as people get more familiar with CNN iReport it will be easier to explain what you're doing.
The challenge is that we don't want iReporters to say that they're with CNN because that could get them in trouble. Some people don't like CNN and they could take it out on the iReporters.
Sure Alun, if you happen to visit here, we can get along. :)
@Chris ANIMAL PROFILES?!
I CAN'T WAIT.
Thanks, nsaidi, I was just curious. I'll keep that in mind when getting ready to post and see if there is an assignment that will fit what I'm doing.
mabc91
I like the jobs assignment idea.
I'm pretty sure everyone's job has something that's really cool.
I'll mention it to katie and we'll see if that's something we can do.
OK, guys, a bunch of us need to head out. thanks for coming!
As someone who used to have press credentials, in the US, it is handled state by state and in some places county by county. I think some try and blur the line between citizen "journalists" and professional journalists who must subscribe to a certain standard and without any agenda or slant.
@mab91c & @MelissaF ~ Personally, I would prefer not being paid. As an ireporter I have the ability to be myself.
Affiliated reporting is a difficult issue. I like CNN, I'd love reporting in a limited capacity; and I appreciate being able to be part of the ireport community as a privilege in and of itself
~s
I'm sorry, but we have to run.
We've got a 3:30 meeting that we can't be late to.
If we missed your question, shoot me an email or PM and I'll answer as soon as possible.
See you next week.
Bye all. Great feedback. Learned lots. Have a good weekend.
Re: Passes. Here's what's worked for me. Go to your area's website and they'll tell you what they need to credential you there. I've slid into cities with no prob, and in other areas had to submit 6 months in advance, and once approved, "escorted" by armed guards. It runs the gammut. Also, if you're writing AND taking photos, some places may require you have 2 different passes. I usually take someone along then. Good luck!!
Well, back to the grind. Have to go teach a room full of ICU nurses right now. Good times indeed...y'all be safe out there.
@davidw
Yes it has gotten iReporters in trouble by saying they are with CNN.
I have simply said "iReport on CNN" and people have jumped the gun thinking I worked for CNN and gave me an interview..then get po'ed when they find out that it is a user generated website...not my fault they jumped the gun because all they heard was CNN and didn't hear the 'iReport' side of it or ask me further. Be careful people...
Hi all. Late my washing machine konked out and the time they set it to konk. Had to go out to wash. Woman's work is never done.
Thanks, rachel8!
HI Rachel8
Check it out. I've done 5 so far. My latest is about a cool Fossa :)
@davidw I would love to cover all the non profit organization issues on Mexico and Latinamerica, also ocmmon regular but important stuff as i uploaded about an insurance company not doing the proper job to a customer and now is a problem to her instead just paying the third person. Also what about could we upload PDFs?
oops at the time
@davidw Have a great day. Thank you to you and everyone at CNN for creating something amazing in iReport!
~ stefan
@david - i agree. If we make a letter here, we emphasized that we submit stories at CNN iReport but we are not connected or employed at CNN iReport.
See ya, davidw!
So long all!
@k3vsDad
Wow, the State "licensing" journalists - is that right? I never knew that.
Not licensing, but providing the press pass.
@k3vxDad "licensing" journalists? where????
yes saw it, if we are like iRepporters what kind of credentials do we have for it? none? or what?
and I always say that I submit stories to CNN iReport....never that I work for CNN
missing kids should be put on cnn it could help find him
I am new here. Hi everyone
Hello every One