The drive to become better at what you do is an amazing thing.
Take the free blogging class I offered yesterday at Clockworks Cafe and Cultural Center. I went into it hoping that it wouldn’t fall completely flat and I left feeling the amazing power of being surrounded by people intent on focusing and developing their craft.
If you offer a free blogging class, chances are good that some already excellent bloggers are going to show up. Indeed, the room was filled to capacity (read: everyone got a chair) by people who have much to teach ME:
Jessica Ramey of Northwest Nest
Rob McGuire (once Salem’s top Tweeter until he closed his account, who knows enough about WordPress to identify my blog design by name)
Salem Man of Eatsalem and Salemites fame
Christy Hey (okay, not yet blogging, but she teaches music for tots!)
K. Williams Brown, the Statesman Journal’s oh-so-adorble entertainment columnist
We also had a great showing among people who are active on Twitter and Facebook but who have been looking for the right project to turn into a blog. Lots of would-be writers looking to make the leap towards self-publication in the blog form.
I think it went pretty well, but I’ll have to make it explicit that my class is a blog WRITING class and that we won’t be getting into the specifics of setting up a blog, making a post, etc., at least from the technical side of things. I’ll be giving the same class on July 12 at 6:00 p.m. at Clockworks.
Finally, I’ll leave you with an image: Me, getting hoodooed by a guy with a mini production studio who sets his stuff up right next to me and announces that he’ll be recording the free class for his website.
How can you say no don’t record me in a course focused on citizen journalism empowerment and new media creation? Sigh. Kind of impressed by the boldness of the enterprise, but it really does challange the intimacy of a setting…
If you were there and I don’t have your url, please post it here so we can get connected!
I would just say “please do not record me.” People say that to journalists all the time. I did my best to avoid that camera as well. Great class.
In the future, I will. Perhaps it has to do with the size of the setting? If I were giving a public lecture I’d say go for it, but it did seem odd there. I’m going to have to grow a backbone like James Ellroy!
http://desperatelyseekingsalem.com/2009/10/12/the-best-of-wordstock-james-ellroy/
Dang. I wanted to attend, but it conflicted with my schedule. Next time…
You can always come July 12. Next time I’ll have my act together
Emily I think you handled the class really well, including the annoying pictures and recording. I’m so excited to hear that you might teach a four week class at Clockworks. You offered lots of info that I didn’t know and really got me thinking. Thanks for sharing your expertise.
“Finally, I’ll leave you with an image: Me, getting hoodooed by a guy with a mini production studio who sets his stuff up right next to me and announces that he’ll be recording the free class for his website. ”
Wow, that video guy sounds like a real jerk. Myself, I would have only taken the closest open student seat, asked permission before filming the actual instructor, and would only have used cell-phone sized recording devices for minimal interference with the proceedings. After a bit of fiddling to get the framing right, I would have sat back, paid attention to the instructor and classmates, occasionally & concisely contributed to the discussion where it touched on areas of my expertise.
If the talent sounded at all uncertain when they gave permission, I would have made a point to say I was willing to scrap the video if they changed their mind after thinking about it more later.
But then I don’t have a video website I’m trying to promote, I’m just trying to be an engaged citizen by applying my areas of comparative advantage (video production skills & a near immunity to peer pressure) to preserve and give a wider Community Television audience to events that are educational, entertaining, or inspiring. My hope is that my work helps these great but obscure aspects of Salem stay alive and flourish within Salem’s “Fun Surpression Field” that tends to drive our best people away.
Community benefits aside, if the talent has cold feet up front, or before I do much post-production work, no sweat. I *want* to know that, because otherwise they inevitably express their conflicted feelings later in some troubling manner, up to and including publicly accusing me of using evil magic to coerce their permission.
Well, I have some influence on the jerk in question, so you can rest assured the video will not be published in any way, and any voodoo dolls involved will be carefully disarmed. If you ever do want some local TV or web video exposure, let me know, I’d be glad to either help or give production tips.
To those dog-piling on a fellow community member because the blog holder opened the door, I’m more than a little disappointed. Short of packing up and leaving, could anything more have been done to accommodate your complaints? Is indulging an instinctive resistance to anything new and unexpected the spirit you bring to a new multi-cultural center? Is it the spirit you’re going to blog in? At least Emily admitted giving permission was most consistent with the values she was there to promote, even if that decision apparently left her feeling conflicted afterward.
Allowing this bad instinct to drive your behavior and make the world a sadder place is a pet peeve of mine, and indirectly the subject of an “Ignite Salem” talk I gave at Northern Lights Theatre awhile ago, something very relevant to what you’ll face if you try to blog:
New Media vs Zombies
http://www.igniteshow.com/videos/new-media-vs-zombies
Here’s the thing. I love the boldness of setting up media production right in front of the instructor, as I said in the post, but as a teacher, I need to balance the journalistic right to record in public places with the comfort level of my students who are, after all, beginning bloggers. Beginning blogging means coming to terms with how much you want to put out there in the world. Everyone goes through it. Citizens still have a right to ask journalists not to record their faces and their voices. Beginning bloggers all grapple with the challenge of how much they want to put out there. This class, while free, was not a public lecture.
But I do think you raise a lot of important points, David, which I’m sure people will wade through more respectfully now that we know who you are and what your project is. But you probably should have asked me ahead of time (not just as I said my first welcome to the students). I imagine I would have felt differently if you had come five minutes earlier and asked me then, which is why I felt more than a little on-the-spot. The description above reflects what went through my mind. Blogger beware! Get there early.
But my feelings are beside the point. As a mama hen I see my teaching role as taking new bloggers under my wing and ushering them into this crazy world of blogging in a way that is comfortable for them. Classroom dynamics are important to me, and some of the students found the fiddling and recording an interruption to learning. I think a better approach might be to set something up there ahead of time so that you have the full support of the teacher at the get go. That way, when the issue comes up, we can address it in the context of the blogging classroom — perhaps a different place than what many of us are used to.
Sorry if you felt bullied on my blog, but in the end, and opinion is an opinion! Let the wild market decide!
Thank you for the generally upbeat reply! I won’t address the apparent dispute of points I didn’t actually state or imply, and on the points I did make, there seems to be no disagreement, so I’ll consider the record set straight and stand by my last post. Thank you for letting me have my say.
My comments refer to my opinion. I’ve only ever deleted one comment — from a woman who accused me of being boring. Even that I regret doing, but I’d rather be anything but boring!
Here’s my two cents as a blogger/video photog. These are the rules most TV crews go by;
If you are in or in sight of a public place and the TV crew gets a shot of you it’s fair game.
If the crew approaches you with a microphone in hand and you speak to the reporter that is fair game to use. Being aware of the camera and microphone is implied consent.
If you are on your own property, the crew is allowed to go to your door and knock. The crew must leave, as soon as possible, if you ask them to leave.
A TV crew can take your picture without your consent, but in Oregon, they cannot record your voice without consent.
If you are speaking over a telephone line, the person on the other end can record your voice without asking permission.
If you do an interview with a reporter and say something you regret, you can ask them not to use the interview. Although they don’t have to, most of them will not use the interview in their story. Otherwise it harms their credibility.
Legally there is lots of gray area here, but those are the basics. In this situation, David was in the right to put the camera there, but to protect himself from backlash, he would be best to have Emily’s consent to broadcast the video.
Although it can be awkward, the video will reach an audience far greater then could fit in that room. David has done a lot of videos about social media that have been very informative. I believe he airs them on CCTV. Capturing great moments on video is difficult and it often requires crossing over social barriers. I don’t know if that helps but it was nice to get it off my chest.
David, what I found annoying was how close you were to the instructor. I think if you were across the room with a tripod on the floor, I would have found that much less disruptive and invasive. I know if I was teaching the class I would have really felt cornered having the camera so close. You certainly didn’t break any laws, however people have different degrees of comfort levels and I can see how someone may not have asked questions knowing that the footage would be broadcasted to a larger audience.
My apologies if I hurt your feelings because of my comments; however you seem like a nice enough guy to understand how cautious people are regarding media. We may live in an era of reality TV, yet some of us would like to opt out of a role in reality TV, if given a choice.
Well then, my hypothetical self apologies for making the hypothetical you feel cornered when you were hypothetically teaching the class.
Salem Man, thanks for the solid data on professional standards and the unexpected kudos. I don’t usually say much about what I’ve done on the theory that pride comes before the fall, so it’s always a pleasant surprise when some sharp person recognizes my contributions.
I’m the instructor, I should have said no. As I put in the title, what I learned from my own class! Isn’t it lovely to learn all the time? However, as a journalist, I believe that every media producer develops his/her own sense of decorum in how to deal with sources, regardless of the legalities. I wasn’t the only “source” in the room, therefore, the students had the right to be peeved. As a (somewhat) public figure I have no qualms in letting my failures be public, but I wouldn’t force that on anyone. In a learning setting, people should be allowed to ask any question possible without the fear of it being broadcast to the world. But there, that is already more than two cents. But when you have your own blog, 2 cents often becomes at least 2 bucks.
“Capturing great moments on video is difficult and it often requires crossing over social barriers.”
Wise words to live by, Salem Man.