Almost there...but not quite yet.

This past Friday I spent three or more hours at the Cedar Bend Humane Society. I got to talk with the two co-directors and the person who is in charge of the Capital Campaign. I got some stats that I can use for my data visualization such as numbers of animals brought in, animals adopted and money raised for the campaign.

I got video for my audio slideshow and b-roll for my video, however it wasn't until I was home that I realized I was holding the camera the wrong way. For the slideshow audio that won't matter but that means all my b-roll footage is to the side. It is funny cause I practiced with the flip camera and watch it but when I played it back I also had the camera flipped.

Another problem I have encountered is that I couldn't get my data to upload. It said something was wrong with the x-axis. I tried flipping the information but that didn't help.

I am mostly finished with my slideshow. I have a lot of information on it partly cause my first interview with the adoption counselor was full of information but not very audible because of the dogs barking in the background. Since there wasn't a quiet office to interview her in you have all the background actually included in the interview...dogs barking, cats meowing, cell phones ringing, doors closing, and people talking. Hopefully that works to my advantage. I don't know if the pictures and the audio best complement each other but I really don't have the time to mess around and try some other ideas because of all my other problems with the b-roll, many eyes and google maps.

I think the captions tell a lot the interview doesn't the only thing is that they don't really match the photos. The audio slideshow was intended to let the adoption counsel to give her advice and thoughts from her side of the process. Then the photos show what people who come into adopt see such as sad animals who want love. Last, the caption tell more about the process...what test the animals have to undergo to be able to be put up for adoption, the cost, and the application process. Three sides of a story in one slideshow might be a little too much.

I am going to work on the story tonight to make sure I have enough information to fill the 800-1000 word requirement. In addition, I don't want to have an gaps in my writing.

I still need to finish my google map. I had troubles with that last week. It put markers everywhere I clicked even though I wasn't on the balloon marker icon. It made me so frustrated I want to switch to a flash map because I thought it would be easier, but I don't know what I would do with flash. Any ideas?

9 Days till Deadline...

In the Final Weeks...

Soon finals will be here and there is much to do before they arrive. During break I read the articles I received and searched for some more, trying to grasp the bigger picture for my article portion of the assignment. I found this interesting article on the New York Times website about food donation centers that are available to pet owners that can't afford to keep their pet otherwise. There was discussion about the current economy and home crisis that contribute to the rise of assistance. Chicago animal shelters in particular PAWS, are establishing foster care for animals and food donation programs with Petco to stop the euthanizing of animals. This article isn't the same focus as my article but it might be able to give it that extra idea of why the humane society in Cedar Falls needs a new facility and how the economy is impacting the fundraising for the project. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/giving/12PETS.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&sq=humane%20society&st=cse&scp=3

They also included a slideshow with this article. It was nice but dull after a couple of pictures because there is no sound and the pictures repeat the same ideas and some have captions that retell what you can already see from the picture or read from the article. I need to beware of making those mistakes with my slideshow. http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/11/12/giving/slideshowpets_index.html

Since I am behind from where I wanted to be at this point my list of things to do is extra long this week so I don't get further behind.

Here is my list of things I want to do this week...
I am going to do my interview for the interactive slideshow about the animals needing to be adopted and the adoption process depending on the sound bits I get from the interview.
I also want to do my video interview and get the b-roll done. I am still going to focus on the problem with the current center.

While doing the interviews, I want to get the locations of all the Humane Societies in Iowa and copyright permission for photos if they have them or find a different route to go on the google map because I won't be able to go take pictures of all the centers.

I also need to get the stats for animal drop off for my data visualization to show if the economy has increase Humane Society numbers.