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There are many circumstances in which you might want to write about an event in real time from many perspectives and CityTools is the best (only?) way to do it!
Imagine you want to write about a demonstration in real time from 10 different locations and have them all appear in a single story. You can do it. Or, let's say you and your friends decide to write a real time collaborative "day in the life" story. Easy. Or what if you want to cover a baseball game, play by play from different live perspectives? Or monitor polling places with a team posting observations in real time. A piece of cake.You can do it with CityTools. Here's how...1First get your team organized
We've got another mini howto on using CityTools teams to manage collaborative coverage of stories.
Click the title of this item and give it a quick read (it's not too involved) and when you're done, head back here.
Doing live collaborative coverage isn't much harder than -- and in some cases it's easier -- that working together developing individual stories on a big project.
You'll want to do the general steps for collaborative journalism outlined in the other howto -- getting everyone on the same team, talking over responsibilities, all that.
And you'll want to find an event that lends itself to coverage via many different live perspectives.
In terms of organizing the coverage, remember that you'll net access for each person covering the event. Whether you're using laptops connected wirelessly, or stepping into internet cafes or posting using smart phones, each member of the team will need a way to file their dispatches.
Once you've got the team organized and the event has arrived, you'll be ready to go.
Click the title of this item and give it a quick read (it's not too involved) and when you're done, head back here.
Doing live collaborative coverage isn't much harder than -- and in some cases it's easier -- that working together developing individual stories on a big project.
You'll want to do the general steps for collaborative journalism outlined in the other howto -- getting everyone on the same team, talking over responsibilities, all that.
And you'll want to find an event that lends itself to coverage via many different live perspectives.
In terms of organizing the coverage, remember that you'll net access for each person covering the event. Whether you're using laptops connected wirelessly, or stepping into internet cafes or posting using smart phones, each member of the team will need a way to file their dispatches.
Once you've got the team organized and the event has arrived, you'll be ready to go.
2Prior to the event, let people know live coverage is coming
Readers won't know to follow your live coverage unless you let them know a little in advance.
So consider writing a promo story announcing your intentions.
Let them know the date and time when the liver coverage is expected to start and stop.
Since CityTools is the only site (as of this writing) that offers real-time collaborative citizen journalism, we don't know how actively it will be used.
If it proves to be popular, we'll add a special box on the home page that will highlight any live stories going on at a given time.
So consider writing a promo story announcing your intentions.
Let them know the date and time when the liver coverage is expected to start and stop.
Since CityTools is the only site (as of this writing) that offers real-time collaborative citizen journalism, we don't know how actively it will be used.
If it proves to be popular, we'll add a special box on the home page that will highlight any live stories going on at a given time.
3Structuring the package for live collaboration
Generally speaking there are two approaches here:
1) create a single story that everyone in the team may write together as the event unfolds
2) Create a stub story with a resources box (as described in the original collaborative portion) that points to distinct live stories by different members.
Each approach has its own benefits. If you have everyone post to a single story, readers only need to follow one story.
Having a several individually updated stories requires a reader to choose amongst them, however, sometimes it can result in a more coherent narrative in each.
If you decide to have everyone do live updates to a single story, there is an important consideration: Every member of the team must use our special live update tool -- it works on smart phones, fyi.
The reason for this is simple: people are posting live and you can never know when a new post comes in. So if you check out the story in the usual editing tool and some posts while you're writing when you save YOUR version of the story, it will overwrite their changes.
Our special live update tool prevents that from happening -- even if 100 people post at once, every post is captured.
Plus the special tool adds some niceties to the posts like the name of each poster and the time of each entry, so if you're going to have everyone collaborate on the same story in real time, use the special tool.
If you're having everyone work on a single story, then just create a stub the the story -- maybe a little introduction -- and make sure to click the buttons to permit the team to edit the story.
If each member will update their own story in real time then all you need to do is create a short story to introduce them, and use the add/edit resources tool to add the URLs for each individual story that will have live coverage.
1) create a single story that everyone in the team may write together as the event unfolds
2) Create a stub story with a resources box (as described in the original collaborative portion) that points to distinct live stories by different members.
Each approach has its own benefits. If you have everyone post to a single story, readers only need to follow one story.
Having a several individually updated stories requires a reader to choose amongst them, however, sometimes it can result in a more coherent narrative in each.
If you decide to have everyone do live updates to a single story, there is an important consideration: Every member of the team must use our special live update tool -- it works on smart phones, fyi.
The reason for this is simple: people are posting live and you can never know when a new post comes in. So if you check out the story in the usual editing tool and some posts while you're writing when you save YOUR version of the story, it will overwrite their changes.
Our special live update tool prevents that from happening -- even if 100 people post at once, every post is captured.
Plus the special tool adds some niceties to the posts like the name of each poster and the time of each entry, so if you're going to have everyone collaborate on the same story in real time, use the special tool.
If you're having everyone work on a single story, then just create a stub the the story -- maybe a little introduction -- and make sure to click the buttons to permit the team to edit the story.
If each member will update their own story in real time then all you need to do is create a short story to introduce them, and use the add/edit resources tool to add the URLs for each individual story that will have live coverage.
4Click the live coverage button when the event starts
Whenever you create an original story and you save it, a "live coverage" box will appear to the right of the story.
That's what you'll use to turn on live coverage as your event begins.
When your team is ready to post live coverage, click the link in the "live coverage box" to turn the feature on.
This will cause readers' browsers to automatically reload so they can see your updated content without remembering to reload it themselves.
In addition, when you turn live coverage on, a new, special link appears beneath the story in your CityTools content manager. This link opens the special "live update tool."
Members of your team should log in under their own accounts, go to the content manager and locate the story that you are all working on.
Beneath the stories listing in the content manager, you'll find a line that identifies the story as live and a link to open the live update tool.
Click that link and a little window contains a box where each member may post their own contributions as events unfold.
This interface is quite simple -- it's been designed to be friendly for smart phones -- and it is pretty self explanatory. However, if you want to see it in action, click the link on this title and you can see a screenshot.
Remember, if you have multiple people collaborating in a single live document, you are STRONGLY advised to use the update tool or you risk overwriting each others work.
If you chose to have people create multiple individual live documents, then you may use the existing editing tools or the live update tool as you prefer. The reason is obvious: because each member of the team is working on their own story, you are not at risk of having someone overwrite your changes.
That's what you'll use to turn on live coverage as your event begins.
When your team is ready to post live coverage, click the link in the "live coverage box" to turn the feature on.
This will cause readers' browsers to automatically reload so they can see your updated content without remembering to reload it themselves.
In addition, when you turn live coverage on, a new, special link appears beneath the story in your CityTools content manager. This link opens the special "live update tool."
Members of your team should log in under their own accounts, go to the content manager and locate the story that you are all working on.
Beneath the stories listing in the content manager, you'll find a line that identifies the story as live and a link to open the live update tool.
Click that link and a little window contains a box where each member may post their own contributions as events unfold.
This interface is quite simple -- it's been designed to be friendly for smart phones -- and it is pretty self explanatory. However, if you want to see it in action, click the link on this title and you can see a screenshot.
Remember, if you have multiple people collaborating in a single live document, you are STRONGLY advised to use the update tool or you risk overwriting each others work.
If you chose to have people create multiple individual live documents, then you may use the existing editing tools or the live update tool as you prefer. The reason is obvious: because each member of the team is working on their own story, you are not at risk of having someone overwrite your changes.
5During the event, post often so readers see changes
If readers don't see the event unfolding live, they likely won't hand around to read your coverage. So be sure to post often.
If you have chosen to use multiple invidual live stories, be sure to have your writers encourage people to read the work of other members of the live team as the event unfolds.
If you have chosen to use multiple invidual live stories, be sure to have your writers encourage people to read the work of other members of the live team as the event unfolds.
6When the event is over, be sure to sign off
If people are following the event live, they're counting on you to tell them when it's over and they can stop following it.
Be sure to let them know when live coverage has ended.
Be sure to let them know when live coverage has ended.
