6/23/08 Episode 18: The News From The WWW - Volunteer Here!

Austin Grammer

Episode 17 is now on-line: www.TheNewsFromTheWWW.org

Thanks again to everyone who volunteered for last week's show! The longer articles (5min+) were great!

I'm STILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL working on the syndication service - I can't get logged into their FTP site to share / upload the show and they won't e-mail or call me back. I have no idea what the deal is with these guys!?!?!

As always, if you have never volunteered before, we would love to have you aboard! PM me with any questions.

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Instructions:

Select a news article that you would like to read. Create a post in this thread with the title of the article and a link to the article to claim or get "dibs" on that story so no one else will take it, then record the story in Mono MP3 -6db with a sampling rate of 96 kbps 44100, and then edit your first post and add the recorded article as an attachment and add the runtime in your post so we can track the length of the program (we need one hour worth of material). Please submit your recorded article by Sunday at Noon 7/6/08.

You can pick your own article / news story. Please keep in mind that the target audience is mostly older people with vision issues who already get a lot of the mainstream news from the RIS service through other volunteers reading local and regional newspapers in addition to listening to TV. So I would avoid political and breaking news as those are already covered and change from day to day. Pick articles that will have a week or more of shelf life. Also avoid celebrity gossip, stories of a sexual nature, murder, abuse, etc. Articles that you would feel comfortable reading to someone you just met etc. Articles that are interesting, funny, clever, etc. I have a list at the bottom of this post of some recommended articles for you to get an idea of what I am talking about. Please choose / read articles that are longer than 3 min when read (not including intros). A lot of short articles can be difficult to concentrate on / listen to. Often, you may come across an interesting story or news topic on one website but it is the abbreviated article. If you search the subject of the article on Google News Search, you might be able to find a longer / more in depth article on the subject from another news source. If you can't, please pick another longer article, or, find two similar short articles and read them both and introduce them as such "here are two articles about a popular subject on the web...." "And now another article with a similar but different story". Just use your best judgment. If everyone contributed an article with a average length of 5 minutes, we would only need 12 VO actors contributing on a weekly basis to fill the hour time slot. I'm happy to pick up the slack but would rather hear from more people. You may need to lower the bit rate of your MP3 file in order to keep the file size low enough to upload to the savvy board (less than 5MB)

Here is the script I would like each person to read before reading their article in order to have consistency from one article to the next:

"[ARTICLE TITLE (for show intro montage), PAUSE]

Hi, this is [MY NAME] from [CITY, STATE] and [YOUR DOT COM WEBSITE (if applicable)] with an article about __________(short but intriguing summary about the article you chose).

PAUSE From [SOURCE], [TITLE OF ARTICLE].

[READ ARTICLE]

PAUSE, "For The News From The World Wide Web, I'm [YOUR NAME].

Example:

"City Council Outlaws Skateboarding In Downtown: Youth Unhappy, (PAUSE) Hi, this is Homer Simpson from Springfield, Illinois and homersimpson.com with an article about how one small town is dealing with a skateboarding hooligans. PAUSE From the Springfield Gazette dot com, City Council Outlaws Skateboarding In Downtown: Youth Unhappy" {STORY} "For the News From The World Wide Web, I'm Homer Simpson
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Here are some good places to look for news articles:

The Drudge Report
http://www.drudgereport.com/

Yahoo News Most Popular Stories
http://news.yahoo.com/i/964

Newhouse News Service
http://www.newhouse.com/

AP Wire Top Stories from the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/aponline/index.html

Diane Havens · Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008, 14:34 (GMT) Post subject:

Mine this week:

The Hottest New York Art Exhibit is So Big, It Won't Fit in a Museum
Run Time 6:18

http://www.newsweek.com/id/143636

Cameron Thomas · Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008, 15:05 (GMT) Post subject:

"Invest In NASA To Beat The Chinese To Mars"
Telegraph
Runtime: 5:45

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/2211940/Buzz-Aldrin-Invest-in-Nasa-to-beat-the-Chinese-to-Mars.html

Clinton Nobles · Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008, 17:51 (GMT) Post subject:

I am thinking of doing a short DIY article along with a regular article just because I really love DIY stuff.

My DIY article this time:
Home Improvement Projects
Time: 8:13
http://www.startremodeling.com/home_improvent_projects_setting_a_budget.htm

And a little Liberty thrown into the mix

Sewing Seeds of Independence
Time: 7:03
http://www.uticaod.com/viewpoints/x223000813/Guest-editorial-Sowing-the-seeds-of-independence

Scott Paxton · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008, 00:43 (GMT) Post subject:

I think this could be an "uplifting" story.

Woman Sues Victoria's Secret, Alleging Chemicals In Bras

http://www.newhouse.com/woman-sues-victorias-secret,-alleging-chemicals-in-bras-2.html

Thanks,

Clinton Nobles · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008, 15:17 (GMT) Post subject:

JC Haze · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008, 15:51 (GMT) Post subject:

Scott Paxton · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008, 16:06 (GMT) Post subject:

I am on a tight schedule of recording this week. I hope I will be able to read this story for the WWW. I will keep you abreast of the situation.

Very Happy

Colin Campbell · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008, 19:59 (GMT) Post subject:

Here's mine for this week...

"My basement has turned into an air conditioner museum"

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0627/p20s01-ussc.html

Running time: 3:01

Roger Baker · Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008, 00:32 (GMT) Post subject:

Here is mine for this week.

Contrary To Fears Scientists Say Atom-Smasher Will Not Spawn Earth-Swallowing Black Hole

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,373302,00.html

Run Time: 7:55

Thanks
Roger

David Bosco · Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008, 00:57 (GMT) Post subject:

Hi Austin! I'll take The Crown of the Statue of Liberty story.