7/7/08 Episode 19: The News From The WWW - Volunteer Today!

Austin Grammer

Episode 18 is now on-line: www.TheNewsFromTheWWW.org

Thank you for volunteering!

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 7/13/08.

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

John Zadikian

I've shaken my summer cold and will be happy to contribute this ditty about too much noise in places where you would think there would be too little...in our national parks.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080707/ap_on_re_us/park_noise;_ylt=AnjWjxYhFZ7NiY9eKx45U.RvzwcF

TRT - 5:30

John Zadikian
Detroit

(PS...thanks, Clinton!)

Clinton Nobles · Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008, 21:05 (GMT) Post subject:

Inline with my current get fit kick here are a couple of choice I am deciding upon

(Choice made Very Happy

)

Childhood obesity
http://blog.mlive.com/bcopinion/2008/06/childhood_obesity_epidemic_is.html

Time: 4:18

Welcome back John! Glad to hear you again.

Roger Baker · Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008, 22:50 (GMT) Post subject:

I think I'll do this one off of Fox.

Thieves Threaten Government Recycling Programs as Curbside Refuse Becomes Hot Commodity

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,377501,00.html

Run Time 6:34

Thanks
Roger

Diane Havens · Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008, 13:59 (GMT) Post subject:

Here's mine this week:

NOAA Report: US coral reefs in severe decline
Run time: 4:30

http://www.newsweek.com/id/144957

John Weeks · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008, 03:29 (GMT) Post subject:

I'll take this one about marriage...
Seven Siblings Each Married For 50 Years
http://www.newhouse.com/seven-siblings-each-married-for-50-years-2.html
Runtime 4:17

Dave DeAndrea · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008, 05:18 (GMT) Post subject:

Hi Austin!

Newshouse.com
"Teens Aim To Restore Old Cemetery"
3:02

http://www.newhouse.com/teens-aim-to-restore-old-cemetery-2.html

John Weeks · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008, 13:50 (GMT) Post subject:

I thought you might need something else, so I did this one as well:
Angelina Jolie Gives Birth to Twins
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-France-Jolie-Twins.html
Runtime 3:50

John Weeks · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008, 15:28 (GMT) Post subject:

Ok, I can't stop....
Here's another one:

Can science explain why ABBA is so catchy?

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2008/07/12/can_science_explain_why_abba_is_so_catchy/?page=2

Runtime 3:39

Clinton Nobles · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008, 15:49 (GMT) Post subject:

John Weeks · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008, 15:59 (GMT) Post subject:

Thank You...can dance, you can sing....
Oh NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Roger Baker · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008, 19:22 (GMT) Post subject:

Having the time of our lives..... Ooo Ooo..

Ah the days of ABBA.... That was really good.

I always like your stories and productions. You do a great job on them.

Roger

John Weeks · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008, 20:07 (GMT) Post subject:

Thank you so much Roger, that means a lot to me!
It was fun putting it together.

Austin Grammer · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008, 02:43 (GMT) Post subject:

Hi Everyone!

Thanks for volunteering this week - especially John with three articles!

Unfortunately I got side tracked today and this past weekend working on my summer job and didn't get a chance to get this week's show edited together. I am going to let this thread roll for the rest of this week and use these articles for next week's show. If you want to read another article for this thread that would be great, or if you want to take the week off, that's cool with me.

Thanks again everyone!!!

- Austin

John Weeks · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008, 03:15 (GMT) Post subject:

My pleasure Austin. By the way, if you ever need some help in the way of editing the show together, just send me the elements needed and I'll be happy to take care of it for you in the future.