About this page
Originally constructed to fulfill requirements for a Multimedia Tools and Techniques class at UC San Diego Extension, part of an effort to earn a professional certificate in Multimedia Development. The certificate, representing 210 hours of college-level instruction, was awarded in Spring, 2004. The page has since evolved into a collection of contributions to the World Wide Web.

A hallmark of life in this business is that one never stops learning. (A music theory teacher of mine once said: "You're either moving forward, or going backward. There's no such thing as standing still.") Continuing education and professional growth remains a lifelong goal.

BayNewsVideo
To that end, late 2007 brought with it the chance for more professional and personal growth, the impetus to reinvigorate a company under a new brand, BayNewsVideo.

BayNewsVideo is an electronic news gathering company based in Southern California that operates on contract, special assignment and a free-lance basis.

BayNewsVideo's work has aired on network affiliates and independent television stations from San Francisco to San Diego, national broadcast and cable networks and web sites.

DiscoverOC
The year 2006 brought a tremendous and rare opportunity, resulting in the August 1 launch of DiscoverOC, a new inbound tourism Web site hosted by the Orange County Register's web site, OCRegister.com. The position, which included responsibilities as Travel Web editor for the OCRegister.com site, provedexhilerating and wide-ranging.

Responsibilities included: learning and navigating a complex content administration tool; keeping abreast of latest travel and tourism trends viz a viz the World Wide Web; recruiting, selecting and leading a team of free-lance travel writers and educating staff and management about the site goals and the current state-of-the-art on the Web.

As a result, the DiscoverOC site was launched on time and under budget and is being hailed as a fresh new entry in the lexicon of southern California inbound tourism sites. The association ended in August, 2007, with the position falling victim to yet another round of cost-cutting as the newspaper struggled with lower advertising revenues and diminishing circulation.

Visionary leadership
A hallmark of the Orange County Register's approach to the World Wide Web stands in contrast to those of some other newspapers. The "Content Center's" leadership remains committed to integration of the web site with the print staff and product. At the Register, the Travel Web editor worked side by side with esteemed travel editor Gary Warner, participated in, and contributed to the weekly budget planning sessions for the Sunday travel section and the Sunday travel section frequently promotes and refers to the Web content. The travel editor at the Register is well-educated about the current information trends that forecast a decline in U.S. newspaper circulation and an increase in use of the Internet, particularly among young people, and actively contributes to the site's content and promotes and supports its goals.

Integration of media
Since the newspaper's leadership supports the Web site (and vice versa), securing prime and valuable print space in the Sunday travel section to educate readers about the opportunities to learn about additional online content is encouraged. On this writer's initiative, the travel section's page 2 now contains a weekly column about DiscoverOC.

Additionally, the paper's parent company, Freedom Communications, Inc., acquired Preferred Destinations Magazine, a "full-color, 75,000-circulation magazine...distributed in hotel rooms, front desks and concierges at 80 locations across (Orange County, Calif.), with a particular focus in key tourist and visitor areas." The DiscoverOC Web site is promoted in recent issues of the magazine, and, likewise, the magazine is promoted online.

Teamwork
Last, but not least, this writer's roots are in daily news and sports, which involves covering "breaking news." Accordingly, this writer was been recruited for Freedom's Web "breaking news team" because of the unique skills and personal production equipment available. Team members are supposed to be available on a moment's notice to assist other Freedom properties in disaster coverage.
Previous iterations
At SignSanDiego.com, web site of the San Diego Union-Tribune, the post involved keeping abreast of current news and sports of the day; updating the home page; covering breaking news and sports using print and broadcast-style media; interacting with users who wish to post to the forums and creating special sections from print projects. Contributions ranged from features-oriented content such as that resulting from a trip to Australia and Isla de Guadalupe, to the site's award-winning coverage of the trial of David Westerfield and the 2003 San Diego wildfires.

In addition, the post entailed creation of, and contribution to weblogs, mostly sports related, as those have proven to conistently generate the most traffic. See ChargersExtra. Posts have been changed with the disabling of the login to the administrators' login "melody," however, a credited example is available at the official Chargers forum. The golf weblog created also remains, with Union-Tribune staff writer Tod Leonard contributing posts.


Top news
How to keep track of it all? We created "The Sheet," basically a spreadsheet that allows whoever is given the task of tracking and prioritizing which sections must be updated. Each morning, the home page must be updated by 7 a.m., and remade at 9 a.m., 12 noon, 2 p.m., 6 p.m. and when the last guy goes home.

With the addition of a print-staffed Breaking News Team, the job included editing and converting stories during its normal shift, which runs generally from 5:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Monday-Friday. Continually, the AP Wires were monitored, along with local television broadcasts, in an effort to keep the site as current as possible. On this writer's initiative, the company contracts with a Southern California wire service known as City News, receives tips on breaking news from a local scanner enthusiast who monitors local police and fire radio traffic, and accepts digital photographs of breaking news events from area free-lance journalists. ---> :: srp

The resume
It is available here...
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