Projects
In early 2009, I was charged with bringing together all the content and resources across Gannett related to philanthropic and charitable causes in order that we leverage our vast relationships and assets as a media entity. The cross-functional, cross-divisional team I formed built the content and sales infrastructure needed to continue pushing forward. The result is a unique opportunity for Gannett to position itself as THE place to go for news and information about giving in our communities, attracting new audiences and advertisers. In addition, the sales infrastructure, is now cross divisional so Gannett can position itself as a platform agnostic cause marketing solution.
Prior to joining Gannett, I served as a liaison between reporters, editors, designers, and multimedia producers at the Commercial Appeal, and most recently at washingtonpost.com. For breaking news, as well as enterprise and investigative reporting, I worked closely with every department, determining which channel was best suited for each situation. In this role, I used audience analysis and my expertise in different content platforms to determine what our approach should be, as well as, what storytelling method made the most sense.
At washingtonpost.com, I led the cross-departmental coverage of Maryland, Virginia and D.C. elections. During my tenure, I managed the live and enterprise coverage of the dedication of the Pentagon Memorial, the 2008 presidential Potomac Primary and the 2006 midterms, including the infamous George Allen ‘macaca’ moment.
Sacred Ground: the building of the Pentagon Memorial
On September 11, 2008, the first 9/11 memorial was dedicated at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. To commemorate the event, The Washington Post published a special section with victim tributes, information on the memorial design, and touching stories about the families.
As the lead producer and project editor for the dedication, I led a team of designers, developers, photo journalists, videographers and writers through this coverage from conception to implementation. Taking advantage of our team’s multimedia strengths and interactive design capabilities, I wanted to create a virtual experience for national and international visitors traveling to the memorial and also for those that were unable to experience the memorial due to physical distance.
The coverage was divided up into three categories - the families, the construction and the memorial. Visit the virtual memorial, where you’ll find 3-dimensional views of the park, biographical information on each victim, and an illustration that highlights each victim’s memorial bench. Download the audio tour, which includes insights into the design of the memorial from Julie Beckman and Keith Kaseman. Also, visit the multimedia page to watch documentary video coverage of the Pentagon victims, the construction and the design concept.
AWARD WINNER: White House News Photographers Association, Best Multimedia Package, OJA, Best Feature Presentation, SND, Best of Multimedia Design
Jefferson’s Vision: the Virginia Capitol renovation project
In 1785, the cornerstone for the Virginia Capitol was laid. More than 200 years later, Thomas Jefferson’s original building weathered its second major restoration and expansion campaign.
Before former Washington Post reporter Timothy Dwyer left, I was fortunate enough to work with him on this coverage. Jefferson’s Vision was the result of a coordinated effort between Whitney Shefte, video journalist for washingtonpost.com; Nelson Hsu, former washingtonpost.com senior designer; Dwyer and myself. As the lead producer and project editor, I interviewed George Skarmeas, lead architect; Richard F. Sliwoski, lead engineer; and several members of the Virginia statehouse. These interviews were used in audio slideshows, audio panoramas and video panoramas. The interviews were also a resource tool for Dwyer when he began his reporting a few months after our multimedia reporting began. The print piece was co-authored by Dwyer and myself.
In my spare time, I also enjoy coming up with crazy ideas and executing on them. Last year, when Gannett announced it would be furloughing its employees for a second week my colleagues and I wanted to make the most of it. After all, that is what we do best as a team.
Initially, @jodiontheweb and I came up with the idea of a #furloughhouseswap while brainstorming about how we can lessen the pain of this ugly recession and the mandatory steps we must take to hopefully stave off anymore layoffs. It was a way to - lets say - maximize our Gannett assets. Those assets in Fort Myers, Denver and of course, Honolulu were the first mentioned!! Then in true IDEO fashion, we asked ourselves, “How might we connect those seeking free or cheap housing during their furlough in another city with others taking furlough in the same week that might live in that city.”
After 7 seconds of consideration, Jodi and I jumped online and started the wave. After we considered it for 30 seconds, and recruited the awesome @yurivictor to join our mission, we decided to create a Web site for the greater furlough good.
The Chicago Tribune was calling me two hours later after seeing twitter chatter and others followed, including Fortune Magazine. We even made Joe Strupp’s top 10 newspaper business stories of the year.
Other projects of note
In 2008, I developed the personal site of former Washington Post columnist Sally Squires. While working at The Washington Post, Sally Squires and I worked on many projects together including the Lean Plate Club Family Challenge.
In 2006, while working alongside former Washington Post health editor Craig Stoltz, I produced Swing, my first co-published publication. My contributions including video and audio edits, a 18-hole interactive course map and written material for timelines and captions.