As I was going up the Duquesne Incline over viewing the City of Pittsburgh, the only thing I can do is think of is how great this City really is and how honored I feel to call this place my home. There are so many things that make Pittsburgh a wonderful neighborhood to live in. The first wonderful trait about this city is the skyline, as I was taking pictures of the skyline I still get overwhelmed on how beautiful the skyline is and how everyone who comes here can get a glimpse of it when they come into the city in all directions. Another 
thing that makes this city great are the rivers. As I watched the Gateway Clipper going down the Monongahela River I could get a greater feel that people can take their boats out on the water and enjoy themselves as they look around and see what this city has to offer such as the water fountain at the point and station square. One other thing I love about this city is the rich history of out sports teams. The thing that I feel that the Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates have been able to do for this city is bring us all together like no other city does. As we wave our Terrible Towels on Sundays in the fall, scream lets go Pens every fall to summer, and Raise the Jolly Roger every spring and summer. The only thing I can think of is how we all unite and cheer with these teams through good times and through difficult times and stay supportive of these teams that we really love. Pittsburgh is a fantastic city and I cannot think of a better place to call my home. It is full of such a rich history with the rivers, bridges, and scenery. Like Pittsburgh Native Mr. Rivers said “Its a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”. Its always a beautiful day in the neighborhood that we all share, which is the City of Pittsburgh.
Category Archives: Mt. Washington
Interactive Media Workshop Recap, First 2 Days
On day one of this years Interactive Media Workshop, we learned a lot of interview skills as well as the usages of phone cameras, mainly the usage of Snapchat in day-to-day life for journalistic use.
The first thing that we did this week was learn about how to use and conduct a professional interview.
We learned that a good reason to conduct an interview is for writers block, it can give extra information needed for the writing being done. We learned many tools for good interviews, including smiling, silence, open-ended questions, superlatives (or extremes, meaning questions using the words “best” or “worst”), control (for the journalist to remember that they are in control. It is always okay to stop and ask questions), flow and details (or specifics).
A big tip for all journalists to take up is you must always pulling the thread. Andrew Conte said, a question you should always ask at the end of an interview is “is there anything that I should’ve asked you,but I didn’t?”
After the lesson on interviews, we headed over to the Duquesne Incline for a photo walking tour.
But first, we got a lesson on Snapchat photojournalism. We learned about the usages for Grids on our iPhone cameras, as well as the HDR and AF Lock functions.
When we got to the incline, we took a lot of pictures of the view of Downtown Pittsburgh from the Mount Washington Overlook.
Today, on day 2 of the interactive media workshop, we learned about more tips for interviews, we got a lesson from David Grande.
We learned about Comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, that the truth is out there and to always be fair and balanced. Those are the cores of good journalism. As well as research, interview and observation.
We learned not to engage, but to instead listen and be silent. Give them the uncomfortable tactics of journalistic interviews.
“The here, the now, but I’m gonna spell here this way… [hear]”, said Grande.
We learned about how we should always be quiet and listen, engaging makes you lose impact.
We should always resist the temptation to have a conversation, to ask short, neutral questions.
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug” (Twain).
We also learned this and the inverted pyramid. We learned about the lead and the body, the news peg and the who, what, where, when, why and how.
We also learned about the readers preferences, how they normally prefer shorter stories, that they will normally only read about the first two paragraphs and that you should always rank the importance of the information given. We learned that space isn’t consideration, but time is.
We learned that, “stories stop, they don’t end.”
Shortly after the lesson, we took a trip to the PPG Paints Arena and learned a lot of the reasons that the building is promoted and built the way that it is. We learned about the importance of hidden stories in the architecture of the building.
We learned about the jobs that you can get through the Pittsburgh Penguins and internships, we also learned about the PPG Paints taking over the Consol and all other economical decisions that were done.
They talked to us about all of the stuff that goes on in the building and everything that happens within the large group of people working there.
They told us to “find a job that fits our personality”, and that makes us happy.