Jennifer Elston

jenniferelston.com

Jennifer Elston — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 05:09:24 +0000

All of my work, resume, etc… can now be found at jenniferelston.com. What are you waiting for? Go check it out!

Follow Me

Jennifer Elston — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 11:14:16 +0000

To contact me, please send an email to elstonjen@gmail.com orjdey82@mail.missouri.edu.

Follow me on twitter | foursquare | Google Buzz | Facebook | LinkedIn

New Goal: CSS

Jennifer Elston — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:17:33 +0000

I have decided that I am going to master CSS coding. Every day I will post a new tags or fact – well, for as long as I find it interesting. I have some experience with it through Dreamweaver, but I want to know more.

Tag/Fact of the day:

My CSS web page!

Hello world! This is a W3Schools.com example.

My CSS web page!

Hello world! This is a W3Schools.com example.

My CSS web page!

Hello world! This is Jen.

The Future of Journalism

Jennifer Elston — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:22:45 +0000

Today, after our in-class discussion about the future of journalism, I began to question just what I thought. In the past (especially after News lectures), I was quite fearful about the future of journalism, but after hearing from my peers I have been put at ease. There will always be a place for journalists. There are certain products that we, as journalists, can provide that citizen journalists cannot.

I completely agree with what a classmate said today. I am not a traditional newsroom reporter. I am not extremely competitive and have that spirit. That said, that doesn’t mean that I chose the wrong major. There are plenty of fields within the realm of journalism. Originally after I chose web production I wanted to go as far away from journalism as possible, but now I think I would miss it too much. So much to think about…

Proche (Close)

Jennifer Elston — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:17:17 +0000

So close to the end of 4806! As excited as I am, I will miss convergence classes. I won’t have capstone until next year and it will be weird after taking 4802,4804, and 4806 all within a year to be without convergence. Time to work on my electives and concentration!

One last shift at KBIA tomorrow as a reporter. Just need to get the script approved, voice and edit it. I am stoked for this story to air. I will add the link later after I put it up. I won’t have time to miss KBIA too much because I will still be there on Tuesday and Thursday evenings as a new media producer. I will soon start adding Monday and Wednesdays mornings to take over Katie Dohse’s shifts when she is studying abroad. I am happy though because I have grown to love everyone there (a news family).

This is the time of year to be thankful and I am thankful that we do not have a final in this course because my plate is quite full without it!

Just a few things…

Jennifer Elston — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:26:03 +0000

A tiny sample of what I have been doing this semester.

It’s the high season for car accidents caused by roaming deer in mid-Missouri, as well as throughout the U.S. Statistics indicate the likelihood of hitting a deer in Missouri is higher than the national average of 1 in 209. KBIA’s Jennifer Elston has the story.

DEERHITS1112 TRT 3:00 SOC

It’s that time of year when police warn drivers to be on the lookout for deer roaming the roads in search of the perfect breeding partner. In Missouri, State Farm representative Jim Camoriano (KUH-MOR-E-ON-O) says the number of accidents caused by deer continues to increase each year.

CamorianoCUT.wav TRT :15 OUT: “…next 12 months”.

Missourians are more likely to have a collision with a deer than are people in other states. You have a 1 in 155 chance of hitting a deer in the next twelve months.

According to a State Farm study based on claims data, vehicle-deer collisions in Missouri have increased 14 per cent in the last five years. Jason Sumners is the Resource Staff Scientist for the Department of Conservation. He says deer and human habitats are increasingly moving closer.

DeerbiologistCUT2.wav TRT :14 OUT: “…creates deer habitat.”__

We’re pushing out into deer habitats more and more. You know, Rock Bridge that’s a highway with a lot of traffic and good deer habitat on both sides of the road. And actually human disturbance creates deer habitat.

Although Missouri deer accidents have increased by 14%, other states, such as Nebraska have seen much larger increases in deer-car collisions. Rock Bridge Memorial State Park Naturalist Roxie Campbell says because Highway 163 cuts directly through the park, the animals are forced to share their environment with everyone else.

stateparkCUT.wav TRT :20 OUT:“…move across those roads.”_____

In this day and age there’s going to be several roads that go through that area, so just to get from one area where they find food to another area where they find water, or to cover from predators, they’re going to move across those roads.

While many Missouri drivers may be aggravated by the increasing number of deer this time of the year, collision and body repair owners rejoice. Perry Legend Collision Center Owner Bill Rajewski (RAH-JEW-SKEE) sees a lot of damaged vehicles at his shop this time of year.

squareendhits.wav TRT :08 OUT:“…now is plastic.”

Square-end hits will take out the headlights and the cooling and really hurt the car because most of what’s in front of the hood now is plastic.

As for the people in charge of picking up and disposing of deer and other animal carcasses, November means a lot more time and money away from their usual jobs. Mike Schupp is the Area Engineer at the Missouri Department of Transportation. He’s in charge of picking up deceased animals in Boone, Cooper, Moniteau and northern Morgan Counties. He estimates that he picks up as many as 30 deer a day during the November high season.

modotCUT.wav TRT :10_____ OUT: “…astonishing the number.”

I imagine if you put a dollar to the time and equipment that we put towards picking up animals it would be pretty astonishing the number.

The only suggestion consistently given by experts is to avoid swerving and hit the deer instead. They say swerving is a bigger threat to drivers’ safety, as it will endanger not only you, but also fellow drivers. Break hard, and brace for impact.

With producer Hayley Kaplan, Jennifer Elston, KBIA News.

Crunch time

Jennifer Elston — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:19:40 +0000

It is that awkward time of year where students (and professors) are gearing down from one holiday and gearing up for another one. Right in the middle of those two holidays are finals week. And reporting. And web producting. And project managing (x2). So much to do, so little time.

Tomorrow, Hayley Kaplan and myself are going to shadow a family chiropractic, interview him and collect nat sounds to enhance our piece. We are hoping to write the script Thursday and finish it up on Tuesday. I will be happy to be done with this story and reporting. I have faith that it will turn into a good story, even if it is not as hard-hitting as some of the news at KBIA provided by advanced reporters.

I also am getting really fast at web production. It doesn’t take nearly as long, but I still need Courtney Flatt to watch over me and make sure I don’t crash the system or anything (there are so many index.php pages!). I still plan on finishing my guide for the next new media producer who comes after me, but it will be difficult to do because next semester KBIA should be getting a new web site, so a lot of things could be different.

As for project managing, I have two groups. One is off to a really good start, but the other will not respond to Allison Clarke and myself. We have tried messaging them multiple times but they refuse to respond. I wish they understood that we are there to assist them.

So much to read and so much to do before finals start (next Friday!).

I will upload my pieces from KBIA when I am there next Tuesday for the blog.

Happy Holidays!

Pediatric Chiropractic (say that three times fast)

Jennifer Elston — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:35:09 +0000

This week at KBIA, Hayley and I are working on my baby – a piece on pediatric chiropractors. Many more practitioners are labeling themselves as family care providers and an alternative to traditional medicine. We have called every administrative chiropractic association we could find, as well as many local companies – but no one has called us back yet, but I am not losing hope. Hopefully we will be able to shadow the family chiropractor I discovered in Fulton, Mo.

This week is quite possibly the worst week to do this story though, because Janet (understandably) wants us to conduct as many interviews in person as possible, but realistically this is very hard. Most of the contacts (with few exceptions) are at least an hour a way. Most of the national and international organizations are located on the east coast (primarily Arlington). It is just not plausible to drive all over Missouri this week with so much to do before break. After break, there are only three more shifts at KBIA. I have a lot of confidence in this story – I just wish we wouldn’t have to play the waiting game with this one.

Out of the learning stage of web production and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings I come in and update the web site with Courtney Flatt monitoring me. I am confident in my abilites to do this – I just wish there was a checklist. I think I am going to make one, and also make a guide for web production here at KBIA for the next person to come here and produce (much like I did at the Missourian). I think a big problem with convergence majors in day-turn atmospheres is the lack of communication and sometimes the lack of knowing what is expected of you. I plan on working on this throughout next semester so the producer next fall will know exactly what to do. I also plan on going to the rest of the faculty meetings (on Wednesdays) for the semester to get better acquainted with the staff here.

A large time vacuum this week is project managing. The teams will have to pitch their large, investigative stories this week – on top of my other team who seems to be having some difficulties getting their sources together this week. I cannot wait until break.

buuuuuuuuuuuuuuusy

Jennifer Elston — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:29:57 +0000

These last two weeks have been super hectic. Not only have I been trying to report at KBIA, but I have been learning the ropes of web production and project managing as well. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons I go in and web produce while Courtney Flatt observes and helps me. I also have gone in on Wednesdays to shadow Katie Dohse and I am going to go to the Wednesday advanced reporting/faculty meeting on Wednesday mornings. Then, on Tuesday and Thursday mornings I still conduct my reporting shift, while trying to do some web production with Sara or Maureen on occasion. Finally (besides other classes), I am also project managing for the rest of the semester. As a result, I am not getting an extraordinary amount of clips at KBIA – but I am alright with that.

Originally I chose KBIA so that I could build my portfolio, but now that I have chosen web production (woooohoooo), I am trying to work on that. Thus, my deer-car collision story with Hayley Kaplan ended up taking almost three weeks. We were actively working on the story each shift and out of the shift, but it took us a long time to get the statistics we needed to make the story work. I am proud of the end result (and my voicing skills), but I don’t feel as if the result appears like it took that long and that much in-depth reporting. My next story (which I will be collaborating with Hayley again) is my baby – I started researching during my 4804 shifts this summer. We are going to be doing a story on pediatric and family chiropractics in mid-Missouri (after all, chiropractics was practically founded in Kirksville). I am excited to start on a new piece – I just wish I had more time. Looking forward to turkey day.

Back to the future

Jennifer Elston — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:08:44 +0000

This week at KBIA, my project partner Hayley Kaplan and I have almost completed our in-depth roadkill piece. After making approximately twenty calls, we have finally got representatives from a collision center, State Farm, a person from the city of Columbia who knew about roadkill removal, and a woman from Rock Bridge State Park. We are still waiting on a call back from MODOT and from a Deer Biologist with the Conservation Department. This story has taken a lot more time and effort than I had originally planned. There are a lot of angles to cover and we are working on narrowing it down to one main idea – deer collisions with vehicles in this very timely setting.

I also got to learn the basic of web production. After watching Sara Wittmeyer teach me the basics of organizing the website with Dreamweaver, Real Producer, and Photoshop. There were a lot of bases to cover in our brief session, but a lot of this information I have covered before. It was deja vu for me – a lot of this information I learned in 4802. I am very excited to get working on the website, and even more excited for the new website next semester when I will work at KBIA as a new media producer for an independent study. I also spent a lot of time practicing and observing Katie Dohse this week. I think I am finally read to do this!