A detailed picture of DOC and prison escapees
Last week, we launched a pretty cool project that paints a detailed picture of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and prison escapees from Oklahoma.
Reporters Tiffany Gibson and Matt Patterson worked closely with web editor Nick Tankersley and Art Director Todd Pendleton to create an online presentation that has the combination of content depth and digestible presentation.
There are a lot of stories, a handful of videos, photo galleries and an interactive informational graphic that provide the overview of the coverage.
But it goes much deeper than that. The Oklahomans at Large page shows profiles of 96 inmates who remain at large. It even displays the eight that are the considered the most wanted.
The Prisons page maps and profile the medium- and maximum-security prisons, including my favorite part of the series — three panoramic views of a death-row cell, a maximum-security rotunda and the death chamber.
It’s chilling. It’s informational. It’s interactive.
The Department of Corrections online presentation is just good journalism.
The well-told story of Freckles Brown and Tornado
We put together another nDepth – Stories of the Ages piece for Sunday. It’s called, “The Ride,” and it focuses on the most famous “Eight Seconds in Rodeo History” when Freckles Brown stayed atop Tornado in 1967.
The story appeared on the front page of The Oklahoman on Sunday and was featured prominently on NewsOK.
I’m no rodeo aficionado, but I really enjoyed this piece by contributor Ron J. Jackson Jr.
I spoke on the phone this morning with a true rodeo fan who said he was there that night in 1967. He said that Jackson had “everything right” in his accounts and that it was a “great article.”
I agree. Reading the story of Freckles Brown and Tornado is worth the time. If you haven’t read it yet, do so today.
And make darn sure you take the handful of minutes to watch the great video, narrated by Bryan Painter and Doug Sauter.
The Buckles family takes on the digital transition
Local Editor Rick Green doesn’t just organize the news coverage every day while constantly juggling conversations and opinions of news reporters and managing editors.
Local Editor Rick Green (and resident Buckles reader)
No, even though he has one of the toughest jobs in the OPUBCO building, Rick apparently still finds time to read the paper cover to cover — literally — every day. I know this because the comics are on the back page of our Life section or Classifieds section each day, and Rick is a a reader of those comics.
How do I know he reads the comics? I know this, because he shared a series that was in Buckles last week. It was all about the newspaper transition to digital. Some of the conversations in the panels are similar to conversations I’ve had with friends and family members in recent years as OPUBCO has begun to offer enhanced digital subscriptions while continuing to offer an outstanding printed product. Buckles creator David Gilbert did a fine job capturing the challenges of the digital transition.
It’s always interesting to listen to the passion that people have about the way they like to read our news. The six-day series was fun to follow. Check out the Buckles for those six days below (click on the images to go to LOOKatOKC’s Comics Kingdom page, where you can see these images larger).
By the way, it shouldn’t go without noting that Rick showed me these comics by handing me a stack of newspapers.
Oh, and to be perfectly clear … there’s no shame in reading the comics. I read some every day in The Oklahoman, as well. I just happen to read them on The Oklahoman’s iPad edition instead of the printed newspaper.
Hearing praise from a fan of the NewsOK app & a fan of the Barons
Sports writer/columnist/reporter/expert/personality Berry Tramel shared this email with me last week:
Can’t thank you enough for the newsok app. Living in South Carolina, it brings me in touch with what’s happening in news and sports (mostly sports for me) back home. I was hoping you could pass it along to the necessary powers to maybe add a button for The Barons news. I’m a hockey fan and would like to read any articles written by the sports staff. Thanks for the time.
The customer was referring to the NewsOK iPhone app. We’ve had it for about a year and a half, and it’s definitely an experience meant for our NewsOK enthusiasts. It’s a steady stream of news headlines separated by many different topics.
Here’s just a bit of background on that topic. The constant stream of headlines on the NewsOK app is a departure from our app for The Oklahoman — those are meant for edition-based prioritized headlines that a reader of The Oklahoman might enjoy.
Two different apps. Two different experiences.
Regardless of all that, this reader really likes the NewsOK app, and that’s good. And I appreciated his feedback about the Barons headlines. That was a simple oversight. It’s there now.
Continue to enjoy the NewsOK app … or the mobile website … or The Oklahoman app … or NewsOK.com … or The Oklahoman Print Replica. It doesn’t really matter to us. We just want to find the best way to deliver news and information to you.
Tweet for the First Amendment; Win a scholarship
I admit it. I don’t post a lot on Twitter.
But make no mistake. I think Twitter is awesome.
I do a ton of listening on Twitter. And I’m a big advocate. The biggest reason I’m such a fan of the tool is that I see how The Oklahoman’s reporters and editors cultivate sources, share information and communicate with readers on Twitter every day. Following our reporters is a great way to get to know the group of people that are working to inform the readers every day.
So I’ll tweet about them and what’s important to them. And one thing that will get me Tweeting is the First Amendment.
It should come as no surprise that in newsrooms across the country, the First Amendment is a popular topic. It puts us in the same company as LL Cool J — if you need proof, just watch the video at the bottom of the post.
That’s why I’m taking this time on my blog and on my Twitter account to promote the Free to Tweet movement that reaches its climax on Thursday, Dec. 15.
Beginning at midnight on Dec. 15, students ages 14 to 22 can tweet their support for the First Amendment with the hash tag #freetotweet, which will enter them in the “Free to Tweet” scholarship competition. Students are encouraged to freely express themselves in their entries, which can be posted on any publicly viewable social media platform, including blogs.
The website is freetotweet.org, and students can win a $5,000 scholarship for participating.
Send a Christmas greeting to troops around the world
Want to send a message to those serving our country around the world?
Want to share a specific message with a friend or family member serving our country and let others know about it?
Want to tag a a friend or family member serving our country?
Just post a message on the NewsOK “Show Your Thanks to Oklahoma Troops” page. We launched a page with a Facebook Wall for easy sharing across social networks. Now that we’re less than two weeks away from Christmas Day, we’d like to see more names of those serving tagged in the comments on this page.
Share it. Post to it. Spread the holiday cheer.
Together, let’s tell our men and women from Oklahoma serving overseas that they’re in our hearts this holiday season.
NewsOK TV app worth a spot on your home screen
The NewsOK TV app in the iTunes store might be the coolest app we have that we don’t talk about enough.
We’ve had it for quite a while — well over a year, I know. But our latest update (released in the iTunes store on Nov. 29) really makes it a nice addition to your phone. We added push notifications to the app, allowing users to get a note when we add a new video.
The iPhone notifications are pretty handy. It sounds like a pain, I know … getting an alert every time something changes on your phone. But these notifications are subtle enough not to annoy you and useful enough to make it worth the effort. The cool thing is that when Dave Morris‘ NewsOK TV crew adds freshly edited video to the website, I know about it while I’m messing around with my phone. I’m now much more likely to be informed and entertained. And that’s useful to me as a news consumer.
The notifications are really nice, but the app is easy-to-use, too. It’s a different way to ingest your news and information on your mobile device, that’s for sure. Rather than a lot of pesky reading and scrolling, it’s a relaxing watch and listen. And trust me, we produce enough video, that you get a wide sample of information just from the NewsOK TV app.
And our final cool feature worth mentioning? It’s the upload your video process. We know it’s cool because we’ve used it a live testing to get a video we shot from the field into our system for editing.
It works for us, so it can work for you, too. Shoot some video with your phone, then upload it to use through the app. You can even slice the beginning or the end off the video with an easy edit process in the app.
Trust me, if you shoot some breaking news and share it with us, you’ll likely go worldwide within minutes.
Download the app and use it. Before long, it won’t be our best-kept secret.
NewsOK Sports honored with APSE award for third straight year
This doesn’t happen often, but breaking news has reached The Digital Desk Blog.
The Oklahoman and NewsOK have been honored for the third consecutive year by the Associated Press Sports Editors as one of the top 10 sports web sites. Here’s a link to my post about last year’s award.
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. It’s just another award, right? Well, no, not really. As is the case with many things in life, the company you keep says a lot about you. And in the case of the APSE Web contest awards, we’re proud to be in the company of Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and others.
Those are the sites we’re lumped in with, because our audience continues to grow at such a rapid pace. If you look at the size of the markets we’re compared to (and the sites that weren’t in the Top 10), it’s clear that sports editor Mike Sherman, his team of reporters and editors, and the web editing team on NewsOK have something to be very proud of.
So we already have a story on the website. And we’ll have a story in the newspaper tomorrow. And we’ll pat each other on the back.
Then, all the reporters and editors will go back to writing, blogging, tweeting, posting, editing, tagging, summarizing, decision-making and all the other things they all do that make us a Top 10 sports site.
Catching up on the OSU bowl updates on NewsOK
See the photo gallery from the Bedlam game.
I wasn’t at my house for the live coverage of the BCS announcement last night. I missed the live show and immediate opinions from the experts. That’s OK. I think I know what they all said.
But I did get immediate word of the BCS poll results, thanks to NewsOK’s text alerts and email updates. I saw it quickly. Then I saw all the updates on Twitter and Facebook. I read the stories and blogs on my iPhone. I was informed and up to date. I even vocally shared my disappointment with the system to anyone within ear shot (yeah, OSU should be angry).
But browsing today, I had a chance to see everything I missed while I was out, including this video from the OSU football facilities with the team.
Excellent work from the NewsOK sports and video teams. They were both all over this story.
Seeking Truth: nDepth piece shares Dr. R. Murali Krishna’s story
Kelly Dyer Fry wrote another heart-wrenching piece. This time, instead of sharing the gripping story of addiction within her own family, she shared an equally gripping account of an equally challenging affliction from the family of Dr. R. Murali Krishna.
The title is Seeking Truth: Where is my Amma? It shares Krishna’s accounts of his mother’s fight with mental illness while he was a young boy in India.
It’s part of our “nDepth: Fighting Back” series, where we tell inspirational stories of people making a difference in our community. Dr. Krishna definitely qualifies, and the only proof you need is Kelly’s story.
As he enters the backyard trimmed with rose bushes, he sees his mom. She is standing in the yard. Smoke is rising from her yellow sari with black trim. Flames. She is setting herself on fire.
Fry — who, for the record, runs our newsroom – transitions from Krishna’s flashbacks to Krishna’s present-day advice. As the audience, we learn not only what drove and inspired Krishna to become a community leader in the field of mental health.
We also get a bit more insight on how the world can change for a family dealing with mental illness.
