Yesterday was the first day of the Community Correspondent course (flash term for reporter) so I decided that I’d write a little mini-blog that charts my progress.
So after a two week delay in the course starting, I arrived at the South Leeds Community Radio building in Beeston. I was met in the waiting area by a couple of the other potential reporters, and then by Jeremy Morton who came bearing the welcome gift of hot tea!
After a brief-ish introduction to the course and a molehill of mildly intrusive paperwork, Jeremy did his best impersonation of an air hostess by showing us the emergency exits and comfort rooms.
We made it into the training room and after fiddling about with my hibernating computer, we got down to an informative chat about SLL and it’s beginnings. Then came the work …
Jeremy’s instructions were to write a short article about ourselves and our reasons for going on the course. Sounds easy doesn’t it? I had been typing away for about ten minutes before I realised how clinical and pompous my offering sounded, more like a CV than an article, so I set about re-writing it. It’s harder than I thought to write about myself and it’s my favourite subject!
That done we moved on to looking at other websites with a similar “hyperlocal” focus. I was struck by the way that the design could make me respond to sites in a different way, for example; one was set out like a postcard and made me think immediately of Royal Mail. This was quite reassuring and made navigating the site more comfortable.
Another chat later (we do a bit of this and it’s only partly my fault), and it was time to wrap up and go home. I spent another ten minutes bending Jeremy’s ear and he was polite enough to try and listen to my ramblings without earplugs … brave man!
I’m looking forward to next week and the photo session/field trip. I will keep you updated and try to blog the course as we go, time permitting.
This article was written by Craig Sweaton using our Community Reporters website
