It’s a big project designed to capture a day in the life of a Lawrence. Moments and events (little and big) — the everyday to the extraordinary, will be featured in The World Company’s 24 Hours project set for Thursday, May 10. Managing Editor for Convergence Joel Mathis will join us to chat about the project and how you can be involved at 1:30 p.m.

Moderator

Hi. This is 6News Director Cody Howard. I’ll be moderating today’s chat about 24 Hours in Lawrence with Joel Mathis, Managing Editor for Convergence, who’s also overseeing the project. Let’s begin.

Joel Mathis

Hi Cody — glad to be here.

Moderator

Before we get into some of our submitted questions — please give us an overview of what this project is about — how the idea came about — and what we’re trying to accomplish.

Joel Mathis

The idea of following the community from midnight to midnight isn’t really all that new – I rememember reading a similar effort in my hometown Hillsboro Star-Journal when I was growing up. And certainly, a number of Lawrence photographers (including some from the Journal-World) participated in the “Kansas 24/7” project a couple of years back. We’re incorporating some of that experience into taking a good close look at our local community.

What we’re trying to do, though, is create a “living time capsule” – a document of how we live in Lawrence in 2007. We’re doing that through two efforts:

¢ Reporters from the Journal-World and 6News are fanning out into the community from, again, midnight to midnight, to tell more than two dozen stories about the day. (That’s tomorrow, Thursday, May 10, by the way.)

¢ And we’re asking individuals and organizations to tell us their own stories about their day – through videos, photos, text stories, etc. I even just talked to one man who wants to submit a Powerpoint presentation.

Some of what we have will be in 6News and some in the paper. All of it – assuming it meets taste and legal standards – will appear on a special “24 Hours” section at LJWorld.com that we’re creating.

It’s as complicated an undertaking, logistically, as I’ve ever been involved with.

Boston_Charley

What will ultimately happen to all the material submitted? Will it be archived somewhere to serve as an historical resource in the future?

Joel Mathis

Boston_Charley: All of the material – again, assuming it meets taste and legal standards (and we’ll be taking a good editorial look at everything) will be preserved at the special “24 Hours” Web site we’re creating for this project.

The Web site will be available in perpetuity. I’m also hoping that we can archive the entire contents of the site on a DVD that we’ll donate to the Watkins Community Museum of History and, perhaps, the Spencer Research Museum on KU campus.

The idea is that we are creating a historical resource!

languagerights

Of course, everyone is going to ask how someone can get involved. I would add that I hope this project covers Lawrence in its entirety. Often, sectors of our town receive the spotlight at the expense of other parts of town. For example, North Lawrence, over the river, is so wonderful and quaint in some parts. Let’s make sure this project touches on ALL of Lawrence (For North Lawrence, check out the old train depot and the mosaic workshop…). This sounds like a lot of fun!

Joel Mathis

Languagerights: That’s an excellent point. I think we’re aware that our coverage can be a little too, um, “downtown-focused” on a day-to-day basis. So from the beginning, we’ve really made an effort to make sure we get to places like North Lawrence and other parts of the city that maybe don’t get their stories told as well or as often as they should be. The story list has been evolving even up to the last couple of hours, as we discern where we’ll get cooperation in telling stories, but getting away from Mass Street has been uppermost in our minds.

How to get involved: Make a picture! Write a story! Write a poem if you want. Take a cellphone video and post it to YouTube, then send us the URL.

Starting Thursday, we’ll have a form on the front of LJWorld.com where you can submit materials. You can also e-mail it to editor@ljworld.com with the subject heading “24 Hours.” AND you can always mail or drop off materials at the NewsCenter, 7th and Massachusetts streets.

The deadline: 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 15. The project appears in print, tv and Web starting May 22.

Bassetlover

How many pages in the LJW will be devoted to this once it is printed?

Joel Mathis

This will be on the front page of the paper – with one or two inside pages devoted, as well – for the four days starting May 22.

There will also be at least one, and perhaps more, stories on 6News each of the four days.

And given the large amount of community involvement we’re hoping for, we’ll be unlimited (or nearly so) in the space we use online.

momchat1

Hi Cody and Joel. About how long do you want the story to be?

Joel Mathis

Hi Mom. (Your’re not MY mom are you?)

We’re not going to put limitations on submissions from the public — though we might do some editing on long pieces that we choose to use in the paper. Otherwise, make it as long or as short as you need to document your day.

If you STILL want a rule of thumb, however, most regular-length newspaper stories are in the neighborhood of 400 to 500 words.

Moderator

About how many people (in the newsroom and from the public) do you expect will contribute to the project?

Joel Mathis

Pretty much the entire newsroom is involved – dozens of reporters, photographers and videographers from our news, sports and features departments.

From the community: We don’t know, but we’re hopeful. Classes at Free State and Lawrence high schools are participating, after I gave them a dazzling display of salesmanship. We’ve also reached out to neighborhood groups, nonprofit agencies and other organizations for participation, and we’re getting pretty good feedback. So hopefully we’ll have (crossing fingers) HUNDREDS of contributions.

Moderator

Do you have anything else to add?

Joel Mathis

Just a reminder of a couple of other ways to participate:

¢ Lawrencians also can make an appointment for Thursday with the Watkins Museum, which will videotape oral histories with city residents – to be stored in the museum archives and published at LJWorld.com. Appointments can be made by calling the museum at 841-4109.

¢ That won’t be the only place Lawrencians can tell their stories, though. A Journal-World news clerk will criss-cross the community Thursday, asking residents why they make Lawrence their home.
News clerk Robert Riley will be at these locations to chat with residents:
l 10 a.m.: Hy-Vee, 4000 W. Sixth St.
l Noon: Johnny’s Tavern, 401 N. Second St.
l 2:45 p.m.: Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt.
l 4:15 p.m.: Hastings Books Music & Video, 1900 W. 23rd St.

Joel Mathis

We’re really looking forward to this, and we hope we have a lot of community contributions. Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Good luck!

Moderator

Thanks Joel! That concludes today’s chat.