Will you FLIP over our new videos from Oregon Ag Fest 2008?

Last week, Capital Press received a new tool to use in their jobs. Some call it a tool. Others might call it a new toy. But the bottom line is the new Flip Video Ultra Series cameras are small camcorders that allow our staff to get another angle to our coverage.

We are now a company that is doing more than just writing for a weekly agricultural newspaper that gets into the mailboxes of farmers in the West once a week. We have a website that publishes stories daily from staff and Associated Press; we send out a daily newsletter; and we also send out breaking news alerts to those who sign up to receive them.

We have been expanding out multimedia offerings: We now have photo slideshows, audio of interviews, and — with our new tool/toy — video to add to the website.

Oregon State University Extension and Experiment Station Communications staff were kind enough to provide us some training last week, since they are familiar with the Flip Video camcorders and have used the devices for some of their work.

This past weekend, I took my Flip Video to Ag Fest in Salem to record some video, then posted it to YouTube. There are some pros and cons to the camcorder, but some of the benefits is its size, ease of use and (when all software is cooperating between Apple and Quicktime — and that’s another story!), its ease to posting to YouTube.

Here are a couple examples of what I have taped so far. Stay tuned to see a lot more of this on Capital Press’ multimedia site and/or on YouTube.

First, here's a compilation of some of the events that helped entertain as well as educate Oregon children — and adults — about agriculture. The event was held in Salem, Oregon on April 26-27.



In the second video, Michele Ruby, Executive Director of Oregon Ag Fest 2008, met with Elaine Shein of Capital Press at the end of the event on April 27 to share what a success it had been, what is its role, and how important it is to have volunteers.