Message to group on 30/10/12

This message was produced during the reading week of October as this is a main part of where the group can get work and content produced.

Hi Emma, and group.
Supermammas;

• The idea behind the supermammas sounds good. The thing is that it will need to be branded differently, and be a journalism piece rather than a sole opinion piece. You can put yourself in the piece as you write it, to give it some depth.

But firstly, I think you should look at doing it as a column - branding it as something, and then it can be something you can use to place other issues, articles, stories in.

• I know that you do your personal stuff about your personal experiences and things like that. But for this issue, (as if we did continue it after this), it may be better to concentrate on finding other student Mum's, grabbing a short interview (a few quotes on time management of being a mum and student) that sort of thing and writing a piece that is very relatable.

A good place to look would be at Hull Uni for an interview. The student nurses, or teaching, or other mature students. They will probably have a society, so check that out, and maybe send an email to the society. Don't have to mention much about this and stuff.
Just say you are a student mum, and was wondering if you could chat to a couple of other student mums about managment of work, home, kids etc.
Grab a photo, Job done for that one.
Also, considering you have more knacks to find good family deals etc. We talked on Friday about having a part in our 'Entertainment section' about deals for local family days out, meals 2 for 1, or buy one second a pound, stuff like that. Cheap cinema days. Kind of a Martin Lewis elk type of thing.
Owen is also going to work on this section too, maybe you could collaborate on this, look for some deals, up and coming, Xmas treats festive events etc.
The most important thing with them things is longevity.
No point in putting something in that will run out after 3 days.
Other stuff.

• Mike B and I came up with some ideas on Friday and some roles for people as we need to get cracking. We want to have the content done by end of November so that we can publish this as a festive edition, otherwise we will miss the boat.

We can't put it out later than 3/4th Dec, otherwise it will be pointless.
We will however have time until Jan to comment, reflect, and evaluate the process for submission.

• The main focus on any articles stories, or anything that we do, will be longevity, positivity, and strong journalism.

We can, as it is a festive edition, also include 'things to look out for in the New Year' in almost every section. Such as technology gadgets coming out, new building, shops, places to go or see. As well as a reflection on things in some parts, AND a festivity swing to what we do too.
So we have festive things in all sections -particularly entertainment; theatre, films, places to eat, markets, festivals, deals, shops, gadgets, reviews - if a new shop opens for xmas only, go in, comment on it, what it sells, price ranges etc.
Hopes for the new year/things to look out for- again, entertainment wise, new places to go visit, what to look out for, sporting wise, I was going to do a column on Hull City's hopes for the new year, how they’ve done so far, where they were this time the year they got promoted etc.
Research, look for ideas, pick your areas, and get out there. We can't do this from being sat at home. We need interviews, strong pieces, and everyone to know what they are doing.
So far the group hasn't communicated very well at all.
I put the stuff on a plate for everyone to do their presentation ideas and update their progress, ideas, and format of how they would do things when I created the Writeboard.
All you had to do was pick what you wanted to do, or create something new if you had other ideas, think and research where that would go in a publication, and say how you would go about doing it. Then bring in the examples on Friday. It wasn’t hard.
If you want to do well and actually get something that could be really good produced then we should all work together, and come in on the Fridays so that we can discuss and be clear on what we are all doing.
As it stands, I'm not sure if everyone does know what they are doing, and that it what the Writeboard was for, so that everyone in the group knew what they was doing, and everyone else knew what everyone was doing as it is there to see.
If we had of presented it as a group on Friday then we could have all explained to each other how we was going to manage our sections, what we wanted to do, and how we would go about it.
One column or article only is not enough for everyone. If we did 24 pages, that’s the equivalent of 4 pages each. Some may do less, and that’s fine, as they may do more design work or leg work. At the minute though, we aren't doing well as a team, and people aren't communicating well.
Everyone needs to tell everyone on here what they would like to do within the publication, what they might need, who's going to do it, like 2 people, or even more. The Writeboard on here may help for that.
We only have 5 weeks guys, and this should be ready to publish.
I don't want to come across as being controlling or anything, but I aren't coming in next Friday to be in the exact same position as we are now.
WE can all help eachother out. It would be good to have the content done ASAP, so that we can do design work together as a group, discuss how many words, or pages what we have done will be, base that on research, disucss where it will go in the publication, images, the house style, fonts etc.
Only 1 or 2 people may end up doing the actual design, but until we know what content we have, how big that is, etc. we cannot really start designing anything, as it is like trying to discuss a book without reading it.
WE can wait for sme stuff, such as mainstreem news, as that needs to have longevity, and be current when we publish. So any ideas for any parts are welcome. We can all help eachother with ideas.
The main idea of having a 'role' was that you are then the person to write and produce that section/article.
Can everyone please let everyone know what they are doing, their ideas, etc, and we can message on here about them. The Writeboard should be the easiest place to briefly put your ideas.


Cheers,
Jase