There was an idea brought up in the town hall meeting (sorry I do not recall which member's idea it was- several members discussed after brought up- but I freely admit it was not mine but did sound like a really good idea) to do some type of post or announcement type thing for "what has sf meant to me?" The basis would be the question posed in some format to allow our members to share what they get from SF- our real members talking to real people about how SF works to encourage the tens of thousands of people (yes- it really is that many) that read the articles and posts to actually join SF to get more help for themselves.
I have been considering how we could use most effectively - and ultimately i have come up with a few ideas working within our tech capacity and not having to hire outside help to complete the project but to have very high end results. I think video format is the easiest way to share - particularly on mobile devices which is 70% of our site traffic and would allow both very small short little pieces to put in places and an extended 3-5 minute feature similar to the video's we have done in the past ( you can see an example of one of these videos at the end of this article - I Hate Myself and Want to Die )
That video was made from a post, on this one the idea is that it would be it will be members answering the questions of :
"What has SF meant to me?"
"How has SF helped me"
"Why I use SF"
"Why somebody feeling depressed or suicidal should join SF"
And put together with pictures/video clips etc.
To complete this project we need a LOT of help from member sin the community and some understanding from the members that offer help-
First list of things we need - for both this project and for making the front of site more "original and people /real person orieneted-
Sorry for the crazy long post- hopefully somebody thta is better at brevity and conciseness can help clarify and let people know what we need to encourage participation
I have been considering how we could use most effectively - and ultimately i have come up with a few ideas working within our tech capacity and not having to hire outside help to complete the project but to have very high end results. I think video format is the easiest way to share - particularly on mobile devices which is 70% of our site traffic and would allow both very small short little pieces to put in places and an extended 3-5 minute feature similar to the video's we have done in the past ( you can see an example of one of these videos at the end of this article - I Hate Myself and Want to Die )
That video was made from a post, on this one the idea is that it would be it will be members answering the questions of :
"What has SF meant to me?"
"How has SF helped me"
"Why I use SF"
"Why somebody feeling depressed or suicidal should join SF"
And put together with pictures/video clips etc.
To complete this project we need a LOT of help from member sin the community and some understanding from the members that offer help-
First list of things we need - for both this project and for making the front of site more "original and people /real person orieneted-
- Answers to those type of questions from members - can simply write the question and your answer and reply here, or if would prefer to reply less publicly then send in letters to admin Include if you want it attributed to your member name or anonymous. Put the question and your answer- try to keep answers short and to the point rather than long essays for this project.
- We need original photographs and video that we can use as background for the answers to be posted on. Short original video clips of nature scenes, city scapes of any sort, (whether inspirational views of mountains and rainbows and sunsets, or grim pictures or video clips of alleys filled with trash and decaying buildings - the "darker" is usually harder to find and more impactful if you are up to a challenge). Just go for walks or a ride and take some pictures or short (under 30 second for certain, more like under 15 second) video clips with phone, or high quality camera / go pro , etc. The higher the definition to start with the easier it is to use ultimately- it is far easier to step down quality than step up. I can not express how much we need this sort of original photography and videography all the time because half the issue with articles and posts is buying copyrights to artwork or spending far too much time to find open source stuff and then it has all been seen/used in a million places. If it has single individuals in it we probably cannot use it (would need model release etc) but crowds of people in public places is fine in pictures or video so long as the point is the scene, not an individual. The quality does not need to be perfect or even "great". I am very adept at cropping and editing. But the higher the definition/larger format and the more unique the better. You do not need to have specific saying or need to provide it for your own answer- just if you are out and see something thta cashes your eye as beautiful, sad, ugly, makes you feel happy/sad/angry/ thoughtful etc- take a picture or short video and send it to us to add to our "library" of original stuff for use in this or other projects. We will happily give out banners for photography, artists/ etc for your help - and we need from all over the world/ all cultures and places. Send one or two things you have on your phone or camera now, take a walk to find and do, or keep in mind in future and send in by 1 or 2 or a set of 10- all is helpful and appreciated.
- We need original artwork of all types- pen pencil, watercolor, digital art - all of it. We will not use pictures of methods, but things thta "imply" are fine. Dark is okay, blood / gore is not. We are looking for stuff thta is beautiful in any way - even beautiful in how dark and sad. Or bright and happy/ cheerful or inspiring. Let your artistic values and creativity be your guidelines. But it has to be your original artwork and cannot be published online anywhere else (most places that publish online have limited your copyrights in their terms of service- the same as ours. The reason is not "greed" or not wanting to share- it is because if google decides it is plagiarized or a copyright violation they punish the site hugely and either drop site in search results, completely drop site from index, or make errors come up when people go to a page containing that artwork or photo. If you would like to share some of your artwork with a an audience of 100,000 plus a month please consider sending it to us to use.
- Poetry (or short stories) - It can be any length, but is easier to use if it is shorter- 6-20 lines for example. If more than thta it is not so much do not want to use as just a case of much harder to use or fit into some places. Will we publish longer? Of course we will, but we probably cannot use it in videos or memes for social media or places thta get a "lot" of attention or into a feature. Short stories are much harder to use, and will mostly be included in a fiction reading area unless they have real merit as an analogy or allegory.
- Voice-overs , and readers of all types with all accents and backgrounds. Members willing to read or record anything from a sentence or two for use in a video to a complete audio version of posts. For the small excepts in videos like the "what does SF mean to me" there will be many examples of small pieces we need read and recorded of a few words or lines and is better done in many different voices and accents and better if sound "real" rather than "studio". For reading of long posts and poems a clear voice that records and plays back well (Like Freya's voice for example, and nothing at all like mine) is best. If you are willing to do any voice recordings let us know and we will send you what needs to be recorded and send back. All can be done by email and for most things the voice recording on a cell phone is adequate. For longer posts/stories some access to a microphone or decent quality headset like used for skype or similar may be needed. We can assist with the technical parts like what apps and formats though I have that enables use and change of nearly any format.
- Understanding is needed. Sometimes things are slightly edited. Sometimes a picture or piece of video does not end up in a final edition of something. Particularly when talking about the short video clips or just random photographs. There are a LOT of pictures of flowers , rainbows, sunset/sunrise, etc. If yours does not get used right away or in the very next project , it does not even mean that it was not "as good" , often it is simply as soon as I see something that "works" I use and go to the next type of image I am looking for, so was not a rating or this was better than that- and I am hardly any expert to judge regardless. So things that are quite common- while obviously we like and want to use (there is a reason they are common -they are used a lot) it may be several projects or articles or posts before i run across one you sent in that seems to "fit". I do not try to judge, and i do not store things by name , but rather by topic so if you think will be upset if you submit something and it is not used right away then help me to use it by including a quote or a specific place you think it will look good in and I will then either use as that or let you know why I cannot. If you send in 120 things I will not be able to use 120 things right away. Talk to us instead of getting upset- or thinking we did not like something. We get busy, things get overlooked, and it is not in any way personal nor does it mean it was not "good enough".
Sorry for the crazy long post- hopefully somebody thta is better at brevity and conciseness can help clarify and let people know what we need to encourage participation