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Tour of Missouri Fan Zone

As of tonight, I am an authorized journalist for the Tour of Missouri Fan Zone.

You can be one, too

The Tour of Missouri -- which starts Monday afternoon with a stage between St. Joseph and Kansas CIty -- has partnered with Vitrue, a social media marketing company that provides fans, host partners and sponsors the opportunity to chronicle the 623-mile professional cycling event on the Fan Zone.

The site will enable fans to contribute their videos, photos and comments from the race. The site also provides channels devoted to host cities and sponsors. It is the first social site of its kind for this level of a professional cycling event, according to the press release about the Tour of Missouri Fan Zone.

Fan Zone participants will be:

• Upload photos, video and comments on the site and also through their mobile devices.
• Create their own profile and message other members within Fan Zone, creating a true community.
• Feature content from host cities and sponsors as well as exclusive professional content.

The Tour of Missouri will provide video cameras to event personnel and each of the 15 teams in the race in order to capture behind-the-scenes footage, which is usually never seen by the public. Team footage could include views from caravan vehicles following the race or team strategy sessions, said Steve Brunner, president of KOM Sports, which markets the event.

It will be interesting to see how fully the army of journalists can cover the event. If you recall from last year, when Justin.tv provided live streaming video feeds from the race, the picture went black from time to time. Also, AVF Creations' efforts to track the race were spotty.

The reason for that? Some parts of Missouri are rather isolated, meaning reliable cell phone and satellite connections can be difficult to find. However, reliable connections should be available at all the start and finish cities, so people who want to upload videos, photos and other media from those places shouldn't have any problem.

Labels: computers, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 2:47 AM

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Welcome to the world of widgets

Yes, it's true, I have a widget for my blog now! I originally did it as an application for Facebook, but if any of you are interested in adding the widget, be my guest!

Labels: computers

Roger 0 comments links to this post 12:29 AM

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Technology: friend or foe?

Generally, I'm a big fan of computer technology, but there are times when it makes me want to pull my hair out. (And fortunately, despite turning 46 yesterday, I still have plenty of it to pull out!)

The case in point: Trying to get the word out about the change of location for the Belleville Area Bicycling and Eating Society's Meet 'n' Eat.

When we made arrangements several months ago, we were not aware of Old Spaghetti Factory's plans to close its restaurant at Laclede's Landing in St. Louis for remodeling. One of our members, Paul Skeans, let us know the he heard about the plans just days before the Meet 'n' Eat, and we moved quickly to find an alternative.

We made an effort to get the word out by updating the group's Web site and sending updated information to the Gateway Council of Hostelling International's online calendar. I also posted a notice on this blog because I know many of our group's members regularly read this site.

We also tried to get the word out via e-mail, and that's where the problems took place. Glitches still remain with our new newsletter program, so many people did not get our recent newsletters. When we tried to get the word out with our old system, the Web site's server would not allow two of our three batches to go out.

I understand why Internet providers and companies that host Web site put restrictions on how many e-mails can be sent at a time, and it's because of the spam that clogs our inboxes. Unfortunately, it makes it more difficult for people or organizations that don't have the resources for elaborate e-mail programs to get the word out.

If anyone didn't get the message and showed up at the Old Spaghetti Factory, I apologize for the problem in getting the word out. I hope to have the problem fixed before we send out our next newsletter.

Labels: Belleville Area Bicycling Eating Society, computers, technology

Roger 1 comments links to this post 9:36 PM