Election Day musings

I was part of the action on Nov. 4, as I went around polling places in Chicago to interview voters for the Associated Press. A bit of my reporting was actually picked up by media outlets. Quotes from Miranda Young, an 18-year-old St. Louis native who left a local hospital to cast a ballot for Barack Obama, appeared in the Boston Herald, Gainesville Sun, and WBBM 780 in Chicago. Quotes from Julius Taylor, a 37-year-old Chicago truckdriver, were in the Rockford Register Star. Very cool.

Then I attended the rally at Grant Park. Put together a video of highlights from my vantage point at the rally, including when CNN announced Obama had won the presidency, and uploaded it on YouTube...can be found here. That's already received more than 1,700 views now; the power of the Internet to reach people and connect with others is simply amazing. In fact, a search of "Obama rally Grant Park" on YouTube turns up my video second! Have had overwhelming feedback on that and many comments. It was fun little enterprise and I'm glad people have enjoyed it. I believe that night was so historic and one we should all share in.

I also have to give a shoutout here to my old campus newspaper, the Cardinal Courier. They posted updates THROUGH ELECTION NIGHT and did some great original reporting on the fly! They had a special Election Edition come out today and word on the street is it's amazing looking. Can't wait to see for myself. Props to the Courier.

Just three types of journalistic projects, all of which utilizing the Internet, that went on Tuesday, among the MANY, MANY more. Looks like online and journalism are a good marriage after all.