inside-ireport

iReport roundtable: Thursday 2:30 p.m. ET

davidw — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:52:33 GMT

Please join us here in the blog this afternoon for our weekly roundtable discussion. We'll open comments at 2:30 p.m. ET.

The past couple of weeks have been amazing and we want to thank all of you for your great work. Tyson's already blogged about how your contributions helped CNN.com win the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award, but that's only one of the cool things that have happened recently.

Here are some of the highlights:

The outpouring of tributes and personal stories about Michael Jackson has been pretty amazing. We've heard from people all over the world since Jackson died. Your stories have added incredible depth to CNN's coverage of the story.
iReporters Pixel and MarieSager shared their views of the scene at Farrah Fawcett's funeral. Marie also interviewed a man who's been polishing the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for the last 10 years.
Jason Dinant reached the end of his "Journey to Change." It's been really interesting to watch his six-month quest for six-pack abs. We want to congratulate Jason for reaching his goal and also thank him for keeping us updated.

We look forward to talking to everyone and hearing your comments, questions and concerns.

Inspired by Lady Liberty

katie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:54:22 GMT

When we learned that the crown of the Statue of Liberty would re-open to the public on July 4, we asked for your photos of the American landmark. The crown has been closed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

We expected a big response, but were astounded by the quality of photographs you sent in. It seems that Lady Liberty inspires many of you!

thepizzaman found an old photograph from a trip to New York in 1964, naiver07 got creative with a fisheye lens, and New Jersey resident JoyfulGypsy submitted countless gorgeous shots, such as this black-and-white portrait and the statue under a full moon.

iReport.com newcomer ecco9494 shared a breathtaking shot of a golden sunset behind the Statue of Liberty. "There is nothing more inspiring than seeing this splendid icon in all its glory," she said.

Because of the volume of these stunning images, we tried something new and put them together in a photo mosaic on CNN.com. We'd like to experiment like this again in the future, and we’d love to hear what you think.

If you've got big 4th of July plans, be sure to share them with us. Have a happy and safe holiday weekend!

CNN.com wins Edward R. Murrow Award

tyson — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:49:16 GMT

Team iReport just learned that CNN.com has won the Edward R. Murrow Award for best broadcast-affiliated website. That's a huge honor, but we're even more thilled with what the judges had to say:

“This is what a news Web site should be. Depth of content. Ease of navigation. User-generated content made easy, allowing news consumers to participate in the process. Lots of interactivity. This site warrants a home page landing because of the volume of information it provides.”

In other words, iReporters rock!

We think it's pretty cool that your contributions to CNN's newsgathering were specifically referenced by the judges handing out one of electronic journalism's highest honors.

Just another example of how your amazing iReports continue to make CNN.com a great place to get and interact with the news. So hats off to you, iReporters, and thank you for being such a significant part of CNN.

'King of Pop' memories

lila — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:50:13 GMT

iReport is fast filling up with sweet tributes and memories of Michael Jackson as a pop icon. We're hearing tales from around the world of white-gloved childhoods, first records and never-forget concerts. It's late, but we can't end the night without a quick list of a few of our favorite conversations this evening:

Nicole: Diana Dawn DiAngelo of Sonoma, California, got the chance to go to the annual Lucasfilm Picnic at Skywalker Ranch with her sister in the mid-1980s, which is pretty awesome by itself because George Lucas would attend. But Michael Jackson was also there because of the Captain EO 3-D film at Disneyland. She got to gush over him as he signed an autograph in her Lucasfilm Yearbook. Later, she was charmed by the fact that he said hello to her again while riding around on a fire truck.

Tyson: Great chats tonight with Rany Ibrahim from Novia Scotia, who remembers doing the moon walk with his friends growing up in Egypt and Rajiim Gross from Kentucky, who says he was the first kid in school to wear the red "Beat It" jacket, and once wrote Michael Jackson asking his hero to play his parent's wedding anniversary, and got a response from Michael wishing his mom and dad congratulations.

Lila: Oh boy. I just got off the phone with Jeffrey Wentworth Stevens, who shared these completely adorable photos of his 9-year-old, completely Michael Jackson-obsessed self with a glitter glove birthday cake. It was the same year he'd won a pair of tickets to see Jackson at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado, and cried his way through the concert. Awww.

Want more? See it all and post your own right here.

10 days in Tehran

nsaidi — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:01:25 GMT

Hearing personal stories from people who have returned from Iran, like iReporter tehrooni , provides valuable insight into what's going on in a country with heavily restricted communication.

She told us about the surreal atmosphere of walking down the street and seeing armed guards with batons who would break up a group with more than five people. She spoke of the fear in people's hearts and an incident of teargassing that sent her fleeing with her grandmother. tehrooni's grandmother fell down, and a man nearby came to help her up. "It was really a surreal moment," she said. "Everyone was running away, coughing. [The man] told my grandmother it's okay, reassuring all of us it's going to be over soon"

We're monitoring the situation at CNN's Iran Desk, and iReporters are helping us piece together the puzzle. What do you think about what's going on? Comment below and share your views, or put yourself on video and send us an iReport .

No roundtable today

tyson — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:28:34 GMT

Thanks for your patience during this morning's site maintenance.

One quick announcement: We're postponing today's roundtable discussion and will resume next Thursday right here on the iReport blog. We hope to see you there!

'Til then, happy iReporting!

Site maintenance Thursday

tyson — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:20:25 GMT

iReport.com will be offline for about 20 minutes Thursday morning while we do some work under the covers. We’ll start at 8 a.m. ET. Thanks for your patience! If you have a story during the outage that just can’t wait, please email it to iReport@cnn.com.

"Transformers" collections "more than meets the eye"

hhanks — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:02:16 GMT

“One of my first clear memories was my fifth birthday,” said iReporter smartens. “My parents gave me my first Transformer, the original Optimus Prime. Apparently my mom went to the store and saw that everyone in the checkout line was carrying the same toy so she just followed suit.” So began a lifelong infatuation with the “Transformers”, who were all the rage 25 years ago, and are rolling into theatres this week with the big budget movie sequel “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”. smartens now has over 300 of the toys worth thousands of dollars, and he’s not the only one with an affinity for them.

Growing up in the Philippines during the height of “Transformers” mania in the 1980s, Megatron (seen in the photo with non-"Transformer" Voltron) always wanted to collect these toys but never had a chance. Ever since graduating from college, however, he made it his mission to collect all of the original toys, spending every paycheck he can on them. “It is a very expensive hobby and my collection value is around $10,000,” he said. “I keep all my toys sealed in plastic and will never sell them unless it's a life or death situation, which in that case I must be buried with the toys."

openroad12 wasn’t even born when the Transformers first came out but he has been collecting them for eight years. Now at age 14, while many of his peers only know the two recent movies, Autobots and Decepticons decorate an entire shelf in his bedroom.

brianhharris didn't start his collection right away, but his first toys were saved by his mother from the '80s. He now has nearly 400 figures altogether. “As of right now my wife and I have no children but she did ask me once, ‘What are you going to do if our kids want to play with these things?’” he said. “The reply was simple, ‘This is why I am buying one to open and one to keep in the box.’"

Do you collect toy robots or other action figures as well? Share your collection with the iReport community!

iPhones and iReporters

hhanks — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:54:27 GMT

The new iPhone 3GS was released Friday to much hype and anticipation. iReporters were among the first to get their hands on one, and they shared early reviews with the iReport.com community just hours after purchasing the sleek smartphone. Some of them even tried out iReporting with their iPhone for the first time. Vincent Yau of Knoxville, Tennessee, called himself a “BlackBerry man” but was pretty impressed by the new iPhone – the first one he owned. Check out his video above.

Also giving his new iPhone a whirl on video was David Seaman of New York, who said he would rate it an eight out of 10 and called it an “iReporter’s dream come true”.

Jose Gout was one of the earliest to get the new iPhone on Friday morning, and posted the very first iReport using it that afternoon. He returned to see the lines dissipate that day, but swell up again on Saturday.

Melissa Fazli spoke to excited customers waiting in line for the new iPhone Friday at a mall in Brea, California. Several BlackBerry owners were there ready to make the switch. Later, Fazli also posted an iReport using her new iPhone for the first time. Do you own the new iPhone? Tell us what you think about it as well on iReport.com!

Cross-posted at CNN.com's SciTechBlog.

Wife fights for 'children's future'

katie — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:40:38 GMT

I heard countless compelling stories from iReporters in Iran and around the world today, but this poignant account from PoyanMahsa stood out among the rest.

Poyan is an Iranian expatriate living outside Rotterdam, Holland. His wife Mahsa lives in Tehran, Iran. The couple keeps in touch through phone calls and e-mails, and Poyan said he is "200 percent" worried about Mahsa as the unrest in Iran rages on.

Despite his concern, though, Poyan acknowledges that he cannot ask Mahsa to stay away from the protests of the country's disputed election. "I cannot tell her not to go, because this is our future," he said. "This is our children's future."

Poyan added that if he was in Iran, he'd be "right out there with her."

Check out the photos of the demonstrations in Tehran that Masha shot today. And if you have a story to share, please let us know.

Correction: This post originally referred to the couple as engaged. They married in April. Poyan continues to keep close watch on the news out of Iran.