inside-ireport

From the streets of Iran

nsaidi — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:39:00 GMT

On the 30th anniversary of the Iran hostage crisis, turmoil once again rages from within the country. Protesters have taken to the streets to speak out against their government. We received several iReports showing images from Iran, including photos showing scenes of protests that took place in the capital city of Tehran.

The photographer said hundreds of people had gathered near a train station. The images show security forces and burning objects. Since a series of demonstrations began in June, citizen journalism has been perhaps the primary way information has been shared from inside Iran.

iReport roundtable: Thursday @ 3 p.m. ET

davidw — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:22:53 GMT

Join us in our blog today at 3 p.m. ET for our weekly roundtable discussion. We are looking forward to talking to you.

We'll open comments on this blog post at 3 p.m. so you can leave your questions and comments and then members of Team iReport will respond.

We'll talk to you at 3 p.m. ET.

Technical difficulties

katie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:47:21 GMT

You may have problems logging in to CNN iReport this morning. Our technical team is on the issue and hopes to have the problem fixed shortly.

In the meantime, if you spot breaking news, please send it to ireport@cnn.com . We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience!

UPDATE: Our developers have identified the problem and login should be restored. If you encounter any other technical problems, please us know at contact@ireport.com . Thanks!

USS New York sails home

katie — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:25:16 GMT

The USS New York steamed into New York Harbor Monday and iReporters were there to document its arrival. The 25,000-ton ship is partially made of seven and a half tons of steel recovered from the World Trade Center.

Watching the ship was especially meaningful for New York iReporters MSetoPhoto , sergeinyc and sjunat55 , who all had personal connections to the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001. MSetoPhoto and sjunat55 lost friends in the attack and sergeinyc was working in the towers at the time.

Their photos capture the bittersweet emotion of the momentous occasion. Did you watch the ship's arrival? Share your photos and video and see other great submissions.

Getting advice for women

hhanks — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:31:03 GMT

Two iReporters, as well as CNN’s Campbell Brown, along 25,000 others,attended the Women’s Conference in Long Beach, California, earlier this week.

The conference’s mission was to “empower, inspire and educate” women, and the speakers there had lots of advice on how to accomplish that, as ChrisMorrow found.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said, “Women often sit in meetings or class and don’t say what they think, so my advice to women is to always interrupt.”

Dr. Jane Goodall offered her advice as well: “The most important thing is to be happy with who they are, and if you really want something just carry on until you get it.”

Check out ChrisMorrow’s video for more words of wisdom from Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, Sir Richard Branson, actress Sharon Lawrence, Facebook’s Randi Zuckerberg, and others.

For MelissaF, the Women’s Conference was a major step in her weight loss journey. A few weeks ago, she interviewed one of her idols, “The Biggest Loser’s” Jillian Michaels over the phone for CNN iReport, and this inspired her to look at exercise in a new way. At the conference, she got the chance to meet Michaels in person, and to thank her for getting her motivated to lose ten pounds so far. Check out MelissaF’s video of the big moment here.

We’re always on the lookout for other inspiring stories on CNN iReport, and if you have one, don’t hesitate to share it with the community.

Snowy times are here again

nsaidi — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:55:08 GMT

Some people make spiced cider, others dress up as Santa Claus. My annual fall-to-winter ritual is watching the stream of snowy iReports come through. You know it's officially wintrytime (not "winter," but "wintry") when you start seeing photos of snow piling up on grills, lawns, chairs, lawn chairs and everything else upon which snow can collect. jacobrtaylor and his father shot excellent photos showing the impact of roughly 20 inches of snow in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. They not only photographed the lawn furniture, but also showed their footprints and placed a ruler in the snow for added value. Kudos to jacobrtaylor for showing us the signs of the season.

Another cool thing we start seeing is iReporters getting on camera to tell us about the weather. iReporter stickergiant set his camera on a tripod and headed out dutifully to show the flakes falling on his head. He even pulled his hood up over his head for effect. We don't want you to put yourself in danger, but we do think it's neat when an iReporter (within reason) shows us the weather near them. And finally, we love it when iReporters like Willsackmann make things like giant snow forts. Gotta love that. How's the weather where you are? Got western storms? Take pictures or put yourself on camera. Or, just comment here. Share your story with CNN.

iReport Roundtable: Thursday at 3 p.m. ET

davidw — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:57:34 GMT

Join us in our blog today at 3 p.m. ET for our weekly roundtable discussion. We're looking forward to hearing what you think of the new CNN iReport section now that you've had a few days to play with it.

A lot of people have joined the CNN iReport community this week, so we would like to say hello to newcomers and invite them to join us in the discussion.

We'll open comments on this blog post at 3 p.m. so you can leave your questions and comments and then members of Team iReport will respond.

We'll talk to you at 3 p.m. ET.

iReport 101

davidw — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:55:46 GMT

We've gotten a lot of new members to the CNN iReport community this week, so we wanted to take a moment to welcome you all and let you know what you're getting into.

Things work a little differently here than on the rest of CNN.com, because all of the stories in this section were either created or inspired by users like you. We can't wait for you to add your perspective to CNN's coverage.

Here's how you can get started:

Register with CNN iReport: If you already have a CNN member services account, you'll still have to create a screen name. Be sure to give us your phone number so we can contact you about your iReports (Don't worry, it will only be visible to CNN editors).
Upload an avatar photo and fill out your profile: This is your chance to share your personality with the rest of the CNN iReport community, so have fun with it. Tell us where you're from, what you like to do and any other details about your life that you want to share.
Start telling your story: You can go to our assignment desk (http://www.ireport.com/community/assignment) to see what stories CNN is focusing on each day. Or you can go straight to our upload page to send your videos, photos or audio iReports.
Check out other stories: We get amazing stories every day from iReporters all over the world. CNN iReport producers will be featuring the most newsworthy and compelling stories on the front page of our section.
Meet other iReporters: You can get to another iReporter's profile page by clicking on their avatar image. Then you can read their bios and send private messages. Another good way to meet people here is to comment on interesting iReports.
Meet Team iReport: We hold a weekly roundtable discussion in our blog where you can ask questions, discuss story ideas or talk about any concerns you may have. You also can email us at contact@ireport.com.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest news from CNN iReport.

Your stories, on CNN!

tyson — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:15:29 GMT

You've probably noticed that CNN iReport has a whole new look and feel -- including a brand new homepage inside CNN.com.

The new look is designed to showcase your stories and the many ways they enhance CNN’s global news reporting every day.

CNN iReport producers are eager to feature your work, and while there’s no guarantee your iReport will appear on the new homepage, the ones that do share some common traits.

iReports that make it to the homepage typically:

Are tied to the news of the day
Provide a perspective or angle on a story that isn’t available anywhere else
Include the components of a good story -- the who, what, why, where and when

A few final, but important, tips: If you want your story to be featured, make sure that all the content in your iReport, including text and images, is your own. Also, please add a phone number to your private profile so CNN producers can call you with questions, and upload an avatar image to your profile so we can feature your work in our new “voices” section.

If you follow these tips, you’ll have a great chance of having your stories showcased on the new CNN iReport homepage, but not just there. You’ll notice your iReport submissions in stories, photo galleries, video interactives, and sections across CNN.com –- just more validation that CNN producers are committed to showcasing your content. After all, your contributions make CNN’s reporting and storytelling better every day.

We hope to see your stories on CNN soon!

Where's the "ON CNN" stamp?

davidw — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:32:48 GMT

You may be wondering why we didn't keep the "ON CNN" stamp when we redesigned the site. We were pretty fond of the stamp and hated to see it go, but it just didn't make sense now that every iReport is posted in a section of CNN.com.

Since CNN iReport is a part of the CNN Web site, it's more important than ever that we indicate which stories have been vetted by members of CNN's editorial newsgathering team. Those stories are now marked with a red, CNN iReport tag.

We get tons of amazing iReports every day, and unfortunately, we can't vet all of them. So stories that haven't been vetted are labeled "Not vetted by CNN" to avoid confusion. We're not making any judgments about the quality of the iReports with the “Not Vetted by CNN” label, we just want everyone to know that we haven't both vetted and cleared them for use in CNN's newsgathering.

The great thing is CNN.com readers will be able to see and discuss your stories, even if they are not vetted.

If you have any questions, you can leave them in the comments below or e-mail them to contact@iReport.com.