Audio skills test

For one of the JN2053 Digital Newsroom skills tests, I had to produce a audio vox-pop.  I went to Preston North End’s game against Scunthorpe on the 19^th October 2010 and before the game I found a cross-section of people to interview.

The question I asked was; how do you rate Preston (North End’s) start to the (Championship) season?

Data skills test

England player statistics for the FIFA World Cup 2010

England’s FIFA World Cup campaign was shocking to say the least, as the team only reached the second round after scraping through the group stage.

The four games England played in South Africa were not very impressive and most of the blame was down to the team that were at the tournament.

England manager Fabio Capello chose a 23 man squad including, three goalkeepers, eight defenders, eight midfielders and four strikers.

This graph shows only the outfield players as goalkeepers are highly unlikely to be substituted during a game, unless they are injured. Out of the three goalkeepers, only two played at the finals. Robert Green played in the first game (90 minutes) and David James played in the other three (270 minutes).

The graph is useful to see who Capello relied on and whether other players in similar positions deserved a chance to help England progress at the tournament.

It is clear to see that some players had sporadic appearances and others did not even get a chance to play.

The information from the graph was not the only statistics available. On The Guardian’s website, there was information on the players’ positions and shots, passes and tackles attempted.

www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jul/09/world-cup-2010-statistics

www.fifa.com/worldcup/index.html

www.thefa.com/England

Video skills test

For the JN2053 Video Skills Test, I had to produce an interview and then edit it down to 30 seconds.  I added a title at the start of the video telling the viewer who the person is and what his job is.

Question:  Who has been Blackpool (Football Club’s) best player this season?

Will Watt was the perfect person to interview for this question, as he is a Blackpool fan and goes to all of the games.  He also writes for the Blackpool Gazette and has been involved with the media aspects of the football club for some time.

Maps skills test

View LEP Articles - Map Skills Test in a larger map

For the JN2053 Maps Skills Test, the locations for four stories from the Wednesday 6th October newspaper edition of the LEP were found on Google Maps.  From there, two links were added to the description link on each location.  One of the links was from the same story on the LEP website and the other was a link to a website relating to the subject of the news story.  A picture had to be added to each of the news stories, linked on Google Maps.  Each one had to be ‘Creative Commons’ licensed, so there would be no legal issues about using the image. For each of the stories, I used different coloured icons. There were many different icons, but the coloured ones made a simple distinction and the picture icons did not fit with any of the stories.

First Story
This was a news piece about a rhino horn smuggler, who owned a shop in Preston getting jailed.  The person involved was part of a popular ITV show, Dickinson's Real Deal.  The picture on the map for this story contains the genuine rhino horns involved.

Second Story
The next story was about a small corner shop that has been the victim of several burglaries over the past few weeks, possibly by a gang.  However, the only items taken seem to be cigarettes.  The picture used, is of the actual shop that keeps getting robbed.

I took the photograph used on Google Maps.

Third Story
This story was about new police kiosks being introduced in Preston City Centre, to help improve safety in Preston.  The picture I used for this is of the 'Tardis,' from the popular BBC television show, Doctor Who.

Fourth Story
The final story was about the centre at Royal Preston Hospital which helps rape and sexual assault victims being saved, after receiving funding from local police and NHS Trust. This picture is of the SAFE (Sexual Assault and Forensic Examination) Centre, based at Preston Royal Hospital.

I took the photograph used on Google Maps.

Image skills test

For the JN2053 image skills test, I had to take a picture containing the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) logo and crop it to three specific sizes.  I could have also used an image of four other places around the city of Preston.

This is the original photo.  I chose to use this image as I knew there were several ways I could crop it and still have a useful picture. With the image being just left of centre, I could incorporate the students walking past, while still having the UCLan logo, for example.  With this particular sign being outside one of the major buildings on campus, there are always students in this area.  The original image is of the campus sign, making sure that this is the focus of the viewer’s attention.



1) 100 by 100 pixel thumbnail in jpeg format.

I chose this part of the picture for the thumbnail as it is the main fixture of the page, describing where the picture has been taken.  The complete focus of the picture is on the university's logo.  This highlights the main part of the original image.

2) 400 by 300 pixel high version in jpeg format

This cropped picture still contains the part of the thumbnail, but gives the viewer an idea what is around, such as students at the university as well as a busy street view.  I cut out the traffic lights on this cropped image as it was distracting from the focus of the page, the UCLan logo. However, this primary focus of the image is still the sign, whilst still showing signs of activity on campus.

3) 200 by 500 pixel high version in jpeg format.



This photo has been cropped to focus purely on the entire sign, cutting out everything possible around it.  I chose to use this part of the original image as it shows where the sign is without showing its surroundings, as there are two main campuses for this university (the other being in Burnley).