Elements your of neighborhood guide
There are many, many guidebooks for New York. That's part of the problem—there are too many. So, the guide you are creating is specifically for BYU students living in New York, from the viewpoint of a BYU student. Editorially, that's the heart. When in doubt, ask yourself what you'd like to tell another BYU student about your area.
The kind of information you should look for:
What is the neighborhood known for?
Who lives or works there?
Any access issues (best way to get there or areas to avoid)?
What is the neighborhood's historical background?
What are the must see attractions (along with information about cost, availability)?
Any recommendations for food and recreation?
Does our church have a congregation in the neighborhood?
Bonus: Any LDS Church history connected to the neighborhood?
Now the matter of how we tell that story. In order to make it engaging we need multimedia elements. Nearly all of these (photos and videos, for example) you will produce. In some circumstances, for example maps, you will need to find rights-free images from the internet (when using Google search, use Search Tools and choose "Labeled for non-commercial use"). Sometimes I will pay a couple of dollars to use an image through the wix.com store or similar platforms. Main point is we want to avoid using other people's work without their permission.
Let's talk about the multimedia elements I'd like you to produce or use:
Map of the neighborhood (in most cases, one will be sufficient, but you may need more than one).
Photos of landmarks or other engaging attractions.
When conveying historical information you might consider using a timeline (luckily, there is this free and easy-to-use tool).
Engaging video that give a flavor of the neighborhood. You can either narrate the video yourself or use interviews with residents, or a combination of both. The videos should be short (no more than one minute), using the best video possible, and should feature subtitles that engage social media audiences. The following is an example of a video produced for Facebook:
The best place to grab music is from the street. Be sure to record as much of the song being played as you can. If you use any music from the internet it should be rights-free, or you will want to pay for it (Vimeo is one place where you can obtain free or cheap music).
If you find an especially engaging interview, it can be featured separately from the short video described above. Likewise, if you find an interviewee who will speak, but does not want to be on camera, you can embed the audio using SoundCloud.
Finally, we'll need a short bio from you, as a contributor to the guide.
I'll update the site with more information, as well as some instructions on how to use some of these tools. In the meantime, upload what you have to your blog. When we are finished we'll transfer those pages to a site that looks practically identical to this class website.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm also willing to sit down with any of you to give help as needed.
