Grassroots Coverage of the PA Presidential Primary by Mobile Phone
VoxPop is an experiment by a news organization and a software company to broaden the coverage of the Pennsylvania presidential primary in a new and exciting way. Using mobile phones, citizen contributors are invited to share reports from live events, call in interviews or commentary, lead and document discussions and debates or share breaking news. Please join us in this collaboration between journalism, technology and the public.
How does VoxPop Work?
Potential contributors must apply and be approved to use VoxPop for mobile reporting. Contributors' mobile phones become their personal broadcasting device, allowing them to call in live audio or send text messages with field reports. To record live audio, contributors call 412-894-8836. To record text, contributors send messages beginning with the word "vox" to 412-726-2653. VoxPop takes these live feeds and puts them immediately up on the VoxCast Web page. Audio can be played directly from the page.
How was VoxPop created?
VoxPop is the product of a collaboration between the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the software & design firm deepLocal. VoxPop is built on two of deepLocal's technology products, the Gumband SMS text messaging platform and the Phumblr Voice to Web VOIP platform.
Why wasn't I approved to be a VoxPop contributor?
The Pennsylvania-based VoxPop community will represent a broad cross-section of political views and opinions. Participants are chosen based on their passion for politics and commitment to file frequent audio and/or text reports at least once a week from candidate events, town hall meetings or other campaign-related activities.
Will VoxPop be used in other ways?
This is an experiment between a news organization and a new media company. If successful, we hope to use this service for other events. We value your feedback during this experiment and will use your comments to drive future enhancements and updates to VoxPop. Please send your comments to feedback@deeplocal.com.
What is post-gazetteNOW?
post-gazetteNOW is the news Web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. NOW represents the efforts of this leading regional newspaper to deliver and accept content in new and interesting ways by engaging directly with users. Look for more enhancements at post-gazetteNOW in the months ahead.
What is deepLocal?
deepLocal is a new media software and design firm from Pittsburgh. deepLocal works closely with clients to develop innovative solutions to complex communication problems. Founded by an artist, designer and technologist, deepLocal uses an end-to-end process including evaluation, testing, design and implementation to help evolve communication processes at companies. deepLocal's core products are in online mapping, location intelligence, SMS text messaging, voice/phone to Web and content aggregation.