Month: August 2008

Not a day goes by that I don’t hear from a colleague somewhere across the planet who basically says: “You’re in Vegas now? But it’s so damn hot there!”

Depending on my mood, I usually say it was hot in Kansas, and definitely more humid in Naples, but that I’m really loving it here and the air conditioning in our office feels just like how the 72 degrees felt at the Lawrence Journal-World offices.

(However, unlike in Kansas, I’ve never heard even one person in Las Vegas say: “Is it hot enough for you?” — which I kind of miss.)

All of this brings me to the launch of the Las Vegas Sun’s new weather site.

I always loved our old weather site at KUsports.com that had the five-day forecast represented as the University of Kansas skyline, and I wanted something kind of similar to that for the Sun’s site.

And that’s what we got. Only with a little Vegas flash — literal and figurative Flash.
🙂

The work done on this new weather site by programmer (and fellow Emporia State grad) Sean Stoops, Flash guru Todd Soligo and new-media design editor Tyson Evans is spectacular, to say the least.

The site features the five-day forecast illustrated over the famous Las Vegas Strip. The current conditions also are illustrated with The Strip, via the famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign and the Luxor. If it’s raining in Las Vegas — like it was yesterday — then it will be raining in the current conditions area.

If it’s dark outside, then it will be dark in the current conditions area, and the Luxor beam will be lit.

Throughout the five-day forecast Flash graphic at the top of the site, you’ll notice the roller coaster running at New York New York, the fountains at Bellagio and the Big Shot taking off on top of the Stratosphere.

This Flash application was built and designed by Todd, with data feeds put together by Sean.

And what about some of the other things on the site?

* You can view historical records and trends, including less traditional metrics — such as how many days Vegas has gone without precipitation.

* New residents to Las Vegas (like, say, a bunch of nerds from Kansas) can find overviews of the area’s weather and see a timeline of major weather events in the Valley, including reading the original stories of those events from the Sun’s archives.

* Current conditions are fed from more than 80 weather stations around the Las Vegas area — including Lake Mead, Mt. Charleston and Primm. Plus, the water temperature and levels of major nearby lakes are available.

* There also is an easy-to-use Google map of current weather conditions for major cities across the nation.

* I love the photo gallery of great weather shots from Vegas. Snow in Vegas is cool.

====

The Details …

Sean poured through tons of data resources and parsed tons of resources to put together the info that powers the site. Here is a list of some of the information/resources on the site:

* National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
– current conditions

– temperature, heat index, wind, humidity, pressure, dew point, visibility

– forecasts

– high/low temp, heat index, chance of precipitation, humidity, cloud cover, 
wind

– water conditions (Lake Mead)

– temperature and elevation

* NOAA — National Climatic Data Center
– historical data

– min/max temperature, liquid precipitation, falling solid precipitation, solid precipitation on 
the ground already

– data from 1895 to present

* U.S. Naval Observatory
– sunrise 
and sunset info

* WeatherBug
– Hyperlocal conditions 
from 80 stations around Las Vegas
– temperature, wind, rain so far today

* American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
– pollen data

– trees, grass, weeds and mold data

* Environmental Protection Agency
– current UV index

====

So, why put so much effort into a local weather site?

Well, maybe it’s just the Kansan in me, but I’ve always felt like people are interested in the weather. Because of that, every place we’ve been we’ve written lots of weather stories.

And everywhere we’ve been, even LoudounExtra.com at The Washington Post, they’ve become the most-read stories on our site. People read weather stories. I don’t know nearly as much about journalism as I wish I did, but I do know that people read weather stories.

They’re “virtual crack” on a local news site. Trust me.

Just look at the current Top 10 most-read stories on LasVegasSun.com — two of the 10 are online-only weather stories.

(In just the last few months, we’ve learned that weather stories about possible rain in Las Vegas aren’t the only ones that get tons of traffic. Weather stories about the heat, and any other unusual weather situation, also gets lots of readers — even in the desert.)

Since the Sun’s site was relaunched back in January, the header graphic has had the current conditions integrated in a cool way that definitely says “Las Vegas.”

Here is what the site-wide header looks like during the day:

And here is what our site’s header graphic looks like at night:

====

So, what’s next?

Tyson and Sean tell me we are going to be adding more historical data with lots of trend information and charts.

Deryck Hodge, our team’s longtime programmer extraordinaire, is helping us add really cool integration of Valley weather photos from sites like Flickr, Facebook and Picasa.

And there are even a few Easter eggs hidden throughout the site.
🙂

But this is a very cool — and pretty dang extensive — start for our local weather site!

I absolutely love it!

And I’m very proud of the work done by Sean, Todd and Tyson — as well as others on our LasVegasSun.com staff — on this new weather site. It’s damn nifty and extremely functional. You folks kick some serious backside, and I’m damn lucky to be able to work with you all.

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last few months. Things have been crazy busy and crazy cool here at the Las Vegas Sun and Greenspun Interactive, and my attention has been on the tasks at hand for our team … as well as moving the Curley family to the desert.

We’ve got a lot of really cool projects cooking right now, and I’m hoping to post a few things over the new few weeks and months to discuss not only how we built them, but why.

But that’s not why I’m writing today.

We’re now in the process of making the last few hires on our team as we head into the fall, and I figured I’d mention some of those openings on this blog. If anybody out there is interested in working with our new-media team, we’d love to hear from you!

We’re looking for folks who want to work hard, have fun and try to figure out what the future of local journalism might look like.

+++

New-media journalist

We’re looking for someone who can juggle all types of content and content mediums on deadline assignments. One day you’ll be shooting breaking news photos and sending Web updates from the scene, the next day creating a Soundslide feature on a local music festival, the next day shooting video of a political rally for the presidential election.

You’ll also be writing your backside off, so strong writing skills are a must.

+++

New-media sports journalist

For this position, we’re looking for a great writer who can help us cover the local high school and rec-sports scenes with breaking news, daily features and game stories. We’d also like for this person to help us put together and maintain a network of local sports bloggers.

If you’ve ever seen one of our team’s local sports sites, you know we love local sports statistical databases, and we’re expecting this position to help us put together these sorts of features for the new lasvegassun.com site.

And you have to have not just a willingness but be excited to work with multimedia, such as producing and editing audio podcasts, and possibly shooting and editing a little video, but also be completely cool with appearing on camera.

+++

Visual journalist (still photography and video)

So, why add a still shooter to our web staff?

Because of the nature of the Joint Operating Agreement here in Las Vegas and how The Sun print newspaper basically now functions as a daily magazine, there are many things we feel our new-media team needs to cover as a news organization that the Sun newspaper newsroom no longer covers (such as high school sports and UNLV sports), as well as stuff the Sun just wouldn’t cover on a regular basis, such as red-carpets, etc …

We don’t want to send an intern. We want to send someone with proven skills.

We also want someone who totally rocks at lighting and is good at fashion/portraits photography. And then there’s breaking news stuff that is becoming our bread-and-butter.

And, oh yeah, there’s this thing involving moving pictures, I think it’s called video, that we think might have an interesting role in new-media journalism.
🙂

+++

Video/multimedia journalist

We’re basically looking for a kick-ass videographer who shoots well and knows how to edit his/her butt off. And do all of that on deadline on a daily basis.

+++

Video journalist/on-camera

Folks applying for this position should have great on-camera reporting skills and the ability to effortlessly go between serious news presentation and edgier entertainment-driven stories. Applicants need to be fluent in multimedia reporting — including writing copy, operating camera and audio equipment and producing video from non-linear editing software.

You’re going to need to be able to meet daily deadlines, work independently, have familiarity with web video and audio, and experience
with producing media in a digital environment — meaning familiarity with non-linear editing tools such as Final Cut Pro or Premiere.
We’re looking for someone who is equally at ease working both as part of a team and independently.

+++

Web-applications developer

For the most part, I pretty much just winged those last few descriptions. I’m not going to do that with this position. Here’s what our uber-smart senior-programmer dude, Doug Twyman, wrote:

Greenspun Interactive is now hiring a Web Application Developer to design and develop features for media publications and take part in conceptualizing, designing and developing applications. Applicants should be highly organized with experience in a team programming environment and computer-science fundamentals. Knowledge of HTML, CSS, Javascript, Python and Django are a must.

Especially that Python and Django part. (I added that last part.)

+++

So let me cut to the chase: We offer pretty dang competitive pay, our benefits kick ass, and our work environment rocks. (In fact, you aren’t going to believe our offices.)

More importantly, if you come to Las Vegas, you’ll get to practice great local journalism with folks who love to come to work every day and who are honestly excited about the future of our industry.

Plus, you can drink all the free Red Bull you could possibly ingest. And you’re never going to be bored. Ever. I promise.

If this sounds good, please contact our HR folks at this e-mail address: jobs@gmgvegas.com.

Or send me an e-mail.

Or e-mail us both.