My individual project live blog will be on Australian Grand Prix F1 third practice and qualifying in the early hours of Saturday morning, with live updates and commentary, as well as pre-event build-up and post-event analysis and posts. I will also be mentioning other championships that are in action over this weekend and at the same time.
During my practice live blog I tried out different styles throughout, with a more chatty, shorter style and also more detailed, serious posts. I feel like I want to go down the chattier route with my final live blog, especially as people who would be reading it would be doing so from a variety of different timezones – from late at night to the early morning.
I also noticed that my use of embedding tweets and using symbols was inconsistent and want to rectify that during the final live blog, making the more important updates stand out. I also need to make use of the pinned post feature on Live Blog Pro, which is the programme I am using. I have a lot of experience with this system and feel it creates some really nice, sleek, and elegant looking live blogs and has an easy user interface.
Another thing that I felt needed to be improved after my practice live blog was the use of pre-planned content, pictures and videos. I want to have more of this, especially for pre-event build-up and post-event analysis. There are things I can plan in advance like explanations, memorable moments, videos and images of on-track action. But I also want to make sure these are distributed evenly during the live blog.
Other feedback I had was for a picture or video to start the post and more break-down posts, like a pinned post at the top that explains what the blog is all about. I feel that some of the posts need to be sharper and shorter to go with the quick chunks of information that live blogs should deliver.
During my preparations I typed up some pre-planned content and sorted out a schedule for when the live blog will start and end. I also researched over series going on over the weekend that could be mentioned to inform the motorsport fans that would be reading the updates. I also finalised the kind of style and structure I would like – chattier, punchier and not lap-by-lap or minute-by-minute updates, but regular ones that could include a few snippets of information.
So the live blog is set to take place from 2.30am- 6.30am (around that time but it could easily be pushed back) on Saturday morning, primarily covering FP3 and qualifying for the F1 Australian Grand Prix. Updates on other series will be posted, especially between the two sessions where pre-planned content will come in handy. I hope to build from the practice blog completed before and use the skills I have already gained from my freelance live blogging/tweeting work to make an enjoyable, informative live blog experience for motorsport fans.
Jack Leslie 