TC Rover rolls out TwinCities.com mobile engagement van

TCRover at the Minnesota Vikings training camp, with C.J. Sinner ready to engage fans.

Update: I’ve added several photos and paragraphs since this was originally posted.

MANKATO, Minn. — I usually don’t use datelines on my blog, but this post is about a mobile engagement project, and it seemed appropriate.

TwinCities.com rolled into Mankato this week with the first of four mobile community newsrooms Digital First Media will launch this year.

Staffed by reporter John Brewer and multimedia producer C.J. Sinner, TC Rover is engaging today with Vikings fans at the training camp at Minnesota State University in Mankato.

TC Rover is a Ford Transit Connect wrapped with branding of TwinCities.com and the St. Paul Pioneer Press and filled with equipment for engaging the community: awning, folding chairs, laptops and a flat-screen TV. And a cooler, loaded with water bottles bearing the news organization’s brand.

While the public will be meeting with TwinCities.com staff

Kevin Marquette

members such as John and C.J., the launch results in large part from the behind-the-scenes work of Marketing Director Lori Swanson and jack-of-all-trades Kevin Marquette, who helped equip the rolling newsroom. Among other things, Kevin rigged the brackets that allow the flat-screen TV to slide out into a doorway, so staff members can show videos to people who drop by.

As I write this, John and C.J. are livestreaming Coach Leslie Frazier‘s press conference. They have been interviewing and shooting video of fans who have arrived to watch the first day of training camp.

With the action of training camp on the fields and in an area set up for fan activities, we aren’t getting a lot of drop-by action in the parking lot. But John and C.J. have flagged down passing fans and gone into the training camp to interview fans while I watch the van. As they work more events, they will pick up some tricks for attracting attention. And, as people in the Twin Cities become aware of the TC Rover, I am sure they will become more likely to notice it and stop to chat.

John, an eight-year Pioneer Press veteran, will be assigned pretty much full-time to TC Rover. “John has the kind of curiosity we need for this project. He will experiment with new ways of telling stories,” said Editor Mike Burbach.

John is a member of the Digital First ideaLab. His original project, focused on using the iPad as a reporting tool, has expanded into using the iPad and the TC Rover for reporting and engagement.

He and C.J. produced videos on Vikings players arriving at camp and fans seeking autographs, fans waiting for the Vikings to arrive, who the favorite players are and the video embedded below of John’s interview with TwinCities.com beat writers. John also produced a Storify of tweets about the training camp opener.

GoPro camera, mounted above a door of the TC Rover.

Watch for more videos today. One I’m watching for is a video of a kid running through the obstacle course set up in the public amusement area near the practice fields. TC Rover comes equipped with a small GoPro camera that shoots video or still photos by remote control. Friday it was mounted on an external bracket, but they also have a head strap for it. Today John plans to find a willing youth to wear the camera and run the obstacle course. Update: Here’s the video. It’s pretty fun. Other Saturday videos asked fans which NFL teams they despise the most (spoiler alert: they wear green) and another report from the beat reporters.

Another plan for today is to have a drawing for a Vikings jersey. Fans can enter by tweeting photos of themselves with TC Rover to the @TCRover account. Update: They did it:

Yo, #Vikings #trainingcamp folks! Take a picture with @TCRover and tweet at us and get entered to win a jersey of your choice! #prizes

— C.J. Sinner (@cjsinner) July 28, 2012

And the winner of the jersey is … @wolfnasty! Thanks for playing all. Now where you at wolf? twitter.com/TCRover/status…

— TC Rover (@TCRover) July 28, 2012

I bailed out after dinner Friday, but John continued the fun into the evening with Vikings fans, playing Madden 2012 on the big TV.

Just got schooled by @minvikes88 at Madden 2012: #Vikings 17, GB 0. Thank goodness generator ran out of gas b4 rematch twitter.com/TCRover/status…

— TC Rover (@TCRover) July 28, 2012

Other outings soon will be to the Fringe Festival next weekend and the Minnesota State Fair later this month. TC Rover will also visit Twin Cities neighborhoods to find stories and engage with the community. Staffers also will use TC Rover to cover breaking news, when it’s not tied up at an event or neighborhood visit.

At the suggestion of DFM Vice President Jon Cooper, Managing Editor Chris Clonts added a button to the website, inviting groups to request a TC Rover visit to their events. By evening, we already had two requests.

Mike and Chris proposed the mobile newsroom as one of more than a dozen community-newsroom projects planned by Digital First newsrooms this year.

I blogged last week about the opening of the community newsroom at the Pottstown Mercury and earlier this week about a community meeting room that’s part of a project at the News-Herald in Willoughby, Ohio. In April, I visited a Community Media Lab in Ypsilanti, Mich., that is a partnership between Heritage Media and Eastern Michigan University.

Here are some pictures from today (I’ve added some more recent photos on top since originally posting, plus a video and some @TCRover tweets at the end. The last photos are of John breaking camp at the end of Friday’s work):

TC Rover’s flat-screen TV. Note the brackets to the left. It is stored behind the rear sliding door, but can slide out to fill the doorway.

C.J. Sinner edits video inside TC Rover.

John Brewer with his Kodak PlayTouch video camera and a microphone mounted on an L brace.

John Brewer editing a video on his iPad

John Brewer writes outside the TC Rover. Note the QR code on the door behind him.

John Brewer shoots a couple of young Viking fans, Zoey and Alex Neidt, with their mother, Heidi, and grandfather, Don Kronebusch.

C.J. Sinner, left, and John Brewer interview a couple of Viking fans.

Viking fans Brett Gardner and his mother, Tami Gardner, watch a video on the TC Rover TV with John Brewer and C.J. Sinner of TwinCities.com.

John Brewer interviews 4-year-old Viking fan Ethan Johnson, flanked by his father, Curt, right, and Chris Wenner.

John Brewer and C.J. Sinner interview Viking fan Steve Collis.

Inside the TC Rover.

TC Rover

John Brewer starts to break camp after a day at Minnesota Vikings training camp.

The awning folds up into a long case mounted to TC Rover’s roof. Note the GoPro camera mounted above John Brewer’s right hand.

TwinCities.com Vikings reporters Jeremy Fowler and Brian Murphy discuss the first day of training camp:

Just a few cars in the #Vikings training camp fan lot this morning. The Rover is setting up near the field entrance. twitter.com/TCRover/status…

— TC Rover (@TCRover) July 27, 2012

#Vikings are no. 1, according to the purple hands. twitter.com/TCRover/status…

— TC Rover (@TCRover) July 27, 2012

;

Cloudy and cool at camp. 100 or so fans here so far. Almost as many players on the fields. #Vikings twitter.com/TCRover/status…

— TC Rover (@TCRover) July 27, 2012

Future #Vikings? Lots of kids stuff at training camp. #Ididntknow twitter.com/TCRover/status…

— TC Rover (@TCRover) July 27, 2012

;

We’re live streaming from #Vikings training camp — coach Frazier. Go to TwinCities.com/tcrover for link to feed.

— TC Rover (@TCRover) July 27, 2012

Hannah and Ryan Bjerke pose by the VikeBike. Mom Christa @chr23ista snaps a pic out of frame. Is Ragnar in the house? twitter.com/TCRover/status…

— TC Rover (@TCRover) July 27, 2012

;

Zoey and Alex Neidt of Mankato show off their brand new horns outside of #Vikings training camp. #causetheyrecute twitter.com/TCRover/status…

— TC Rover (@TCRover) July 27, 2012

1st day of #Vikings training camp and Peterson is PUP’d, Harvin’s jersey is touched and purple is the IT color. storify.com/jbrewerpipress…

— TC Rover (@TCRover) July 27, 2012

At a standstill while we wait for practice to end and evening activities to begin. #Vikings #trainingcamp @TCRover

— C.J. Sinner (@cjsinner) July 27, 2012

First one in the lot this morn for #Vikings training camp. #Whereisthecoffeecart? twitter.com/TCRover/status…

— TC Rover (@TCRover) July 28, 2012

Just about ready to wrap this trip up with @TCRover and @JBrewerPiPress … waiting for last videos to upload. #beerme

— C.J. Sinner (@cjsinner) July 28, 2012

TC Rover’s GoPro camera records a drive through St. Paul neighborhoods:

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