7:45 a.m.—Crew Call

I'm in the van headed to Fort Wayne to shoot two video packages for our Indiana Outdoors show. There's almost nothing I'd rather do than field production, so I've been looking forward to this all week. Thank heaven for Discovery, the philanthropic group of BSU-supporting women who chose to fund my Indiana Outdoors project this year.

The grant has kept our half-hour nature program alive by providing funding to finish the second season.

The show airs on 11 public television stations in Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois. Station managers require the whole season, or 13 episodes, at once, so we shoot the stories in an "evergreen" style, avoiding dates, years, or anniversaries that would give away when the story was shot. Indiana didn't really have a nature show, per se, unlike many other states, so this is a project that filled a void.

Indiana Outdoors features the natural resources, outdoor recreational opportunities, and historical sites in our state. Wherever we travel, we bump into alumni who are proud of their alma mater. In fact, alumni often give us story ideas for the show. The first season, written and shot by a seminar class at the Virginia Ball Center for Creative Inquiry, was aired over and over  again by some of the stations. They are constantly hungry for new content. But it takes a long time to put together a season of shows, more than 50 stories, especially on a shoestring budget. Our talented telecommunications and natural resources majors provide the labor, and  the university provides the equipment.

Some may wonder how this television program can constitute the research component of a faculty member's job. In many disciplines, like telecommunications, some faculty engage themselves in creative endeavors instead of conducting original research in a traditional sense. So producing Indiana Outdoors takes up a quarter of my work week, in the same way a professor in the sciences might spend 25 percent of her time conducting research on a federal grant.

Now that the Department of Telecommunications offers a new master's degree with an emphasis in digital storytelling, we have graduate students who can guide the undergrads in developing their production skills. We call it "storytelling" because we want to emphasize the story, not the technology. If we emphasized the technology, we would always be chasing the next iteration or model upgrade or software version. A good story, however, is timeless. I remember the time we got up close and personal with playful river otters being released into the wild down at the Blue River. And the time we visited Paws, Inc., not to see the lasagna-loving Garfield, but for the water purification system.

Here we are, in downtown Fort Wayne. This is highly unusual. Indiana Outdoors stories are usually shot in the country, in the field, and even in the mud!

9:45 a.m.—Shoot #1

We meet Mitch Sheppard, manager of the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical  Conservatory in Fort Wayne. We're shooting an interview of Mitch and the open and close of that episode with our hosts Jill Ditmire and Don Van Meter. First, we scout the location and choose the tropical room over the desert biome or the changeable exhibit. We've already done a story on the desert biome at the Indianapolis Zoo, and by the time this story airs, the changeable exhibit will be different. The tropical garden makes us feel like we're on vacation in the Caribbean. If this is work, I'll take more of it!

We are going to show our viewers the chocolate tree, some medicinal plants, and other tropical plants at the conservatory. We're hoping for a school group to come through, but we'll have to make-do with Shriners in town for a convention.  The TV crew includes alumni Sam Clemmons and Peter (Sonny) Wingler, and graduate assistant Choong Hee Han from Korea.

The Discovery grant funded graduate assistant stipends and provided for the expenses of shooting. As chairman of the telecommunications department, I am no longer able to devote more than a few hours a week to this program, but the grad assistants can make progress on the show each day. Because they also bring fresh (and youthful) ideas to the show, I've given up some of my "ownership" and let them act as producers.

1:45 p.m.—Shoot #2

We're off to Archer Park to find the gravesite of Johnny Appleseed and to show our viewers the preparations for the big Johnny Appleseed Festival, hosted each year in September. It turns out that John Chapman, a.k.a. Johnny Appleseed, the legendary planter of apple trees, is not really buried at the site, but he really did die in Fort Wayne, so his remains are probably somewhere along the St. Joseph River near the site of the memorial.

The crew interviews Bridget Kelly, co-chairman of the festival, and shoots the open and close of the episode. She talks about the festival and dispels some of the myths about the 19th century man who roamed the countryside wearing a pan on his head.

My job is to serve as "script girl," taking notes on what the interviewee says so that we can get the b-roll, or cover shots, later. While we are shooting b-roll in the nearby Indian encampment, Choong Hee Han tells me he was having "a cultural immersion experience." When asked to clarify, he says he has not before seen re-enactors carving, weaving, blacksmithing, or living in teepees.

Many of the people who participate in Indian encampments are part Native Americans themselves. Choong Hee is fascinated! He uses the term "cultural immersion" because such an experience is required of all digital storytelling master's candidates. In fact, Choong Hee spent part of last summer in Europe for his cultural immersion.

4:15 p.m.—Homeward Bound

We wrap. Co-host Jill bids us goodbye until the next shoot coming up in October.

We carefully pack the van. No sloppy tossing of equipment is allowed when Sam Clemmons is the director of photography on a shoot. A well-packed van is the sign of an organized production. Besides, taking care of expensive equipment is part of the stewardship we teach the students.

We'll make it home by 5:30, which isn't too bad, considering we produced two new stories for Indiana Outdoors. The next step is post-production, which includes editing and inserting the stories into the episodes. But that can wait until next week. I'm tired. That tripod is heavy!