Grad-Cam!

www.shelbystar.com/medarch/media-97.wmv....

Well, we’d been joking with photojournalist Kaylin Bowers, who spent this past semester as an excellent intern at The Star, that we were gonna make her take photos for us at her own graduation at GWU today. Then wheels started turning and somehow somebody got the idea to wire her to video her walk across the stage….

We’ve got a variety of videocameras at The Star, but they’re all pretty big and bulky – a bit obtrusive. So I started poking around for some options. A real spycam, like you see in a necktie or a pack of cigarettes, is really pretty expensive.

I found some webcam options and a little video gidget that didn’t work very well and that’d have to be hooked up to a computer, but these options involved more complexity, hardware and wires than we were looking for.

But frustrating myself with these toys at The Star, I came across a little tool there we haven’t used a lot – this thing:

http://www.dcfever.com/jebsen/archos/
archos/archos_gmini402_1l.jpg

http://www.cnet.co.uk/i/c/blg/cat/
dvdplayers/archos_gmini_402_camcorder.jpg

It’s a variety of "Archos." It can’t shoot video quite as well as some of our other gadgets, but it’s small, flat, can be conveniently concealed…..

So then I had to figure out how to hide it.

This is where I have to make some confessions. I’m actually quite good at sewing. This is going back to Scouting skills – string, rope, knots, crochet (ok, there’s no merit badge for that, but I did crochet a hatchet sheath once. And those doilies in the office – all me). Seriously, I’m no professional seamstress, but I’m good enough I scored a free dinner or so sewing patches onto Army uniforms for ROTC buddies back in college.

Okay, I’m weird. At least I’m useful. Mostly harmless….

So I sewed a little fabric pouch for the Archos. I used black, to match GWU’s graduation robes (aren’t you proud, Martha)…. a ribbon to hang it from around the neck…. a tautline hitch (yep, got the merit badge for that one) so the height at which it hangs can be adjusted, a safety pin (mini carabiner) as a quick release mechanism….

And then I realized that the angle at which the device hangs on an individual is very variable depending on who it’s hanging on. So I used patches of Velcro attached to the back as adjustments as to how far it’ll hang from the body that can be added on or taken off as the situation dictates.

This morning I met Kaylin at GWU before the graduation ceremony. She had some duct tape, did some experimenting, figured out what worked for her, and did an excellent job.





Congrats, Kaylin!