The internet has videos now?

[vash3g]

For thinking and pondering:

If the E-Journal did video clips, 1-3 minutes in length, from the Go Congress what would you the go player want to see?

[daal]

A reporter doing short interviews.

[judicata]

I like daal's suggestion--short interviews or a series of clips showing different people responding to the same question. Also: Funny moments. Snips of reviews or interesting games/moves (especially if there's a crowd reaction--hard to capture, especially in strong players' room). People falling, tripping, or getting seriously injured. (kidding)

[vash3g]

They would mostly be short interviews. Anything semi-specific you'd be interested in knowing/seeing? Lots happens at congress and I will be there during the pro exam and the symposium as well.

[pwaldron]

I'd like to see some camera time for the congress volunteers. Oh and the E-Journal team. They're always behind the cameras.

[hyperpape]

All good ideas, but don't forget the man or woman on the street. Ordinary folks who are attending the congress and have something to say about the experience.

[Mef]

I agree that interview type things would be great, perhaps a couple short clips that are a reporter doing the video equivalent of the short EJ blurbs about events.

One other idea...I've seen sometimes on TV at poker events they have a "bad beat booth" for people to share their war stories after getting knocked out of the tournament, some of which got shown on TV. While many would questions whether go has "bad beats" I'm sure many people walking out of the US open room after their games would be eager to share stories with an EJ booth on camera (though finding the manpower to staff the booth and edit the volume of video might be tricky).

[hyperpape]

Post-mortems of any kind would be great.

[judicata]

Would you consider asking questions of substance that could potentially be controversial? I certainly wouldn't want anything to detract from the good times of congress. At the same time, the congress offers a rare opportunity to solicit opinions from the "guy/gal on the street" (as you put it)--perhaps even from people whose opinions the audience doesn't normally hear.

I won't pretend to know what issues people think are important (a good interview question in itself), but the questions could cover the benign and (as mentioned above) the potentially controversial. On the benign side, what do you think of internet go servers generally, and how do they affect participation in clubs, if at all? Do you participate in a local club? Why or why not? If not, do you think it would be worthwhile to participate in a club, if there was an active one nearby? Roughly what percentage of your games are played on the internet? What is your favorite place to play go online? Why? What go servers have you tried? Do you aspire to be a professional go player? Have you ever aspired to do so?

On the more controversial side: What do they think about the viability of the US pro system? Is it important to have a pro system? Do they think they will monitor the U.S. pros' performance? What about the discussion of a "tap"? Any thoughts on the Seattle Go Center? What is the AGA doing right? Wrong?

I won't lie--asking more controversial questions would present several thorny issues. You'd have to preempt questions about balance/fairness, in part by making clear that you aren't conducting a scientific survey, but just an informal, unscientific one. And questions about the AGA and the pro system are thorny because, well, you are the AGA, at least for conflict purposes.

Still, if you believe you can navigate the issues and are willing to do so, you could get some valuable information. But I would not fault you--even a little bit--if you just took the safe route and stuck to easy questions. I may well choose that route, if I were in your shoes.