Week 9

At this point, I have pretty much talked to every company that I'm in charge of, and I have begun writing my part of the piece. Because we made a few late cuts, I ended up with a few less companies than Amy and Erica so I may be done a little sooner than them, which would work out because then I could help them out and edit with them. I have been having a little trouble getting in touch with Zieta Technology, who I've been playing phone tag with and BRAC because I've had trouble finding legitimate contact information for them. However, I am confident I will speak with Zieta. I've left voice messages and they've left messages back. As for BRAC, if I can't get in touch, I still have an incredible amount of information on them- enough to at least mention them in the piece.
I should have at least a draft of everything written by the end of the week, leaving me almost a month to put everything together in corrolation with Amy and Erica. It all looks great, and I'm happy with what the results are going to be.

Week 8

The three of us met yesterday to organize our companies into sections so that it would be a little more "reader-friendly." Some of the groups we came up with were "the fast and the furious," "the veterans," "a day at the beach," "beauty," "thriving industries," "green companies," "blue collar," and "healthcare."
Each company on our list fits into one of these catagories in one way or another. The companies I've been working on mostly fit into either "the fast and the furious," or "a day at the beach." The fast and the furious are all the companies on our list that are constantly growing, expanding and hiring. "A day at the beach" consists of a few businesses that are located on the Reboboth board walk.
I've gotten in touch with a few more companies and I've been transcribing my interviews. Once I interview all of them, I'll be able to do some write-ups. Amy and Erica are working hard too, and we've become pretty good at coordinating and working in a team.

Week 7

We're back from Spring Break and we've begun working on the reporting aspect of our piece. I have already been in touch with a few different companies, including e-zanga and hostmysite.com and I should have my share of the work done in the next week or so. After that, it's a matter of organizing our quotes and writing to make it "reader friendly." All in all, we're making good progress and we seem to be on the right track. 

However, I've already been reminded of how frustrating making calls and setting up interviews can be. I seemed to overlook the fact that some of these companies are fairly big and finding a good person to talk to is sometimes difficult, especially when there's not a specific number listed on their website.

I'll get it though. Lucky for me, I've been in situations like that a few times, and I still have a sufficient amount of time to get everything done. The work has certainly picked up, and making calls and tracking down people is much more fun than straight research, so I'm definitely enjoying seeing everything come together.