CNN iReport

A few Team iReport mugs, from left to right: (top) Henry, Christina, (middle) Dave, Rachel, Lila, Katie, our pal Natali, (bottom) Nicole, Karyn, Kelly, Tyson

There are lots of folks at CNN who help make iReport tick (in addition to our awesome community, of course). Here are some quick introductions to a few of the folks you're most likely to encounter here:

Lila King. I like to think of myself as the ringleader of the iReport circus, and I mean that with nothing but love. I'm a producer, an editor, a team leader, a cheerleader, a blogger, a baker (and candlestick maker?) and I'm pretty sure you'll find that everyone's got an interesting story if you listen well enough.

Tyson Wheatley. I'm Tyson, news manager for CNN iReport. It's my job to keep iReport assignments fresh and topical, and I strive to make sure your amazing iReports are incorporated into CNN's newsgathering and programming. I'm always on the lookout for collaborative storytelling projects, so drop me a line with your assignment ideas.

David Williams. I am the community manager at CNN iReport. I've been with CNN for 15 years. I want your experience here at CNN iReport to be as good as it can be, so if you have a problem or suggestions for improving the site please drop me a line at david.williams@turner.com.

Nicole Saidi. Hi, my name is Nicole, and I geek out over writing and taking pictures. As a CNN iReport producer, I focus on finding the best iReports and reaching skyward with multimedia storytelling at CNN.com. There's usually a wacky hat on my head, and plenty more are hiding in my desk drawers.

Katie Hawkins-Gaar. Hi, I'm Katie. I'm a producer with Team iReport. I keep a close eye on the iReports you send and help identify assignments and other editorial priorities. I enjoy talking to and getting to know iReporters and especially love turning your great content into stories and interactives for CNN.com.

Henry Hanks. Hi, I'm Henry, a CNN iReport producer. I talk to iReporters every day. If your iReport is compelling and/or newsworthy, you may hear from me soon.

Rachel Rodriguez. Hi, I'm Rachel. Being a CNN iReport producer means I get to write stories, build beautiful interactive features, and even find the occasional bit of fame and fortune by showing off your iReports on TV.  Oh, and go on Facebook and watch funny iReport videos at work.  When I'm not telling your stories, you can find me leading weekly CNN yoga (yes, really).

Christina Zdanowicz. Hey, I'm Christina, a CNN iReport producer. From producing snazzy interactive pieces and writing stories to running the iReport Photo Club, it's always an exciting day on the desk. When I'm not in iReportland, you'll see me donning red sneakers, toting a camera in hand.

Karyn Lu. Hi! My name is Karyn. I'm a user experience designer. It's my job to make sure you have a great experience submitting your iReports, browsing, commenting and sharing on the site, to keep great new features coming, and most importantly, to listen to your feedback.

Kelly Byrom. I'm Kelly, Sr. Designer for CNN.com.  I'm here to present all your great visuals for CNN iReport and to create awesome interactives.  I am always working with the rest of the team to find new and innovative ways of telling the story.

Pete Bethany. I'm the tech team manager for CNN iReport. I spend lots of time lurking on the site and trying to make sure things run smoothly. We have a fantastic team of software developers who work on the site and we are supported by the entire CNN and Turner infrastructure organization. Keep those comments coming in the weekly roundtable. We're listening.

Kyle Rogers. I'm a senior software developer on the CNN iReport technical team.  My job is turning the visions of our designers and producers into reality, enabling you to share your awesome iReports with the world.  When not behind a computer, I enjoy spending time with friends and family, meeting new people, hiking and biking, and watching an occasional rocket launch.

Eduardo Ferreira. I'm a software developer on the CNN iReport team. I have a blast working with this great team. Computers are both my job and hobby. Ah, I love music too. I play saxophone, keyboard and acoustic guitar. Not a pro in any of them, though, but I can make some noise. I love to see and I even get shocked sometimes by how the iReporters' opinions vary. But this is the beauty of this site. Everybody has a voice.

Mike Imamura. I'm a software developer who mostly works on the behind-the-scenes parts of the site these days. I'm always excited about making things work better. Also, I'm a huge gamer and really bad at writing biographies.

Melissa Miske. Hello!  My name is Melissa and I'm a Sr. Project Manager for the iReport team.  I run around behind the scenes managing site enhancements and also help ensure that the site stays stable and functional for all our iReporters!

Julie Aguis. Hi, I'm Julie, your marketing rep for Team iReport. It's my job to let people know about all the different ways they can participate with iReport and to help spread the word about our fabulous community. So please help me out and tell your friends when there is something new that excites you on iReport.

Valarie Evanoff. As a Product Manager for CNN.com, I make sure we're using our current products effectively and strive to bring the best new products to our users.  I consider myself lucky to be included on the amazingly fun and exciting CNN iReport team.  I enjoy reading, travel, movies, running and food – especially sushi.

Eric Hernandez. Hello iReporters. My name is Eric Hernandez, I manage the group that works with you if you experience issues accessing any parts of the site or run into any trouble uploading data. I graduated from Florida State University (it has been a tough year), and have been with CNN for about 5 years.

Kyle Hale. Hello fellow iReporters! My name is Kyle and I help handle your technical issues here at iReport. Whatever you problem is, be it your submissions aren't showing up, you are having upload problems with your submissions, you've spilt coffee on your brand new computer -- I'm here to help! I want you, the iReporter, to know that any question is a good question and I'll be happy to walk you through any problems you are having with iReport.  So hurry up and upload some awesome photos and videos!

Zach Conrad. I help with iReporter requests and technical support. In other words, if you're having trouble with uploading or maybe viewing videos, I do my best to provide assistance. I graduated from Georgia State University and have been with CNN for 6 years.

You may have problems logging in to CNN iReport this morning. Our technical team is on the issue and hopes to have the problem fixed shortly.

In the meantime, if you spot breaking news, please send it to ireport@cnn.com . We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience!

UPDATE: Our developers have identified the problem and login should be restored. If you encounter any other technical problems, please us know at contact@ireport.com . Thanks!

You've probably noticed that CNN iReport has a whole new look and feel -- including a brand new homepage inside CNN.com.

The new look is designed to showcase your stories and the many ways they enhance CNN’s global news reporting every day.

CNN iReport producers are eager to feature your work, and while there’s no guarantee your iReport will appear on the new homepage, the ones that do share some common traits.

iReports that make it to the homepage typically:

• Are tied to the news of the day
• Provide a perspective or angle on a story that isn’t available anywhere else
• Include the components of a good story -- the who, what, why, where and when

A few final, but important, tips: If you want your story to be featured, make sure that all the content in your iReport, including text and images, is your own. Also, please add a phone number to your private profile so CNN producers can call you with questions, and upload an avatar image to your profile so we can feature your work in our new “voices” section.

If you follow these tips, you’ll have a great chance of having your stories showcased on the new CNN iReport homepage, but not just there. You’ll notice your iReport submissions in stories, photo galleries, video interactives, and sections across CNN.com –- just more validation that CNN producers are committed to showcasing your content. After all, your contributions make CNN’s reporting and storytelling better every day.

We hope to see your stories on CNN soon!

You may be wondering why we didn't keep the "ON CNN" stamp when we redesigned the site. We were pretty fond of the stamp and hated to see it go, but it just didn't make sense now that every iReport is posted in a section of CNN.com.

Since CNN iReport is a part of the CNN Web site, it's more important than ever that we indicate which stories have been vetted by members of CNN's editorial newsgathering team. Those stories are now marked with a red, CNN iReport tag.

We get tons of amazing iReports every day, and unfortunately, we can't vet all of them. So stories that haven't been vetted are labeled "Not vetted by CNN" to avoid confusion. We're not making any judgments about the quality of the iReports with the “Not Vetted by CNN” label, we just want everyone to know that we haven't both vetted and cleared them for use in CNN's newsgathering.

The great thing is CNN.com readers will be able to see and discuss your stories, even if they are not vetted.

If you have any questions, you can leave them in the comments below or e-mail them to contact@iReport.com.

Our developers just told us that  they'll be rolling out a software patch on Tuesday for some of the bugs CNN iReport users have reported.

-- The deployment will fix several problems, including:

-- Users not being able to send private messages in Internet Explorer 8

-- Thumbnails showing up incorrectly in Facebook and Digg

-- Links not changing colors after you click on them

We've also simplified the language  on the “welcome” overlay screen and made the  "I get it" check box easier to see.

Thanks to everyone who reported  these issues. If you have any other suggestions, please let us know in the  comments.

Dear iReporters,

(All 395,759 of you, in 209 countries, who have contributed 376,586 personal, shocking, sweet, urgent, impassioned, hilarious, beautiful, riveting, bizarre, smart and critically important stories to CNN’s global news coverage in the last 3 years)

The next time you hear James Earl Jones’ impressive baritone say “THIS is CNN,” he'll be talking about you.

Because today iReport officially becomes part of CNN.com. We’re throwing off our blue banner and our separate URL and moving inside the world’s leading site for news and information. We’re doing it because we know that together, CNN and iReport paint a more complete picture of the news.

What does the move mean exactly? For starters, it means iReport.com now redirects to CNN.com/ireport. It also means the millions of people who visit CNN.com every day can get to iReport from the top of every single page. But most importantly, it means that iReport is truly a part of CNN.

Most of the nuts and bolts of iReport will remain the same. CNN will still put iReports through our editorial vetting process before we use them in CNN coverage (you’ll know the ones that have been cleared for CNN by the “CNN iReport” stamp in the corner), and the way you post stories works the same as always. One big change is that our new homepage is now managed by the iReport team, whose job will be to highlight the best of iReport every day.

Over the next few days, I and the rest of the iReport Team will be checking in here on the blog to introduce some of the features we’re most excited about and talk about what you think of the changes and how they’re working. (Join us today at 12:30 ET for a roundtable conversation here on the blog.)

In the meantime, I sure hope you’ll take a look around. And by all means, if you’ve got a story to share, please do. That’s why we’re here.

You probably noticed that iReport looks a lot different this morning. We're pretty tickled. Lots more to come about what it means and how it works, but for now please take a look around and let us know what you think in the comments!

Big and exciting changes are on the way for iReport.com, and a few iReporters -- professirx, JoyfulGypsy, sjunat55, mcintron, maggiedo and spooly -- got a sneak peek last night in New York. Take a look:

Hey college students, we’re looking for a talented intern to join Team iReport this spring at CNN Center in Atlanta.

A few things you should know:

• This internship is unpaid and lasts about 12 weeks
• Course credit is available for college students
• And -- very important -- candidates must be iReport.com contributors

Our fearless intern will work with the editorial team behind CNN iReport -- an extension of CNN.com -- helping lead CNN's user-generated news content, participatory media and community efforts. Our intern will also get the chance to learn from a host of CNN professionals across platforms.

We promise, this is the coolest internship at CNN -- just ask our last interns, James Brierton and Jason Dooley.

The Deadline to apply is December 11, 2009. Go here for more details and to formally apply.

Good luck!

It just got a whole lot easier to share your story with the world. The brand new CNN App for iPhone and iPod Touch hits the iTunes App Store today, and we're pretty excited about the iReport tools that come with it. With the App, you'll be able to shoot and upload iReports directly to your account, get fresh and local assignments and take a look at the newest "on CNN" iReports.

Of course, there are all kinds of other cool CNN features, too, like live streaming video, CNN breaking news alerts, and headlines based on your local area.

Photos and videos sent straight from the scene of breaking news have always been a huge part of iReport and now with the CNN App, it's even easier to share stories the moment you spot them.

Head over to the App Store to get your own app. We can't wait to see the stories it starts!

We've had a technical glitch that has caused a handful of iReports to disappear off of the site. Our developers have identified the problem and expect to have it fixed in the morning.

The good news is that we have been able to put the missing iReports back on the site manually.

If you find that some of your recent iReport posts are not showing up on the site, please let me know at david.williams@turner.com.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

iReport.com will be offline for about 20 minutes Thursday morning while we do some work under the covers. We’ll start at 8 a.m. ET. Thanks for your patience!  If you have a story during the outage that just can’t wait, please email it to iReport@cnn.com.

Thanks for your patience this morning while we rolled out a handful of fixes and some shiny, new features on iReport.com. The highlights:

• (Drumroll, please ...) No more star ratings - It's no secret that the iReport community wasn't very fond of the star ratings on iReport stories, so for now we've disabled them altogether while we work on a better alternative.
• Profile stats - Take a look at anyone's profile page and you'll see some new info about a person's activity in the community.
• 'Tweet this' links - We added "Tweet" links on every story and assignment page that make it really simple to share an iReport through your Twitter account
• Staff badges - Starting today, iReport staffers get a special treatment around their screennames so you can tell who we are.

Hope you like the new stuff. As always, you can drop us a line at contact@ireport.com or leave a note in the comments to let us know what you think.

Good news!  We just heard from our developers and they'll be rolling out bug fixes for many of the technical problems we've been experiencing for the past week.  The site will be down for about a half-hour tomorrow, while they do the maintenance.  This maintenance will:

• Prevent the problem of users being prompted to login to view a story
• Eliminate smiley face graphics and fix problem with comments getting blocked
• Fix the url links in email notifications
• Fix the map and make it run faster
• You should also find that comments will load a lot faster.

This site upgrade clears the way for us to do some really cool things here at iReport.com and we want to thank our developers for all their hard work.

We also want to thank you for your patience, because we know how frustrating the bugs can be.

We've gotten multiple complaints from users who were not able to post comments on some iReport stories -- most say the site asks keeps asking them to log in over and over  again.

It looks like the problem is happening when people type in emoticons like :) or :(

We wanted to let everyone know that we know about the problem and that our developers are working to fix it as soon as they can.

In the meantime, please don't type emoticons into your comments. We're sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.