Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism

View of a high point in Athens. Smoke from the wildfires nearby blanket the city.

By Anastasia Economides

A thick, black cloud of smoke blankets the city tonight as wild forest fires continue to consume villages near the capital.  A total of 65 fires all over Greece have been reported to have started today, according to the Greek Fire Department. 

Greece is no stranger to wildfires, due to its hot, dry climate and strong winds during the summer.

The temperature in Athens dropped to 27 degrees Celsius this evening, from the usual 30, as the heavy smog blocked the sun all day.  Satellite photos show the smoke to have almost reached Crete.

 With reminisce of the 2007 wildfire disaster in Peloponnese, which killed over 70 people, the Greek government declared a state of emergency at noon Saturday.  Some fires at the outskirts of Athens have been blazing since the night before.

So far, there are no reported casualties.

Over 200 firefighters with 85 fire trucks and more than 50 water tanks, along with hundreds of volunteers are said to be battling the flames.

Officials are recommending minimal water usage at this time.

Evacuations

Fires are said to have started in Grammatiko last night, quickly spreading down towards Athens, consuming large villages such as Dionysos, Stamata, and Marathon.

As to how the situation is being handled, there are rising issues such as not having enough equipment, ground forces having difficulty approaching fires due to the rough terrain, water trucks not knowing where to refill for water, and planes and helicopters not flying at night because of lack of visibility.

All day, residents watching their homes burn reached out to news stations first to request help.

A mother from Rodopoli, a village about 25 miles away from Athens also drowning in flames, called one of the popular radio stations, Skai, asking for fire trucks to come and save her home. 

“Where are they, what are they doing?” she pleads.  She is told to leave the area immediately. 

Skai Media have been providing full coverage of the fires since this morning, putting aside their scheduled programming of the annual Superleague Soccer Championship.

Talks about how the fires started are likely to come about later on.   State officials are slowly acknowledging arson as the probable cause.  An investigation by the District Attorney of Athens has been ordered.

Helpless

Residents and customers at cafes in Athens can be found glued to televisions.  Many look on in silence, some with their hands over their mouths. 

“This has to be one of the biggest fires here in the last decade,” warned Constantine Parganas, 26, a longtime Athens resident who has witnessed ashes falling from the sky during the 2007 fires.  “It’s going to be a long night.”

Daniell Rumore finished a 26 mile marathon running in New York today. This year is her fifth marathon race.
High technology creations helped her make the Marathon miracle in her life. She began her training in the summer of 2000, and she finished her first marathon in January 2001 at the Bermuda Marathhon.
“My real job is a public relationship manager at Peppercom company,” Rumore said.  A friend mentioned to her one day that charity foundations looked for people to participate in marathon and raise money to help children. Her friend recommended her to join in the marathon.  “It’s a good way to meet people and stay healthy, and raise money for charity purpose.” She did the NYC Marathon four more times in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008.
Rumore’s best friend in her training with Team In Training organization is Nike+ system and ChampionChip in her shoes. The Nike+ system is basically a small pedometer that goes in her shoe and wirelessly transmits data to her Apple iPod Touch. Once Rumore was back to her home or office, she can upload her jogging data to her computer, and send to her coach in Team in Training. The coach would analyze her data, such as calories, heartbeat, pace speed and jumping heights, then give her feedback. This is what is interesting about the story, the focus; she nevers goes running without this technology, and it helps her in several ways
“It’s more mental struggling than body,” Rumore said. However, from online communication with her coach and data tracking everyday from her “secret weapons,” Rumore insisted on running everyday and overcame her mental barriers in training and every year’s Marathon.
The NYC Marathon is not only a personal challenge, but also a city festival for participants, relatives and friends, tourists and other watchers. “Gone Mommy, Gone!” Ashley Thomas and Katelyn Thomas were waving pink poster board for her mother Debb Thomas at the central park destination. 
“No matter how much long you have run, it’s a victory for yourself,” said Janarima Bruns from Brazil. She ran a half Marathon in 2004. She pointed to the runner and excitedly claimed:  “Next year, I hope I were there running.” Bruns also used ChampionChip to. People don’t use the chip in jogging, in training; only in racing
ChampionChip is a miniature chip that the race organizers give no to each runner to ensure they go through all the checkpoints of the race.  ChampionChip doesn’t provide any performance data in and of itself, but it sets up electronic monitoring stations on the course that listen for the chips going by. Then athletes wearing a ChampionChip can be timed every time in training and race worldwide. Runometer, a startup company based in San Francisco, created a website — www.runometer.com to take information from Nike+ system and let every participant track and plot that data on a map. The interactive ways of training and participation made running joyful, as well as encouraging.
“Sometimes, jogging is boring and painful, but when you finished, you’ve found you accomplished so much.” Rumore said. She was going back home with her little yellow ChampionChip. Now she has one more record data in her ChampionChip, the 2008 NYC Marathon race.