Geocaching Australia

Interview ?

I recieved this email today so suspect a few others did as well.
Had a bit of a look around his site, lot of popups and stuff, and most of it ended in dead links I found.
Not sure about his writing style, a lot of the articles seemed quite condescending ?
Might be worth us all getting together on this before anyone replies, just to make sure the best thing is going to be written about our sport ?
Email recieved as follows.

Hi there,
My name is David Killick, I am a journalist with Australian Associated Press. I'm writing a feature article on geocaching and I'd looking to ask a few geocachers some questions by e-mail. Please let me know if you'd be interested in being interviewed.
cheers,
David Killick.
Melbourne Bureau Chief
Australian Associated Press

Team Piggy wrote:Might be worth us all getting together on this before anyone replies, just to make sure the best thing is going to be written about our sport ?

We received one too, and agree we need to make sure the article is both accurate and favourable. I notice from the profile on the secondary site that the user registered on 16 Feb 2001 but has neither found nor hidden any caches.

Team Piggy wrote: David Killick Australian Associated Press.

I googled up the above and saw a few interesting results

It looks Ok, But I personally think we need to get one thing in writing from the beginnig:

We get to see (& edit if need be) the finished article before it goes to press ?

I may be sounding a bit over the top, But certainly dont want to have an article that is derogatory or inflammatory to the sport.
Some of the articles that he had on his site that I read were quite blatant at passing blame and "comments" onto the interviewee. (Though everyone reads things different)..
I wonder if this could backfire and become a " look at these grown men (& Women & pigs) chasing treasure like children in the backyard !":P

I am probably a bit nutty thinking like this, but personally would like to know more before anyone opens their mouths ?? Eg: What is your article to be based about ?
Have you had experience in geocaching ?
Did you personally ebjoy it ? (this can tell us directions of where the article is headed)..
Am I wrong in my manner ??

It probably is a great offer by a great writer /journo, and we should snap the chance up..

I'll go over here and be quiet now..

Again, Piggy, agree with all your points. I'd add that we don't want to be painted as 'unfriendly' to the environment when caches are hidden or when searching. The caching 'rules' need to be clearly understood.

And what if they saw the picture of the Piggy cache-crushing-vegetation-mutating tank posted on one of the other forum topics
Hee hee, that could give anyone the idea we are eco-terrorist's..

http://forum.geocaching.com.au/viewtopi ... 4&start=15

Good point Piggy, some of the dutch cachers have had simular experiences

Team Piggy wrote:Interview ?

I recieved this email today so suspect a few others did as well.
Had a bit of a look around his site, lot of popups and stuff, and most of it ended in dead links I found.
Not sure about his writing style, a lot of the articles seemed quite condescending ?
Might be worth us all getting together on this before anyone replies, just to make sure the best thing is going to be written about our sport ?
Email recieved as follows.

Hi there,
My name is David Killick, I am a journalist with Australian Associated Press. I'm writing a feature article on geocaching and I'd looking to ask a few geocachers some questions by e-mail. Please let me know if you'd be interested in being interviewed.
cheers,
David Killick.
Melbourne Bureau Chief
Australian Associated Press

Were is the link to his homepage?

EcoDave

Team Piggy wrote:It looks Ok, But I personally think we need to get one thing in writing from the beginnig:

We get to see (& edit if need be) the finished article before it goes to press ?

I may be sounding a bit over the top, But certainly dont want to have an article that is derogatory or inflammatory to the sport.
Some of the articles that he had on his site that I read were quite blatant at passing blame and "comments" onto the interviewee. (Though everyone reads things different)..
I wonder if this could backfire and become a " look at these grown men (& Women & pigs) chasing treasure like children in the backyard !":P

I am probably a bit nutty thinking like this, but personally would like to know more before anyone opens their mouths ?? Eg: What is your article to be based about ?
Have you had experience in geocaching ?
Did you personally ebjoy it ? (this can tell us directions of where the article is headed)..
Am I wrong in my manner ??

It probably is a great offer by a great writer /journo, and we should snap the chance up..

I'll go over here and be quiet now..

They usually don't let you see the article before it goes to press for several reasons - they have deadlines, and they won't take the chance that you'll leak it to some other paper.
You take your chances when you offer to be interviewed.
So what if he calls us all silly or whatever?, that's part of the fun and it's all publicity. There ain't no such thing as bad publicity - usually...

Speaking of publicity, has anyone actually thought about being pro-active and writing an article on caching for a magazine or newspaper?
For example, a 4WD magazine or some such?
Most of the magazines will consider unsolicited material. The newspapers aren't as flexible but if they like it they'll re-write it.

EcoDave

davidkillick.com

Pretty good site, I think everyone is right it will be benificail but I still would like to have him see the real side of caching.
I have friends and work colleauges who know I cache and always pay me out about my nerdy sport.
Though the ones that have been on a cache hunt with me are hooked

It's easy to get the wrong idea about anything nowadays until you try it.

I'd like to read some of his work - tried the google trick, nothing substantial.

Interview by e-mail is a touch interesting - I agree on editing rights before publication or a least another interview after reading the draft to clear up any misrepresented points to ensure the sport is correctly represented.

I am a bit suspicious of any article based on interviews without any involvement - even to the extent of tagging along on a caching trip.

There is interest from a reporter in NSW about a similiar story - he wants to tag along, preferably with a family, on a caching trip and write about it from the travel angle.

NSW families (or teams) are invited to put their hand up.

riblit wrote:I'd like to read some of his work - tried the google trick, nothing substantial.

Interview by e-mail is a touch interesting - I agree on editing rights before publication or a least another interview after reading the draft to clear up any misrepresented points to ensure the sport is correctly represented.

I am a bit suspicious of any article based on interviews without any involvement - even to the extent of tagging along on a caching trip.

There is interest from a reporter in NSW about a similiar story - he wants to tag along, preferably with a family, on a caching trip and write about it from the travel angle.

NSW families (or teams) are invited to put their hand up.

He was given our email as a contact to go caching with, but we have not heard back from him yet. He is a fairly well known reporter, so an article by him might be a good thing.

EcoDave

I'd be very weary about mass publicising geocaching.

After all, geocaching has survived this long because of it's stealth; it's not that well known in the general community.
One of the main guidelines of caching is not to alert the muggles to what your doing ... now this guy wants to shout it from the rooftops!

What do we really have to gain out of this interview anyway? Will this generate a mass influx of people wanting to try out this "new fad"? A huge splash of new caches thrown out into the wild only to be abandoned as people grow tied of this fad & find a new one?

Do we want geocaching to be laid out there in bold black & white for anyone who reads the paper to find out everything there is to know about caching in one swoop without being shown & taught the finer aspects of it?

Will this attract unwanted attention from the greenies or other left/right wing groups? Bands of anti-caching thugs tracking down & destroying our poor, helpless & defenceless caches, scattering their contents to the four winds & holding our beloved travelbugs for ransom ...

... or am I just being paranoid?

I see both sides - an put like that lean towards Stargazer. Even so we had an article in the local here at Dubbo. Even though it was on the second last page it was a good read. Mix has a copy somewhere. Anyhow. I don't mind publicity but would hate to see geocaching become the next touch football. And like what was said when I raised this topic some months ago - entry is usually too dear, getting a start is usually too hard and you have to be a Geographer cross geek (Preferably IT) to get right into it and stay in. The main will read two line and turn the page. The few will read on.

Bronze.

Team Stargazer wrote:... or am I just being paranoid?

I don't think so. I say let people find out for themselves. Particularly now that the barrier to entry is so low with GPSr becoming so cheap. I think we would observe exactly what stargazer predicts.

A bunch of people swarming in with no regard to the rules and etiquetteof the game.