BBC Pop Up: How to get involved
- Published
BBC Pop Up: Mobile bureau reporting from across the US
BBC Pop Up is the BBC's first mobile bureau. Over six months, a team of BBC journalists is travelling across the United States, relocating to a new town each month.
Living and working in the places we visit, we are asking residents what stories they want us to tell about their hometowns to a global audience.
We will be making documentaries, teaching journalism classes and engaging with the communities we visit. We invite you to come find us along the way and help us tell stories from your town.
Why are we doing this?
We want to challenge the way journalists typically find and report their stories.
We are crowd sourcing our story ideas from residents of the communities we visit. You tell us what stories you want told about your area, and we make mini-documentaries about them.
When we first arrive in a town, we will hold a community meet-up where we ask residents to come out and hold a discussion about issues they feel are the most important in their neighbourhoods.
BBC video journalists Matt Danzico and Benjamin Zand explain why the BBC is hitting the road to find out from Americans what stories they want to hear told.
Where have we been and where are we going?
You can watch all of the great stories we have already gathered from:
We are in Sioux Falls, South Dakota for December but we are open to suggestions for our next destination.
Is there somewhere you think we should go? We would love to hear from you!
How can you take part?
If there is a story you would like us to cover and a place you would like us to visit, please submit ideas on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #BBCpopup.
There are also plenty of opportunities to come and meet us if we are in your town. Just follow us on social media to see where we are and how you can get involved.
How you can follow us
On bbc.com you can watch all of the stories we have covered so far.
On BBC World News.
On social media - follow what we're up to on Facebook, external, Twitter , external& Instagram
On Tumblr - follow our behind-the-scenes blog on the Pop Up Tumblr, external
Meet the Pop Up team
Matt is the BBC Pop Up bureau chief. He is also the head of the BBC's Video Innovation Lab, a group tasked with thinking about the future of video for the corporation.
The team creates new video programming that toys with the intersection of mobile, social, web and television.
Matt is also a devoted video journalist who specialises in technology, science and adventure.
He enjoys dogs, surfboards and burritos. He can often be heard saying: "I'm American, dude."
Benjamin is a video journalist and one half of BBC Pop Up tasked with creating original and innovative content.
He makes short and long form video for TV, online and social media.
Before heading to America, Benjamin spent time as the lead video journalist for BBC Newsbeat, making creative content for a younger, online-based audience.
He is also part of the BBC video innovation lab, and worked on #BBCtrending - the BBC's flagship social media programme.
In his spare time, Ben skateboards badly and struggles to get Americans to understand his Liverpudlian accent.