Cut to the chase: The essentials of liveblogging

What was I doing in a black van hurtling across Manila’s most-congested streets at 3:15 on a muggy Thursday afternoon?

A. Thinking, Wheee! I should do this for a living!

B. Watching the sea of traffic part for the 20-car motorcade and realizing this is the reason people want to run for public office.

C. Trying to eat hors d’oeuvre-size hamburgers and custard in crumbly phyllo pastry in a cyclotron-type environment without splattering food onto the journalists from AP, AFP and Reuters.

D. Recalling the best parts of The French Connection and Bullitt.

E. Blogging.

The correct answer is F, all of the above. Flashback to Saturday, when I get a call from the public affairs office of the US Embassy. Would you be interested in blogging the visit of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton? Only one of the most powerful and fascinating persons on earth? Absolutely. But why me when I write mostly on books, movies, tennis and cats, and there are bloggers who eat, sleep and breathe politics?

A. All the news outfits would already be covering the state visit; they were looking for light commentary.

B. I’m on their contact list specifically because I cover tennis and cats. (So I can say that Roger Federer and my three cats got me this gig.)

C. The State Department is aware of my campaign for world domination.

D. I write very fast.

The answer is E, all of the above, especially D. The main advantages of blogs over the traditional media (newspapers, TV, radio) are speed, accessibility, and the fact that anyone with an Internet connection can be a blogger. This meant that I had to get my reports online as fast as I could — faster than the other media, if possible. That’s why it’s called liveblogging.

There are easier ways to do this. I could get a Blackberry or use my phone to post reports directly onto the web. I could text my reports or dictate them to an assistant who could upload them. Either option would address the space constraints — there would be up to nine people in the van so I had to bring as little as possible.

But I also had to be comfortable writing. Pressing tiny keys and reading a tiny screen would make me feel boxed in. You have to enjoy the actual writing, or else it’s just a bunch of words that a robot could string together. The pleasure you take in the process of writing communicates itself to the reader as style.

Between physical claustrophobia and mental claustrophobia I chose the former. I had to bring my laptop: my trusty MacBook Marat (if you name your machines you will get along so much better, trust me). If you bring a computer, you have to plan for power supply. The itinerary for the Clinton state visit did not become available until the day itself, so I didn’t know how often I’d be near an electrical outlet. I gathered many of the scheduled events would take place out of doors.

Fortunately, my MacBook battery when fully charged lasts four hours. It’s a year old, but I’ve followed friends’ advice to keep it plugged to an outlet when working. This prolongs the life of the battery.

The most important issue was the broadband connection. The UST auditorium where the town hall meeting would be held has WiFi, but Internet connection was not assured at the other venues.

Solution: broadband nomadic sticks. I’ve had problems with nomadic sticks, but unless there’s a super-portable broadband prototype out there, I had to work with them.

People advised me to bring all three brands of nomadic sticks so theoretically I’d have a better chance of getting a signal. I’d intended to do that, but didn’t have time to shop before the coverage.

In the end I decided to trust my luck and bring the Globe Tattoo prepaid stick I’ve been using. For backup I had a postpaid Tattoo a friend lent me. In the event that I couldn’t get on the net, I would compose my report, call my “relay station,” and dictate the story for him to upload.

A screen full of text and no visuals bores readers, so I had to post pictures. Secretary Clinton would be surrounded by staff and security, so I didn’t know how close I could get. To ensure good photos I had to bring a serious camera with a telephoto lens. Good thing I was road-testing my friend’s new Olympus Pen E-P1, the digital version of the beloved Pen camera. Not only can it take dazzlingly clear photos from a distance, but it has stabilizers for shots taken on the run.

And there would be plenty of running. Secretary Clinton’s schedule would be packed — when I finally got a copy I could not find the words “lunch,” “coffee” or “cocktails” anywhere. According to my State Department contacts I could write anything I wanted, my blog would not have to be cleared with anyone, but there was one rule that could not be broken. I had to jump in the van directly after each event. If anyone was late, the motorcade would leave without her. There would be no exceptions, and their definition of “No” is less flexible than ours.

Translation: Wear sneakers. Great for me, since I know no other footwear. My old school black Stan Smith Adidas sneakers, worn with slacks, were austere enough to pass for “proper” shoes. Later I learned that the advantage of traveling with the State Department group is that you can circumvent the “No Rubber Shoes” policy for reporters at Malacañang Palace. (Sorry, never been in the palace before.)

My MacBook in its protective sleeve, camera, cables, and sticks were transported in a padded nylon office carry-all with a dozen pockets that I found at a store called Beabi in Greenbelt. For pre-coverage weight training I lugged this bag around the day before the state visit.

The visit and coverage proceeded according to plan. My battery didn’t fail me, and the MacBook did not complain about working in a moving vehicle that thought it was a hadron collider. The American traveling press seemed amused at having a blogger on board; I didn’t get to read their reports because they wouldn’t go online until the next day. They all carried netbooks — I’m sure these were efficient, but a MacBook is worth the exercise of your deltoids.

One wire agency guy complained about his Internet connection. The Globe Tattoo stick got its job done despite moving rapidly from one coverage area to the next. The Olympus Pen E-P1 took excellent shots despite being in the hands of a complete amateur. Tip: Manipulating the lens makes one look like she actually knows photography. The traveling press did not take their own pictures. As for Secretary Clinton’s staff, they Blackberried more than they spoke.

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You can view the liveblog at www.JessicaRulestheUniverse.com. I had fun, let’s do this again.