In March 2014 I began doing foreign assignments using mobile reporting technology. My first trip took to me to Crimea for the referendum on joining Russia.

My chief assignment was to gauge the tension by visiting the divided town of Novo-Ozyorne, I then came in off the street, so to speak, to do 2 Twitter debates in people’s houses elsewhere in Crimea. For the first of these, I spent an evening with 2 old friends sharply divided over Crimea’s future direction. For the second, I had a polling day lunch with a family. What sparked these 2 pieces into life was getting BBC readers involved over Twitter, dropping smart questions into the debate. Two other pieces looked at the mood on the day after the vote in Yalta, and what Crimea means to Russians. One scoop was to get vox pops with 2 Crimean Tatars on voting day in Bakhchisarai, Said and Nariman.