Week 14

Week 14 was a fun week where we talked about online gaming and the ethics that go along with it. The idea of having ambassadors in Second Life was an enlightening topic. Also, the use of real money makes the ideal of virtual crime more threatening.
This could be good for Journalism because of all the cool stories that could come out of the people who play this game.
Here's a link to second Life:
http://secondlife.com/?v=1.1

Week 13

Distance education and virtual learning are the cornerstones of the new educational movement of the digital age. Children are no longer tethered to classrooms and schools, but can learn from anywhere they have a computer. The implications of this are monstrous, and we'll see where this new avenue in teaching will take us.
Journalism is all about bringing things to be people who would have no contact with it otherwise, so the implications are good for that as well. Journalists' need to be aware of the latest trends and movements in education so as to stay up to date and current with new technologies.
Here's a link to a virtual school in Florida.

Week 12

Week 12 was the week where we learned how to use Google site's to create a professional web presence. This is important because you need a place for employers to see your abilities before you apply for a job. The Internet makes it very easy to create a professional looking site to do this with.
In Journalism you can display your articles or video's you've done or found interesting. Google sites can be found here.

Week 11

Week 11's activities included a discussion about open source software. Open source software means that anyone can read the and edit the code of a program. This helps work out bugs and improves functionality of a program.
In Journalism Audacity is used a lot for capturing sound recordings and doing interviews. Here's a link:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Week 10

In week 10 we talked about using tech tools in educational circumstances. In the digital age, it's important to be able to relate to children in a way they can understand. Since most youths are good with computers, it's a good idea to use tech tools to grab the children's attention and help them learn.
The program wordle is an interesting way to take information and extract the most relevant keywords in an unusual way. In Journalism it could help you find keywords to help others fund your article or blogpost on the web.
Here's a link to wordle:
http://www.wordle.net

Concept map for social networking

Here's a link to my map:
http://bubbl.us/view.php?sid=586517&pw=ya8EFUt5ODlUgMzBrUUl4RzZiLy9kcw

Week 9

Week 9 was cloud computing week, and I loved every second of it. We learned about Google docs and how everything stays on a distant server so you don't have to worry about hard drive space. This is very helpful.

I use Google docs for all of my articles and stories, and I don't have any of them on my hard drive. The positive implications on journalism are clear. You'd never have any trouble finding any information or articles that you'd written in the past.

I've linked a Google docs tour that can help people better understand the program and its uses.
http://www.google.com/google-d-s/tour1.html

Week 8 post

Week 8 delved into the audio department aspect of the web i.e podcasting and music. Music can be used to catch people's attention and creative commons makes it easy to do so. You can also use programs such as garageband or Audacity to create your own sound files.

Audacity is great for journalists who want to edit sound or add audio to a slideshow. Also, podcasting is another good way to tell stories or give informational speeches.

Here's a link to Apple's podcasting site where you can browse through hundreds of free podcasts.
http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/

Week 7

Week 7

Week seven was exciting because it introduced me to digital storytelling. It's a very simple concept that includes using web 2.0 applications to tell stories in non-traditional ways i.e slideshows or animation. I made my own animation on go-animate.com and had a blast with it.

The implications of digital storytelling for journalism are huge. Telling stories in new and creative ways is the new benchmark of a modern journalist, and combining slideshows with music has obvious implications.

I've included a link to a slideshow on the alligator.org website that shows how slideshows can benefit storytelling in a new way.
http://alligator.org/multimedia/slideshows/article_96119cb0-35d1-11df-96bb-001cc4c03286.html

Week 6 post

Week six was about photoshop literacy. We learned a little bit about how to digitally manipulate photos and use layers for different things. Photoshop is a pretty complicated program so using some of the tools first hand was a good way to get acquainted with the software. I liked using the layers and especially the clone tool was great.

I took a photojournalism class and we mainly used photoshop to lighten and darken pictures and to crop them. We're not allowed to change faces or delete things because that's considered unethical. I learned a lot in the class and photoshop is a necessary tool for photojournalists these days.


I've included a link to the photoshop home page because it includes plenty of helpful references to the program.
https://www.photoshop.com/

Week #4 post

This week was about creative commons and copyright issues. Since I already posted my favorite video about creative commons - here's a site that has cool blogger tricks.



It's interesting that even though a program like blogger is user friendly there are always tips and tricks for people who want to do more than just the occasional post, but can really make their blog's come alive.

Week #3 Post

So week 3 was all about web 2.0 applications. I thought it might be interesting to show that someone started a facebook group about the rampant Farmville use. Farmville is one of the most popular web 2.0 applications.


http://www.facebook.com/pages/FAA-Farmville-Addicts-Anonymous/128092928880


Copy and paste the URL if the link doesn't work. What's really fascinating is that these applications are bringing people from all across the world together.

Week #2 Post

Here's a video that's relevant for week 2. I have a mac, but mine is 10.4 and this system is a bit more advanced. I've always liked Mac's more than PC's because of the simplicity of use. However, in journalism school I've become well acquainted with PC's. Both have their virtues. It's going to be interesting to see if Mac's gain in popularity more than they already have to the point where they'll overcome PC's.

Week #1 blogger post

I wanted to share this article about new media skills.

http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2008/03/ten_basic_new_m.php

This article basically covers the skills that journalists now need to know in order to compete in today's media savvy marketplace. The one that really sticks out here is taking digital video. I feel like it's going to be an important skill to know in the near future. Anyway I thought this would be interesting and relevant to the class.

Copyright issues in my chosen field, journalism.

As an aspiring journalist, I need to be well versed in copyright issues. We basically have a code of ethics that we follow. Anytime we quote sources or use quotes, we have to attribute them to the correct sources. Because we're dealing with printed material, we have to be careful about plagiarism and things like libel. Thankfully, we are bombarded with these issues on a daily basis in school.

Here's a video about creative commons that I like.