Family Project Update

Yesterday was Easter and I used it as an opportunity to advance my project. Honestly, the most interesting person in my family is my grandfather on my dads side. He is currently in the early stages of dementia so I try to get stories from my dad and his siblings. His belongings are a great way for me to get a window into his life.  One of the most noticeable characteristics are the giant book cases filled with books. There are bookcases filling a huge hallway that couldn't fit another book if they tried. That is just the tip of the iceberg; there is a room, a former office, with walls completely covered in books. It would be cool to check out all of books he has up there but there are piles, no mountains, of books all over the floor. Walking around the house you might miss the rest of the books he has because they are in a number of smaller bookcases throughout the house but don't fret, there are tons. On Sunday when I was at his house I took pictures of a few of the main hallways bookcases.

I am probably going to use this with my family project. I have started an infographic on my family and it will be done soon.

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Collab. Blog Chapter One: Love and Hate

In journalism you must adapt or die. Ignoring the advances in technology has proven deadly for countless news publications. As the internet grows so does the amount of information available on it. Newspapers and magazines are now being threatened by various news websites.
This internet based content is easier to find, cheaper, and more eco-friendly than its print counterparts. These advantages have proven very important as companies rush to catch up. Most recently, Newsweek has transferred its content completely to the internet, becoming an e-magazine. Many critics believe this could mark the beginning of the end for all print news sources.
Switching from print to an internet news publication has its drawbacks as well. These disadvantages make some companies weary to make the switch. Workers involved in the making of the physical newspaper, as well as the people who distribute and sell these copies may find their job has become obsolete. These layoffs could prove disastrous for those affected.
News on the internet is not always trustworthy. Fake news sources such as The Onion have gained popularity. The stories written by parody news publications are often spread by people unaware of their falsehood. Popular social media sites have become a veritable breeding ground for false information. Pages and hashtags declaring the death of celebrities have become commonplace. These accounts can cause great trouble and make it difficult for people to acknowledge the internet as a valid news source.

Various advantages of news on the web still remain. Speed of print news is oftentimes not fast enough to spread important knowledge anymore. In the digital age news of world changing events spread seconds after their occurrence. The lag that is profoundly prevalent in print news is much to long to provide the reader with valuable knowledge.

More information and different points of view can be found on the internet. Everyone with access to the world wide web has the opportunity to spread what they know with the world. This culmination of ideas is what makes the internet the most diverse news source available at this time.

There is no denying the evolution of modern news. Although there are so many advantages of internet publications, eliminating all print news could have disastrous consequences.   

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If It Bleeds It Leads Analysis

Yesterday in class we discussed alternate means of displaying the information we have gathered. I attempted to film a "vlog" on this topic and have decided, at least for now, this is not for me. The book that I have been reading If It Bleeds It Leads has continued to entertain me in its explaining of why television news does what it does. Each minute of a broadcast is examined and the tactics news anchors use to play with the viewers emotions are explained. Sad stories are broadcasted soon before or after uplifting ones, in order to keep the audience entertained. Witness testimonials are specifically kept short and striking to make the simplest stories seem exciting. Clips from movies and videos/pictures depicting exciting bank robberies and shoot outs can be used to make boring incidents more similar to the happpenings in action movies. Weather reports, which often gather large amounts of views, are kept confusing and use words that are much more difficult to understand than the language used in other news stories.  I have not infact read the entire book, so expect to see at least one more post analysing this book

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Outliers Analysis

In reading Outliers, the most interesting thing to me was the passage about being born in the correct time or place to be good at a specific thing. I wonder whether or not I was born somewhere or sometime that will allow me to be successful. The other main problem with this is whether or not the field I was “born to do” is around today, or if it is a career of the future. I don’t feel as if my circumstances will allow me to be brilliant at any one thing. There are so many factors that come into play with relation to my future. My personality type, age, location, and my relationship with parents and peers all come into play when deciding my fate. It is scary to think my ancestors could hold the key to my fate. In order to become successful, I either have to have been dealt the best hand in life, be born with an innate talent, or practice for many hours in my topic of choice. The KIPP chapter shows that hard work really does pay off. Even though these kids are very successful, they might not be fulfilled in these studies. Giving the kids more free time would be helpful to them. There needs to be a balance in between school, creativity, and socialization. I think that our school day could be slightly lengthened if it allowed for no homework after school. Outliers was a very enjoyable book. I didn’t agree with all of the authors ideas, but the majority of them resonated with me. The knowledge in this book transcends Korean pilots and Jewish lawyers. It connects things that would otherwise seem completely different and allows for a new perspective to look upon life.

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Basic Outliers Response

I was told I needed to post a rudimentary response to Outliers so here are a couple of journals I have written during class relating to this topic.

10,000 Hours

I have spent most of my active time playing, or practicing basketball. I practice a lot at home and at camps learning. This is a newer pursuit to me so I don’t have a ton of hours spent at this pursuit, but I am continually practicing this in order to get better.

This is not my intellectual pursuit because I honestly don’t believe I have a future in the sport. The topic can in fact overlap, this overlap would include sports journalism. Sports is an important part of the news and even if it is not my favorite channel of journalism I would be interested in studying it further.

Smart Enough

In life I do think I am probably smart enough. As compared to the majority of humans on this planet I could be considered a genius. Compared to americans i’m quite smart. But as compared to the people in my classes I’m basically average. I definitely think I’m smart enough but I am most certainly not a genius. I really don’t like the term gifted, it makes people judge you and make inferences on your personality. My parents often would rather make me ask a teacher if I have a people in class. They do however follow a different pattern of actions concerning my siblings. Yes, being smart makes people around you expect you to do better than most people in life.

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Fundamentals Of Journalism

Today is the day of the random posts, youre just going to have to deal with that for now. I just wanted to share a picture of the second book I plan on reading on journalism.

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If It Bleeds It Leads

I decided I should probably show you the book I'm going to be/have been reading and analyzing. So here it is, I got it at my local library, I got a bunch more books that I will probably be reading as well.

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If It Bleeds It Leads: Rundown, Disclaimer

I've began reading my first journalism book for the year. It is entitled If It Bleeds It Leads: An anatomy television news. The book seems to compare the different kinds of journalists. It's mission thus far is to show how much talk show hosts and the hard hitting journalists you watch everyday actually have in common. Because this book is a little old, some of the specific people they mention arent actually on the air anymore. I dont think this makes any of the information given any less valid, and I am still very interested in it and cannot wait to continue reading.

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Looking To The Future By Learning From The Past

I hope to start making more "regular" posts here and the majority of them will be relating to the books I (plan on) reading. The majority of these books do involve techniques and information relating to radio, television, and print. This information will hopefully guide me along to knowledge relating to more modern forms of news, the internet in particular. I feel like these medias are more alike than they are different. Each of them deliver the news in a quicker time than the one before it. My studies will be focused more towards the internet because I believe it to be the most important form of news that is popular today. The intenet has the possibility to spread more information faster than any media at this day and time, and I feel like speed is as important as any other qualities that news contains.

-Victoria

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