Raising Prices on Mobile Subscriptions

The following is an article I wrote for my group writing blog thirdquartet.blogspot.com. I'm focusing on displaying the theme through the "narrators" thoughts on the topic. I tried to tie this writing into my analysis project which will begin next week. In the article I attempted to keep a structure similar to that used in news articles. A more in depth analysis of this work and the work of my group mates will be posted next week.
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This week it has been reported that The New York Times may be significantly increasing its subscription prices for mobile readers. It unclear whether or not this change will be implemented but if it is this change could mark a significant change for the publication.
Many factors could be attributed to this change; costs are being cut to compensate for lack of revenue, and as more and more people are getting their news online it can be important to benefit from this format.
Although I agree that if subscription based news is better than its free counterparts it deserves to come at a price. The problem comes when the same content is found on both free and priced news publications. If the New York Times rises their subscription fee but does not provide superior services its readership will certainly go elsewhere for its news.
Many people are not willing to pay to obtain news content. More and more news is in fact free and the sites that provide the best free content are getting more viewers. If the New York Times raises its mobile subscription cost the people who were willing to pay for it might consider going elsewhere.

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Semester wrap up

So this semester is basically over. The year, and possibly the content on this blog, is half done. I wrote a reflection on what I've done this far, but I don't think I'm going to post it here. I feel like I have done really well this far. I've established leadership roles in my group projects, expanded my knowledge on a bunch of topics, and learned about the whole concept of "giftedness." As a whole class I have learned about a bunch of my friends topics as well. The blog format, which has troubled a lot of my other classmates, seems to be a good outlet for my work. Despite the troubles I had with all the template stuff, my blog seems to have worked out pretty well. Honestly I don't know whatelse to post. All the other evidence of my work Is in my blog. All the research I have done, or lack of it, has been documented. I guess all you can do is wait until I start my new projects second semester.

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Update

I feel as if someone reading this blog thinks I forgot it. In reality I have just been really busy trying to set up the new design. The html stuff is getting pretty difficult, I may just leave somethings the way they are as opposed to going crazy trying to fix them.

My analysis project will begin the beginning of second semester by the latest. There will also be a new original composition crossposted from my first group blog soon as well.

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Love and Hate Chapter Two

Below is my latest post to my group blog. Honestly I think this edition is rather sub-par but I plan on working on different journalistic writing techniques to prevent this. 

Hate is a powerful emotion.  Election season brings out the most hate, and anger in people than any other time. Opposing beliefs bring can bring out the worst in people. In the digital age Facebook, Twitter, and other social medias provide a platform for political debates. Democrats and republicans are often very fervent in their beliefs and refuse to back down when challenged by citizens that support the opposite party. These "debates" often turn nasty and end in anger.

However the hate and anger displayed during, and after an election never seem to last long. Several days or weeks of rage seem to disappear in an instant. For the next four years there will be much less fighting between parties, at least at the average citizens level. But not too long from now everyone will suddenly develop a political view akin to that of Bill O'reilly, and Steven Colbert. When that happens the political hate will begin to flow again, trampling everything that gets in its way.

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New Project Alert!!

I have been working on a new project regarding assesment literacy in my gifted class....here is our progress thus far.

For updates look on our new blog.
Task/Project Statement
We plan to implement a program which will allow students to meet with a teacher after tests or quizzes. In this meeting they will discuss what the student is struggling with and how the student can work to improve on these areas. Assignment(s) will be given to practice these techniques and credit will be given towards the students grade as an incentive to participate in the program.  

Who is most affected by the problem?
Students who are not told why or how they can improve when they fail who then continue to fail due to a lack of motivation, and knowledge.

How does this affect the daily school environment?
Students are given the tools necessary to continue on a path to success with their studies. Their grades will begin to improve in the subjects that this program is implemented.

Drawbacks:

Students could get so used to the help they are getting they do not try very hard. -> Grade improvement should not be so drastic that the student doesn’t need to try in order to succeed. Instead of going from a D to an A, a student would be able to go from a D to a C at most.

Lack of participation due to laziness -> Stress the importance of the grade in the long run and how coming in can improve it and how grades can influence a future educational experience in colleges and universities. Try to affect their apathetic mindset. Appeal to students

Teachers may be unwilling to implement our problem -> Appeal to the teacher regarding the benefits of the program and why it is important to the students


Despite drawbacks is your project “worth it?”
We believe our project is, in fact, worth the shortcomings it presents. Steps will be taken to prevent the drawbacks from disrupting the success of the program. Schools should provide students with all the tools necessary in order to achieve great accomplishments in school and in life.


How can you change your project to lessen these problems?
The best way to find problems that need to be changed in our project is by talking with students, and teachers involved in this program.  After these discussions we will deliberate as a group the feedback we receive and the steps that need to be taken in order to transform these ideas into new practices.
What are the negative effects of the problem?
People are failing  their classes because they have too little motivation to try and succeed because they do not know why they are failing; which is a direct result of the  inadequacy of the currently implemented testing process.

How does the problem affect the school?
There are a lot of quizzes and tests students get that they don’t understand, or just don’t do well. They should have the chance to try to learn the material at their own pace.

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Brainstorm, Thoughtstorm

I'm "constructing" the premise of my next chapter for my group blog The Third Quartet as I speak type. Because this blog is supposed to be a way to display my effort, I'm trying to make sure I love everything posted there. There are infinite topics I could write about. Of these topics there are very few I am knowledgeable on, and many fewer that I can find an angle to write about with the love and hate theme. My plan now is to try and write in a topic that isnt very closely related to the theme and somehow connect it.

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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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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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In which I tell you things you really dont want to know.

I feel like I've been slacking on the blog-front. That may seem rediculous to you but all this set-up work I'm doing in order to get to the heart of my intrests is going too long. I'm going to be researching more and trying to post more on this blog, and ESPECIALLY on my group blog which will hopefully be seeing its first post(s) in the coming weeks. Here is (yet another) list of things I want to acomplish as soon as possible.

-READ: I need to get into reading more, but I've set up some more free time where I will, hopefullly, do so.
-Contact Journalists: I have some routes unto which I will do this so It will happen soon
-Create: I kind of want to start writing some journalistic literature in the recent future.

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Group Project, Progress and Problems

This I going to be basically a live post so I'm just going to be writing as I get ideas.

People havent seemed to think to much about the project since last meeting.

We need the software to produce (Ryans) posts.

Im not very famillar with the google sites format.

We need a timeline, when each character does the actions in a specific story, Old age-remembering past experiances,

Topics:
Introduction
Job
War (Conflict)
First/Last Day


This post may be updated later with more info.

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