The importance of social media during a tragedy.

The idea for this post has come to my mind too many times recently. I'm not sure if this era has caused more tragedies or if it is publicising them more but modern journalism seems to rely heavily on tragic events. One of my teachers was talking about some information she had learned from a seminar on how to act during a school shooting. She said that we should stay off all social media and resist posting what is going on to twitter and to not try to contact any of your loved ones in order to keep the phone lines clear. And I agree with that...to a point. I agree that it probably smarter to resist calling people/the police in order to keep the radio towers clear. But if you have taken a picture or feel your life is in danger or have vital information regarding the incident I believe it is important to post it or share it somewhere. It is always important to stay safe and protect yourself before using social media. Social media connects us and allows people to share their vantage points on whatever they are doing and this is never more important than when people are killed or are in immediate danger. The internet holds so much information that could be really important to the officials trying to solve this crime. I believe that using social media to share info about a tragedy is a good thing

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A Pep Talk from Kid President to You

With this blog format it is really easy to get distracted from doing work. Videos like these really inspire me to keep working, in addition to my grade, and I wanted to share it with you.  Plus its super cute so you should definitely watch this.

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Resource Breakthrough

I have been struggling to find more newspaper articles that deal with exactly what I need. Today during English we were researching for our next paper when I realized what I needed. THE DATABASES.....there is a database that focuses just on newspapers and more that have valuable information on my topic. I have to admit it was pretty stupid of me to not realize they were there the whole time. The next analysis will be up soon, after posting so much so quick I got a major case of writers block/apathy.

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Oberhaeuser Info Graphics

Oberhaeuser a company that seems to be based out of Germany has produced some of the best info graphics I have ever seen. Their slogan "Information is beautiful" doesn't even begin to describe the quality of some of their work. The mix of unique design, simplicity, and bright eye catching colors make their designs really stand out among others that I have seen.

This image which displays a calender is really intriguing. Each ring represents a month and important holidays are marked in a different color. I have seen a lot of really unique calender designs and I think this one stands out as one of my favorites because it looks like a piece of art while still maintaining the functionality of a calender.

My favorite design is this encyclopedia. It combines the structure of a book with the key features of a book. As a child I loved to read books like these because they taught me things using images and words. I feel like as you get older books with these features become looked down upon. With the popularity of new news medias and the unwillingness to read large blocks of text I think, or at least hope, books like this will become more popular. They engage the reader so that they are interested to learn and make reading an encyclopedia seem less like a chore and more like a hobby (activity?). 

As I write this it seems like I could be explaining a children's book. They tend to use the same techniques as I am describing here. Learning is a very important part in childhood, maybe if more books were structured this way people would be able to learn complicated concepts easier. 

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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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My favorite journalist?

In speaking with my instructors we talked about which journalist I liked the most. My response was Brian Williams.  I really enjoy watching him on Nightly News, Rock Center, and occasionally on 30 Rock. He is a really entertaining journalist, his personality is more pronounced than many journalists. That view into his personality is why I believe he is so popular, and well liked. When he reports on something you really get the sense that he cares about what he talks about. Brian Willams is also involved in writing some of his material which is why I believe he can be considered both a journalist and a news anchor.

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Digital Revolution

I really like these infographics....I will probably post more soon. They display information better than writing, especially for more visual learners.

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Modern Journalism Infographic

The PEW research center had a competition of sorts to display the data from the modern news study. Here is the winning one. This is a cool way to demonstrate the analysis I had posted a while back in a new way.

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Quiet: The Power of Introverts - Ep 1

Yet another video I found about intoverts and extroverts, this topic really fascinates me. I like that this one goes into more detail about the types of introverts (shy versus calm), and adresses the issue of introverts acting like extroverts in order to fit in better.

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Scholarships?

After hearing about someone in this class who was looking into scholarships regarding their topic I decided to see what I could find regarding journalism. There are tons of opprotunities availible but the majority (all) of them are spscifically for upperclassmen, and college students. I have found a couple that could be related to me but Im not sure if much will come out of it. Nevertheless I am looking more into it and maybe, if im lucky, something good will happen.

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Current Project Status

I havent been very acttive in this blog lately because of the time needed on my latest project. This blog needs to become a tad more active so I plan to post something at least once a week. To catch you up from last time. I have finished If It Bleeds It Leads, it got a bit repititive towards the end but it was a good book and I'm glad to have read it because it will also be able to help me in my english paper which involves propaganda. The information, and final result of this paper will also be posted here. Im working on the feature on the blogger format that allows posts to be sent at a specific time so if I can manage that I will write a ton of posts when I'm free and post them when need be.

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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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RSAnimate

Several days ago I posted a video documenting the advantages and disadvantages of intro/extroversian. The personality test we took resulted in me being labeled an INTJ. When we discussed this in class I realised how much I related to this personality type. RSA shorts produced this video in order to educate people on the first letter, whether it be I, or E, of their personality types. I really enjoyed this video, and because of it I decided to investigate more short films produced by the RSA. Although none of their videos dealt specifically with journalism, common themes that could be used to enhance my writing as well as my individual study. I hope to be able to include some of the lessons learned in Drive, Time, The Internet, and many more to further my education.

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RSA Shorts - The Power of Quiet

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Interview Questions

As I continue to try and interview more people I have created a list of questions that I plan on asking these people. These will be the base questions that I have written that will be generic enough to ask to the majority of journalists. If I encounter more people with different backrounds I will add or subtract questions that relate to them accordingly.

How do you feel about the shift in popularity from print news (newspaper, magazines, etc.) to web based news? 

What made you decide to go into journalism?

How do you feel about the rise in partisan journalism?

I know these arent super detailed but I believe that these questions are the most important that I have created as of right now. 

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Contact Progress

I just sent out an email to a new bunch of journalism experts. This time I focused on contacting professors (and assistant, assosiate, knight, managing professors if thats any different) from Northwestern. Someone told me the Medill section of Northwestern was a very good journalism school, so I decided to check it out. The faculty seems to be quite esteemed. My hopes of them contacting me back arent too high. Last time only one person actually answered me but I'm pretty excited to see what will happen. I will continue to look for more people to contact and interview in the future.

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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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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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Homecoming Assignment

This post isnt really for this class but I had a prompt for english where I could write in any format I wanted. So of course I decided to kill two birds with one stone and do a journalism style essay. I haven't actually read the book about how to be a journalist yet. This essay is kind of like a before point in my journey to become a journalism master. Hopefully one day I will be able to look back at this post and laugh at how terrible I was. Here goes nothing.....

Palatine Highschool is celebrating Homecoming week with a variety of spirit days to get students excited for the big game on Friday. Each year the football teams play against their biggest rivals, Fremd. After the game a dance is held for the highschoolers at Palatine High School. Pep rally's marked the beginning of the year and introduced the theme of this years celebration. 2012 is the year of the circus and the school has been decorated for the occasion. Streamers hang from the ceiling and walls. Members of each grades club made posters with all of the students names, and sports teams made banners that get people excited for the game.

Fun clothing spirit days were also held. This year these included: pajama day, sports day, clown day. The decorations brighten up the school and gave the student body a great sense of Pirate Pride.

 A pep assembly, aptly named Royal Rally, was held after school on this Thursday. Performances from Poms, Flags, Orchesis, Pep Squad, Cheer, and the Marching Band were given to a large group of students, faculty, alumni, and parents. This year was band director Mrs. Horn’s last year at Palatine. A selection of junior and seniors gave speeches to honor her. At the end of the assembly this year's Homecoming King, Queen , and court were announced. Nominees from each grade were announced. The winners will also be presented at the football game.  With all the anticipation this years game will definitely be great. We hope to see you all there to cheer on your favorite team, regardless of preference.

I don't really think this turned out to well but I guess its a good start for now.

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