Journalism Exchange Program at U of I

In the liberal arts college setting, a shift has been made to allow for students to get a more hands on education in the field(s) of their choice. Whether it be in a student teaching or mentoring program, or applied practicums in students medias, different majors stress the importance of getting 'real world' experience to help better prepare them for a professional career.

One state school has developed a program that focuses on giving its journalism students every possible opportunity to excel in a hands on field-experience program.

The University of Iowa's School of Journalism and Mass Communication has implemented a program called North American Environmental Journalism Project (VITAL), which is funded by the US Department of Education, to help give their journalism students a 'leg-up' on other student journalists.

This program is a negotiated exchange consortium with seven different schools from the United States, Canada and Mexico. The program allows for students to study, report on, and develop an awareness for environmental journalism, with special emphasis on water resource and water sustainability issues. The program also hopes to allow for students to gain a sense of cultural awareness and still enhancing their journalistic skills.

Members of the student exchange program focus on projects in specific areas of concern in their given geographical region. The students research these issues and then post forums in a website to share information and publish their work. Some may also work with broadcast news/production and shoot, edit, and stream video on news and campus TV stations.

With exchanges between schools on the North American continent, the goal is to promote awareness for issues going on close to home and to form a sense of community among the students involved.

The University of Iowa has chosen this program to focus on environmental journalism, but students do not have to a background in biology or environmental issues in order to participate.

This program, however, is not unique to its kind. Other small liberal arts institutions also encourage study abroad courses during the semester, or for partial semesters. But this program in particular focuses on cultivating students' abilities in a specific area to give them hands on experience for their intended profession. Getting real, hands on training makes students applying for their first jobs in a given field more attractive candidates to employers...which is the goal of any school wishing to educate students eager to enter the workforce.

Check out the YouTube clip below for more commentary about this program:

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Beatles Finally On iTunes

The Beatles is one of the most well known bands out there. And until recently if you wanted to listen to them you had to purchase the card copy album to listen to a few of your favorite songs.

It has been a long process to get the Beatles to sign over to have their music for sale on iTunes. They felt that the digital music didn't do their catalogue good enough justice.

They have been one of the bands to holdout on joining the iTunes network yet they are not the last. AC/DC has no desire to sell individual songs in replacement for whole albums.

Evidently the Beatles had rumors over the past few years that they were going to sign on to iTunes and now they finally have.

iTunes didn't wait one second either to advertise this. The entire iTunes store's main page is filled with Beatles albums and songs. Not only can fans purchase individual songs and full albums for their music players they can also purchase live concert film.

They are taking full advantage to promote this because it took so long for the Beatles to agree to let their music go digital.

This is a great way for the newer generations to experience the hit music their grandparents and parents talk about. Our generation would not think to buy an entire album. A single song on the other hand, yes we do that. So by hearing one song they may be inclined to purchase more.

Along with this it gives the older generation a chance to reconnect with one of their favorite bands. There may have always been those select favorite songs and now they can purchase them for their iPods.

It may encourage more people to want to be Apple owners because they can purchase Beatles music on iTunes for cheaper than purchasing the who album.

Apple didn't give up on hope that the Beatles would eventually sign their music over. That's how good business works you have to be resistant for what you want to benefit the customer and your business.

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Bloggers' jailed for controversial content

Bloggers around the world have been imprisoned for controversial content of their blogs within the last few years.

Many of the bloggers have simply state their opinions in their blogs.

Believed to be the longest imprisoned bloggers, Egyptian Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman withthe blogger name Kareem Amer, for ridiculing religion and the leadership of Egypt, was released recently.

Because of the political importance behind his case, international support was given to Amer regarding the freedom of the people.

Many

bloggers around the world have experienced similar situations. According to a report released by Reporters Sans Frontières the number of bloggers arrested went from 59 to 151 between 2008 and 2009.

On top of the the 151 percent increase of imprisoned bloggers, one blogger died and 61 were phy

sically assaulted.

Omid Riza Misayafi is understood to be the one blogger to lose his life while imprisoned. His death is still a mystery.

Below is a video about just one of the many corrupt areas that are struggling to incorporate the new social media with traditional values.

IRAN: A Nation Of Bloggers from ayrakus on Vimeo.

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Learning to Bundle

Bit.ly, a site that lets people shorten and share links, recently added a new tool to its website. Users are now able to "bundle" URLs.

What does this mean? Here's an example:

I have created numerous videos during my internship with the Simpson College Athletics Communication Department. These videos have been placed on YouTube for people to view.

However, I want to share the links to a few of my videos on Facebook so my family can view them without searching on YouTube. Bit.ly lets me package the links together into one convenient URL.

How do you do this? It's really simple.

Type in a URL like you normally would in the "shorten your links" box on Bit.ly. Then, add a space and another URL.

You can keep doing this until you have the amount of links you want. Then, press "bundle."

One URL will be created. For the group of three links I wanted to share, my URL is: http://bit.ly/cPDOQw

This means, instead of sharing all of this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSsb6FXS-A8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPaeSM-_Luo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy8hDVVvZPM

Bit.ly shortens and bundles it to this: http://bit.ly/cPDOQw

Once the bundle is made, I can share it on Facebook.

Facebook isn't the only use for the Bit.ly bundle. It can be used on Twitter, where it would be extremely useful due to the limited amount of characters Twitter allows.

It can also be used in e-mail.

Journalist Jolie O'Dell of Mashable described the usefulness of bundling perfectly in her article "Bit.ly Introduces Bundles: Multi-Link Sharing With One URL":

"You can tweet a string of YouTube videos, e-mail all your Thanksgiving recipes, post a collection of study materials to Facebook – all with just one short URL."

Overall, this is a great new resource for link-sharing addicts.

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Facebook Taking Over E-Mail?

In an article this week by founder and CEO of Mashable Pete Cashmore, he touches on the rumored upgrades to Facebook's messages feature.

Apparently Facebook is inviting the media to a special Monday event in which speculation is growing about Facebook unveiling its long rumored changes to its message inbox. This has not been confirmed by Facebook as being the topic of the event but it still has many people guessing.

Cashmore goes on in his article to explain his opinion on if these rumored changes were to be unveiled in the near future, how would they affect current e-mail providers?

Basically Cashmore does not feel they would completely overtake the e-mail industry and he provides some interesting insight as to why at his full column on CNN's website here.

Here is my take on this whole theory. As we all know social media has become huge in recent years and it is virtually consuming our everyday lives. I personally use Facebook and Twitter everyday, I admit that. Social media is everywhere and it seems like people can do anything with it.

So wouldn't it be logical to assume that Facebook could turn itself into not only a social media networking site but a top tier e-mail provider as well?

I really don't think that Facebook could overtake the top e-mail providers. Even though Facebook has over 500 million users, I think people would still tend to keep their accounts with Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail, and so on because those are sites strictly setup and geared for e-mail.

Facebook could potentially compete with an enhanced e-mail system due to convenience factors but in reality I do not see them shooting straight to the top of the list. If that were to happen then I think society would seriously have to take a step back and consider how much Facebook impacts their lives.

Granted we sure love our Facebook and the connection it provides for us to our friends and family, but I think there could be a point where there can be too much stuff on Facebook. E-mail should stay a separate entity in my opinion. Facebook is great for staying connected with people and hearing about breaking news but I think that is where the line should be drawn.

If there comes a day when Facebook controls everything in our lives, I may ship myself off to a deserted island. At least that way I wouldn't have to worry about whether I should make myself Facebook's slave or try to maintain some partisanship in my social media and Internet usage.

Photo courtesy of Jay Cameron, Flickr

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Social-media and the law

Photo credit: Jonathon Pow/Rossparry.co.uk

An English man has unintentionally gotten himself in trouble with the law through the use of social-media.

According to an article by Sarah Lyall,  Paul J. Chambers found himself frustrated by a snowstorm that grounded his flight to Northern Ireland to meet a woman he'd met online,

In his frustrated state, Chambers tweeted, "Robin Hood Airport is closed. You've got a week to get your [expletive] together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!"

It was by mere coincidence that the tweet was even found.. An airport manager looking for Robin Hood Airport-related items saw the post a few days later and reported it.

This is an indication, not only of how public social-media can be, but also of the potential consequences a single comment can have on someone's life.

Chambers was not a household name or even a local celebrity, but because of the circumstances of his court case, he has acquired a following of supporters on Twitter.

The judged charged Chambers with "sending a "menacing message" over a public telecommunications network under the Communications Act of 2003."

His followers disagree with the charge and are arguing for free-speech by reposting the Twitter message or by writing tweets of a similar content.

This should serve as a reminder to journalists and anyone who uses social-media tools of the impact their writing can have on people and the potential danger it could bring upon them even unintentionally.

Chambers had no intention of starting a media debate, but his comment and the way the case was handled by the judge, brought attention to how the law adjusts slowly to the quickly changing social-media environment.

Many other people sent similar messages, but faced no damaging consequences. How should the law deal with potentially threatening statements while still upholding the first amendment to free speech?

This and many other questions are still being pondered in the case Chambers has brought to the surface. At this point, social-media users should exercise great caution on the Internet and always be aware of what they are saying.

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Growing Scrutiny of For-profit Colleges

The New York Times released an investigation on Nov. 9 reporting alleged fraudulent and deceptive practices in for-profit institutions.

Specifically, Tamar Lewin, reporter for the New York Times, took Kaplan University as one example for the growing scrutiny in for-profit higher-education schools.

According to Lewin, "investigators from the Government Accountability Office found deception or fraud at 15 for-profit colleges, including two Kaplan campuses."

To support her argument, Lewin highlights two undercover videos of Kaplan recruiters in Florida and California making dishonest statements and using deceptive practices to get students to enroll.

Lewin also reports interviews with current and former Kaplan employees who reveal that "this is the regular mind-set of Kaplan recruiters: Do whatever it takes to get the sale, to keep your job.”

Furthermore, other worrisome aspects of for-profit institutions is their source of revenue and the ultimate benefit of such education. Considering that students' financial aid mostly comes from federal government, Lewin explains that Congress has taken action into the matter:

"Kaplan and other for-profit education companies have come under
investigation from Congress, amid growing concerns that the industry leaves too many students mired in debt and with credentials that provide little help in finding jobs."

Apparently, only few students are able to pay their student-loan debt, money from the federal government which is also the main source of revenue for schools like Kaplan, the University of Phoenix and other for-profit institutions.

While it is true that for-profit colleges offer an alternative choice to traditional colleges by the use of accessible schedules and online classes, the New York Times has added a reason to held for-profit institutions questionable.

Although some think of Lewin's article as an attack to for-profit colleges, I believe awareness is the driving force behind the article. The reality is that these things happen and people should be informed with the facts.

(The complete four-page article can be found at the New York Times)

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Using Social Media to Create a Brand

In class we have touched on branding yourself using social media but not in this same context.

While we want to brand ourselves as professionals, teen girls are using social media to brand themselves as being popular.

Many of the girls often portray themselves as something they are not.

If they are intelligent and witty, they often don't include that in their online profile.

They tend to state things like they are funny or they are social.

I see this as a negative thing because now some girls feel they have to be something they aren't in real life and online.

It's actually rather interesting that social media has sort of paved the way for this to happen online.

With all the profile information that has been available I'm surprised this hasn't happened awhile ago.

While social media can be a good thing it can also case harm to others.

Click HERE for more information.

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Another Teen Dead, Social Media Involved

Another story is in the news about a teenager who was "bullied to death."

A 14-year-old girl committed suicide after she had filed criminal charges against a neighbor boy whom she accused of raping her. Classmates taunted and bullied her when the alleged rape went viral around her school and community when she was interview by a Fox news reporter.

The man accused of raping her used social media to fight against what he said were, "Lies, Lies Lies." Bullying continued until the girl was driven to suicide.



Though the bullying was what led to her suicide, social media as the driving force behind the bullying. Her attacker was a senior, she was a freshman. The attacker posted various tweets on his twitter account spreading the word that it was not rape, it was consensual sex.

Obviously, many of his classmates agreed and targeted the victim as a source of ridicule.

Would she still be alive today if social media was not the center of the teenage life? Would she have been bullied so severely if Twitter had not been available for the attacker to spread the word of his proclaimed innocence and her wrong?

Though tragedies like this consume the media, people still do not understand the power of social media.

Suicide rates will continue to increase while teens are able to touch more people than they could ever imagine with the most powerful bullying tool in the world--words.

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Online work over print work

Journalism students should pay more attention in promoting their online work than print work these days. It's a good idea to start making a personal brand for yourself online because it's good job security.

The practice of entrepreneurial journalism is highly thought of and your work will be a great asset if you are interested in working for a newspaper.

By putting your work online will easily allow more people to know your name. Having people know your name, the bigger your personal audience will be.

So how do you go about getting your name known online?

1. Put articles that you like in the appropriate category on Digg, which is a social news website.

2. Create a delicious account and be sure to take your articles appropriately. Delicious is a social bookmarking web service.

3. When commenting on blogs, put the URL of your relevant article in the comment.

4. Create an account on Publish2 and suggest your work to other journalists.

5. Enter into the land of Twitter and share links to your articles with those who follow you .

6. Search for bloggers that write about topics that are relevant to yours and email them when you post something.

7. Share your work with Reddit. Reddit allows you to browse and submit links to the Internet and submit posts that contain original, user-submitted text. Other users have the option to vote on the posted links by clicking "up" or "down". Only the best links gain prominence by reaching the front page.

8. Get Facebook. If you don't have an account you live a very sheltered life and need one to be up-to-date.

9. Stay in contact with newspapers to share something that you may have blogged about.

10. Get a StumbleUpon account. StumbleUpon is a discovery engine that allows users to rate and discover web pages, photos and videos.

11. Subscribe to people on FriendFeed and share stories to those who are subscribed to you.

12. When writing articles, get permission from fellow bloggers to link out. Most often return the favor.

13. Notice when bloggers write about your stories and link back to you. Go to their blogs and leave a comment every time you can.

14. Know which URL leads to your work and put your link into your e-mail signature.

15. Put that same URL in your Twitter and Facebook profile.

16. If you have business cards, put your URL on the back.

17. Search for bloggers who are talking about topic you covered. Share the link to your work.

18. When interviewing people who blog, have a website, or have a social media tell them you will email them the link in cause they like to look into it.

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Smule and iPad allows users to play fiddle

We've all played a piano on our iPod or iPad but that was just the beginning.

Smule has recently unveiled it's newest creation, the Magic Fiddle for iPad, which turns your iPad into your very own stringed instrument.

People who have never played the instrument can easily pick it up and begin playing. It's held on your shoulder, like a violin. One hand acts as the bow and the other presses down the strings.

Unlike Rock Band and Guitar Hero Magic Fiddle isn't just pre-recorded songs being played. The app goes further in making unique but not always exact representations of the actual sound of a fiddle.

Smule has also created other musical apps such as the magic piano, leaf trombone and Sonic Vox. Two years ago the Ocariana flute app was created. It allowed people to blow into the microphone to create music.

The Magic Fiddle app is only $2.99 and has a large songbook filled with favorites such as "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Silent Night".

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Texting, Social Networking, and Sex

Texting is a big part of how we communicate with one another nowadays. While texting may seem like a relatively harmless activity (aside from the people that text while they drive and end up killing others or themselves), a recent study done by the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has found a correlation between texting and drugs and sex in teens.

Dr. Frank Scott, the leader of this research group, suggests that teens whom send on average 120 times a day or more are more likely engage in sex, drink, or try drugs (as opposed to their peers who don't). Dr. Scott's reasoning? It's all about parental control.

Scott says that parents who spend time monitoring what their children are doing on social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.) and cell phone usage will be more in tune to what their teen is doing in their spare time.

This study, which is discussed in an article posted by Atlanta's newspaper, goes on to say that Scott conducted this research by asking students at 20 public schools in Cleveland to answer questions anymously. He found that one out of five students fall into the category of "hyper-texters," (the ones who send lots of messages), and one out of nine are "hyper-networkers" (those who spend three or more hours on social networking sites a day). To see more of Scott's results, go to the article and read on.

This is quite interesting to me, and as a researcher from Iowa State pointed out, Scott has raised a "legitimate question to [be] explore[d]." I have not heard of a research of this kind being done before, and it will neat to see what all comes out of this.

Scott mentions that the relation between parents' involvement and teen's recreational activities is affected by how involved or not a parent is in their child's life. While this seems like a good idea, I personally never left my phone alone long enough for my parents to even have a chance to look through it, or see what I was doing. I would assume that most other teens are/were like that as well.

I look forward to seeing what more Scott finds out about texting and sex/drugs/alcohol, and whether he publishes anything about sexual networking and sex/drugs/alcohol. What do you think? Do you agree with Scott's findings, or do you think that teens are just engaging in what many teens engage in? While I think this may ring true for some teens, I don't see it being overly common amongst all the teens that send 120 texts a day.

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How to Detect Media Bias

In the quest for knowledge to make responsible and ethical decisions as citizens of a democratic nation, we strive fairness and facts. Although we idealize both, sometimes we get more or the other...but in most cases, neither.

Hunting for facts about what's really going on in the complexities of our nation [and the world] can be daunting. Not because it's hard to find the information, but because the news, and the practice of reporting/journalism, has become so heavily weighted in biased views of outspoken and dramatic personalities that there seems to be no 'truth' to any of it outside the particular philosophy or ideology of a given political party.

So what do engaged citizens do about this matter? -- We must make an effort to evaluate our sources and gage credibility, just as responsible and ethical journalists do.

Here are 10 questions you should ask when evaluating news that may contain a bias, and measures to take when a bias is discovered.

1. WHO are the sources? -- Be aware of the political perspective of the sources in a story. A general trend suggests that Progressive and public interest groups/voices are marginally underrepresented. Portraying issues fairly and accurately means that media organizations and news stories must account for a variety of sources. Otherwise they simply amplify the voices of those in power.

*Examine the number of government sources versus that of progressive and minority groups. Suggest to that mass media expand their source pool to give the story a more well rounded feel or opinion.

2. Is there a lack of diversity? -- What is the race to gender ratio at the news outlet compared to the audience? How many staff people are women, people of color, or openly gay or lesbian? In order to fairly represent communities, news organizations should have members of those 'minority' or diverse communities in their staff.

*It is essential that viewers who see a lack of diversity to demand that it be reflected in the organization.

3. From whose point of view is the news being reported? -- Are the issues in discussion including those who are affected by them? If a white male is talking about abortion, but makes no attempt to reference or include a female in the dialogue about it, there is clearly a misrepresentation of a credible source and a lacking in perspective.

*Demand that certain voices be heard by making your voice heard. If no one listens to those who should be included, advocate for their cause [without actually speaking for them].

4. Are there double standards? -- Does the media hold some people/groups to one standard while using a different standard for other people/groups? Double standards are heavily placed on women and minorities, and serve as a means of stereotyping, which is not only unfair, it's irresponsible journalism.

5. Do stereotypes skew coverage? -- Are certain groups being targeted that might enforce certain negative stereotypes while other groups in the same position go unnoticed because of their assumed socioeconomic status? In order to be fair on an issue, ALL sides and ALL groups should be examined in a story, not just the ones that 'make sense.'

*Work to try and educate people about the misconceptions involved in stereotypes, and how stereotypes characterize individuals/groups in negatively reinforcing ways.

6. What are the unchallenged assumptions? -- Sometimes the key point of a story is not stated outright, but it's implied. For example, coverage of rape trials will often focus on a woman's sexual history as though it calls her credibility into question and will assume that she was promiscuous, and therefor brought on the rape when in actuality, it could have been a completely random event.

*Challenge the assumption directly. If you address the assumption specifically, it will demonstrate the absurdity.

7. Is the language loaded? -- When the media uses loaded terminology, it often shapes public opinion in some dramatic (and in many cases, unfair) ways. Like when the media uses the right-wing buzzword "racial preference" to refer to affirmative action programs. By indicating 'racial' it brings attention to the fact that there is a hierarchal separation based on race.

*Show/articulate how the language used in certain cases gives people an inaccurate impression of the facts/news.

8. Is there a lack of context? -- Coverage of issues like "reverse discrimination" usually fail to focus on certain factors (like economic inequality and institutional racism) that empower prejudice.

*Work to provide the necessary context so that the idea is fully understood. This may require research, but ultimately it will help you to be more informed.

9. Do headlines match the story? -- In most cases, headlines aren't written by the reporters who write the articles. Most news hungry citizens just skim the big headlines, so misleading headlines have a significant impact on the reader's conception before they even read the article or news story.

10. Are stories on important issues featured prominently? -- Look at where the stories appear in print. Articles on widely viewed pages (the front pages and editorials) and lead stories have the greatest influence on public opinion.

If citizens hope to gather 'unbiased' news, they will most often have to filter through certain positions of ideals that can influence how that news is perceived. But if the public is made aware of potential bias, they can be prepared as to how to deal with them to become more accurately informed.

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RockMelt, the social browser

RockMelt is an intricate social browser that organizes social media with your browser better than browsers currently available internet users.

As users of the internet in the digital age, many are looking for new browsers that will meet specific needs.

The RockMelt is ultimately a social media enhanced Google Chrome. The RockMelt browser is almost an exact replica of Google Chrome other than the two vertical columns.

A visual for the browser is in the video displayed below.

Although there are many extensions that give social media components to other browsers such as Google Chrome and Firefox, RockMelt operates if and only if you put in your Facebook login.

As it can be anticipated, making it a requirement to put in your Facebook credentials in order to even just use the browser, will be a huge drawback.

I guess in the end it will all depend on what you want out of your browser.

Many people that will enjoy this browser will be the people that are wanting to naturally incorporate social media with their browser.

Since it is in the early beta stages of development and you have to sign up in order to get the browser, an alternative for a social browser right now is the Flock browser.

Just from the looks of it, it seems as if the RockMelt will be the simplified version of Flock making it a little less intrusive, and that much more appealing to users wanting a compatible social media browser.

Find out more about RockMelt's blog here.

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Free Wi-Fi On Planes this Holiday Season

With the holidays approaching many people will be traveling to see family and friends. A lot of people will be away from work and school for a period of time. For some people it is difficult to be distant from technology for less than an hour.

Since people take off work to travel for Christmas time it is nice to be able to catch up on work. What better place to do it then while on a plane where no one is really bother you and everyone is in there own world.

Google is aware of this and is offering free Wi-Fi to travelers for three different Airlines. Those three airlines are Delta, AirTran, and Virgin America. Virgin America was the only one to participate in this promotion by Google.

This year's three choices were picked to partner with the Google promotion because they have added the Gogo wireless technology to the entire fleet of planes.

Gogo the most used in-flight wireless provider in the US. Which means a lot of people during the Holidays will be taking advantage. Over 700 planes will have this feature. Which means around 15 million people will take advantage of it.

This is a great advancement in technology. Just think of a timeline of where we have come from back then to today.

The capabilities of the Internet are unrealistic. Who would ever think that on their way to Florida they could be watching YouTube videos or watching a missed television program.

I feel a lot of people will want to take part in this because a lot of people have Internet capable devices besides computers. To be able to say you were on the Internet while be 30 plus miles in the air would be awesome. The statuses like , " Just flew over the Pacific Ocean" how fun would that be.

This will be a huge success for these airlines. Potentially even swaying travelers to pick their airline over the ones that do not have the free Wi-Fi capability.

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Try New Social Media

Social Media. It's all we talk about. It's what we crave. It's how we learn.

In "The 19 Strangest Social Networks On The Web: Zombies, Hamsters, Implants And More" by Catharine Smith of The Huffington Post, readers who "are looking for something more personal or unique" can see 20 different "crazy," social mediums.

Below are the three sites that I found most interesting:

- REMcloud, or "the Twitter of dreams" according to The Wall Street Journal, lets readers post brief descriptions of dreams they had the previous night.

Creators say REMcloud is about "making deep connections happen for people all over the world, around the most unique and powerful experience we all share: OUR DREAMS."

The site focuses on people connecting after seeing that they share the same dreams. However, the site seems to have more humor to it than a deep connection. People seem to share only their most ridiculous dreams.

- HAMSTERster, just like Dogster and Catster, is a site modeled after the original Friendster. Creator David Hornbuckle says the website "is intended to be amusing but is not a complete joke."

People can share photos of their pet hamster, make friends with other hamsters and add hamsters to their family. And, if the unthinkable happens, users can check the box that says "Hamster Heaven" if they wish to make a profile in memory of their favorite friend.

- Ravelry, describes itself as "a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, weavers and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools, project and pattern information, and look to others for ideas and inspiration."

Users can keep notes and ideas about their projects on the site, get patterns for projects added by others, share ideas and give encouragement.

If you're feeling even more outside the box, Smith shares more social mediums such as Lost Zombie– a "zombie themed social network whose goal is to created a community generated zombie movie" – which received Best of Show at the SXSW Interactive Web Awards.

Personally, I use three primary social networks: Facebook, Twitter and Flickr – a photo-sharing site. However, there are plenty of other social mediums that people – especially college students – are now using.

Two fairly popular social media sites are Texts From Last Night and FMyLife.

Texts From Last Night is just what it sounds like: people share the texts they received the previous night. The site is completely anonymous, providing an area code the text came from rather than a name.

According to the website, two friends created created TFLN "for reasons that may or may not include: the tendency to press send more easily as the night turns to morning, friends' social habits, disgraced government officials, exes, law school, closing down bars and leaving tabs open, general debauchery and/or a common disgust for all negativity surrounding the 'sexting' phenomenon."

FMyLife lets people share short descriptions of unfortunate events that happen to them during the day. They can be: funny, sad, scary, ironic.

Each post beings with "Today,..." and ends with "FML." Viewers, after reading, can click on either "I agree, your life sucks" or "you totally deserved it."

I think when people are trying to find a social media website, they need to find their niche.

If you interested in networking yourself professionally, use websites such as LinkedIn that connect employers with future employees.

If you just want a humorous website, try HAMSTERster or Texts From Last Night.

If you love being connected with everyone you know, join Facebook or Twitter.

Social media is a great resource for anything your heart desires.

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Twitter Becomes Class Involvement Tool

According to a study to be published in next week's Journal of Computer Assisted Learning Twitter is being used as means to improve class participation.

In an article by Sarah Kessler on Mashable, it is reported that this experiment conducted by Dr. Reynol Junco at Lock Haven University has seen great results.

According to the study students who were asked to complete assignments and join class discussion via Twitter raised their class involvement twice as much as the control group over a semester long period.

A 19 question survey was used at the start and end of the semester to determine each students involvement, which apparently was a success.

In addition the article points out that students who used Twitter saw a .5 increase in their GPA over the semester.

This to me seems like another point on how social media is taking over our everyday life. Using 140 characters to communicate in class seems crazy to me. I can see that this has advantages to get students of today to participate more in class by using new technology. But in reality isn't this hurting students?

It seems that Twitter and Facebook have done nothing but erase the grammar and punctuation rules that have been instilled in students heads by English teachers all over the world. Students are more apt to use slang terms than actually using proper grammar.

In my opinion this is just a dumbing down of our society. Yes social media is great for many purposes but as far as using it as a way to get students to participate, I think it is a bad idea. The only way it could be good is if students were forced to use proper grammar and punctuation which i think we all know would be tough to do.

I guess we'll just have to see if this idea takes off in more classrooms. I would really hope that it doesn't unless it is overwhelmingly helpful for students. Then it may be ok.

Photo courtesy of Carrot Creative/Flickr

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Suspended For Civic Engagment?

A top story in the headlines is the suspension and reinstatement of MSNBC host Kieth Olbermann for giving monetary donations to Democratic political candidates.

Now the question is, is it against journalistic ethics for a journalist to support one political candidate over the other?

MSNBC is a clearly left-leaning institution, though as a whole it claims to remain mainly unbiased. Kieth Olbermann is also clearly a supporter of the Democratic party.

However, Olbermann is also a journalist--and a popular one at that. Thousands of people tune into his commentaries on issues or current political proceedings.

Anyone that watches his show can clearly see that Olbermann is a Democrat supporter, so his monetary gifts shouldn't have been much of a surprise to any audience member. Therefore, is it fair that he was suspended for this act?

Some people are commenting that Olbermann should have been completely honest about giving money to the candidates from the start; but, are private citizens rightfully expected to show where their money is going?

The issue is not about whether or not Olbermann should support one candidate over another as a journalist. The issue is about whether or not a citizen in the public eye should be 1.) expected to engage in civic duties, and 2.) expected to disclose all political leanings to the public.

This can all go back to my previous blog about biases--if a person has a particular bias, he or she will present information through that bias.

Olbermann has a bias, and though he hadn't come out and said that he supported the Democratic party, his bias was still clear to the audience. The audience is able to take the information with the understanding that the information they were receiving from Olbermann came through that bias.

It shouldn't be necessary for a person like Olbermann, who is working for a clearly left-leaning company and presenting clearly left-leaning opinions, to publicly disclose his or her positions of civic involvement.

Everyone knows his bias, and every engaged citizen should be able to take information from him as it is through that bias without Olbermann needing to feed it to them.

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Russian journalist nearly beaten to death

Moscow paramedics rushed 30-year-old Russian journalist Oleg Kashin to the hospital after finding him on the steps of his apartment building covered in blood.

Unknown assailants left Kashin with a shattered jaw, fractured skull, a broken leg and crushed fingers. It is speculated that Kashin's crushed fingers indicates a revenge assault for his writing.

It has been reported that Kashin is in serious but not life-threatening condition and had induced a coma to stabilize his injuries.

Kashin is a political reporter for Kommersant, one of Moscow's mainstream dailies, where his sharp writing for youth groups is what he is known for.

In August Molodaya Gvardiya, a youth wing of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, displayed his displeasure by publishing Kashin's photograph and captioning it as "will be punished."

The attack further shocked Russia's media and civil rights community who have suffered many similar attacks. Kashin's colleagues are discouraged that the crime will not be solved.

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Elections Show Potential of Social Media

Midterm elections on Nov. 02 may have set a benchmark for the future synthesis of politics and innovation within news organizations.

Being an important day in U.S. politics, major news organizations tried to report their election-coverage by means of up-to-the-minute technology. The Washington Post and the New York Times were among the noticeable contributors to the new wave of social media in political news.

On election day, the Washington Post became the first news organization to buy a Twitter-promoted trend, #Election, in order to promote its election coverage and incite people to share their thoughts with all Twitter users following the trend.

According to Katharine Zales, head of digital news products at the Washington Post,"the reason we did it was not so much for the traffic. It was more to be front and center in the conversation." By doing so, the Washington Post tried to deliever real-time, multimedia, and personally engaging political discussion.

By purchasing a promoted trend on Twitter, the Post took a serious approach of social media as a medium by which news are transmitted nowadays.

In a similar way, the New York Times used social media in the form of a Twitter traffic map that showed candidates' tweets, retweets from the public and tweets directed at the candidates.

The Times also hosted its first live-streaming web coverage from its newsroom trying to make their election-coverage feel much closer to their audiences, just like TV.

It seems like news organizations today have acknowledged that new digital journalism requires a new a new approach to their audiences; hence, most of them see public engagement as an essential structure of their business.

By using flashy web aplications, live-streaming video and Twitter to cover the elections, news agencies have demonstrated the importance of innovation in making political news more engaging, immediate and widely available throught different platforms.

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'Generation sex' speaks out

Courtesy of Amazon.com

Is a sex column appropriate reading in college newspapers? Daniel Reimold, a journalism professor at the University of Tampa, believes it is.

Reimold believes that students are dealing with issues of sex on every college campus and that students should be able to have open discussions on the topic.

But is it appropriate to discuss these issues in the public of a school newspaper? One opinion in the controversy says that so many people who are reading these papers, don't pick up the paper for a sex column. Professors, alumni, parents, and people who donate money receive the paper for news, not for advice on sex.

 "The censorship comes into play 99% of the time when a single outside reader, an alumni or parent or administrator, sees the word "sex" and simply reacts," Reimold said.

He believes that many people would simply pass over the article and if they didn't, they'd likely agree with the columnist's opinion or assessment.

This generation, Reimold said, has redefined the gender roles and "there's no blueprint for how students are supposed to act with each other" anymore. Sexuality is expressed more openly now than ever before, which has earned this generation of youths the name "generation sex".

Mary Beth Marklein, a staff writer for USA TODAY, wrote about the great controversy of these columns saying, "Vibrators, cross-dressing, oral sex, multiple orgasms, masturbation, bondage — no topic is too hot to handle. And while some say the columns are supposed to educate, others say they're raunchy and irrelevant."

Many colleges across the U.S. have found that students are more likely to pick up a newspaper if they know there will be a sex column. Sex sells, of course, but there are other risks associated with printing such columns.

Oppressive stereotypes are likely to be perpetuated in the articles. Instead of educating students about sexual equality, they're likely to be printing material that "size matters" or that a man's conquest for females will gain him popularity and respect.

Are these columns meant to entertain or to educate? I think the distinction should be made completely clear to readers to avoid foreseeable trouble. Additionally, I believe the staff writers should have prior background in feminist philosophies and ethics in order to dispel stereotypes instead of perpetuating them.

This could potentially be a beneficial idea as long as there are strict boundaries and a clear sense of ethics in the matter at hand. Something as touchy and controversial as this issue should be approached carefully as it could quickly and easily spiral out of control.

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Writing Ethically

In New Mexico, a tribe banned a newspaper from its reservation because the newspaper ran a graphic article entailing the details of a tribal member's death.

This is relevant to our news-writing class because should the writer of the article disclosed the details of such a horrific manner?

I think the writer made a mistake by doing so. I don't know if any of you have had to go to a funeral home to plan the arrangements of a lost family member, but I have.

While there, you plan out what you'd like the obituary to say, which includes whether or not to include how the person died.

I know that some journalists view how a person died as hard news, but some events are probably hard to relive by reading about them later on.

Precautions should be taken to protect such outrage from occurring like the anger the tribe in New Mexico is feeling.

I feel the tribe has every right to ban the newspaper from their reservation because more than likely it's private property.

The writer shouldn't be fired though, but they should think about what they did to cause such disruption.

Feel free to agree or disagree. I'm open to comments.

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