Can New Media Be Tought In Schools?

Would it be that bad if new media was tought in schools? Marshal Kirpatrick points out in this article that there is some merit to teaching new media in journalism and other schools. I would have to definately agree with this but also add that I beleive is a very good idea that such broader and real life topic be taught in included in journalism and taught in schools. I don't understand why would it be so bad since new media relates directly to journalism and has such big impact on people's lives.

Kirpatrick points out that old media is slow, less compelling and somewhat expensive compared to some media online. She is right, I beleive the use of old media now days has very little use compared to the new media being produced, there is no doubt in my mind that old media is still very useful, but when you have faster, easier, cheaper way to interact and receive news why wouldn't you explore it and try it out.

So, as Marshal points out, there are many skills that need to be taught about new media, like blogging, RSS, tagging, wikis, podcasting and much more, but are theses skill sets able to be taught in schools? Why not I say. Marshal states that most people they've talked to in schools think they can facilitate learning experiences in new media, however this isn't everything about new media.

I beleive it is all about transmitting to students in an interactive way the information that new meida provides. Visually I think is the best way to approach this in schools. Kids learn faster and better when they are able to see soemthing and play with it. A great example would be putting a kid to play Second Life as Kirpatrick says, "let them have an avatar for a day and then teach them how to navigate to the most interesting events going on there."

It is definatley a challenge, but a challenge that if it's overcomed, grown up kids and teachers are going to be thankful new media was introduced at such early age.

Social Media; It's Bigger Than You Think

"The share of adult Internet users who have a profile on an online social network site has more than quadrupled in the past four years -- from eight percent in 2005 to 35 percent now." A recent report done by Pew Internet and America Life Project quotes. It doesn't surprise me at all. Since the day my mom and dad asked me if I could help them create a Facebook account it's now normal to me. It still makes me laugh how Facebook is one of the ways I communicate visually, posting photos and verbally, sending messages with my parents.

The point Amy Gahran is trying to make in this article is the way adults are more and more rapidly getting involved into social networks compared to news organizations slow pace. This fact does surprise me. Is it because within news organizations social networking is not allowed and somewhat dangerous or is it because individuals within this organizations are just not alert of such social networking?

Gahran points out to the Knight Digital Media Center News Leadership 3.0 blog, Michele McLellan in which she quotes, "News organizations are limiting their reach to being familiar destinations or findable on search -- both of which are valuable, but not enough. ... I fear the problem is cultural, and perhaps less tractable than technical constraints."

Gahran says that she supports McLellan ideas that mindset and culture and the willingness to continously experiment is why within these organizations social networking is limited. I'd have to say I agree with these ideas. I beleive that having the mindset of treating social networking as a priority and a way to continously expermient and get involved in the real world can bring many advantages in the future of these organizations. Since organizations are easily findable on search there is a fear created, but this fear should not be the barrier of taking the advantage of social networking within newsrooms.

How Newsrooms Are Using Twitter

Twitter, "a pointless, overrated or simply stupid site?" As far as I'm concerned I do not agree with any of these descriptions Jordan Harris, a software engineer at The New York Times points out. However I do agree that Twitter is a site that helps news organizations interact and do whatever they want with the news. From my point of view there is more to this site Harris might not know about.

Being able to micro-blog not only news but any kind of information out there in such quick moments, it's definately a huge advantage for newsrooms, it is something I feel they oughta put in practice not only to reach more and more users around the world but also to alert the world from current events happening where we might not be able to hear about.

If organizations such as The New York Times and many more are putting this medium into practice, I wouldn't call it pointless nor stupid. I agree, there risks at hand, like journalists accidentally leaking internal information, but the potential this medium has of spreading news instantly, whenever and wherever doesn't compare to the risks, which I think are small, intervene with the use of Twitter.

An example Mallary Tenore points out in this article about The Orlando Sentinel using Twitter is a great example why this medium is indispensable in newsrooms. The Sentinel's coverage of the Atlantis and Endeavour space shuttle through Twitter reach out to many people. Sending out tweets updating the shuttle's launch, how much time left, fuelin is done, even the countdown for the launch. People in cars or in places where they had no access to live TV coverage were able to follow the launch and how everything turned out through Twitter. After this event happened The Sentinel now has close to 80 followers.

This example points out how effective is Twitter at reaching out to new users, but not only this, I beleive that organizations using Twitter having or not having followers, they are still able to do their job of broadcasting news in an instant message to the world.

2009 Presidential Inaguration

To be honest I was pretty nervous the minute Pam said we had to interview people about what they thought of the inaguration. Interviewing random people has never been my favorite thing to do, especially about the topic at hand. I was lost and didn't know how to approach these people in order to get an answer from them. However as the night went on I felt more comfortable due to the fact that we were in groups and that if soemthing were to happend they'd had my back. By the end of the night I felt really good about the way things went.

We were a group of four media students walking around campus trying to find people that would take the time to answer a few questions. Some people were very kind about it but some people weren't very helpfull. We would approach certain people with a sense of insecurity because you just have no expectations whatsoever, you might walk away feeling uncomfortable, but you can also walk away pretty comofortable about what you did.

I was tremendously surprised at how many people didnt' watch it and at how many people didn't even care, quoting "It's just another President." I just can't beleive how some people, being american citizens aren't able to leave aside thier point of views and take a look at the historical moment not only America, but the whole world has witnessed. On the other hand you see people besides African Americans, that are completely overwhelmed, quoting " I never thought this day would come." It means something to them becasue they love their country and they have high hopes for what Barack has promised to do and change.

Being out there in the real world it's something very challenging to do, you hear and see many different things at once, you just don't know how to handle it. However when you finally realized you have made it through and have reality, true fact information, after a long time of discussing and obvserving, you now want to let it out into the world through a medium you think people are going to hear about. In this case, the medium used was Twitter.com

I have never used this tool before and thought it was great way to publish critical information anytime you needed to. Millions of people are going to be aware of it and this is a big gain, however what gets lost, is the fact you that you have limited space to write out the information so you are not abe to provide the information in a detailed, specific manner. In conlcusion I think is a very useful reporting tool.

NMC 301: Self-Inventory

My name is Diego Velasquez. I am from Bogota, Colombia. I took the risk of going far away from home for one simple reason; play college golf and work hard towards fulfilling my ultimate dream; be a professional golfer. I am a junior in New Media and so far it hasn't dissapoint me, I have actually enjoyed and learned more that I thought I would.

My media consumption is basically cable, internet and newspapers. ESPN is my favorite channel not only for the sport programs but also for it's interesting commercials. CNN, CNN in spanish and BBC are my favorite news channels and at least three times a week I turn to them. I check out my home countries newspapers online to stay updated. I have started to read the newspaper more instead of using the web to read news. Also I tend to skim through a lot of sports magazines because they usually have great articles and catchy propaganda.

As far as my social networking, I use facebook but I'm not addicted to it like many people are. I extremely dislike myspace by the way. I tend to text a lot, I think is an easy and fast way to communicate. I have never twitter or blogged. However that's about to change and I am really looking forward to it.

I got into new media simply because I love the medium in which we live and interact. The many different type of ways people communicate and the way new media it's so influential in tody's world. I hope to get out of this class with strong tools for writing that will help get my point across in a clear way, to push and promote the information I'm providing in an effective way. Also, I want to be more confident and comfortable while speaking in public or conversing with another person involved in the media.