MassLive Photo Submission

For this assignment, I posted a photo to the Mass Live's album of the October snow storm.

Often when I am on campus, I find myself wanting to take pictures of trees. There are such a variety of trees on campus,  and when I see a really good one, I'll often take a picture of it with my phone.

After the snow storm in October, so many trees were destroyed around campus. I saw one tree on campus that had completely split down the middle, and I took my phone out right away to capture it.

After searching Mass Live for content that I could contribute to, I realized that I could add my picture to the October snow storm album. The album was interesting because it showed a progression from people enjoying the snow to some of the devastating effects of the storm. It definitely was a whirlwind of a weekend, and this progression of good and bad is represented well in the album.

I was hoping that people would comment on my photo, but there was not much user activity, likely because the snowstorm is slightly old news. I expect that this timing has a lot to do with the lack of comments. On the other hand, it was neat to be able to view the album after it was for the most part complete. Since I already know the entire result of the storm, it may have been a different experience than if I were to upload my picture as it was still happening. I am glad that I was able to see the whole album as an entire story.

Highs and Lows

I definitely feel like this was one of my better classes so far at UMASS.  I have taken a lot out of this class, and I feel like I have had the opportunity to explore so many new platforms of journalism, written and online.

My favorite part about this class was that we had the opportunity to be involved in various assignments and projects that all served unique purposes.  I can’t believe how many new processes and websites I have become familiar with, especially considering we only met once a week for one semester.  At the beginning of the semester, I wrote that I was looking forward to having assignments that would force me to get out of my comfort zone.  I definitely feel like I have been able to do this, as I have participated in several journalistic endeavors I would not have normally, such as writing a letter to the editor, or calling a radio station.  I had never even kept a blog before this semester, and now I feel very comfortable blogging.

This was my first semester taking any journalism classes, so I went into the class trying to determine whether I would still want to pursue the field.  Various aspects of this class have definitely made me excited about pursuing journalism further.  I really like the idea of blogging, and I could definitely see myself keeping a personal blog, especially since I am studying abroad next semester.  I also became a lot more aquainted with Twitter this semester, and I can now understand the journalistic value of this type of communication tool.  I really enjoyed learning about Twitter, and how it has enabled democracy throughout the world.  I did not really recognize the functional potential of social networking sites, and I feel like it is an invaluable skill to know how to fully utilize technological tools and networks, especially as a journalist.

I think my favorite assignment this semester was writing a letter to the editor.  As I mentioned before, this is not something I would normally do.  This in itself made the project exciting because I feel like I can get the most out of experiences that force me to do something new and different. I really enjoyed the assignment because I found an issue in my hometown that I actually knew a lot about.  I didn’t know that I would be so personally invested in the assignment until I submitted my letter.  I was surprised by the excitement and anxiety that overtook me after I sent off my e-mail.  I kept reciting the parts of my letter that I remembered over and over in my head, trying to determine whether I should have written anything differently.  As I also mentioned in a previous blog post, I found out that my letter was published from one of my high school teachers.  Finding out in this way definitely made it really rewarding, and it made the whole thing an even more exciting experience.  Beyond my own personal experience writing letters to the editor, it was really interesting to learn about the overall significance of letters to the editor in our society and our democracy.  I used to skip over the letters to the editor in magazines and newspapers, thinking that it was merely readers complaining for no good reason.  Even if that may sometimes be the case, I now understand the value of a two-way conversation with all outlets of writing and media.  I liked learning about letters to the editor because I feel like they epitomize this conversation in the most basic and traditional sense.

The thing that I struggled most with in this class was trying to join the conversation with talk radio.  It was in ways a discouraging process because it made me feel like there is so much I do not know, rather than making me feel empowered and unstoppable like some of the other assignments did.  That is obviously good, however, because there is a TON I don’t know, and recognizing where you need to improve is definitely the best way to learn.  Although I could not become fully knowledgable about all of the topics being discussed on talk radio shows, I did become a lot more literate about the whole talk radio process as well as some of the issues they were talking about.

Overall, I feel like this class has made me a lot more aware of the news going on around me, as well as my role as a reader and a potential journalist.  I am starting to be more alert to things around me, recognizing things that I may have once overlooked as potential stories.  I know I have so much more to learn about journalism, but this class has been a great starting point, and I am very excited for what lays ahead.

Reddit

After dabbling with Reddit over the past few days, I gained a pretty decent understanding of the site. It became easier to understand the more I used it, but there are some parts of it that I didn’t like.

One thing that I do like about Reddit is the organization that allows you to browse links in different categories or “subreddits”.  This made it easier to hone in on links that interested me.  I also liked the fact that the site is oriented more toward news links than other networking sites. 

Though I think that Reddit is a pretty good site, I think that improvements can be made with its aesthetic design.  It may sound silly, but I think that colors and fonts can make a big difference.  When looking at the Reddit site I get this feeling of overload that could be easily remedied by a more appealing appearance.

I also was not a huge fan of the ranking system on Reddit. I tried to do some research about the meaning of the numbers, but it still confuses me a bit.  I do understand, however, that you are supposed to click the “up” arrow if you like a link, and vice versa. I was not even sure about this though until I googled it. It may have just been me, but since it turns orange when you click up and blue when you click down, I wasn’t sure which was supposed to be positive and which was supposed to be negative. This goes back to design.  I associated the blue color with “good” and the reddish color with “bad”, but it is actually the other way around.

I browsed several subreddits about news and music where I did my up-voting and down-voting. 

Here are a couple of the links I posted:

This is a news story that I linked from BBC News about HIV positive individuals in China who have been denied public jobs. I posted it in the worldnews subreddit. I posted it under “Unbelievable discrimination against HIV positive individuals…”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-15928453

I posted this link to a RollingStone article that talked about Jason Segel in the filming of the Muppets. I posted it under the movies subreddit.

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/blogs/the-travers-take/off-the-cuff-muppets-star-jason-segel-cried-when-he-met-kermit-20111121

I noticed that Reddit did not allow me to post a link that had already been posted by someone else.  I’m not sure whether this is a feature that I like or dislike.  I think that if there is a good story, then more submissions would make it more viewable. I understand that a story can rise in the ranks if people like it, but I feel like a good link could possibly go unnoticed if it doesn’t get a chance to circulate to people in the first place.

Storify: Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

At first, I wasn’t sure how I was going to choose an event to write about on Storify.  I didn’t know if I should browse Twitter to see what people are talking about, or to find an event and then see what people are saying.  I ended up seeing something that many of my Facebook friends were buzzing about last night, and decided to make that my story: The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

Although the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show may seem trivial, it was an event that provoked tons of public response, so I thought it would be worth writing about.  It may or may not be a good thing that these types of shows gain so much public attention, but the fact is that they do, so it is worth examining.

When creating my story, I initially wanted to show varying opinions about the show.  Since the show delivers a controversial message about body image, I thought that some people may have posted about their disapproval. I was not able to find, however, a single negative comment about the show. In fact, the only negative words people used were to describe themselves in comparison to the “perfect” specimens they viewed on TV.

Since I did view a lot of women obsessing about their body image, I decided to write about how the fashion show should be aware of the potential implications of the message they are sending. I think that the show is really entertaining to watch, but I could not even watch it without feeling slightly guilty about supporting it.

View my story here: VS Fashion Show 2011

Yelp!

I had a pretty good experience using Yelp for the first time.  I chose to write reviews about two of my favorite restaurants, one in Amherst, and one back home.

I chose to write about Bruno’s Pizza, which is located in downtown Amherst. It is one of my favorite places to get food late at night if I am nearby. (Even if I usually regret it the next day…)

I also chose to write about one of my favorite delis in my hometown.  It is the type of place that always makes everyone really excited when they are about to eat there.  Since this deli is one of my fondest places in my hometown, I knew it would be a good place to review.

I chose to write about places that I really like, meaning that both of my reviews were of course positive.  I felt good about promoting these restaurants, especially because they are both smaller establishments.

Several of the reviews on Yelp were negative.  I definitely think that these entries would be helpful if I were looking for a place to go, but I don’t know if I personally would ever go out of my way to write a bad review for a business

I found Yelp to be pretty easy to navigate and use.  I definitely think that it could be a helpful tool to use when exploring new areas.  I’m not sure if I would regularly write more reviews in the future, but I would definitely consider using it read the reviews of others.

Bruno's
The best pizza I've had in Amherst! It is very easy to get food quickly if you stop by late at night. The only down side is that you can't get pizzas by the slice. But definitely recommended! There is not much space to eat inside, but it's the perfect place to pick something up, or to order a delivery from.

Italia Deli

Italia Deli is one of the best places to eat in the Agoura area. It is the perfect place to go during a lunch break, or to pick up a delicious sandwich on the way to the beach.  They also have fresh and one of a kind breads and delicacies to stock up your kitchen. To top it all off, there is a high-energy and friendly environment with local workers. I am a college student, and it is one of the places I look forward to returning to every time I go home!

Viral YouTube Video: "My Tram Experience"

I found the video "My Tram Experience" under the “most viewed” section of the YouTube homepage.  The video was uploaded just 2 days ago (November 27) and it already has over 4 million views. There are even dozens of videos by individuals who are responding to this video or creating parodies.

At the beginning of the video, I started to get a bit bored, and I only continued watching it for the sake of the assignment. As it progressed, it became pretty interesting, even though it still made little sense. The video basically consisted of a nonsensical, extreme, racist rant by a British woman on the tram.  It showed her argument with strangers, along with the reactions of other bystanders. Some people were just frantically texting…one can easily guess what they were texting about.

I feel like the reason why this video attracted so much attention was because it consisted of extreme confrontation.  People seem to be captivated by drama, especially when it is real. Although the vast majority who rated the video had a negative response, the video still gained attention nonetheless.

It is perplexing to think about how videos like this spread so quickly. Millions of people across the world saw this video within a few days, while many videos of greater substance likely went unnoticed in comparison. It says a lot about what people are interested in viewing these days, whether they would readily admit it or not.

This video also reminded me of the type of instant, random fame that we talked about in class a few weeks ago.  This woman who was otherwise unknown to the public just 2 days ago was viewed by millions of individuals, despite any lack of merit.  The constant viral nature of content on the Internet creates temporary pseudo-celebrities that would otherwise never exist. I think this contributes to our recent shortage in attention spans, and ultimately to our overvaluation of content that contains little or no substance.

Flipped

Just several months ago, the United States government was avid about helping protestors stand up to oppressive regimes across the world. Our pro-democratic government was in favor of supporting movements that would mean the spread of democracy.

It is interesting, then, to imagine how a government that supports non-violent protest in another country would react to non-violent protest in its own. It is not necessary to "imagine", however, since we can see this scenario for ourselves.

Since the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, there have been reports of unnecessary force used by police officers against protestors in New York City. As the movement spread across the country to other cities and to college campuses, this brute police force spread along with it. This very use of force is congruous with the type of brute force we saw in Egypt and other countries, except this time our government is not fighting it. On the contrary, they are the ones endorsing it.

There have been multiples reports of police using violent force against protesting students at various college campuses. A recent pepper spraying incident at UC Davis has escalated into a national debate. As the article UC Davis' pepper spray fuels national debate, growing protests describes, U.S. officers are now the ones using violent force, and our protestors are receiving help, even from...Egypt.

"Lt. John Pike's pepper spray canister has fueled the controversy into a growing encampment and spurred plans for a general strike Monday with sympathizers streaming in from across the state. There is now a geodesic dome and nearly 100 tents, donated from as far away as Egypt -- with more on the way."


This incident raises many questions about our government and its actual ideals about democracy. Astute individuals may have questioned the government's real motives as they supported protestors across the world, and I think now even more people can be skeptical of the government's motivations. Certainly it is understandable that a government would react differently to this type of situation in their own country, but if our leaders are really pro-democracy, they should be listening to the protestors instead of beating and pepper-spraying them.