After a year of gaining in depth insight into the field of journalism, all I can say is, we've got our work cut out for us. Today's journalist has to be educated in every aspect of the field, including everything from operating a camera, to being able to write and edit. On top of possessing these skills, we must have the ability to determine what makes a good piece of news. We have to have a good news monitoring routine or we might miss an important story. We wouldn’t want a blogger to steal our thunder and get the story before us.
With all of that being said, there is one more thing we need to succeed as a journalist in today’s society…and that is passion. I truly believe that you have to love the profession of journalism to be successful at it. That means living and breathing it. It means wanting to wake up when everyone else is sleeping to get to a newscast or going out in a freezing cold snowstorm to bring the people the facts. It’s a tough job and I don’t believe that it is possible to excel at it unless you love what you are doing. I guess that goes for anything you do in life, but I think it’s more prominent for the journalist.
With technological advances and new forms of journalism, I don’t think we will ever really have a full grasp on the profession but we have to want to try. We’ve got to be on our toes, keep an open mind and be ready to take in new information as it comes our way. It’s going to be a tough road from here for all of us, but with enough drive I know it’s possible to get where we want to be.
The human mind has a limited capacity to store information. Although we think we remember everything that is thrown our way, it has become nearly impossible to hold every ounce of information as we process it. We live in a fast paced society where we are trying to accomplish a number of tasks at once. The assignment deadlines to be met, a friend's birthday, a bill to be paid... throw a crisis situation into the mix and the rest of the information is as good as gone.
I believe that we have a selective human bandwidth. We subconsciously prioritize the information that we feel is most important. The items at the bottom of our priority list might never make it back into our memory realm, whereas items at the top of the list are remembered and taken care of. We are constantly noticing and finding new items to make it to the top of our memory lists and our bandwith is limited because of this.
We also have to take into account how prone human beings are to distraction. We can only focus on a certain piece of information or a news medium for so long before we succumb to a nearby distraction. While immersed in a television show our phone may ring forcing us to lose sight of the information we processed while watching the show.
Technological advances like the cell phone or blackberry have made our human bandwith even worse as they do our memory work for us. I believe that a memory stays sharp by making a consistent effort to use it. A calendar on a blackberry doesn't require us to process information because it remembers our important dates and phone numbers for us.
Some people may have a better human bandwith than others but that still doesn’t put their human bandwidth up to the standard it should be. Eventually, something’s gotta give. Let’s face it, we aren’t computers.
Some excellent sources that discuss human bandwith are: http://rodentregatta.com/article/2741/human-bandwidth- “Whether you are a 13 year old prodigy working on three simultaneous PHD’s or a 49 year old adult striving to “keep up” there is something finite about our capacity.”
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogs/bandwidth.html -“John F. Kennedy possessed a famously wide bandwidth, as does Bill Gates. A critical aspect of bandwidth is the ability to sort the important from the non-important.”
http://www.theinstitute.ieee.org/portal/site/tionline/menuitem.- “We can profoundly expand the human bandwidth and ability to experience the world while we expand our longevity," Kurzweil says.
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There is only one way to describe my first experience at L’Oreal Fashion week 2007…complete and utter FABULOUSNESS.
You might have to be there to fully understand what I mean but let’s just say it was so fabulousssss that I found myself accidentally muttering the word out loud the entire weekend.
Memoirs from a Fashion week rookie:
I risked it all to get there. I skipped a class, missed a test (oh oh, I guess the secret is out), and I just about maxed out my credit card to make sure I had the perfect weekend wardrobe. After cramming a delicious Arby’s sandwich down my throat, I put on my perfect yet expensive new outfit from Madge’s very own H &M and headed to the bus station. Next stop…. FASHION WEEK and as for the Arby’s sandwich, it was headed straight to my thighs. Ziiiiiing!
One trip on the subway and two bus rides later, we had arrived on site. I have never been known to be the “gushy type” but if I looked at myself in the mirror upon arrival, it would have screamed pure gushiness. The venue was the Liberty Grand at the exhibition place-- An excellent choice for my wedding, if Prince William decides to accept my proposal.
Trying to act coy and restrain myself, I pretended that I was just like any other fashionista there. Clutching my not so designer handbag and sporting a look of disinterest, I headed into the first show.
Fashion Psychology was up first. We were able to secure some decent seats and alas the show began. The room was instantaneously filled with an indescribable energy as a DJ sporting a Tom Saweresque fur hat, began spinning techno beats. Out came the models and they were absolutely breathtaking. The fashions were edgy and it reflected on the model’s faces as they began to strut down the runway with more attitude than Janice Dickenson. Vavoom girls!
After a free meal compliments of the Press Lounge, we caught two more shows that evening. Pat McDonagh’s show was very different from Fashion Psychology but was just as intriguing. Her collection was inspired by a recent stay in the hospital after receiving a card portraying two penguins and an iceberg. The card was from her first love. Her collection was a reflection of the card and the urgency of handling the prevention of global warming. The crowd gave Pat a standing ovation after the show for her contribution to the Canadian fashion industry for the past 40 years. It was such an inspiring moment. You go Pat! We visited our last show of the day, Izzy Camilleri then headed out due to a small case of fashion exhaustion. It comes as no surprise that I had visions of glorious fall collections dancing in my head as I slept.
On our second and final day of fashion week, not only did we receive front row seats to the Saniya Khan show but we also left with a small souvenir of the event—MAKEOVERS! With a hairdresser from the T dot’s infamous Tony and Guy salon on board the L’Oreal makeover team, I was completely revamped. Although, I received a few compliments from the “fabulous” people, I think the best way to describe my new ‘do would be a poodle who doesn’t understand the consequences of a light socket. What a way to cap off the weekend.
After two fashion filled days, I was sad to leave fashion week. Unfortunately for my bank account, my experience at fashion week has left me hungering for dose of more fashion in my life. I realized that I truly do enjoy other people’s creations, whether it is a gorgeous vintage Valentino dress, or a piece of art designed by my best friend. I hope to go to the next fashion week but until then I might have to hand over my credit card to my mom, in hopes that I don’t max it out completely.
Are bloggers journalists? That is a good question. My instincts say no but the journalist inside of me wants to investigate the issue. I want to understand the blogger's role in society in relation to the journalist. I want to say no because I want to believe that those of us who went to school to become educated on the practice of journalism are special. I don't want "bloggers" to have the same status as those who cough up the cash to gain a full understanding of the profession. Having said that, part of me believes bloggers are journalists to some degree.
Bloggers represent a new wave of journalism without limitations or restrictions. A blogger's content is not censored or monitored before being published, nor are they required to follow a code of ethics. Some would argue, that this is the reason why they are not true journalists. I think it simply makes their style more thought provoking and interesting. If there is anything at all we can take out of this, it is that we should all develop journalistic values. If we want to utilize bloggers as a main source of news, we have to be ready to further investigate what is being presented before us. It is important to realize that what we see might not be taken from a credible source. The blogger certainly isn’t the traditional journalist and if we want the facts presented to us in a cold, hard fashioned manner then we should gear towards watching the daily news.
I've reached the end of my reflection and in a backwards way, I finally have my response. Bloggers are definately journalists but to a different degree than the typical journalist. Perhaps what we can learn from the blogger is that objectivity is never really possible, because ultimately, we all have an opinion.
Correct me if I'm wrong but entering a class with the title, "Research techniques" doesn't exactly get your "mojo" going. In my first year of University I took a class similar to the one we have now. Looking back on the experience I realize that my serious case of first year 'TUDE and candy ass attitude got in the way of my learning experience. It didn't help that our teacher was a librarian who was also oozing with hatred for her profession.
That is why...this time around, things are going to be different. After 3 years of painful research, I have finally decided to check my attitude at the door and open myself up to some helpful hints. Friday marked the first day of the rest of my information life. Obviously, I'm going to go ahead and say the class was useful. Would Darryl actually give us a decent mark, if we said what a drag it was. I highly doubt it. But seriously, all sarcasm and jerkiness aside, learning how to find sources is the bread and butter of journalism. If you can't obtain your sources quickly and efficiently it's probably the appropriate time to quit journalism and take up basket weaving at Sheridan College.
The most useful part of Friday's information gong-show was getting to know the Mohawk Brain. Although I have heard of it before, I didn't really realize its usefullness. We also learned that our precious Internet isn't the only method for finding sources and information. We got a glimpse into the databases Mohawk College has to offer. A link that I found to be very useful in the presentation was myhamilton.ca and I have used it a few times already since Friday.
I definately plan on applying what we learned on Friday to the rest of my studies as a future journalist. This time around I wont be so quick to give up when Google or Yahoo isn't helping me find everything I am looking for. I will be sure to try the appropriate avenues for the respective story. The bottom line is, it's time to get the contact file going. Once we find our major sources using our research techniques, we simply have to look in our "little black books" to save us that extra time.
Well, it looks like I've completed all of the requirements for this assignment, or at least I think I have. I've put up my posts, my photos and my deeeeeel.iciou.uuuuuuuuus links. I've definately learned more about Web 2.0 is all about and I think its a pretty cool i
dea. I never thought I would be making a blog, due to extreme laziness. I'm glad I got the ball rolling on this one though because I think it's a useful tool and can help us improve our writing.
It's been fun folks. We've been there through it all, through Danny Tanner's sports rants and his U.G.L.Y they aint got no alibi athletes to Bob Vila's depleating tool box. Where did it go? If anyone has seen his blog please let him know. One things for sure he wont be fixing any houses without it. And who even knows what will happen to Carl Winslow and his quest to conquer the world of Warcraft. I know one person who is routing for him and thats Icyru.
Call me a creep but it was nice to get to know everyone a bit better through their blogs. I enjoyed reading all of them and I hope I have provided you with some entertainment.
I leave you with a saying by the sleezy yet always entertaining Jerry Springer, "Take care of yourself.... and eachother".
I don't have many pictures up. That's because I don't want to use this computer for pictures and downloads. Seeing as how it's my school computer I wouldn't want it to get 100 viruses like my last one did. That was a good time. YIIIIKES! Hope you enjoy them. Most are from a night out in Toronto.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67112152@N00/.
Here are my del.icio.us links incase you'd like to check them out. I really tried to find some good ones that will help those who'd like to further explore Web 2.0. Some of them are just websites or articles that I enjoy. http://del.icio.us/Laurencosentino.
It's the end of the assignment and I'm finally spelling del.icio.us properly. I kind of knew all along I was leaving out the strategically placed periods but I guess I can be downright lazy sometimes. Ahhh Wayne don't penalize me. Don't penalize me for my terrible essay on creeping either. Haha. All in good fun. Enjoy my links everyone. It's been fun.
If you want to read something mean but funny follow the link to this one. Bob Saget you are mean!
My friends, we have entered the age of "creeping".
Five years ago if someone called you a creeper would you not take offense to this? You might even shed a tear. We thought creepers were the kind of people that belonged in prison. Nowadays the term is widely used and it's almost cool to be called a creeper. Of course there are many different kinds of creepers and you have to make sure you aren't creeping too hard. That I will elaborate upon later BUT..
I can remember the day when my friends and I started using the term "creeper". Let's take it back four years ago. It was a party...the drinks were flowing. I was with three of my good friends and we knew NOBODY! We found a solution to spice up the night and prevent ourselves from being wallflowers all night. We filled the rest of our night taking creepy pictures of us in the background of the people we didn't know. Don't worry nobody really noticed us, at least thats what I hoped. Boy were we creepy. From then on we made sure to have designated creeping nights every so often to commerate that one special night. I'm not saying that we coined the term creeper but.. the term really did see to catch on shortly after that.
There are a multitude of different creepers. Perhaps the best way I can sum them up are with the help of Darryl Hartwick. There are the good, the bad and the ugly. I'm sure if asked we would all label ourselves as good creepers. Sure we have facebook but we NEVER use it to stalk anyone else. We just like the odd look at someone else's life every so often. Nooo we'd never consider ourselves to be creepy.
Pardon me for relating all of these examples to facebook but the bad would be those who add someone to a facebook account or msn just to creep into someone else's world. I'm sorry but if you didn't talk to me in highschool chances are you have no good reason to look at my pictures and check out my wall posts. Hmmmm.
We are now entering the creeper danger zone. Not only do these people creep on the Internet but they will creep you to your face in public. The really dangerous creepers might chose to sneak a peek on you when you aren't looking and LOOK OUT... When you do catch them creeping they make eye contact with you and then label it as a special moment between the two of you. I've seen it happen before. Look around a co-ed gym and just watch the creeping that goes on. Thankfully, I keep to myself. These Code Red creepers will do anything to be "all up in your grill". They might even google your name or look for your pictures.
Well, I do realize that I sound like the biggest creeper of them all but.. I think I can handle that. For the record, I think we all like to be creeped on a little bit or we wouldn't be putting up such personal information online.
Until next time... Keep on creepin'! And be sure to check out the Utube video I have attached. It sums up everything I have written in this post.
