This is one of those times when the book’s advice isn’t remotely applicable to the Setonian. There is never any competition for the position of editor-in-chief, or any editorial positions, so it’s impossible to have a lot of standards or any formal process.

The Student Newspaper Survival Guide, by Rachele Kanigel, discusses the advantages of being a student journalist. She believes that because of the typically young age of students, they have unique contributions to make. And though this book was written for an audience of staff members that participate in large student newspapers, I still find the information applicable to the very small staff of the Setonian. I have yet to read a chapter that isn't relatable in some way.

Large or small, all newspapers function in similar ways. They all use language that relates to their readership and they all have the same problems, like worrying about false sources. Regardless of the size of a student paper, they are the best way to gain experience in journalism.

And with the Internet, student newspapers can put their content online and watch it grow. They can gain experience in new media as well as journalism. Each new group of staff members can contribute more innovative applications to their campus newspaper's website so that it is constantly evolving.

This chapter is about the arts and entertainment section about how being young means we have a different perspective to offer. However, I think this can be applied to all of the sections.

When writing news articles on topics that the Tribune Review has already covered, I’ve found they often miss important details. This is probably because we have more access to the SHU staff than they do. Our contacts are better and easier to access.

It makes sense that we would find ways to adapt and utilize the Internet in new and improved ways. We have moved beyond the “exploration” phase of all that is the Internet and are now personalizing it to fit our unique tastes.

I played “Lost Pig” and “House of Dream of Moon” because they didn’t require any downloading. Trying to find an interactive fiction game that can be played without downloading is nearly impossible. Most of them even require downloading interpreter programs.

The games were basically the same. A lot of wandering around, picking things up, examining, and asking about. Eventually I’d get stuck after I’d been in every room, examined every object and picked up everything that I could.

Technical language can't be used in general newspapers because the audience is wide. They can only be used in magazines or journals with specific audiences. Internet jargon is being used in most general newspapers, however, because they are becoming common terminology.

Topics: Adjusting the Screen, Zooming, Altering the Shape, Adding Color, and Adjusting Color Specifics

1. Press the middle mouse button to adjust the screen so you can see the shape.
2. Scroll to zoom in or out.
3. To change the shape, go to Edit Mode.
4. Right click and drag to alter the shape, and left click when finished.
5. To color, click “Material buttons” in the panel.
6. Select the box next to “Col”.
7. Select a color.
8. Drag the bars in Specular and Mirror to find a specific color.
9. To alter the hue and saturation, click HSV and drag the bars.

This could be true with phone interviews if you've never met the person or if you just don't remember the sound of their voice. It can also be true of face-to-face interviews if the person is pretending to be someone they're not. No method of interviewing is full proof.

"You can't ask spontaneous questions... Reponses can be stilted or carefully crafted."

These are only important if the article your writing is particularly controversial or delicate in nature. Besides, you can ask follow-up questions and you can ask them in a way that tries to get an answer that isn't PR.

A beat is a reporter's specialization, a topic they often write about. I don’t think we really use that term with the Setonian. People have sections that they like to write for. I think that’s the same thing.

I don’t think that’s something that has ever been tried by the Setonian staff. The “buddy system” seems unrealistic because I doubt people have that kind of luxury in the work place. It’s more sink or swim.

I agree with this quote. The Setonian is really the only way to get practical writing experience at Seton Hill University. Internships are another way, but those can be difficult to find depending on where you live. The University only offers one course of Newswriting. Writing for the campus newspaper is the only other way to discover a little bit about what it is like to be a journalist.

Landow asks American undergrads, since they are surrounded by analogue and digital information, "What kinds of books do they experience?" He estimates that their reply is very different than what he would have answered three decades ago (215).

• Books are considered fragile, short-lived, and poorly designed.
• They are no longer the center of our culture.
• They are not our primary means of recording information or entertaining.
• They're in fourth place in sales. Television, movies and video games are winning the race.

Landow believes that although contemporary novels and reference books will become digitalized, the classic books will always remain printed. Manuals and encyclopedias would undoubtedly be more useful online than in print.

• Landow writes that textbooks are poorly printed, "cobbled-together, non-books" (216). Is your attitude toward particular assignments affected by the form in which you read them?
• He says that books are seen as an "unnatural technological innovation," (218) and that they are "teaching and communicating machines" (219). How are books "machines"?

"Fragmentation and Cybercascades" by Cass Sunstein, Writing Materials, page 453

People like to see advertisements for what they recently purchased. The advertisements comfort them because "they confirm the wisdom of the decision" (456).

Sunstein relates this to filtering. People prefer to read news that comes from organizations that are in favor of the same political party that they are.

Instead of using links to further information, political websites use them to show how disreputable the opposing view is.

Group polarization: discussions engaged by people of similar views "will end up thinking the same thing that they thought before - but in more extreme form."

Social cascades: information can spread fast; much of it is not reliable.

• The Internet can be used to stop rumors as well as spread them. How can you locate valid information?

"The Return of the Word" by Adam Gopnik, Writing Materials, page 180

This essay was all about the Internet's effect on writing. Gopnik compares digital culture to the literary period of the eighteenth century. He relates Internet writing to writers like Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope because they wrote their pieces and published them in magazines and newspapers that they had created. So they were editing and publishing themselves, just like people do online.

He believes that they would have loved to write online because they wrote rants, "short essays and anonymous accusations." "Two of the most popular Web forms - the rant and the quote page - are pure eighteenth century revivals" (181).

Gopnik said that "the Internet was the first new medium to move decisively backward, for it is, essentially, written" (180). When someone tells you they've been online, it means that they've been reading and probably writing as well.

• The computer is more focused on writing than any other media. When online, are we reading and writing more than we are hearing and viewing?

E-mails are the new letters
Gopnik thinks that people will eventually read the e-mails of notable people like they read collections hand-written letters of Virginia Woolf or Henry James. He believes that e-mail makes us just as conscious of our words as letters did.

• Do you agree? Will people ever publish the e-mails of famous authors to read their prose?
• Do you think that because e-mails seem less permanent and arrive instantaneously, they are rushed and the words don't matter as much?