December 2003 Archives
I just wanted to wish you all a Happy and Safe New Year. I'll see ya all in 2004!
Tiff
A small number of my students noted in their end-of-term reflection that they weren't all that comfortable with blogging because they expected a course in traditional journalism, not all this cyberspace stuff. While I hope there will always be a good selection of courses for students who are interested in gaining practice in traditional forms of writing, articles like this one underscore my own interest in exposing my students to the dominant forces shaping the profession of journalism -- and the savvy journalists have been aware of the power of weblogs for longer than the educators/composition theorists (who, sadly, as a group tend to be a little slow to adapt to technological change).
USATODAY.com - Freewheeling 'bloggers' are rewriting rules of journalismI'm not too surprised that an article in the "politics" section of the paper presents weblogs as if they are all political soap boxes. We've had our share of political postings on this site, but I think that newspaper articles like this, which condition non-bloggers to expect that all bloggers are blogging for political reasons, is part of why some people snort derisively when they come across blogs that are more social/personal in nature. (Andrew Orlowksi is perhaps the best example of a professional writer who scoffs at blogs because, according to his distortion of a ficture quoted at an academic conference, most bloggers are teenage girls.)They call themselves bloggers. Their mission: to remake political journalism and, quite possibly, democracy itself. The plan: to run an end around big media by becoming publishers on the Internet.
I just wanted to wish EVERYONE on the New Media Journalism web blog a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope everyone is enjoying their vacation and keeping warm!!
Mark Glaser, of Online Journalism Review, writes:
Whether blogs are journalism or not, journalists are paying attention to them more than ever, writing about bloggers in Iraq or new blogging services offered by AOL.But 2003 offered up much more than just an unhealthy fascination with blogs. We also obsessed over the proliferation of people with camera phones breaking spot news stories; the rise of Google and Google News; the soap opera at (AOL) Time Warner; the continued inroads of paid content; RSS feeds; massive online coverage of the war in Iraq; viruses, worms and spam overwhelming newsrooms; the struggle for independent news in Zimbabwe, China, Iran and Iraq; and political rhetoric and election coverage.
"A Look Back at 2003, and What's on the Horizon for the Online News Universe"
Since my recent post concerning color changes in our blogs has obviously caused a bit of a of trouble, I am posting this apology in response.
I originally replied to a request by a friend to help her with color changes on her blog since she had seen that I was able to perform such changes on my own site. I never intended to have it go further than that, but I thought it over and decided to just copy and paste the reply into a post on my own blog. After having posted the information on my personal site, I received a request from Dr. Jerz to please post the information on the NMJ site to share with other bloggers. Once again, I merely copied and posted the information into a post (all this means is that the original format and wording never changed). I reworded the first few lines of the post for NMJ, since my post no longer concerned the friend I had helped in the first place.
I never intended for this to be claimed as my own, and I regret that I did not use the name of the person that helped me to do the color changes in the first place--Anne Stadler. Anne helped me not more than three weeks ago to understand what it is that needs to be manipulated in order to have a brilliant, attractive looking blog instead of the drab, boring one we're provided with in the template.
Although I never intended to hurt, offend, anger, or forget anyone in this whole ordeal, it comes to my attention that this is what has happened, and I apologize. I hope that, having explained where I've come from, we can forget this and extend thanks towards those responsible for the delightfully colored blogs that are sure to spring up due to the hard work of Anne (and the original perseverence from Amy Slade, who taught her).
I am sorry, Anne. I hope that you can forgive me.
Well, with Christmas right around the corner I was curious as to how everyone celebrated this special holiday. I explain how I do in my blog, but for those who want to share here with the rest I thought that I would make this entry. So go for it. What is your special way of celebrating this day?
Tiffany
As requested by Dr. Jerz, here is my post on the color changes... This can also be found on my blog, incase you wanted to know. Those interested in changing the from the boring *yawn* ordinary colors that MT uses as default can see the steps below. I did my best to explain it as I went in to do mine over again. If you have any questions, email me or you can leave a comment--I'll try to reply ASAP.
Let me try to explain the color change thing...
Go to blogs.setonhill.edu and log yourself in. Hit the "templates" button on the left side of the screen. That'll bring up a list of templates--the one you want for color changes is the "stylesheet," which should be the last one. Click that. Now, copy and paste what is in the scroll box on the screen into a word document JUST IN CASE. If you screw it up and don't have anything to replace it with... I'm not sure what would happen, but I'm sure it can't be good... To change the colors, you've got to know the codes for the new colors. I had a great site to use, that I couldn't find yesterday when I wanted to change colors again, so I found this one: http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_colors.asp
In the HTML, the numbers like 666 and 003366 are the colors used in the default, which is the set of colors you're displaying right now. To find ALL the numbers to change, use the command CTRL + F (find) and type in the number code of the color you want to change. When you click on the "find" button, the number should be highlighted within the HTML. Click onto the MT page to re-highlight it and replace it with the color of your choice. (The most efficient way to do this is obviously copy and paste.) The easiest way to change colors would be to play around with it for awhile. Certain things in the HTML will change different aspects of your blog. Since I don't know everything about HTML, I've just sort of figured out some of the things and what will change if I play with it. You should, too.
To see what you've done, you have to save the changes in MT and then REBUILD your page. Refresh your page and look at what you've got. Sometimes when you think you've created something beautiful, it's actually really crappy or difficult to read--make sure you check! We want to be able to read what you write. Think not only about what looks nice on the screen, but also consider how you'd feel innocently pulling up a page that was neon yellow to have your retinas burned out due to the glow from the screen... just a thought ;)
hope all that helps.
Happy blogging :-D
By popular demand, and for the love of all things cold, I present to you the first intstallment of my stories of the snow.
There are the usuals of snowmen and days off of school, but I have a few that still make even me laugh on the warmest of summer days.
Once I went skiing at Boyce Park with a friend and her church youth group. We mostly stayed on the bunny hill, since neither of us had been skiing before. Well, we got a little bit of courage and decided to try a larger hill--with a ski lift. Now for those of you that know me well enough, you realize that this is a problem because Karissa is deathly afraid of heights. (I only recently began riding rollercoasters, and I can handle large flights of stairs thanks to a few friends that worked with me on that at Governor's School...) Nonetheless, we wre seated on the ski lift, and I made it to the top, with some coaching from my friend. We dismounted the lift, and prepared ourselves to go when all-of-a-sudden, my left ski decided that it wanted to go by itself. The stupid thing detached from my boot and went gliding down the hill. :-/ *argh* So i had to get back onto the lift and ride down with ONE ski on... and the ski lift guy looked at me strangely when he asked if it was mine--no, I'm in the group of kids that only skis with one ski... grr.
Another funny story has to do with an ice storm we had about three years ago. A few neighbors, my brothers, and I decided to go to the elementary school near where I live to go sledding. It was a rough walk up, but my brother Jacob had a friend that had a fantastic hill in his backyard. We stumbled all the way there because it was so icy, but we stuck it out because we wanted to try this hill. When we finally got there, we fought over who would use which sled--naturally, we all wanted the toboggan because it's the fastest, albeit the hardest to drag back up the hill... I lost a game of rock-paper-scissors to win the toboggan, but I got the plastic roll-up sled (you know, the kind they sell in K-mart for like a buck?). Since I was the oldest, I went first. I pushed off and went flying down the hill. I flew all the way to the bottom, across the road at the base of the hill, through the parking lot of the elementary school, across the blacktop playground, down another small hill, across an old lady's backyard, and down yet another small hill into the street below. !!! What a ride! Several times I had tried to stop myself, but really, I couldn't--it was too icy! The kids were all chasing after me--some with their sleds, who also found they couldn't stop, and some just ran. It was terrifying, but quite a rush, and the record for the longest sled ride in my neighborhood :)
When I lived in my old house (before I moved in middle school), Our backyard was right next to a river. We had a chainlink fence that mom and dad had put up to keep up from the river, since the sloping bank was the end of our yard. My sister and I, aged about 9 and 7 respectively, decided that since we couldn't go to our friend's house to sled because the roads were too bad that we'd sled in our own yard. Now, the only "hill" that existed was the riverbank--and it extended right into the chainlink fence. We had our little pink and purple toboggans facing the fence, and we gleefully slid down the small incline into the fence, content that we could entertain ourselves. Until the time that my pink toboggan went a little further than I did--right under the fence and into the rapid river current... Luckily, I didn't follow. I was just barely too big to slide under the fence. I was pretty ticked about losing my pink toboggan. Santa had just given it to me a week prior to it's tragic departure.
I've got plenty more, having lived in Westerm Pennsylvania all my life. I have a passion for the snow, and there's nothing I love more than waking up in the morning to a fresh blanket of snow on the ground :)
I am not in any of your classes, but I wanted to thank all of you who put energy into your blogs this term. I've enjoyed reading your posts and will miss them if you don't keep blogging. So KEEP BLOGGING! I, along with dozens of lurking friends, parents, faculty, prospective students, journalists, academics and various anonymous weirdos, are all out here reading you and hoping you'll continue. We learn a lot about your needs and daily lives; we learn a lot about 'breaking' local news or the impact of national news on your local lives; we learn from you. We don't always leave comments, and we don't always read you the same day you post, but we find you and we read you and we want to keep reading you. Surely this wasn't just another class homework assignment for you, was it? Surely this meant more to you than just doing time? Surely you won't abandon us, your loyal readers, will you?
Don't tell me to get a life. I've got one. Reading you makes it richer.
Keep writing!
-- Dr. Mike Arnzen, lurking English Faculty at SHU
If you have not received an e-mail from me excusing you from the final exam (I tried to send them out to whatever address you usually use to contact me, but check your likely alternatives), then I'll see you tomorrow at 3:30 in our Lynch classroom. (In an earlier announcement I misread the schedule and wrote 3:00! Sorry about that.)
From reading through some of the "Practice of Journalism" reflection papers, I can see that some of you were a bit surprised by the content of the journalism course. Those of you are passionate about entertainment reporter or dedicated to a particular political issue sometimes reported frustration, since editors don't always permit you to write about what interests you. Most entertainment reporting is syndicated out of Hollywood, though there is room in local papers for coverage of local bands, community theater, and so forth. Still, even the local entertainment reporters typically have to know the ropes before they get the chance to write on the assignments that really interest them.
The FUND for AMERICAN STUDIESLeading political journalists and campaign experts will share their insights on the 2004 election at this exclusive conference for college journalists sponsored by The Institute on Political Journalism.
Come to the number one news town in the world and gain exposure to the exciting world of political journalism. Network with your peers from across the country, and make valuable connections in world of Washington journalism.
To be held just four days after the New Hampshire primary, this conference will explore the race for the White House and control of Congress, as well as the political issues that will shape the election. Political journalists with years of experience covering Congress, the administration, and the Supreme Court will share insights about how to accurately report on national politics. Participants will also attend private briefings at Washington's places of power, where they will have a chance to meet policymakers behind the news.
The Onion | Clinton Googles Self
Citing curiosity as his primary motive, Bill Clinton typed his own name into the popular search engine Google.com during a lull in his daily activities, the former president reported Monday.
Everyone has their way of getting rid of anxiety at this time of the year. Well myself and six other students discovered a new way of doing this by playing basketball at 2 in the morning. For the whole story visit my blog.
Those of you who have been excused from the EL 227 final exam have been notified via your regular SHU e-mail address. For everyone else, the final exam is at 10:30 tomorrow, in our regular classroom.
Amusing:
Yahoo! News - Pa. Woman Cited for Honking Car HornGREENSBURG, Pa. - A western Pennsylvania woman who honked at hunters because she was upset they were in a tree stand that had been her late grandson's will be cited for illegally scaring deer.
Norma Kramer, 77, of Export, Westmoreland County, will be cited for "creating an intentional interruption of the hunting process," according to a state police report.
Visit my blog for how to get cool information about your blog.
<BAM SE> - Life's a tag - Code It
Who else is psyched about all the snow that fell last night? I know that it is really dangerous and all that stuff, but it's really beautiful too. I mean come on. Snow Angels, Snowmen, Snowball fights, Forts made of snow. We all have done one thing or another with snow. Plus, this is the first big snow of the season. It has been forever since we have had snow this early in December that actually stuck to the ground. Maybe we will actually have a White Christmas this year! One can hope! Oh well! Hey I would love to hear stories about how everyone is enjoying this snow or stories of childhood snowball fights and the like. Have fun out there and Be Safe!
Tiffany
I have often criticized TV news, but here's a bit of investigative reporting that shows up all the other news sources that carried the story about the Wal-Mart shopper who was trampled in a greedy stampede of shoppers... well done, WKMG-TV.
local6.com - Problem Solvers - 'Trampled' Wal-Mart Shopper Has History Of Injury ClaimsA woman reported "trampled" last Friday by Wal-Mart shoppers desperate for $29.87 DVD players has a long history of claiming injuries from Wal-Marts and other businesses where she worked or shopped.
If anyone wants to see a funny sketch comedy show over Christmas break, you should check out the Cellar Dwellers out of Beaver County! Why? Because I, Mike Rubino, am one of the leaders of this raucous improv comedy troupe...
If you find yourself habitually analyzing texts, you'll appreciate this essay:
The Chronicle: Career Network: 12/03/2003Santa Claus needed Rudolph, Hermey, and Yukon Cornelius, and during the show's climactic blizzard, the outcasts negotiated a place within the North Pole's hegemonic power structure: They would fight the abominable Snow Monster and help transport the toys for the good girls and boys, but only if Santa agreed to find homes for their friends, a group of malformed playthings.
One can only imagine the looks on the faces of the children who unwrapped the misfit toys. Did they laugh and cheer for the squirt gun that sprayed jelly and the cowboy who rode an ostrich? The polka-dotted elephant might have been fun, but I have a feeling that the poor kid who received the choo-choo with square wheels cursed Santa for caving into Rudolph's demands.
That's the flaw in the moral universe I share with Rankin and Bass's animagic creations. The program refuses to deal with the consequences of dropping special-needs toys into unprepared homes.
It's time for another round of "Where's My Blog."
Has anyone seen my blog lately? I made some highly fascinating posts in the past few days about the pageant, and my near-death experience on Monday night, so I was just concerned that perhaps cyberspace decided to loose another cybermonster to munch on my blog some more... Like everyone else, my blog became MIA around the 23rd and I was a happy kid to have it back. But now, woe! It is gone, again.
Is anyone else having this problem? If not, why does my blog taste better to the cybermonster? It ate my blog last week, and now I can't even visit my blog. Does the cybermonster want a ransom? I can give it my journalism homework...
I hate bugs. And my lungs hate bug spray...
Thanks to everyone that asked if I was all right today. I am, but asthma isn't something to be taken lightly.
That said, here's the story of a girl, a bug, and how things got uglier than just some smushed insect carcass...
Amanda told me to put this comic up. It seems that in our life (well at least the students who go to SHU) homework is more like shopping!
Thought you would like this!
Birth | School | Work | Death is an online poetry anthology by students in my Poetry Writing course this semester. It's still under construction, but most of it is done. Check it out!
