Archive for Comm 361
March 1, 2012
It’s an iPad world
Apple is at it again. The cogs are forever turning in the Apple company. They’re finding ways to create and repackage products that already exist. They’ve already done this once, years back with the original iPod. If you remember correctly they original iPod was taken off shelves after the production of the Nano and iPod Touch. Then a few months later the original iPod was back with a fancy new name… No longer was the iPod. It was not the iPod Classic.
Same product, slightly different name.
Now, they’re at it again. The new potential victim? The iPad. There is now a new mini iPad in the works to accompany the release of the iPad 3. This isn’t a shock, but it does seem… Unnecessary. It’s like Apple married the iPod Touch and the iPad to make this awkwardly sized iPad Touch hybrid.
But it’s cheaper! Apparently weighing in at $249 – $299, this seems to be quite a steal for an iPad. It’s not bad. I hold onto my stance that it is a bit unnecessary. But who am I to complain? I’ll sit here in my dorm, crying because I still can’t afford one.
February 22, 2012
Workshop #1: Workshop with Jake
Jake and I had a one on one workshop one day after class, that proved to be very insightful. We went over several video concepts, and I must say that I even impressed him more than a few times. The first thing he showed me was how to capture good video with a camera phone. He told me how to properly hold the phone between my fingers to reduce the heavy shaking effect that I tend to get when I hold things at what I believe to be an even level.
After that he asked me what I knew about cameras and lenses. I couldn’t remember a ton of details from my days as a yearbook photographer at Freedom High School, but I remembered enough from the D600 to be valuable asset to any team when we do our full projects later in the semester.
Jake refreshed me on the workings of iMovie as well as teaching me the pros and cons of Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere. The latter being his program of choice. I explained to him the heavy lag I experienced when using Final Cut Pro. Apparently it takes a computer with a lot of free space to make the program run smoothly.
After that we got into a few more technical things. He explained to me that it is good to avoid using background music in a lot of videos. He also explained how to effectively frame things and know when videos are getting too long. Keep them between 2 and 4 minutes. 4 being the absolute maximum. All in all I think I learned a lot from Jake as well as refreshed myself on a lot of concepts.
iPad 3 with retina display
Let me start out by saying that I grossly overestimated what retina display was. My mind instantly moved into some kind of futuristic Jetson type world where the iPad screen matched your eye sight for the perfect viewing experience… Well I hate to say it, but I was wrong. I was way off base.
What “retina display” actually means is resolution so sophistocated that your eye cannot pick up the pixels. Exciting, but way less exciting that iPads that read eye patterns. This new iPad is set to be revealed at an Apple media event on March 7th, so all of the more detailed questions will be answered then.
Until that time, I can only tell you that this new iPad will have a resolution up to 2048×1536 which is twice the amount of the current iPad 2. Now that’s exciting. But what isn’t exciting is that I still don’t have enough money for an iPad 1 let alone an iPad 3. The woes of being a college blogger.
Briggs Chapter Six: Visual storytelling with photographs
The saying goes that a picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures are an essential part of journalism because they allow the audience to have a visual representation of what they’re reading. As humans we are primarily vision based. Seeing something with our own eyes is more impactful than creating our own image mentally.
Steve Buttry taught us that it was possible to have our environment create a story for us. I believe that to be true. As much as a person can sit behind their desk throwing around ideas, nothing compares to actually going out and being a part of a situation. Being a part of something is a different experience than just hearing about it. That is another reason why photos are so important. It makes the reader feel like they were actually apart of the event, rather than just a passer by.
This chapter gives insight on how to capture, use, and manipulate photographs in order to tell a story. I’ve trained myself to use programs such as Photoshop, so that portion of the chapter was another refresher for me. A chance to hone a skill that I already possessed.
Briggs Chapter Five: Going mobile
We live in a world where it’s possible to capture the best and worst moments of life. With items like tablets and smart phones, everyone has the capacity to report the news. A bridge collapse or Kim Kardashian falling off a curb. With these devices we have the power to dictate what is news. With these devices we have the power to publish this media in a matter of moments.
At first it seemed that only civilians were using their gadgets to get information to their social network. Not anymore. These days journalists are using these gadgets for their stories as well as soliciting the non journalists to send in their media as a means of supplementing a story. No longer is there a wall between the journalist and their audience. There are many opportunities for the two titles to mesh.
Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Brad Kalbfeld taught us that mobile media had completely disrupted the levels of filtration. Meaning there is now a chance that an audience is receiving information that is less than credible. It teaches consumers to be more self sufficient when it comes to making judgments about the news they consume.
All of this because people have the world in the palm of their hands.
February 16, 2012
My Abode. (Skillset 2)
New roadblocks for solicitors
I always thought the obnoxious calls at all hours of the day from telemarketers was a human rite of passage. What stage in life you’re actually ascending to…. I’m still not entirely sure, but it’s not the point. While being constantly harassed about going back to school while I sit in my dorm room is annoying, on some level it is still very entertaining. Just look at the situation.
Scrambling to answer that unknown California number, you put the phone up to your ear hoping it’s your big break. No. It’s Robert from EasyCollege.org! He wants to know if you are interested in going back to school! Then when you tell him that you’re currently sitting on your extra long twin bed, he proceeds to tell you things you’re uninterested in until you hang up.
That might all be about to change. Apparently Apple has made it so it is explicitly necessary to have permission before retrieving a person’s contact information through apps. It is a violation to their guidelines. Which means that your number will be floating around less and less… So, you’ll only be getting phone calls, e-mails, and texts from people you actually know. There goes the e-mails I get from myself about confirming my Swiss bank account with millions of dollars waiting for me to spend.
Future generations will miss out on a valuable learning tool. How to assert yourself and remove yourself from an unproductive situation by hanging up the phone. How will the world cope with this?
Briggs Chapter Four: Microblogging
This chapter on microblogging made me think back to the class where Steve Buttry came and spoke to us. He explained to us that stories could be told in tweets, 140 characters or less. That we, as journalists, are only limited by our own creativity and imagination when it comes to digital media. For me, that chapter reinforces that.
It explains that microblogging is a quick and effective way to grab reader’s attention and pull them into a story. I believe that to be true. Speaking from my own experience, I am curious when I see a link. I have an urge to click it. Almost like a subconscious need to know what’s on the other side. I guess I’m playing into what the journalist wants…
Microblogging also forces journalists to become more creative in their taglines, titles, and/or bylines. While microblogging allows you quick access to an article, your initial reaction will be to the title. So, if that’s not interesting I’m going to keep on scrolling in my ChromeBird.
February 9, 2012
Briggs Chapter Three: Crowd-Powered collaboration
This chapter has introduced me to several new terms that I hadn’t heard before. The first being crowdsourcing. The concept of crowdsourcing is one that I was familiar with before. With websites like Tumblr and DeviantArt, it is easy to see how a community can out perform a paid employee. I’ve seen amazing mock posters and other media that vastly surpasses their legitimate counterparts.
In the journalism field it seems to serve as something of a focus group as well. The chapter states that crowdsourcing is often used as a means of answering specific questions via different viewpoints.
It seems to me that open-source journalism was an inevitable circumstance. With websites like Twitter and Facebook it’s hard to simply ignore the feedback of the audience. Consumers will always have opinions and with social media and networking sites it’s foolish to try and deny people their opinions. Hence open-source. Journalism’s way of officially opening the floor to the audience and using their opinions and feedback as a means of creating better and more interesting stories.
We’ve talked about the importance of linking in class. Being able to move seamlessly from one subject to another is an intergal part of online journalism. With links people have access to a deeper wealth of knowledge, whether it be expanding on what they’ve just read or taking them in a completely different direction.
Links are important.
With Pro-Am journalism it’s difficult to essentially tell the “real” from the “fake”. If everyone amateur and professional are allowed to post, how can you tell which has the proper credentials to direct you on a subject? In my own experience, I’d rather have the journalist who actually went out and researched a topic tell me what to do than someone with a laptop and a lot of feelings.
February 8, 2012
R.I.P. White Macbook
People have been privy to the on going conflict of PC Vs Mac. What is less documented was the insider battle between the Macbook Pro, Macbook Air, and the Macbook. One of these things is not like the other… And unfortunately that thing, being the white Macbook, has finally come to its untimely end.
The white Macbook was essentially blacklisted by the Apple consumer when the Macbook Pro was released. Funny thing is, the two machines were practically the same thing. The operating systems were even. The Pro boasted a slightly faster system, but if you weren’t doing advanced work on your computer then it didn’t matter. Cosmetic issues seemed to be the death of the white Macbook.
It was plastic and didn’t have a backlit keyboard like the Pro.
When I was in the market for a Macbook, I saw the white one and saw great machine at a slightly cheaper price. Naturally that was the one I was going for until I heard that they were being discontinued… Enter the Macbook Air. A thin Macbook that you can carry around in a manilla folder. Sounds great! Except when you really think about it, are you actually getting something worth the money?
We got rid of a full functioning computer for one that really only functions optimally if you have a million and a half other accessories. Maybe I’m apprehensive about paying nearly $1000 for a machine that doesn’t even have a CD drive.
