Blogging final!

1. Describe the importance of blogging to modern day journalism.

Blogging has been a part of the evolution of journalism, blending factual reporting with eyewitness citizen journalists and personal editorials. For us as journalists, blogging gives the opportunity to connect with our audiences in a heretofore impossible way - and even to interact with our readers. With that immense potential, of course, also comes the responsibility to preserve the lines between objectivity and subjectivity. But regardless of the dangers of media like blogs, journalists simply can't afford not to utilize them. Why? Because blogs look like a stepping stone to the news outlets of the future, and if we can't keep up, journalism truly will begin to die.

2. If you are going to continue to blog, why? or why not?

Yes! First, I'll keep blogging because it's fun. Second, now that I have some experience, I can use it to create a blog someone will actually read (haha). Do I think blogs have jumped the shark? Yes, maybe a little bit; I don't know how much longer I actually will maintain a blog. Nonetheless, they still are a key medium and proficiency with blogging will help in my career and in mastering future technological developments.

3. If you were going to keep blogging, how will you change your blog in the future?

In the future, if I want to have a successful blog, I'll definitely have to blog more and to blog about more things. I'll also need to promote my blog more on social networks and work to have more of an online presence in general. I also would have to actually comment on other people's blogs and begin to follow a greater number of people to establish myself as a genuine entity. In short, I'll need to spend more time on it - which will be a lot easier now that I'm graduating.

It's been a great class! Thanks, Dr. Clark and all the people. Good times. Have a great summer and stuff!

A question for le test

What is a multiuser blog?

The rich get richer, and the poor get children.

A few useful facts from Dr. Sridhar Krishnaswami, a journalism professor from India who spoke to our blogging class Thursday about journalism here and in India:

• Krishnaswami: "I don't blog. I don't do facebook. I don't 'tweet.' I'm a boring guy."  I disagree with this one. My name is Rachel Williams, and I am here to tell you that an electronic presence has the potential to be like a monolithic event of boredom. You and I both know this.

• In Krishnaswami's Indian newspaper, The Hindu - equivalent to the New York Times - stories begin and end on the same page to keep interest. That's smart, because I probably follow a story through the jump 1.7% of the time while reading the paper. Am I ashamed of this? Sort of. Is it likely to change? No, not really.

• Krishnaswami said terrorism is less of a big deal in India, where 30 people die every day in the line of control between India and Pakistan.

We are the future?

• The biggest hindrance to India's international economic and technological presence is population growth, according to Krishnaswami. People just keep having kids.

• Dr. Krishnaswami doesn't like embedded journalists. Sorry, Mike Boettcher.

I'm an embedded journalist. Check out my Macbook Pro.

I disagree with everything you stand for. Get out of Afghanistan and off your Facebook.

Oops.
Anyway, they're both super cool guys. Krishnaswami does, however, glowingly endorse foreign correspondents, as he was a foreign correspondent to America for years.
I kept wanting to ask if Slumdog Millionaire provides an accurate picture of the economic disparity within India, but that might be a stupid question.

Death by powerpoint, and how not to be that grisly executor.

We've all been that guy. Let's try to help each other not to be...ever again.
This is for the good of the American public.

Any questions?

Ellen Page is not affiliated with this post.

I know that some high school yearbooks include a baby ad page, where seniors can place pictures of their childhood to commemorate their accomplishments, or something. It's cute and kitschy. That's normal, right?

In the Anadarko yearbook, however, the baby ads actually display the infants birthed by students at Anadarko High School.  It's like dozens of Junos, but more Native American, and without the snappy dialogue.

Is this normal?

Is it May yet?

Some mornings, when I'm half awake, listening to Mumford & Sons over and over for two hours without realizing it because I'm zoned out trying to study for that linguistics quiz while driving from Anadarko to Edmond, I wonder why I'm doing this. In case you didn't catch the implication, that happened today, Tuesday, which I like to affectionately refer to as "gross."

I think I feel like this because after nearly two semesters, it seems like senior year will never end and this weird nomadic existence will be my life until the end of time - which is a lot longer than I want to spend at UCO or in Edmond, a place I love to hate.

Then, of course, I remember all the people at Oakridge whom I love dearly, and the work I'm blessed with the opportunity to do for Jesus, and the girls from our youth group who have given me the chance to invest in their lives and also to experience public high school vicariously through them. Ha.

And if I didn't have anything else to be thankful for, at least I didn't have a root canal yesterday, like Michelle behind me. Sad day, Michelle. Sad day.

Carrying the cross.

What would you do if, while driving down the highway, you saw a man dragging a full-size one-wheeled cross behind him on the shoulder of the road?

I pulled over. Well, the seven of us from Oakridge Camp who were headed to the medieval fair yesterday pulled over. The cross-carrying man, Joseph Vasquez, told us that he often takes his custom-built cross out and walks lengthy stretches of highway anywhere within 100 miles of the metro - from Sayer to Pink to Comanche to Verden, where we saw him a few miles outside the town itself.

Why?

"It's a witness for Jesus," Vasquez said. He gave each of us a chance to heft the cross, which boasted a sturdy weight. He does it simply to remind passers-by to consider their spirituality.

I've had numerous theological conversations over the past few years, and I've shared my faith, I think. But this little encounter really forces me to stop and wonder - do I display my own convictions, whether perceived by others as right or wrong, with the same visceral impact that Vasquez gets from something as elementary as lugging a cross down a highway?

Do you?



Vasquez, third from left, invites roadside conversations with his
conspicuous conversation piece.