Week 7: Digital Storytelling

In class we discussed and looked at a bunch of different sites that allow you to create videos, slideshows, animations and other examples of digital storytelling. Digital storytelling is clearly the wave of the future. We watched examples of simple animations that were used to teach lessons and tell stories. They were far more interesting and captivating than a lecture would have been. Digital storytelling can be a great tool to be used in classrooms to keep the attention of students. I was surprised to learn about all the sites out there that you can use for free. For homework we had to create our own example of digital storytelling using one of the sites, and I used Animoto. Animoto lets you upload pictures and music to create a soundslide presentation. The most amazing part is that the whole thing takes less than 15 minutes to put together.

Digital storytelling may even become the future of journalism. As newspapers decline in readership and advertising sales, it is obvious that they will not be around forever. As a journalist, that means you must be able to tell stories and relay information in many other ways. I am very happy I got a taste of digital storytelling and now know how to put some stories together. This is a really cool tool that I will definitely use in my journalism classes in the future.

Here is a link to a really cool site dedicated to digital storytelling. It is a non profit organization that shares people's stories and assists them in using multimedia to tell them.

Center for Digital Storytelling

Week 6: Visual Literacy

We continued working on and discussing visual literacy in class this week. One of our largest grades in this class is for our visual literacy project. For the project we are given an image and must alter it using Photoshop using all sorts of tools and techniques. I think the project really taught me a lot and made me much more comfortable using Photoshop. I've learned that even if I don't know how to do something in the program, there are so many tutorials online that you can figure out how to do anything. Photoshop really is a valuable resource and something that I would like to continue learning about in the future.

As a journalism student Photoshop is one of the most important computer programs to master. I was the editor-in-chief of my school newspaper in high school. I used Photoshop almost everyday to fix images for print. Even so, I still did not know much more than the tip of the iceberg for what the program is capable of. An image that is stretched, not modified for brightness and contrast, and not cropped can ruin a newspaper. It is important to remember however that you have to be careful when altering photos not to change them too much from their original state to alter their meaning.


Here is a really cool video that shows the capabilities of Photoshop and makes you think twice every time you salivate at a bathing suit model in a magazine ad

Week 5: Media and Information Literacy

In class we discussed media and information literacy further and we began talking about visual literacy. Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image. What this means is that videos and images can essentially be read and deciphered. There is meaning below the surface and determining what that meaning is can be extremely important when it comes to evaluating its credibility among other things. We watched a video in class that showed an image being manipulated by photo shop to make a model much better looking. This makes you realize how much images must be manipulated and changed from their original state.

In journalism, visual literacy is so important. You run across serious ethical lines when you manipulate images or alter video from its original state. Journalists have gotten in serious trouble or even lost their jobs for doing things like that. Being visually literate lets you see the truth behind altered images. I also really enjoyed working with Photoshop and learning new techniques. Photoshop is such a cool resource that can be used in any field. Half of the stuff we did in class, I had no idea Photoshop was even capable of performing.

Here is a video that explains visual literacy and shows examples of its importance

Week 4: Copyright Law, Plagiarism and Ethical Issues

In class we talked about copyright laws and other ethical issues that relate to the Internet and technology. I did not realize how careful you have to be when using content from the Internet. Even though virtually any one can access most content, if it is used without licensing or permission it is illegal. We also learned about information literacy. Information Literacy is a transformational process in which the learner needs to find, understand, evaluate, and use information in various forms to create for personal, social or global purposes (Abilock, 2004). We completed an informational literacy activity in which we had to decipher the web address, find the publisher, check the history of the site and check out the external links. All of these acts help to determine the credibility of the site and determine if it is a good source of information.

Both information literacy and copyright laws will be extremely valuable information in my future field. I am going into journalism, and the heart of any journalism assignment is credibility. Whether I am writing a story, shooting a video or designing a slide show, I will have to be able to pick out credible and reliable sources. It is also very good to know the ins and outs of copyright law so I do not use content that I could get sued for. Plagiarism is also a hot topic among journalists. If it is discovered that a journalist has plagiarized his or her work, they are immediately shunned by their colleagues and kicked to the curb by their employer. This has happened to several well known journalists in the recent past.


Here is a link to a New York Times article about the Jayson Blair scandal. He was a Times reporter that was discovered to be plagiarizing his work. Check out this article to see how the Times covered plagiarism at their own organization.

Times Reporter Who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception

Week 3: Web Technology

This week in class we discussed new technology on the Internet and Web 2.0. According to Wikipedia.com, one of the most used Web 2.0 sites, Web 2.0 facilitates interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Some of the most well known Web 2.0 sites are Facebook, Blogger, Myspace and Flickr. Web 2.0 has been dubbed the future of the Internet, and I believe rightfully so. With so many people having access to the Internet, it is becoming a global crossroads where each and every user can create and be published with the click of a mouse. We looked through a list of Web 2.0 applications and wrote forum posts about three of them. I had not realized how many interactive, user created sites were out there.
I am a journalism major and have plans to go to law school. Web 2.0 and new technology on the Internet are very relevant to my field. Journalism is evolving and its future is very unclear. Newspapers are disappearing every minute and the news is being reported on the Internet. Web 2.0 sites such as Twitter, Blogger and many more allow essentially anyone with an Internet hookup to become a journalist. Many columnists and reporters of major newspapers also keep their own blogs now. In order to get ahead in Journalism you must master all of these tools.
Here is a link to the Web 2.0 wikipedia page: Web 2.0
check it out to learn more.
The following are links to some very interesting Web 2.0 sites that are worth taking a look at:

Freezly is a site dedicated to informing people about all the free stuff that is out there on the internet. It collects all the information on Twitter about giveaways and freebies and posts them in one place so users can easily find them and try to win.

TheSummarizer is a site that compiles all of the tweets about a topic for you. You can search by keyword and read everything people have posted about a particular person, place or anything you're interested in. This is a really cool tool to use and stay informed.