Today, Steve Jobs presented the world with a new project, a tablet computer that will allow users to surf the web, play video games, watch movies, listen to music and read books. Publishers are skeptical. Will the iPad further challenge the print industry?
I hope it won't. Call me old school, but I prefer to sit down with a cup of hot chocolate and a juicy novel at night. It relaxes me. But I'm 23, and I receive some strange looks from my peers when I tell them I refuse to buy a television and (gasp!) deactivated my Facebook account so I can have more time to read and write.
I don't really think I'm that strange. I just appreciate good stories, which brings me to the point of this blog, I'm learning (slowly, I admit) that good stories come in many forms. I can already appreciate that age-old medium of radio. But the new media that come in the shapes of podcasts, videos and blogs are beyond me.
Dylan hit it spot on when he sang, "The times, they are a changin'."
Media consumers now visit Web sites such as politico.com and mediastorm.org for their news. They watch, listen and debate. Newspaper reporters aren't just reporters anymore, but they shoot video, take pictures and edit it all on Final Cut and Photoshop. Everything is changing around us, and that's what I hope the theme of this class will be, how to take part in the change, understand it, prepare for it, and learn how to thrive amidst a changing profession. I'd like to learn how to adjust to these changes and adapt to watching video (gritting teeth) and reading blogs.
I'd also like to learn how to convince more people in this age to relax, how to enjoy a good book by a fire with a cup of hot chocolate. How to put away the Blackberry and shut off the laptop for a minute, and how to appreciate a story in its oldest form, verbally, or on the page.
New Technology and old fashioned gals such as myself might learn to marry our ideas. After all, I guess a good story is just that, a good story, presented in any form.
I guess. . . .
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Thoughts on the First Class - RG&M
I wasn't sure what to expect from the first class of Race, Gender and the Media. It has been nearly two years since I've taken a course with undergraduates, and sitting in a room with more than 100 undergrads was refreshing.
As a woman and a feminist, it is nice to know there are others younger than I who care about women's rights and our place in society, and how we are treated on a daily basis. It's also nice to know there are people who are aware of issues such as racial profiling and police brutality.
As for the Nightline video, it spurred some critical thinking among our class members, as well as stories of sexual harassment, racial profiling, DWB (which I'd never heard before) and a great discussion on reporting by Courtney, who covered two different murder trials in these last few months.
The Nightline video made me thing: the line of censorship is blurry. Was the station in Austin wrong for not reporting the triple homicide? Were the stations viewers harmed by the lack of coverage?
You decide.
As a woman and a feminist, it is nice to know there are others younger than I who care about women's rights and our place in society, and how we are treated on a daily basis. It's also nice to know there are people who are aware of issues such as racial profiling and police brutality.
As for the Nightline video, it spurred some critical thinking among our class members, as well as stories of sexual harassment, racial profiling, DWB (which I'd never heard before) and a great discussion on reporting by Courtney, who covered two different murder trials in these last few months.
The Nightline video made me thing: the line of censorship is blurry. Was the station in Austin wrong for not reporting the triple homicide? Were the stations viewers harmed by the lack of coverage?
You decide.
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