Test post to see if….

my dreamweaver page updates

Testing out the wordpress app

I’m trying out the WordPress app on my iPhone. Hope this turns out to be beneficial to me!!!

Journalism Job Cuts Causing Lower Quality Reporting?

A recent reaction to an article on the Commercial Appeal website has sparked some discussion both online and among graduate students within the University of Memphis Department of Journalism. A young man, who my little sister is friends with, was tragically killed early Monday morning while skateboarding in midtown Memphis. According to the story, he was hit by an Allied Waste Management truck while riding his skateboard.

The story gave no name of the victim or the friend who was skating with him. Nor was there much information regarding what had actually happened. The story was 82 words long. Not much of a story, at least, according to one person who commented on the article.

Of the 60 comments posted by readers on the CA website, the following comment caught my attention:

August 23, 2010, 9:50 a.m. [user name deleted by me] writes:

“This is terrible, both the death and the reporting…CA any more information, why was the kid/adult out at 2am, male/female…I know you say the police did not identify but come on you have sources.”

This comment caught my eye for one reason in particular. The reader is apparently upset at the Commercial Appeal for the lack of information regarding the accident.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, my little sister is friends with this young man and his brother. She called me last night to tell me about the accident. What she did not know prior to calling is that I had tweeted this story earlier that morning. However, I posted the article on WMC TV Action New 5’swebsite. This article, although not revealing the victim’s name, at least had a little bit more information regarding witness accounts and a statement from Allied Waste Management’s spokesperson. Driving to work this morning, I began thinking about the CA’s article, the lack of information, and the comparison to the Action News 5 story.

image from Action News 5 website

In recent months, I have been working on a research project on journalism and social media. One thing that is mentioned often by journalists and news organizations is that newspaper organizations are being forced to cut jobs, thereby forcing journalists to produce an increased amount of stories with a limited number of writers and copy editors. This begs the question…are journalists sacrificing quality news articles to meet excessive demands from management? If so, why is it that Action News 5’s article had more information? Is it a lack of effort or a difference between print and broadcasting.

Keep in mind, I am a public relations girl…not a journalist per say. However, it seems that example of news coverage is something that must be going on in a number of cities around the world. As of this afternoon, there has been no follow-up report on the incident. However, there is chatter in the social media networks regarding the incident. I found myself gathering more information from “citizen journalists” than from professional journalists.

Is this trend affecting journalism more than one might have previously imagined?

Playing with Twitpic

Over the last few months, I have been honing my skills and learning new things in the world of social media. With so many networks and tools out there, I feel like it’s almost impossible to keep up with all of the bells, whistles, and apps that each of them offer. However, with a lazy Sunday afternoon and the assistance of my trusty sidekick, Monty, I’ve been relatively productive today and learned something new!

I can now take pictures on my iPhone and post them to Twitter via TwitPic’s email service. This is now one of the things that I will be adding to my Twitter toolbox.

Thanks, Monty and TwitPic! Most fabulous Sunday!

Baby Shower Skyping

I co-hosted a baby shower yesterday for two of the graduate students from the University of Memphis journalism department. Since there were two of them, we actually held two showers back-to-back. The first shower was your typical baby shower. Good food. Great friends. And LOTS of talk about babies.

The second shower was a bit different. Now, I have been to a number of showers (baby, wedding, engagement, etc.), but this one gave me a greater understanding of the power of social media. This shower was for our friend, Sarah. Coming to Memphis all the way from the west coast, Sarah is a beautiful girl with an amazing personality and intoxicating laugh.

As we made our way to the room for Sarah to open presents, there was something missing…Her mom. Sarah’s parents don’t live in Memphis, and it was impossible for them to be able to make it into town for her baby shower. So, instead, she was there “virtually”.

Sarah hugging Mom via Skype

Sarah’s mom was able to watch as her daughter opened up all of the bibs, clothes, books, and high chairs that her friends had given her. She was also able to “meet” Eric, Sarah’s boyfriend, for the first time. Through the power of technology and social media this family was able to share a special moment that otherwise would have been missed. instead of describing the event, her parents and brother were able to watch through the computer as if they were in the room!

This was definitely a first for me! As I watched all of this take place, I thought about all of the people who are now able to be connected to loved ones via mediums such as Skype. Not only can people connect with their families and freinds, but companies are using this technology too!

This begs the question…How much do journalism students really know about the ways to use this medium? And is it important enough to cover within a social media course?

Social Media Course for Grad Students at Memphis

As graduation approaches in December, I have been charged with completing my final graduate project over the summer and fall. Although there were numerous options to choose from (thesis, marketing plan, etc.), I chose to develop a graduate level course in social media for the journalism department. I’ve never done this before, so we’ll just have to see how it goes.

Most of my research thus far includes syllabi that I have found online. In reviewing these, I have noticed that the majority of them are geared primarily toward a public relations perspective. However, there are a few that focus more on the use of social media within the realm of journalists. After various conversations with my committee chair, Dr. Carrie Brown, I will be focusing on a “best practices” type of course that will not only address the importance of maintaining your individual online reputation, but also maintaining the reputation of your clients online. Furthermore, the course will explain how journalists and public relations practitioners can utilize the social media tools within their careers.

I am still working on getting the project proposal together to submit to the committee. However, in the mean time, I have created a  wiki to assist in the collaboration of ideas from grad students, faculty, and social media gurus. I am inviting anyone and everyone who may have ideas or comments regarding the development of the course to join in the conversation.

In addition to the wiki, I will be conducting interviews with various graduate students, University of Memphis faculty, faculty members at other schools that are currently teaching these courses, and other social media professionals. If you are interested in being interviewed, please let me know!

So, here I sit. Working, wondering, and ready to get started with this project! Stay tuned for further progressions of this!

A new beginning to a new decade…

After a long and tumultuous holiday season, I have spend the past few days packing up Christmas decorations, cleaning the dog hair left by my sister’s dogs, and getting myself and my children ready to begin back to school. During this time, I spent most of the day and evening wondering how this year is going to change my world. Not that this year is any different than the previous years, but I seem to be in a different state of mind than I have been before.

This year, I quit smoking. Actually, I did that last year too…oh, and the year(s) before that too. But this year will be different. This year, I’m heading back to the gym. Wait…I did that last year too. And as I recall, I was doing really well. That is, until deadlines popped up for papers and Christmas descended upon the world. This year, I’m more organized. Actually, I’ve always been relatively organized. Many would say that I am too organized. So what if my shelves in the refrigerator are labeled? It makes packing lunches more efficient. And color-coding my calendar helps me prioritize! So maybe I could still manage to function as a normal 30-year old wife, mother (of two boys!), sister (of a pregnant woman!), daughter, aunt, graduate student/assistant and mommy to four animals without making all of the lists that I make, but it manages to help me survive.

After cooking dinner, getting the boys ready to start back to school tomorrow, and running over to my aunt’s house to feed her dog for her, I began getting ready for bed. After taking a shower and mentally making my list of things to do tomorrow, I realized that I have a grand opportunity this year. I have the opportunity to learn as much as I can, bring a better tomorrow for my family, achieve greatness in anything that I want, and somehow maintain sanity long enough to spread knowledge to the rest of the world (via the Internet!).

My goals for the year as as follows (though not in any specific order):

1. Gain the most out of my experience as a graduate assistant this semester.

2. Get my paper on public relations in social marketing accepted to conference.

3. Not smoke!

4. Sleep more.

5. Hit the gym at least 4 days a week (for stress relief).

6. Drink less coffee and more hot tea.

After coming up with this nifty little list, I went into the bathroom to moisturize my face only to realize that I have severely neglected things that I was semi-religious about in previous years. When was the last time that I gave myself a facial? No clue. I’m sure that I did my eyebrows at some point over the Christmas break, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at them tonight. And what in the world are those huge bags under my eyes???

So…

7. Spend at least 2 hours a week on me.

So there it is world. 2010 is here, and so am I. So, in an effort to achieve goal #4, I am off to sleep to get ready to change the world tomorrow.

Goodnight and God bless.