Solar Eclipse 2015

On Friday, March 20, 2015 there will be a Solar Eclipse.

A solar eclipse is when the moon passes between Earth and the Sun. When this happens it either partly or completely hides the image of the sun from the perspective of the people on Earth. When this happens the day time is turned into darkness.

This is an issue for the European Union, which has around 90 gigawatts of solar power. The solar eclipse could in turn impact the power system and decrease production for the day by up to 34 gigawatts. 

Places in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium may experience a decrease in temperature and wind power. They might also find themselves 80% concealed in darkness

A total lunar eclipse is also expected to follow on April 4, 2015. The lunar eclipse will be visible in the southern hemisphere, North America, and the Pacific coast of Asia.

TEDxYouth@Alexandria 2015 Elections

It is the start of the 2015 term for TEDxYouth@Alexandria, which is the 5^th year for the organization.  This marks the start of elections for the new board.

2014 saw many new members and faced many challenges. This year, the applicants are determined to face all previous issues along with any problems that may occur in the future.

The executive director (ED) and vice executive director have already been selected, and the process for selecting the remaining executive board members is underway.

Throughout the elections, the people involved – audience (made up of previous members) and applicants – all maintained the TEDx spirit!

The applicants start off by going through a speech phase, where they give a talk to inspire the audience under the general TED talk guidelines.

Each member of the audience was more supportive than the next. As a result, the speech days were an absolute success.

The result of the ED election shows great potential for the new year. The applying board members also show great promise.

It looks like a good year for TEDxYouth@Alexanria.

Chapel Hill

On February 10, 2015, three people were killed. But they’re not just “three people” they were so much more than that… they became so much more.

These three individuals were truly amazing and inspiring. They had offered so much to the world with the time that they had, and were well on their way to giving so much more.

Deah Barakat (left) YUsor Abu-Salha (middle) and Razan Abu-Salha (right). Source "Our Three Winners" facebook page.

Deah Barakat  – A second year student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry

Yusor Abu-Salha – A North Carolina State University graduate, planning to join her husband Deah Barakat at the UNC dentistry school.

Razan Abu-Salha – an Architecture and environmental design student at North Carolina State University

Even in their passing, they managed to bring the world together. Nobody can doubt the amazing legacy that they left behind.

The strength of their families was incredibly awe-inspiring. They fought for their rights and ensured that their family members were remembered for how they lived, not for how they died.

Today, the shooting is associated with three idol worthy individuals who managed to teach the world so much through the way that they lived their lives alone.

People in general are defined by their actions, and these three idols let their actions speak for themselves. Nobody can deny their valiant efforts to make the world a better place during the time that they had.

Live Blogging

Jorn Barger coined the term “weblog” in 1997. It was a term that he used to express the different links he found interesting that were “logged” on his website. Eventually the term was shortened to “blog” and now the definition reflects the way it is used today.

Blog – “A website with regular entries, commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order”.

Blogging is a doorway for online journalism. It is a medium or a channel that changed the ways of journalism. More people are able to consider themselves senders of information; as opposed to the masses being receivers in the past.

There are many different popular blogging platforms that can be used today like: Blogger, WordPress, Live Journal … etc. These platforms give individuals the opportunity to make their own accounts and start sharing whatever their hearts desire.

Since blogging is done online, and at a more personal level, there are differences to the way it is done (as opposed to news websites, print writing, and anything else that isn’t blogging…). There are also the effects that blogging has on journalism today. It is important for current journalists and aspiring journalists to keep these differences and changes in mind at all times.

If you can imagine it, you can write about it

The different topics bloggers are allowed to write about are endless. Anything that comes to mind is an option for the writer to cover.

People create blogs to cover the wide range of interests that they have. Their interests could be anything from bobby pins to cats to the mechanics behind roller coasters. There is also a wide range of categories like: Cooking – Adventure – Travel – Writing – Art – Mechanics – and more. The limits are endless.

Informal writing style

Blogging takes a more informal and personal writing style. As opposed to news websites, print writing, and so on.

Prioritizing the most recent post

Blogs are usually displayed in reverse-chronological order (as stated in the definition above).

For example, news websites prioritize the most important articles according ot the editors.

Live blogging relationships between journalists and citizens

Thanks to the internet, live blogging is considered a main source of news and networking. Today, journalists who blog on line (or anyone really) is able to interact with others; including eyewitnesses, people with more information on the topic, or anyone else that can add to the post. Relationships between the audience and the writers have increased, as more opportunities to exchange information are present.

Citizen Journalists

People are the center of a lot of information today. They are found gathering information, commenting on articles, sharing things to people on their own personal accounts, and more.

Blogging is a way that citizen journalists are able to distribute their own expression.

Sources

Again, the Internet offers a wide range of sources for the writer. This could be linked to the previous point, because now the writer has access to eyewitnesses, but also more information from other countries. There are new voices, opinions, angles, and more to be considered – from all over the world!

Journalists + Live Blogging

Traditional journalists are restricted to a linear form of sharing information. The transition to live blogging changed that linear form, and now journalists are found expressing “instant witnessing”.

According to Director of POLIS, Charlie Beckett, “ [Journalism] does more than aggregate content. It is a platform for journalists to add material that otherwise would never be published.”

Journalists are not able to express the events they are covering as well as the excitement behind them. The audience is able to gain information and a feel for the atmosphere of the event through journalistic live blogging.

There are many renowned blogs on the internet, among them are The Guardian. It has been popularly believed that live blogs undermine traditional journalistic values; however, according to The Guardian audiences that is not the case. In fact, t is the opposite. They believe that the live blog reinforces traditional journalism. Based on a study conducted with the readers of The Guardian, it was said that overall they enjoyed the neutral tone of the live blog. They felt as though live blogs contained more facts and statements, giving them the opportunity to come up with their own conclusions on the issues.

It is important to keep in mind that there are also many challenges to keep in mind when it comes to live blogging. For example, maintaining standards online while considering the proof and facts of the articles written. It is a challenge because there are many “eyewitness” materials. This needs to be double checked and attributed correctly while making sure that the sources are not exploited in any way.

Due to the changes in the way journalism works, aspiring journalists are going to need more than good practice. They’ll need to know how to apply what they learn online while understanding the impact of social media. For it creates a human network.

Main Source: Lie Blogging and Social Media Curation: Challenges and Opportunities for Journalism - by Einar Thorsen

You're studying media, you should know this

As a media student there are some things that should be considered general knowledge to you. This list is just a few things that I personally find important based on my personal experience. Over the last three years, I have heard the phrase “why don’t you know this, you’re studying media, you should know this” multiple times in different situations. At one point, I felt like I’m expected to know everything, and to be honest in a sense media students kind of do have to have some level of knowledge on almost every situation.

Holidays

International holidays are definitely a must know for media students; as well as well-known holidays of various countries that are widely celebrated or acknowledged by the rest of the world. With that aside, it is crucial for you to know the national holidays of the country you are residing in. Not just the national holidays, all of them, including the individual regional holidays.

 Events

Again, it is important to be aware of events happening locally as well as the main events that are happening internationally. I’m going to stress on the local events, because as an aspiring media student, it is important to know about these things before they happen. People tend to get their information through the media, so you could either be on the side that gives out the information, or the side that receives it.

Even if you re-report something, you’re still on the receiving end… Be sure to stay up to date with current events.

People

In the media, anyone who’s anyone for whatever absurd reason and time duration is someone you should know. Whether it is the presidents of different countries, or YouTube sensations, these people should be on your radar.

Anyone who has a story that can play on the emotions of the world should be someone you know of.

A majority of what makes the media are the people. Many people empathize with news stories that hold a “personal” element.

Places

This is something that kind of goes without saying. But you’d be surprised at the important places that people know nothing about (in all seriousness, there are some places that have this crazy historical value to them, and I have never heard of them before).

History

History could be linked with the previous 4 points, but it is something that should be known. Media students should have a good study of history. You should know people of great impact and inspiration – writers, activists, poets, actors, … etc. As I said before you should know holidays, along with the reason that made it one to begin with.

Social Media Platforms

Knowing your way around social media platforms should be like a first language to you. It is especially important if you plan on having a career that is media based. Social Media is a growing force! It has been growing and rapidly changing, and it is crucial to be able to adapt to the changes while making use of them.

For example, twitter has been a growing tool for journalists. There are different counts of people learning about events through twitter before any major news channels. Journalists especially need to make use of twitter when relaying information and covering events especially live coverage. It is also a tool to link people to other websites and articles.

Applications

This goes with the last point. But it is one thing to know your way around a social media platform, it is another thing to be able to utilize those platforms from any where on any type of device using all kinds of different applications.

Let’s say you’re out, and you have to cover an event, you’ve got nothing but your phone, it is important to know how to deal with these situations.

You never really know what could come your way when you’re out and about, so as someone in media, you should be able to manage under any circumstances. Using applications should be an extension of our arm.

Intercultural Communication Studies

I personally believe this is an important one. Considering the fact that the global community has grown wonders over the year, it is important to know the little twists between cultures and countries. Advertisements, for example, have gone through ridiculous embarrassing moments while translating their international advertisements. But intercultural communication isn’t limited to advertisement, but to everything related to interaction between people.

You could write a post, and the way that you write it could be offensive to one culture as opposed to another. It’s all about the word choice, and the technicalities or the way you do things. It is also something to consider when translating your work. Make sure you’re translating it in a way that is able to send the same message as opposed to the same group of words.

Despite the fact that yes, there is an insane global community, the boundaries of individual cultural backgrounds are still present.