http://adamstouch.com Adamstouch.com Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:53:34 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 See the formatted version at:  http://tinyurl.com/j-source [1] _________________________________________ A good news Monday in my fourth-year journalism class, JOUR4000, would in a perfect world, involve every student getting an A, paid internship offers, and then told never to come back for the 8:30 a.m. start time. We weren’t lucky enough to all get A’s or internships on Monday March 15, but instead, our class Twitter hashtag became the number one, most popular topic in all of Canada. By definition, a Twitter hashtag is “a community driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets.” They can be funny (e.g. #epicfail) or serious (e.g. #iranelection) but in our case, we identify our class with a simple “#j4k.” Students developed the hashtag in September as a way to discuss the events of the class each day, but this past week it was taken to another level. During an in-class presentation the political reporting class included a live-tweeting segment, where by using “#j4k” in each post, the rest of us would be able to follow along. Members of the political reporting class including Dean Tester, Margaret Cappa, Chris Cooper, and Brett Ruskin spearheaded the idea. It created such a buzz amongst students that due to the rapid posting of Tweets, “#j4k” became the most talked-about topic in all of Canada by the time the presentation was completed. “People in the class were all doing it; it really got everyone to actively participate. And even if they weren’t Tweeting, we had the stream up on the screen for everyone to follow along,” explained Tester. “It showed how successful using Twitter could be to interact with a crowd while making a presentation.” At the time, more Canadians were tweeting about “#j4k” than about “#rolluptherim,” including CBC political reporter Kady O’Malley. “No one predicted it would get to be this successful. We still don’t know what it takes to be a trending topic in Canada, but it was a lot of fun,” said Tester. It’s interesting to see that the Tweets mirrored those that one may see if they were to follow any normal day of Tweets from the House of Commons. There were comments about the issues that were presented of course, but also some comments about students’ chosen outfits, etc. Shortly after class ended the news broke, on Twitter of course, that “#j4k” was not only just a trending topic in Canada, but it had in fact been the number one trending topic for a while too. This invoked a sense of a pride in many class members that only a 21st century journalist could feel, as various Twitter postings congratulated “the J-Class of 2010.” The hashtag, which started out as a fun class experiment turned out to be something much more than that on March 15, as other classmates, professors, and the social media world witnessed. Next week we may have to go back to paying attention in class though, and go easy on the Tweeting. I think our secret is out. [1] http://www.j-source.ca/english_new/detail.php?id=4919 http://adamstouch.com/?p=292 After years of planning, millions of dollars spent, and 17 unforgettable days up and down the coast of British Columbia, the 2010 Winter Olympiad has come to it's conclusion. While many B.C. residents, and well, Canadians as a whole, are still nursing their Gold Medal hangovers, it's time to take a look back to remember the top moments that Canadians will never forget. Do you believe? WHERE IT ALL STARTED - Vancouver awarded the 2010 Olympic Games THE JOURNEY GOES THROUGH OTTAWA - The Olympic torch in the House of Commons OOPS. A LITTLE TROUBLE GETTING IT UP - The fourth arm of the torch doesn't emerge [1] THE MONKEY OFF OUR BACKS - Alexandre Bilodeau wins GOLD CANADIAN WOMEN WIN GOLD - And celebrate the only way we know how OH CANADA! - The fans at Kevin Martin's Gold medal win start singing the National Anthem SID THE KID - Cements his legacy at only 22. I only have a year to get to his level, I guess I BELIEVE - Couldn't put together a tribute without the song that you've grown to love :| [1] http://adamstouch.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/2558666.bin.jpg http://adamstouch.com/?p=280 To quote my favourite social media outlet, I've been wondering to myself lately, "what's happening?" I've taken about a month off from the Blog to concentrate on some big school things, and with the Tiger rumours still swirling, I didn't want just keep writing about him! I spent January getting back into school-mode, and, to make matters worse from a Blogging perspective, my computer got a virus last week and was really struggling. Thanks to a good friend [1], good old Dell was rescued, and all was back to normal. A friend from high school started her first blog [2] as well, and it's provided me with some good laughs, as well as gotten me thinking about my own next steps This semester is my last one of University. Crazy, I know, but very much a reality. I'm hoping to take my degree into the field of Public Relations and Advertising, but that's not to say I won't continue to write from time-to-time as well. I was writing an e-mail to a colleague tonight and I managed to pick out the precise moment when I wanted to become a Golf Journalist. It was raining sideways on a cold October afternoon at Angus Glen, just outside of Toronto, and I had just posted a 114 in a High School Tournament round. I knew then that becoming a professional golfer was probably never going to happen. In any case, I'll try to document the next couple months as I get closer to graduation, but also will be posting anything I do for Journalism here as well. I'm working on a great piece about the Golf industry in Ottawa during the recession right now, with a due date of next week. I've had some great interviews so far, and it's really coming together well. As always, feel free to follow me on Twitter: @adam_stanley [3] I added a little something new on the side and I'm thinking it looks good. Until next time... [1] http://rlv.zcache.com/i_love_my_computer_geek_tshirt-p235416219813917986qw9y_400.jpg [2] http://iamthejodester.blogspot.com/ [3] https://twitter.com/adam_stanley http://adamstouch.com/?p=278 Below is a piece I wrote for www.capitalnews.ca [1] which is an online publication done by fourth-year journalism students at Carleton. View the full piece here [2] __________________________________________________________________ Huge waves, the earth trembling, mass destruction, screams, prayers and hundreds of thousands dead. A little over five years separate the tsunami off the coast of Indonesia and the earthquake in Haiti. But both disasters have resulted in vast humanitarian relief. Boxing Day 2004 saw the shifting of two tectonic plates about 150 kilometres from the Indonesian island of Sumatra. This resulted in a magnitude-9.0 earthquake, and a tsunami that rushed the shores, leaving very little in its wake. Homes along the coast of Indonesia were swept away by massive tidal waves after the earthquake struck in 2004. Fast forward to Jan. 12 of this year, when a magnitude-7.0 earthquake rocked the already very poor island of Haiti, devastating the country and specifically, its capital city Port-au-Prince. In both instances, Canadians rushed to aid, opening wallets, writing cheques, with the Canadian government sending millions to help support the broken lands. But with Haiti relief efforts in full-swing, Canadians are left wondering where this level of response was five years ago. More than anything, the tsunami relief efforts taught Canadians what it was like to respond to a disaster. Certainly Canada is better equipped for disaster relief these days. It's also easier to focus efforts on one area than several countries and thousands of kilometres of coastline. Former president and chief executive of CARE Canada, John Watson said in an interview with CBC News in February 2005, that Canada’s response to the tsunami disaster was “amateur” and that “NGOs should get together to set up an efficient, unified aid delivery system.” Since 2005, CARE Canada has worked with Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Québec and Save the Children to form the Humanitarian Coalition. The four member agencies have a mandate to join together to raise funds for the people of Haiti affected by this crisis. The current president and CEO of CARE Kevin McCort says the reason for combining the relief efforts is to make it easier on the donor. “The intention is to raise more collectively, partly due to eliminating the costs of competition, and partly due to making it easier for donors to make a choice,” says McCort. Karen Palmer at Oxfam Canada echoes those statements because working through the coalition decreases administration costs. “[They] normally run at about 10 per cent during a crisis so when you donate,10 per cent will stay behind to Oxfam to cover those costs,” she says. “With the humanitarian coalition, it’s running at about seven or eight per cent, so that way we’re much more efficient in terms of getting more of what you’re donating actually out to the field.” One-third of Haiti's population has been affected by the quake. Léogâne's stadium now serves as a temporary relief camp where city residents live in tents and line up for food and water. All donations for Haiti are to be matched by the federal government. Prime Minister Stephen Harper had originally placed a $50 million cap on matched donations, but has since removed the cap. "Giving has exceeded wildest expectations and we will continue to match pledges dollar for dollar," Prime Minster Steven Harper said in a late January news conference. In total, Canada pledged $655 million to the tsunami relief efforts, which combines all government donations along with public donations. So far the Canadian government has pledged $135 million to the Haiti relief efforts, with an additional $104.5 million coming from Canadians. “The humanitarian effort has been extraordinary,” NDP leader Jack Layton told reporters during the January 19 NDP caucus. “I was witness to what happened in the case of the tsunami, I think all our government officials and our service personnel have learned a lot and I told the Prime Minister that I was pleased with the rapidity of the response.” The relief efforts in Haiti are ongoing. If you are interested in donating, the Government of Canada [3] has more information. [1] http://www.capitalnews.ca/ [2] http:// [3] http://www.international.gc.ca/humanitarian-humanitaire/earthquake_seisme_haiti_help_aide.aspx http://adamstouch.com/?p=272 This is a piece I wrote for my Business and Financial Journalism class at Carleton, a company profile on Wi-LAN, a high-tech company in Ottawa. The full piece can be found on Ottawa Insight [1] ___________________________________________________________________________ Less risk, more steady By Adam Stanley OTTAWA — January 2010 — Although the high-tech sector has struggled this year just as the rest of the world has – relying on government funding and reacting to the global economic downturn – it has not gone through a full-blown recession. In fact some companies, such as Ottawa-based Wi-LAN Inc. have come through the worst while remaining profitable. “The recession was not as severe in our sector and that’s because our sector normally does better than the economy. We grow faster than the economy, so the measures taken to cut costs have actually allowed many firms to maintain and even improve their profitability,” says president and CEO of the Information and Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) Bernard Courtois. Wi-LAN President and CEO Jim Skippen echoes that analysis. “We’re forecasting that we’ll have cash earnings between $9 to10 million (this year) so it’s profitable, it’s growing.” Founded in 1992, Wi-LAN was established to commercialize technology inventions to make low-cost, high-speed wireless networking a reality. It was during the early 2000s when Wi-LAN entered numerous business ventures and became very profitable. Almost four years ago Wi-LAN changed its business model to generate most of its revenue through licensing intellectual property and not by manufacturing goods. This was a change for the better, explains Barry Richards, a financial analyst with Paradigm Capital. “Being publicly traded is new, it’s a good model. People were quite apprehensive and weren’t sure about the business model, but it’s worked out quite well.” High tech is more than manufacturing Moving away from a manufacturing business isn’t as inconsistent with the high-tech community in Ottawa as some may think. “As much as Ottawa likes to call itself the ‘Silicon Valley of the North’ there is nothing. There is no silicon, even though there are good kinds of solutions to societies needs in the technology sector,” says Dev Bhangui, a financial analyst at Haywood Securities. Wi-LAN is one of those companies involved with many sectors of the high-tech industry. “It’s not just in the telecommunications area. It’s broader than that. We’re not just a telecommunications play,” says Skippen. “A long time ago Wi-Lan was, but today, we’re not really. We are in the telecommunications industry, but we’re also in the television industry, and we’re also in other industries.” That diversity seems to have paid off for Wi-LAN. With the release of its financial results for three and twelve months on December 10, Wi-LAN saw earnings of $35.1 million. “Last year we did $26.6 million so it’s been a significant increase,” says Skippen. Looking for growth It’s an increase of $8.5 million or 32 per cent from the same period in 2008. Wi-LAN also saw a net loss of $9.2 million or 10 cents per share turn into net earnings of $10.3 million or 11 cents per share. Richards explained that the economy can only be stimulated by government spending for so long before it has to run on its own, but he says that retail and industrial investors seem to be feeling pretty good. The next steps to economic recovery lie in industry growth, and the high-tech industry is no exception. That growth is especially evident in areas of digital content, digital commerce, and digital media, according to ITAC’s research, says Courtios. TV and wireless Wi-LAN is working on a new research initiative for television stations going from analog distribution to digital, which should put the company in that new area of technological promise, says Skippen. This past year Wi-LAN grew especially in the wireless area, as well as in television licensees. It has over 200 license agreements currently, and over the past two years Wi-LAN has signed approximately one new licensee per week. They are not all cookie-cutter agreements either. Tyler Burns, Wi-LAN’s director of investor relations and communications says that “the number of licensees signed compares very favourably to peers in our industry. You (will) find a dramatic difference between what Wi-LAN has done and what others have done.” As Wi-LAN deals so closely with patents and patent agreements, there are also litigation issues with other companies. This year though, there has only been one new action where, in California, Intel launched a claim against Wi-LAN. Wi-LAN is also involved in two cases of litigation in Texas with trial dates at the end of next year. “There will be a lot of activity between now and then,” says Skippen. Investors like what they see With the change to the new business model, Wi-LAN has attracted investors, especially institutional investors this year, says Burns. Wi-LAN is hoping to increase its institutional investors this upcoming year. Being a public company it’s difficult to provide any financial forecasts before the release of their annual report. But Skippen is confident that Wi-LAN will continue to be doing more of what it has always done. “We’ll continue to sign licenses with somesignificant players and continue to show that kind of progress (and) we’re hoping to make significant progress in our litigations as they near their conclusion.” From an investment prospective, Wi-LAN has come a long way from the company it once was. “In the beginning it was riskier because they didn’t have a lot of revenue, they didn’t have a lot of cash, they didn’t have a lot of history,” says Richards. “They’ve done a fantastic job now three-and-a-half years later it’s a more steady company. Less risk, more steady.” Wi-LAN is changing its fiscal year end from October to December to match the business cycles of its customers. It will release audited financial results for the fourteen months ending December 31, 2009 in early March of 2010. [1] http://www.carleton.ca/ottawainsight/Stanley-WiLan.html http://adamstouch.com/?p=267 A little over a week since my last post, and so much has happened that there needed to be a part two. Allegedly, Tiger now has more mistresses than Majors, and the drama continues to unfold. I miss the days when I would only hear news about Tiger that was preceded by “ESPN is reporting” or “The Golf Channel is reporting” no, the stories I hear about Tiger these days come from the tabloids. It’s become pretty apparent that he has had some problems at home, and it appears as though Tiger and Elin are headed for divorce. Nope, he’s not out of the woods yet. They’ve all had their input. Rick Reilly from ESPN, arguably the best sports scribe of my time, has outlined a multi-step plan [1] for Tiger’s return. The usually satirical Reilly seems to be onto something here though, and Tiger looks to be on that path so far. I doubt that he’ll be appearing on Oprah any time soon, it’s just not Tiger’s style. Although, has anything since the end of November been “Tiger’s style?” He gets in a car accident, the media storms his once quiet and personal lifestyle, and he’s on the cover of magazines he never thought he would be. [caption id="attachment_261" align="alignleft" width="232" caption="Tiger (Courtesy: Baltimore Sun)"] [2][/caption] When Tiger announced that he would take an indefinite leave from golf, all those covering the game looked at each other wondering, “Well… now what?” no one really knows when he is going to return, no one knows what he is going to get up to in the next three or four months, but what they all know, even though they might not admit it, is that Tiger will return with a vengeance to the game he loves. Not only is it the game he loves, but it’s the game he dominates. The recently named “Athlete of the Decade” will not be coming back to the game of golf unless he feels he can compete at the highest level. His one misstep came at the 2006 U.S. Open, where he missed the cut after coming back soon after his Father’s death. We all know what happened after that though, he came into the next major, the Open Championship, and won with a -18 score. There’s no doubt that when Tiger returns it will be a circus. Media from all over the world, not only sports outlets, but entertainment outlets too, will be there. Like I wrote before, in no way do I condone his actions. But hasn’t he suffered enough? He’s acknowledged his wrong-doings and he’s attempting to make the best for his family. With a divorce allegedly in the works, and an announcement for taking an “indefinite leave” from golf, these may be the first steps. Hero worship for Tiger Woods will never be the same. He’ll come back from all this as more than just a brand, he’ll finally be a real person who makes real mistakes and has to recover from them. In a recent call, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said “We’re in a down economy and not having the No. 1 player in our sport playing is not a positive […] it won’t be at the same level without our No. 1 player; no sport would be the same. But I think the doom and gloom needs to go away and I think it’s misleading to our fans.” Finchem spoke for the first time since the incident on November 27 at this call, and it’s a positive thing to see that the Tour is ready to move on without Tiger. It was never going to stop, though. It is a business just like any other sports league. When Tom Brady went down in Game 1 of last year’s NFL Season, the league went on. The Patriots even racked up an 11-5 record and almost made the playoffs! This could be another opportunity for some of the “shoulda-beens” to step up (Padraig Harrington could win another two majors, it’ll probably be his only other chance to) but I’d argue that Tiger will come back with a renewed sense of purpose. I’d argue that this is the first time that Tiger has to come back and prove something to the world. The other times that Tiger has come back, the media has taken it easy on him. His father dies; he misses the cut because he came back too early. His knee gets ripped up (wins the U.S. Open); and no one expects him to do much… except he goes out and wins six times on the year. The cover of Maclean’s [3] this month shows a picture of Tiger with the headline “the fall of the world’s greatest athlete.” I disagree with this whole-heartedly. We haven’t seen the fall of anything athletic from Tiger and we never will. If he gets on the course and drops faster than David Duval, then I’ll be the first to eat a whole bunch of humble pie. What we have seen instead, is the inside of a once-gated personal life, a marriage gone wrong, and a man trying to rebuild his place in society. But until he steps on to a golf course, his escape from it all, no one has seen the “fall” of Tiger Woods – the world’s greatest athlete. [1] http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=reilly_rick&id=4727383 [2] http://adamstouch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Tiger-baltimore-sun.jpg [3] http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/07/08/macleans-covers-gallery/maccov12_28_09/ http://adamstouch.com/?p=264 Last week, Tiger Woods crashed his car. He crashed his 2009 Cadillac Escalade into a tree in the yard of his $2.4 million home, was fined $164 and got four demerit points. He committed a driving offence that he could repeat over 64,000 times if he desired, because the man is worth over $1 billion, and there’s no other athlete on the planet who makes as much money as he does. [caption id="attachment_255" align="alignright" width="265" caption="Tiger Woods"] [1][/caption] Oh, then there was a whole bunch of other stuff that happened too. The online news world exploded with stories, accusations, tweets, and pictures. Some of the stories might be true, some might not be so true, and some sound just flat out erroneous – we’ve heard it all. Apparently, Tiger got attacked by Elin with a golf club. Apparently, Tiger is a sex addict who thrives on ambien. Apparently, Tiger has had six mistresses and that number is set to climb in the coming weeks. These rumours are being started and followed up on by media outlets such as TMZ and the National Enquirer who, with all do respect to their “investigations” (not sure if I would call it journalism) make a living off of making people look bad. This whole situation was probably not helped by the state of the media today, with social networking websites allowing stories to be told as-they-happen. All you need to do is check the stats from Twitter: Tiger Woods was a “trending topic”, one of the most popular items that people were talking about on the site, for more than 170 straight hours. That’s almost seven straight days. Does anyone know what else happened in those seven days? I do. President Barack Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan, committing to send 30,000 more troops and extend the campaign until 2011. The leader of the biggest country in the free world just escalated a war and all the media talked about was Tiger Woods. Unfortunately, media outlets that I would of course call “real” journalism are lowering themselves to tabloid standards. For example, a recent article from the Toronto Star [2] quoted another paper, who quoted a tabloid, who quoted “unnamed sources”, and that got past an editor? I’m all for giving the people what they want, but what about respect and privacy for the greatest athlete of our time. In 1997, Tiger’s father Earl Woods said about his then 21-year-old son that, he “will do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity.” Twelve years later, Tiger has won 14 majors, has earned over $1 billion through sponsorships and on-course successes, and has helped out over 10 million youth through his various charitable efforts not only through the game of golf, but through education as well. He has influenced millions of people to play golf and has done more for the game than any man has done, and ever will. He brought the game into the 21st century, injecting it with a fiery passion that has allowed it to connect to a whole new generation. All of his peers have him to thank for the multi-million dollar tournament purses, and arguably, him to thank for the Olympics wanting to include golf as a sport in 2016. Thanks to a bizarre 48 hours though, some of the world has forgotten all that. Some in the media are convinced that Tiger owes the world an apology for his personal life. Society should not believe that an explanation is owed, just because he is in the public eye. This media scrutiny is an unknown world for Team Tiger; paparazzi are following their every move. Some say that his chase to win more majors than Jack Nicklaus will now be on the same level as the Aaron versus Ruth home run chase, because of the racial undertones [3] of this whole story. For allegedly cheating on his blonde-haired, blue-eyed, Swedish super model wife [4], Tiger is no doubt in the dog house (a very expensive one) and this is turning uglier as the weeks go on. This situation has launched the once-reclusive Tiger into the world of rumours and gossip, and it is up to him and him alone for how much he wants to share. But really, does he have too? Some argue that he deserves the distain from the public for refusing to comment. I don’t condone what he may or may not have done, but the worst part of the whole story, is the way that the media has treated it. If the media wants to exploit the lives of celebrities to make money, then that’s their prerogative, but take a long hard look at what the man has done in the past, rather than what might be done in the future. We most likely will not hear from Tiger until late January 2010, when he makes his tournament debut and he gets back to doing what he does best, playing golf. [1] http://adamstouch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/tigerwoods1.jpg [2] http://www.thestar.com/sports/golf/woods/article/733988--tiger-offers-wife-60m-to-stay-reports [3] http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abraham/detail??blogid=95&entry_id=52980 [4] http://imgsrv.1053thefan.com/image/klli1/UserFiles/Image/blogpics/Nordegren.jpg http://adamstouch.com/?p=252 At the start of 2009 I could have never believed that almost every single one of my favourite musical acts will go put out a new record in the following 12 months, but it happened. Some albums have been better then others, some albums took bands in different directions, but truth be told, 2009 has been a very good year for my iPod. My musical taste is very eclectic, but I always tend to come back to my roots of alternative-acoustic rock at the end of the day. That’s not to say when I’m out at a bar I don’t mind when “a Jay-Z song is on” but that’s not for me every day of the week. Check out some of my favourites from 2009: [1] Working on a Dream – Bruce Springsteen (January 27th) Only a year following the release of Magic, The Boss returned with a bang. Thankfully staying away from a solo effort, he continues to amaze audiences with his E-Street Band. Springsteen got it all started February 1 with a performance at Superbowl XLIII, where he played amongst other songs, the lead single 'Working on a Dream,' a pre-emptive ode to the Obama era. The Fray – The Fray (February 3rd) Four years after the Denver quartet exploded onto the scene with How to Save a Life (thank you, Grey’s Anatomy) they returned with a self-titled disc in February. Although critics didn’t give this album as positive reviews as their debut, it was still very solid up and down. We Are The Same – Tragically Hip (April 7th) The men who define Canadian music were back again (although they never really left) with their twelfth studio album. Appropriately titled We Are The Same, this returns The Hip to their musical roots, giving it a very Phantom Power-esque sound. I managed to see them perform in concert twice this year, once in Toronto at the beginning of their tour, and once in Ottawa at the end of their tour and both times they tore the place down. The best Canadian musical act of all time. City of Black & White – Mat Kearney (May 19th) A relative unknown on the music scene, I was introduced to Kearney two years ago by my girlfriend. Another act that gained popularity thanks to Grey’s Anatomy, Kearney has a very mellow sound and delivered an easy-listening album that has been a mainstay on long nights of homework all year long. Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King – Dave Matthews Band (June 2nd) I could go on and on and on about the Dave Matthews Band. They are my favourite band ever and I was so thankful to hear that they would be putting out a new album for the first time in four years. It came at a tough time for the band though, as founding member and saxophonist LeRoi Moore passed away in August of 2008 as the album was being finalized. Critics have praised Big Whiskey as being the best DMB album in years, and I would have to agree. Seeing them in concert in June was odd without Moore, but as the old saying goes – “the show must go on.” Draw The Line – David Gray (September 22nd) Another favourite artist who hadn’t released an album since 2005, Gray even made an appearance on the Regis and Kelly Show to promote this album, something he had never done before. Gray is pretty unknown in North America, but has a huge fan base in the UK. Most North American’s would know him only for ‘Babylon’ or ‘This Years Love’, and hopefully on Draw The Line there will be a few more tracks that will help his popularity this side of the pond. Vancouver – Matthew Good (October 6th) After his departure from the Matthew Good Band in 2002, Good began a successful solo act. Vancouver is his fourth solo album, a concept album that critically examines issues surrounding Good’s hometown. Some songs clock in at four minutes, others at over nine minutes, but you can never tell. Another amazing Canadian performer. Battle Studies – John Mayer (November 17th) For all the complaints about Mayer being a ‘douche,’ you have got to give the man the respect he deserves. With Battle Studies, Mayer explores heart-break in a different manor then he has in the past. He still unleashes his world-class guitar playing on some of the harder hits (including a cover of Robert Johnson/Cream’s 'Crossroads') but still allows for his superb songwriting abilities to shine through. Besides all that, the duet with Taylor Swift just can’t be beat. Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures (November 17th) Usually not as much into the heavier stuff because I don’t want to be one of “those guys” on the bus who’s disturbing everyone around them with their choice of music but I make an exception for TCV. Clocking in at nearly an hour and fifteen minutes, it’s epic. But when you’ve got Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana), and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) just rocking out on the same disc, who’s complaining? And the award for super group of the year goes too… [1] http://adamstouch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Post-15.JPG http://adamstouch.com/?p=229 I know, I know. I've been a terrible blogger of late. So much so that I've had people come and ask me when the next post from Adam's Touch will be coming. Well like I said the last time I posted, school has certainly been taking it's toll on life for the last little while. Below, another blog post from one of my Communications classes, this one about Citizen Journalism. A very interesting topic that has really come into the spotlight the past year. I'm also working on a special Blog with Jeff Close [1] about a couple of things that we think you all should know about. It'll appear on both my page and his once it's completed so stay tuned... _________________________________________________________________________________________ “Man attacked with bat and gun in Ottawa’s West End, say police.” “H1N1 clinics have been working off the "honour-system," not really policing people belonging to priority groups.” “Obama announces he will lift 22-year ban on entry into U.S. for people infected with HIV/AIDS.” Yes, all important, newsworthy stories. But where did I find them… CBC? Globe and Mail? MacLean’s? Fox News? No – on Twitter, of course! This is the way that journalism has gone now – people no longer have time to read through a morning paper. Instead, they are looking to get 140 character bits of stories, and if they feel the need too, they will click onto a news website and read on. Each of those Tweets sums up the stories quite nicely though, don’t you think? Why would I want to read on if I have already heard everything I need to? To sum up the impact the internet has had on journalism in merely 1000 words is a more daunting task than being asked to sum it up in 100,000. I could go on and on about a variety of different issues and topics, but I’ll try to focus it down to just two: how journalism is presented now because of the internet, and the creation of the citizen journalist. [caption id="attachment_219" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Citizen Journalist? (Courtesy: www.nataliedee.com)"] [2][/caption] Slowly but surely, print media is a dying form. Each media outlet from television, radio, and of course newspaper all have websites where they post their stories online for free. Gone are the days of old-school journalists – personable types who track down the story and meet people and ask hard questions. Arguably journalists and journalism has turned lazy (I’m allowed to say that because I’m a journalism major… and I’m one of the lazy ones!) Accessing the internet has created whole new realms for journalists to send an e-mail, check a Twitter feed, double-check a blog, and throw together a wire story. Perhaps instead, it’s the direction of the newspaper that has merely changed. News outlets of old like the paper now have slick websites were their content is uploaded, to be accessed for free by the public. People continue to read the newspaper looking for more of an analytical perspective on the news, but for the news itself, why shy away from the quick posts you’ll from the web? This has resulted in the 24 hour news cycle. The internet has influenced globalization more than any other tool (and arguably, vice versa) and living in this globalized world has assured us that news never stops. When a rumour spread about ‘Balloon Boy’ floating through the skies of Colorado, the media exploded with coverage – TV stations were all plugged into the feed of this little town, websites of newspapers and of those same TV stations were providing live updates, and Twitter got so jammed with ‘tweets’ it nearly shut down for the whole afternoon. It’s a story like this that really speaks to where journalism has gone thanks to the internet, because for the first time, online journalists don’t have to just think about how he or she should write the story, but also how it should be presented. Because journalists had to think about how to present the story, the audience also had the option to choose how they wanted to receive the story online. The internet gives the audience a much wider choice of ways in which to receive the news. They are able to get text, audio, and video, all in one place. The internet has even created a new type of journalist, called the ‘citizen journalist.’ The idea behind citizen journalism, as written by new media reporter Mark Glaser, is “that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the internet to create, augment, or fact-check media on their own” (Glaser; 2006; PBS). More than ever before, people who never went to journalism school, or have received any formal journalistic training, can now participate actively online. It has become so easy to create a blog or film something and post it to YouTube, that the line between journalist and citizen journalist is sometimes blurred. However, most mainstream media outlets, even some as well known as CNN, takes advantage of citizen journalists and their work. There is always a plethora of videos and pictures uploaded to the section of their website called “iReport” a feature that could never have been utilized by a media outlet before the internet. I mean, before the internet, a “Letters to the Editor” section could have only gone so far. One of the main reasons behind the emergence of citizen journalism, besides ease of use, is also the fact that “mainstream media reporters and producers are not the exclusive centre of knowledge on a subject – the audience knows more collectively than the reporter alone” (Glaser; 2006; PBS). It proves to be the most useful during times of war and natural disasters – places where journalists may not be able to access. For example, during the tsunami in Asia in 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the Iranian election, journalists, as well as audiences, turned to social media websites rather than news websites to hear from the front lines what was happening. With the development of not only new types of journalism, but also new types of journalists, it’s impossible to forecast where the internet will take journalism in the future. I can only hope that I won’t start to be delivered news via txt msg 4 realz lol. [1] http://thisisjeff.ca/ [2] http://adamstouch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/ugh-journalistic-integrity-is-BORING.jpg http://adamstouch.com/?p=218 This is another Journalism project I worked on last year for Multimedia Reporting. It's an audio-slideshow (made with SoundSlides) about 'The Candy Store' [1] in the Westboro neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Follow the link to watch the slideshow. Hope you enjoy... The Candy Store [2] [1] http://www.thecandystoreottawa.ca/ [2] http://adamstanley.webng.com/The%20Candy%20Store/ http://adamstouch.com/?p=210