It has been a tough semester. Although it was a good opportunity to create and experience new media, I cannot say that I enjoyed all of them.
Photo Galleries
As I have discussed before in my essay on photo galleries, photo galleries are very new to me bacause Korean press prefer to use a single picture rather than using photo galleries. I have not seen many photo galleries until I began to read the news articles in the U.S. However, I really enjoyed making photo galleries because my hobby is photography. Since I am not good at writing in English, I tried to take photos in good quality with my DSLR camera. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t agree to Maura’s opinion that captions are crucial. I think photo galleries could be a savior of online journalism if they have good qualities of captions.
Social Media
We discussed social media and its impact on our society a lot throughout this semester. There were some events that made people to think more about social media: Protests from Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. I think social media is the most powerful tool among other new media. Tunisian government, Egyptian government, and Libyan government tried to control press in order not to get global attention, but they all failed. All the news from there were delivered by Facebook and Twitter, so people who are in the world could know what was going on there. It is not too much say that these social media kick-started democratization of those countries.
Podcast
Podcast was my top concerning thing since the beginning of this semester because I was new to podcasts. I’ve never heard about it. In addition, I was timid because of my English skill. However, I felt much better after finished the first podcast in group. Althogh I couldn’t make a great contribution on it, I was happy to participate in this activity.Then, I found myself enjoying when I was making the last podcast about spring training. I was a great opportunity to take intervews with a Purdue women’s volleyball coach and players. Regardless of appearance of my voice, I felt really great about contributing to the podcast. However, I don’t really think that podcast would be a major journalistic tool in future. Personally, I won’t get news from podcast because I prefer getting news from websites or television, not podcast. Getting news from websites or TV is much faster and more simple than from podcast. Eventhough many podcast is fun and free, it is not going to be easy to have lots of audience like TV or radio.
Video
Throughout the years, video became an essential part of our lives. Many people upload videos and share them with their friends, and many instructor use Youtube video as a course material. I did not expected that I would make nature montages or video ethnography in my life, though. Among videos that I made for this course, nature montage was the most enjoyable work. I did not realize that is is very difficult to record sound of nature without any interference such as people and cars. Especially, I love my winter nature montage because it gave me a special experience. I could experience nature of Lafayette: sounds from birds, river, and melting snow. And also I experienced something funny and scary because I was frightened when I realized that I was standing on the river which was covered by melting ice and snow.
I think people are going to use video more and more. Thanks to Youtube, it is getting easier to upload and share videos. Video might occupy almost part of user -generate contents.
Blogs
Honestly, I did not use blog much. I know blogging, as an activity of new media, is a trend and important because it makes people to find information what they want from it. I know this might be just an excuse, but I was unable to blog actively because of language and purpose. It was difficult to use a blog as a way of getting some grade points. I need to do some extra steps for blogging something because I cannot blog something in Korean. However, I think blogs are doing their jobs well. Blog, as a new media, can contribute to information that other media didn’t cover. Movie reviews, for instance, some people might want to know about open opinions from others, not from critics or journalists. By blogging about their personal impressions about some movies that they watched, our information can be enriched.
These were my reflections on new media. I think I cannot forget this class because I really enjoyed this class with classmates, and there so many things happened, some of them were good and some of them were bad. The one clear thing is that this class made me a user and creator of new media.
When I read the article named A Faustian Bargain by Chadwick Matlin in January, it was not easy decision to say that slideshows are the savior of online journalism because it is true that slideshows have a downside such as traffic issues. However, after I produced them in this class, I can confidently say that slideshows are the savior because of its effectiveness.
I did not know much about slideshows as I’ve said that many Korean websites tend to use a single photo with an in-depth article rather than using slideshows. However, for this spring semester, I could have some experiences to produce slideshows as classworks. Eventhough it was classworks, I really enjoyed producing photo galleries among all the assignments. I came to know more about the advantage of slideshows that I did not know: effectiveness.
Making slideshows requires creative thinking. In order to maximize the effectiveness of slideshows, some strategies are needed. As slideshows consist of a series of consecutive photos that tells a story or situation, it is important to decide what to take, how to arrange, and how to describe pictures. What kind of pictures would you take for your topic? How would you arrange them? How would you maximize a sense of realism? How would you put captions to decribe them? Writers who are trying to make slideshows should think about these questions.
Among lots of strategies, I personally prefer maximizing a sense of realism. This is the reason why people keep click to see next pictures. I think a good slideshow should effectively deliver its sense of realism as many as possible to the audience. Japan Earthquake from The New York Times is a good example for this issue. People all around the world were shocked by this news in March, so many people wanted to see how serious it was rather than just reading articles. This slideshow successfully maximizes a sense of realism. It shows how people can be miserable after earthquake and tsunami. Especially, I couldn’t take my eyes off the last picture.
‘Seeing is believing’. As I have mentioned, slideshow is a savior of online journalism when it has a good quality of text. Despite of its downsides, based on lots of advantages, slideshows will be a major effective material of online journalism soon.
Final Project
Difficulties of international students at Purdue
Human Problem (PG #10 - Photo Essay)
After asking all around, I finally found an animal shelter where I could take some pictures and have an interview. Natalie’s Second Chance was the only shelter that gave me a photo opportunity. Natalie’s Second Chance is a non-profit, no-kill dog shelter located in Lafayette. As the name of the shelter represents, Natalie Moore is the founder of the shelter. She has helped over 450 dogs find new homes for 2 years in here.
Staffs who are all volunteered in shelter welcomed me with smiles. They allowed me to take some pictures while I was waiting Natalie. There were 16 dogs in their cages and 3 visitors who seemed to be interested in pet adoption. All cages had index cards which contained the basic information about dogs such as their names, age, and their characteristics. Some of them were jumping, and some of them were taking a nap.
Though it was rainy day, many people were looking around the shelter and were playing with dogs. I saw someone looks familiar when I look over people who were in the shelter. ” I come here everyday to see Frodo” said Rolden Hillis, a professor of socialogy department at Purdue (6th picture). Since I took SOC 220 last semester, it was easy to figure him out. He said that he loves dogs in here, especialy Frodo (5 yrs., rat terrier mix, 6th picture).
After an hour passed, finally I could meet Natalie and could have an interview with her. ” I love dogs, so I couldn’t just sit and watch homeless dogs”, said Natalie. She said that she volunteered and worked at another shelter for 6 years, and decided to run her own shelter because she loved working with dogs and finding their new homes. ”The hardest problem is people” said Natalie, when I asked about the hardship of running non-profit shelter. “Many people come to the shelter and try to find the perfect dog. There is no perfect dog. They adopt a dog without studying about breed because it’s cute” said Natalie. She really suggested people to study up and do the research on the breed if they want to adopt a dog.
I asked the last question to her regarding her benefits by running the shelter. “The biggest gift is spiritual satisfaction. This shelter saved my life. These dogs, I called it my kids, keep me in a moment. And also I have lovely staffs who volunteered. All of these are priceless” said Natalie. After the interview I took a picture of Natalie and her staffs at the entrance of the shelter (9th picture, Wendy, Natalie, Jojuan, Branon, Kim, and Michealla, from the left to the right). They looked so happy and looked like a family. When I leave the shelter, an impressive phrase, which was posted on the entrance of shelter, made me think more about pet adoption. “The homeless is a human problem. Adopt today”.
Video Ethnography - The Purdue Jazz Band
Caitlin, Chrystal, Kara, and Ken
Podcast #4 - Spring Training
Ken, Chrystal, and Amy
Spring nature montage from Happy Hollow Park.
It was recorded around 3:00 pm, April 2nd.
PG 9 - Sporting Event (Ken & Chrystal)
1: The match began with loud shouts of joy and excitement as these women watch their fellow teammates.
2: Purdue attempts to block their goal against Butler but to no avail.
3: Nikki Tombers, Emma Nedvidek, Kate Bowie, and Shannon Green gather in a team huddle for a short timeout.
4: Meanwhile, Butler reevaluates their command of the field.
5: The Purdue team makes a quick pass up the field.
6: Adriane Welcker tries to intercept the throw but Butler is quicker.
7: At half-time, the team boosts their morale for the second-half of the game.
8: Liz Quick, Rhea Kumar, Ali Thewes, Adriane Welcker, and Carolena Meseros stand ready to enter the game.
9: Other teammates anxiously stare at the game unfolding before them.
10: Olivia Latinovich squares off with Butler for possession.
11: Purdue, yet again, attempts to gain possession of the ball.
12: Arielle Laskau and Kate Bowie try to overtake Butler.
13: The team finds itself awaiting the ball to be thrown back into play.
14: Butler makes a mad dash for the goal but Abby Feick is close behind.
15: Abby Feick sees her opportunity for the ball and goes for it.
16: Plays get more and more heated as Purdue gets more desperate for points.
17: Meredith Robins throws the ball back in to resume play.
18: Another square-off between the two teams occurs.
19: A loose ball ignites players to rush to the center of the field.
20: Butler speeds past Purdue, alluding to the final outcome of the game.
