NewsLINC critique

NewsLINC Website Critique

I enjoyed exploring through the NewsLINC website. I like that it is simple and easy to Navigate, while still using nice colors and design to make it appealing for students, faculty and other members of the North East community. The website displays informative news coming from the surrounding towns of the NorthEast Kingdom including Burke, Danville and Lyndon. Along with talking about news in the NEK, the website also talks about whats happening in other parts of VT and NH. The site includes an 'about us' section that explains the purpose of the website and it's association with the Electric Journalism Arts department at LSC.

I did not find anything I didn't like about the website. I think that it is overall a good way for the students involved in Electric Journalism Arts to get experience in finding news on their own and reporting it through the media.

Audio blog project - what is it like to live off campus?

In our podcast we talked to each other in a discussion about how we felt about the transformation of living off of campus at Lyndon state and the overall pros and cons of the matter. We also talked about the rules one needs to abide when living or thinking about living on their own in an apartment.

We used a recorder to record ourselves for the podcast. It was easy to use, but we made a lot of mistakes when recording, which made it a little more difficult when we edited and finalized the podcast in the end. The podcast started off with an introduction of what Chris and I were going to be discussing, after that we shared a reasons why we enjoyed living off campus rather than in a dorm room. We both agreed that the freedom of living on campus was a nice comparison to living in a house with RA's back at school, but we also explained that you still need to consider obeying the rules of a landlord when renting an apartment.

Chris and I gave a little insight on some of the rules you need to play by when renting an apartment, such as paying your rent on time and maintaining a well kept home in general. We gave some information about certain rules that landlords in Vermont hold towards their fellow tenants, such as eviction information. We found this information from the CVOED Renting in Vermont Informational Handbook for Tenants and Landlords. We both thought that this would be useful information for anybody who was new to living in an apartment in Lyndonville or anywhere else in Vermont. The information we found was a good addition to the podcast because it made it informational along with being opinionated with our beliefs of living off campus.

Chris and I focused our topic mostly on the responsibility of renting an apartment as a college student. Not only did we spend the time talking about tenant’s responsibilities, we also talked about the responsibility of the landlord. Again, this was something we thought students might find useful to hear, because if a student is interested or already is living in an apartment in the area, they very much deserve to know their rights as a tenant, in case they ever get ripped off for some reason in the future.

In the end we put all of the audio on the computer. We had to convert all the recordings into a WAV format in order for us to be able to use it on Audacity and create our podcast. Converting took a little bit of time but once it was done the process of editing the audio clips was simple. Chris and I were proud of our podcast and think that students will find it informative and also entertaining to hear, especially if they are curious as to what living off campus is like, and what significant aspects to look out for when looking for an apartment.

Podcast Assignment Outline

My partner and I are doing our assignment about the life of living off campus at college. We are going to be giving advice on what a college student should be prepared for when moving to an apartment off of campus. We will also be giving other kinds of information about living in an apartment such as the rules and regulations the tenant agrees on following according to Vermont rules. The overall idea of this podcast will be the pros/cons of living in an apartment compared to living on campus in a dorm.

Soundcloud- "Hi I'm Diana"

infogr.am LSC Enrollment

lsc eNROLLMENT  | Infographics

Podcast Critique

Podcast Critique

"Freakonomics"

One of the podcasts I chose to subscribe to is called "Freakonomics." It is a podcast that New York journalist, Stephen J. Dubnerand  and economist, Steven D. Levitt created where they study and survey very interesting events and problems that we encounter and hear about every day, including cheating teachers and bizarre baby names. I found this podcast on iTunes after searching through  the society & culture genre. I am very interested in sociology, so I thought I would find one that related to it in some way, and so this did.
The episodes I watched from the podcast were called "Do You Really Want to Know Your Future?" and "A Burger A Day." The second one was my favorite, where the two speakers discussed the possibility of a McDonald's McDouble being the cheapest, most nutritious, and bountiful food with all of it's protein, daily fiber, calcium and iron, that has ever existed in human history.

Likes:

• The men on the podcast had a good balance of using humor in the podcast while also being informational.
• They recorded surveys given out to other people whom they'd just found walking down the street.
• There was beneficial information given about the value of nutrition and the social observations relating to people's preference of fast food over healthy food.

Dislikes:

• The podcast was only 6 minutes and 49 seconds. It could've been longer and had more information.
• The podcast was a little more opinionated than it was based on facts.

There were not many things I disliked about these episodes. I plan on listening to them further because I find it very different. The podcast itself has a lot of variety of subjects, some are unusual but that is what makes them interesting. 

"Relations" Podcast

The second podcast I chose is called "Relations." The authors are Elijah R. Young and Sarah J. Storer. The two discuss practical relationship advice and other social advice. I also found this podcast through iTunes while I was browsing through different genres. It caught my attention because it seemed entertaining. I wasn't interested in listening to a boring, "school-book" educational podcast, so this seemed interesting and more popular. 

The episodes I watched were called "How to Combine Dating and Social Media Properly" and "Dating While Shy: How to Overcome Social Shyness." I connected more with the second episode, because I am very interested in certain social aspects and what causes them in the first place, so I was curious as to what this was all about when I read the title. In the episode the two basically discussed the fear and anxiety over social shyness (whether it be involved in dating or not), and solutions to the anxiety that exist. 

Likes:

• Right when the episode started, it sounded like a legitimate and professional radio show but also giving popular information that is amusing and easier to engage in.
• Since there is a girl and boy speaking, it offers different perspectives from each opposite sex.   
• The two people are understanding and sensitive to the subject of being "shy" and try and help people out there who suffer from the subject.

Dislikes:

• The podcast's website is not very up-to-date. It isn't very inviting, which makes the podcast itself seem less popular and it only has 5 out of 15 ratings.
• The two speakers sound very sweet and mellow, but it also makes the episodes less exciting to listen to. Their tones are soft, which at times caused me to lose their attention.

Along with the first podcast, there wasn't much to dislike about this one. I found the episodes very inviting and plan to keep my subscription. 

WOODTV website critique

Wood TV Website Critique

Pros:

• The website is designed to be user friendly, in that they have created tabs at the top of the website which group content to make topics more accessible.
• The site is built in a scroll-friendly way, which was obvious because as I started at the top of the site, my eyes were drawn down the site from topic to topic.  Photos and headlines were helpful in pulling me from the top to the bottom of the site.
• The site does a god job in prioritizing news in that bigger news that would concern a larger population is first to catch the eye, along with other big stories that are accompanied with audio and video.
• There is a lot of information that has been well placed above the fold line to make it immediately viewable, including the title of the site, major stories, and headers.

Cons:

• Visually, the site is boring, which may be suitable for a news website, but still lacks basic principles like contrast, and repetition which are good tools for attracting the viewer's eye.
• Advertisements take up a good amount of space and are styled similarly to the site's content, which makes them distracting.

Writing for the web II

Roaring Creek Bridge Rebuilt

Bridge becomes open again after some help in funds.

The County has been looking to fix the bridge ever since it was washed out by a flood last year. The cost is $700,000 to replace.

The county has promised to pay $100,000 of the cost; the state paying $200,000, and the U.S Department of Transportation funds were $400,000.

The bridge was in bad shape when it was destroyed, but there wasn’t enough money to repair it. Once help came along in funds the town was able to finally fix it up.

Without the bridge it was difficult for the Oak Grove neighborhood, because they had to drive a lot farther to get to highway 19. The bridge made it possible for people to drive there within a miles distance, whereas a detour would take them a total of 9 miles.

“Traveling all that way has made it very inconvenient for a lot of people, but not having this bridge erected so quickly is a blessing.” Josh Spiva, an Oak Grove resident said. All residents say they’re happy about the bridge opening.

Writing for the Web I

Car Crash Leads to Man’s Heart Attack

Vermont Resident is almost hit by a driver while eating his lunch.

Annie Coulter of Barton, VT was driving southbound on Depot Street today at 12:31 p.m. when she accidently crashed through the front of Central Restaurant, leading to a man's death from a heart attack although he was not directly hit by the car.

The 82-year old driver swerved as she was driving through Lyndonville to avoid a pedestrian until her breaks failed, resulting in her crash into the restaurant window, almost striking John Barker, 59, who was seated, eating his meal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNT8-ig7Oxs

Barker was not hit by the car but received minor cuts from flying glass. As he tried to help Coulter out of her car, he started complaining of chest pains, which lead to collapsing to his death from a heart attack.

The driver only suffered minor injuries from the accident.

 

 

Online Writing Homework

Sunoco Cashier Robbed at Gunpoint

At approximately 1:15 AM this morning, a lone male robbed the cashier at a Hometown Sunoco in Swanton, VT.

The robber was described as being a white, 6'0" tall man. He ran away from the scene with an undisclosed amount of cash and items, no one was injured.

The Vermont State Police continue their search for the suspect in order to follow up on all investigative leads. Any information should be reported to the Vermont State Police at 803-524-5993 or Franklin County Sheriff’s Office at 802-524-2121. 

Online Writing Excercise

Vermont Bear Hunter Charged for Aggravated Assault

Conrad Masse of Albany, Vermont was headed to Urie Road accompanied by Wayne Goffe in order to begin a bear hunt.

Masse drove his truck with Goffe to the site, using radio telemetry and a GPS to track the two bear hounds which they had put on the trail of the bear.

Goffe got out of his truck while the dogs pursued the bear, waiting for the bear to cross as Masse drove approximately 541 feet down the road.

When the bear eventually crossed the road in between Masse and Goff, Masse fired his gun three times with a Remington .30-06 rifle

One shot hit struck the bear, one hit a tree and the other struck Goff in his red and black jacket.

The bullet entered Goff in his midsection and hit him in his pelvic area, resulting in his transportation to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center for treatment where he was treated.

Goff has since been released from the hospital and is in stable condition.

This incident caused Masse a citation to appear in the Orleans Superior Court on February 28, 2014 where he will answer to his charge of Aggravated Assault.

Masse was also issued a fish and game ticket for shooting from the road, having a loaded rifle in his vehicle and not having a proper display of permits for obtaining the bear hounds.

Blog Critique

The blog I chose to critique is called Smitten Kitchen (URL: http://smittenkitchen.com/ ). I knew that I wanted to find a blog about cooking, because lately that's what I've been most interested in. I'm not a good cook, but now that I'm living in my first apartment this year, I think its a great opportunity to become one since I have a kitchen. So I typed in Google, "cooking blogs" and found this one. It was hard to find any thing bad about this blog because I liked almost everything about it.

Pros:

• The food looks amazing. The homepage has pictures that seem to be almost professional of foods that the author, Deb, has been making along with step-by-step directions on how to make them. Some include butterscotch pudding popsicles and almond crisp peaches.
• The blog is organized. There are different links on the side of the page for every season, which contain recipes for foods most people would enjoy for that season. It also has separate links for vegetables and fruits, containing recipes following the two different groups. Deb's "About Me"is organized by separate links as well, explaining the different aspects of her life and cooking. For example there is a section about the kitchen which she spends most her time experimenting with foods and another section about her family which she considers her inspiration.
• Lots of information. This blog has tons of recipes coming from all different food groups. When I clicked on the recipe index there was so many to choose from I didn't know which to click on first. 

Cons:

• The decorating of this blog is a little boring. The colors involved are a little plain and almost too simple, making it seem less inviting and appealing. 
• The blog only consist of text and pictures. It would be nice if it had a little more to offer, like videos of her making her recipes or of any other food related entertainment.

Blog Process - "Pimp My Blog"

Creating this blog was a bit of a challenge for me. I guess I've been so used to using Facebook that all of this was really confusing and unfamiliar. The whole HTML code and profile editing reminded me of when I created my first Myspace account in middle school. I like this though, its kind of like an online journal thats easier to customize (if you can figure out how to do it.)

In the beginning of the process I had trouble figuring out how to edit the title of my blog, change my small profile picture, and create posts. I'm usually terrible at following directions, but I managed to look everything up on google and figure it out from there.

I chose to make my first blog simple. I found the background on a website called shabbyblogs.com. I wanted my background to be one of scenery because I've always liked having scenic backgrounds on my computer desktops, phone backgrounds, etc. Especially ones of tropical places because I'm naturally drawn to anything having to do with beaches, palm trees and ocean. I live by the ocean and love traveling to new tropical places. New Hampshire may not be the tropics but I guess its the closest thing I have to it. I thought the overall layout of my blog portrayed me well. I posted pictures on my blog of the things that were most important to me, which is family and friends.