A9 Many Eyes

A9 Vuvox Part 2

A9 Vuvox Part 1

http://www.vuvox.com/presentations/0327ca1a70

A9 Twitstat

Practice

Election Night at Annenberg

The normally quiet lobby of the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism was abuzz with election night debate and discussion last Tuesday night. The Unruh Institute of Politics held a panel in the school’s east lobby to discuss the midterm election as the results trickled in via televised coverage. Although the crowd in attendance was much smaller than the one at Annenberg’s coverage of the 2008 elections, heated partisan debate and support was still palpable in the atmosphere.

The panel discussion was led by Dan Schnur of the Unruh Institute of Politics and Roberto Surrow and included alternating student panelists for the Democratic and Republican Party. 

The debate covered a nationwide scope, such as the fact that Republicans have taken control of the House of Representatives and yet the Democrats retained control of the Senate majority. The debate also focused on the California elections. It was agreed upon by both student panelists and the moderators that the campaigning had sunk to low blows between opponents. In addition to this, the panel agreed that candidates Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown had painted eachother into very unfavorable light what with the revelation of Whitman’s former illegal house maid and the word “whore” being used to describe Whitman by someone on Brown’s campaign staff. 

The student panelists, when prompted by Schnur to give an opinion, agreed that after moving towards the left during the Bush years, Americans are now moving back towards the right during the current Obama Administration. However, while the Republican student on the panel at the time of this discussion asserted that the GOP wants more bipartisanship in the current government, the student representing the Democratic side stated that Democrats and Obama had wanted it as well but that after these elections it may not be possible. More was elaborated on this and it was found that the reasoning for it was that Obama would need to swing much more to the left now that trying to achieve bipartisanship has lost him democratic votes and has rendered the left’s control of the government weak, possibly even the President’s bid for reelection.

The possible facts as to why the House was won by the right were also addressed during the discussion and debate panel. An issue that was agreed upon by the panel overall was that the youth vote was severely lacking these midterm elections, a vote that had been very much involved in the 2008 election. Another factor taken into consideration at the panel was the fact that whichever party is out of power is always more determined in its actions to acquire power and that the party like this at the moment is the Republican Party. Although the Democratic side of the panel expressed wishes that the party would continue to pursue bi-partisan solutions to the many issues facing the nation, the consensus was that it would be strategically unwise to so with the party’s weakened state in the government. 

Such was the feeling from students who came to view the event in support of their organizations. The USC College Democrats came in a larger presence than their counterparts for the event, wearing paper crowns on their heads as they sat and listened to the interview, putting their two cents into the conversation with a few questions toward the faculty moderators and cheers for when a democrat would gain or retain control of a seat in either the House or the Senate.

In addition to a few campus political groups, there were also several individual students who came of their own accord. Most of the attendees were not even Annenberg students, they simply wanted to view the action of election night from the various screens covering it in the Annenberg lobby; many also stated they came because they wanted to be part of an event that night. While several students snacked on pizza provided by the school as well as buffalo wings nicknamed “Republican right wings” and “Democrat left wings” during an intermission of the discussion panel, several were able to give interviews regarding the topics discussed by the panel and how election night was being covered by Annenberg. 

http://www-scf.usc.edu/~sarboled/jour309/sproject2/

Leads On Hard Haunted Mansion Story Through Social Media

Hi Everyone,

I unfortunatley was unable to get input or information on my inquiries through my Facebook and Twitter accounts. in response to this, I decided to conduct research using these social media sites instead.

I have been using Facebook and Twitter to conduct some research into my story for my second project in J309. My story is about how security measures and new rules regarding attendance to Hard Haunted Mansion will be enforced and how this event is publicizing itself to avoid scrutiny in the media that has been directed toward raves lately.

I unfortunatley was unable to secure interviews with the organziations invloved with Hard Haunted Mansion nor with organizations that oppose the event. However, I have been able to find information regarding basic facts about the event through sources such as Twitter and Facebook.

Through the event's Facebook page I was able to find facts such as the new curfew the event has, unlike the later one it had in the past, as well as certain security measures that will be enforced at the entrance. This information will allow me to conduct further research into why and how these measures are being enforced this year.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=104203526304986&ref=ts

I have also found (through a Facebook search) a site that is againts raves purely for all of the factors that make raves what they are. Although I was hoping to find an online parents group opposing this specific event, none could be found.
http://www.i-mockery.com/antirave/

Twitter, unfortunately, yielded fewer results with all of the relevant searches I did. From my research on Twitter I did however discover that many people are still planning on going to the event despite the accidents and fatalities at other raves in the very recent past. Here is a link to one of my searches.

http://twitter.com/#!/search/hard%20haunted%20mansion%202010

Attracting Readers Through Social Media

Hello Everyone,

I have decided to track how the three news sites I am following, The New York Times online, MSNBC.com and Deadline.com, are attracting and retaining today's readers through social media. I have decide to investiagte how these three news sites use the social networks provided by Facebook and Twitter to attract readers.

The New York Times, for example, posts the sort of random news that attract Facebook users on its Facebook page. The New York Times follows this up by also posting links to various recent articles on its website and also provides links to other social media sites such as twitter and foursquare, where the organization is also represented. Something that I found particualry interesting and a very good idea that the Times does on Facebook is allowing for viewers to post their own stories on the Facebook page. This caters to newer genrations who like to post things about themselves online as if it were news.

On Twitter, The New York Times posts links to current news articles on its website about every twenty minutes. The articles posted are mostly beat articles or those that are more likley to spark interest among social media users who prefer shorta stories relating to current events.

MSNBC.com does not have a Facebook page but rather some of its journalists do instead. While some investigative reporters for MSNBC.com associate themsleves with the organization on their Facebook pages and post links to their stories on the news site, this is not enough to count the news organization as a presence on Faceboook. The sheer amount of viewers MSNBC.com could attract with Facebook but does not at the moment should be enough for the organization to consider creating a Faceboook page for itself.

MSNBC.com does have its own Twitter page however, and it efficiently uses it to post links to current event stories and other stories of interest to Twitter followers, similar to how The New York Times uses Twitter. Although MSNBC.com should look into becoming a presence on Facebook, Twitter provides it with the kind of environemnt it needs in order to attract readers who would be comfortable getting their news from the fast-based way the news source delivers its content.

Deadline.com has a Facebook page and uses it to post links to current news articles on its site. The Facebook page is not as interactive as that of The New York Times and functions mainly the way the new site does, as a dispensary of the most recent and insider enertainement industry news. While Deadline should look into expanding on its Facebook page, the kinds of readers it attracts mostly just want a source for fast news and the Facebook page, like Deadline.com itself, provides just that.

Unlike its more established presence of  Facebook, Deadline.com barely has a presence on Twitter. The news site has a Twitter page representing it, which provides a link to the actual news site but that is about it. Since Deadline.com is using Facebook as its primary social network for dispensing news and promting itself, it seems to think little of using a second source such as Twittter as well.

In order for these sites, particularly Deadline.com, to bettter promote themselves via social networks and create a greater presence on sites like Facebook and Twitter, I reccomend that they encourage news tips and greater interaction from readers. Facebook and Twitter could also serve as valuable sources for information for these news sites as well.

University Gateway Complaints

Hello avid readers! This week I had the good fortune of stumbling across an interesting story and filming it with a Flip Camera.

An acquaintance of mine, Anessa Mitchell, is a "keystone" or customer service representative for the new University Gateway apartment complex across from campus and was able to share with me an interesting bit of news. This piece covers what she does at her job and how daily complaints from residents are handled lately.


Below are my finished story package, some shots I took of Anessa while I practiced my craft with the camera and the full the unedited interview I had with Anessa.

Audio Slideshow

Hello my loyal fans!


I took that audio interview I did some time back with Melissa Viellos and added pictures to create a slideshow showing her relationship with her father, whom she says is her role model.


Enjoy!!




file:///Users/Guest/Desktop/melissa_viellos_and_father.mp4

The Ronald Tudor Campus Center

The decision to spend millions of dollars of the university's money on a brand-new campus center for students, faculty and staff is summed up in the center’s catalog as “countries have capitals, cities have town halls, neighborhoods have community centers.”
Thus the university now has a campus center that serves as the central meeting place for student groups, organizations, university offices and places of recreation and eating.

“Every university I visited had a student commons or other central location on campus that served not only students but prospective students and alumni as well” said Junior, Anessa Mitchell, “I’m glad our university finally has such a place.”
Long talked about by university officials and applauded by former university president, Steven Sample as a tremendous addition to USC’s campus, the new Ronald Tudor Campus Center provides a variety of places for both students and faculty to socialize.

Equipped with a three story seating area complete with tables and a grand fireplace, The Trojan Family Room provides students with ample room to study and converse quietly with each other under the vast dome ceiling overhead.

However, this impressive area is not the central attraction of the new heart of the university’s campus. The outdoor International Plaza, where students can eat what they they purchase from The Marketplace food court, receives the highest volume of people at the campus center. According to Eric Andrada, Assistant Director of Operations for the campus center, the attendants who supervise and maintain the center take notice of disparities in the building's use.

The campus center boasts its employment of several student workers who not only act as “student staff”, which sit at reception to direct and inform visitors regarding office locations and events, but a team of “campus center attendants”, who patrol the building to observe and report how it is used. “This optimizes the center’s use since we are able to tell who is using what parts of our resources and in what volume,” said Andrada.


Although several of the university’s once scattered administrative offices are now centralized in one building for the benefit of prospective and current students, there is some speculation as to whether the new building is as useful in recreation to students as those of other universities. “We definitely needed a central building to house university offices and provide more study space for students, but several parts of it I think are just for the university to show off. There are several expensive tapestries and works of art in the building that are visually appealing to visitors and alumni but have no use to the students who spend most of their time here,” said Anessa Mitchell.

Just as promised by university officials, the new Ronald Tudor Campus Center includes favorable hot spots for students to interact socially. The campus bar, Traditions has been relocated to the new campus center and has been joined by Tommy’s Place, a casual restaurant with students complete with a large stage for musical performances. Although these new locales boast more space than the temporary Traditions from The Lot, these venues have been placed far from sight by the center’s planning committee.

The new student bar and restaurant is located two stories underneath the campus center and can only be accessed by students from a stairwell located in the back of the building. “Tommy’s Place was originally supposed to be open for lunch and dinner but due to under-staffing, it has only been open from four in the afternoon to two in the morning since it opened,” said Monica Parra, a member of the campus center’s Student Staff. While these student-friendly areas struggle to meet the hours and provide amenities that were promised, venues more friendly toward visitors and alumni such as the upstairs restaurant, Moreton Fig, have already hired a full staff and are serving both lunch and dinner throughout the week.

While the new Ronald Tudor Campus Center accomplishes the task of bringing past, present and future Trojans together under its impressive architecture, it may have some progress to make in order to become a permanent fixture in the campus’s social atmosphere.

My Message

Rebecca Kirkman is a pain in my side. She harasses me every hour, on the hour.  Here is a link to cool stuff on my blog.

Amazing Pictures

Hi Everyone,

I couldn't help myself. I have so much school pride that I decided to take a few pictures of my film school and write a little piece about it.

Enjoy!!

The USC School of Cinematic Arts is as old as Hollywood’s golden age of film but as up to date in the industry as the movie, Avatar. The school has recently been transplanted to a different location on the University of Southern California campus, not far from its original location. Hollywood movie legends George Lucas, an alum of the university and Steven Spielberg, an honorary alum of the university, have donated countless millions to the school for its recent transformation. The brand new School of Cinematic Arts id s composed of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg buildings and spans a great amount of territory and reaches four stories tall. The exterior courtyard is in the traditional university style of the 1920s, also the tail end of film’s golden age.
    However, the two interior lobbies of both buildings are identical in style and are a mix between old world glamour and modern splendor what with their marble floors, sleek wooden sofas with leather cushions and high-arched ceilings. The lobbies are also adorned with testaments to its patrons with plaques that stretch across an entire wall in the Spielberg lobby. The Lucas lobby also pays its dues to those who worked to make this school great in the past. There are several elaborate display cases containing old cinema cameras used during the school’s founding. All of these beautiful antiquities come together to form a very impressive exhibit that complements the reverent style to the school’s devotion to film.

Audio Interview!

Hello Everyone,

This week I got the opportunity to interview a very cool girl at SC by the name of Melissa Viellos. I asked Melissa who has had the biggest impact on her life and she told me it was her dad. Just telling me about her father triggered some deep thoughts she has about him and it can be heard in the interview. Below is the link to a piece of the interview on my web space.

Enjoy!!

http://www-scf.usc.edu/~sarboled/jour309/STE-006.mp3


Full Version:

http://www-scf.usc.edu/~sarboled/jour309/STE-006copy.mp3

My Bio

I am a print journalism major.

I generally read online news. I read the New York Times online for local and global news, I go to MSNBC.com for my broadcast news if I am not near a television (I have no specific channel of preference for my broadcast news on television) and I go to Deadline.com for news within the entertainment industry.

I have a blog now that I am in JOUR309, I have had a facebook page since my junior year of high school although I only check it on my phone when I have nothing else to do and I have a Twitter account from when I was asked to set one up in an introdcutory journalism course; I never post anything on Twitter yet I have about twenty followers as of now.

I am a PC. I unfortunately was too stubborn to make the conversion to Mac when everyone else did. Hopefully what I learn in this course can finally "let me see the light."

I have very little skill with technology aside from the basic functions of Microsoft Office. I am embarrassed to say that I do not even know what "html" is and I have never used any kind of editing proagram such as photoshop. I am however eager to learn everything and glad that I am fianlly in a class that can catch me up with the world.

In three years I would ideally like to be a fairly successful screenwriter and making my way into the field of producing large budget motion pictures.

A fun fact about myself is that what I sometimes lack in skill, I make up for with eagerness to learn.


This semester I plan to track The New York Times (online), MSNBC.com and Deadline.com

Hello Out There in Bloggersphere World

I'm here, I'm clueless, get used to it.