I spent a significant part of last weekend volunteering with Operation Better Block in Pittsburgh's Homewood neighborhood. During my time there I saw a presentation from one of Better Block's community organizers about the "evolution" of one of Pittsburgh's most dangerous and economically depressed neighborhoods. That's the story I want to tell.
Idea 1: Before and After Image
Homewood Avenue was once one of the city's most vibrant business districts. I'd like to blend images of a few blocks on that road before as well as the boarded up version that exists now. Ideally, it would be one image with the black and white businesses interspersed between their boarded up counterparts of today.
Idea 2: An Oral History
Homewood's "better days" aren't that far behind us, so I'd also work on an audio/video interview with someone who remembers what it was and can explain what it is now. Ideally, this documentary-style project would take viewers through Homewood while simultaneously sharing stories about days before the busway and Hill District relocation.
Idea 3: Charts and Graphs: Homewood vs Point Breeze
Directly adjacent to Homewood is one of Pittsburgh's wealthier neighborhoods: Point Breeze. Using charts and graphs to illustrate literacy rates, drop out rates, murders per square mile and the sort I think this visual and fact-driven presentation would be incredibly interesting.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Backup Quarterbacks and Online Writing
While perusing The Atlantic this morning I had what I would consider my best experience with online journalism to date. I read the article "Tim Tebow, Messiah: Why Do NFL Fans Love Backup Quarterbacks So Much?" which I found to be absolutely fantastic for multiple reasons.
The first of such reasons is that the content is something I've found myself pondering a lot lately. It seems every time Pitt loses a football game, my Facebook news-feed is fraught with demands for the head of quarterback Tino Sunserri on a silver platter. Moreover, everyone seems to be in favor of starting his backup, Trey Anderson. While the college mentality is clearly different from the NFL mentality, a deeper look of what's really going on here was appreciated.
In addition to it being a topic I was incredibly interested in, I very much appreciated the structure of the piece. Giving each writer a page in which to discuss his/her views on this phenomena both made for an interesting and quick way to read the piece (and in online journalism quick is king) and added some feelings of credibility. If they're willing to go through four writers, they can't all be wrong, can they?
I also really appreciated the way each of the writers acknowledged what was before their piece by referencing the other contributors by first name. This conversation feeling was enhanced by each writing ending their section of the piece with some sort of request for input from the next writer.
The first of such reasons is that the content is something I've found myself pondering a lot lately. It seems every time Pitt loses a football game, my Facebook news-feed is fraught with demands for the head of quarterback Tino Sunserri on a silver platter. Moreover, everyone seems to be in favor of starting his backup, Trey Anderson. While the college mentality is clearly different from the NFL mentality, a deeper look of what's really going on here was appreciated.
In addition to it being a topic I was incredibly interested in, I very much appreciated the structure of the piece. Giving each writer a page in which to discuss his/her views on this phenomena both made for an interesting and quick way to read the piece (and in online journalism quick is king) and added some feelings of credibility. If they're willing to go through four writers, they can't all be wrong, can they?
I also really appreciated the way each of the writers acknowledged what was before their piece by referencing the other contributors by first name. This conversation feeling was enhanced by each writing ending their section of the piece with some sort of request for input from the next writer.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Canadian Supreme Court Ruling
I know this isn't in the states, but I still thought this was particularly interesting given what we discussed earlier in the semester.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111019/10203016414/canadian-supreme-court-says-no-liability-linking-to-defamatory-content.shtml
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111019/10203016414/canadian-supreme-court-says-no-liability-linking-to-defamatory-content.shtml
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
In Class Lab- 48 Hours
What I've Learned
Cover:
It will be styled to look like a notebook with handwritten font.
Content:
Some smaller articles to begin coupled with essays about a wide range of topics dealing with lessons learned (ex: 'What I Learned in College').
Classrooms
Teaching
Personal stories
Talents
Family/Traditions/Crafts
Feature Article (sponsored?) - in-depth piece on the educational climate in Homewood Neighborhood, Pittsburgh, PA.
Commentary on schools in Pittsburgh ('Did you know: Barack Obama Elementary School')
Art: for an article such as the Homewood piece, it would be more aesthetically pleasing to have graphics of the neighborhood (gritty, raw photography). And for the lighter articles a mixture of cartoons, photography, and assorted quotes about what they have learned.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Nonfiction Facebook pages
I "liked" Rust Wire and This American Life on facebook. Rust Wire is an online nonfiction blog about rustbelt cities, such as Pittsburgh and Youngstown, which I'm from, that discusses issues facing the region. This American Life is the facebook page of everyone's favorite PRI program. They're both really different, but I find both of them to be endlessly fascinating.
Slate and Grantland Social Media
Slate Twitter Accounts
Slate Facebook Pages
Grantland Twitter Accounts
Grantland Facebook pages
- Slate's general twitter account tweets about politics, technology, culture and other random topics of interest.
- Slate articles tweets the magazines most recent articles.
- Slate Culture Fest tweets about all things pop culture.
- Slate Gabfest tweets about Slate's podcasts.
- Slate Foreign Desk tweets about news on the international scene.
- Slate's Moneybox tweets about financial, economic and business news.
Slate Facebook Pages
- Slate.com has a facebook page that relates to news/media.
- Slate explainer posts answers to users questions about news and current events.
- Culture Fest, like it's twitter counterpart, updates users on all things pop culture.
- Political Gabfest updates when their political podcast team has something to say. Their slogan? "We can't even agree on a slogan."
Grantland Twitter Accounts
- Grantland only has one official twitter feed, at least one that I can find.
- However, many of their contributors and writers such as Robert Mays and Chris Ryan tweet as well.
Grantland Facebook pages
- Grantland's facebook page considers itself both the official facebook page of grantland.com and the simmons-stache. They must keep very busy.
Retweets!
These are the tweets from Radiolab and Longshot Magazine that I selected to retweet. Enjoy!
Radio Lab Tweets!
Longshot Magazine Tweets!
Radio Lab Tweets!Awesome joyous dancing by college students inspired by our Desperately Seeking Symmetry episode: http://ow.ly/5QPG0
wnycradiolab Radiolab
From the new WIRED: Story arcs as circles (bit.ly/nfHNYz). Agree? Disagree? Now charting every story in our new hour, out this week!
Longshot Magazine Tweets! wendymac wendy macnaughton
The making of Longshot Magazine told through drawings and tweetsnewyorkmade.me
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Lab 2
I want to write for Sports Illustrated. It’s one of those embarrassing facts about myself I’ve come to embrace because, quite frankly, it’s not going anywhere. I realized I wasn’t a fan of them on facebook or following them on twitter, which is obviously a mistake on my part.
The interesting thing about SI is that until recently their website was an absolute nightmare. Compared to media outlets like ESPN, Sports Illustrated was being left in the dust. They’ve finally caught up, and as the grown-up version of the girl who spent every month waiting at the mailbox for her SI for Kids magazine, I’m really glad they got it together.
The twitter seems pretty standard; I very much appreciate that they have a separate twitter for the swimsuit issue (just not my thing.) They're really active in retweets and responding, which I very much appreciate.
On the facebook side of things, they have a lot of different sections, which I think can turn into overkill. I'd prefer it was more simple, which would in turn make it easier to navigate.
Lab 1
1. First, I went to the nobel prize site to find the most accurate version possible. http://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/index.php?id=1397 From there, I used a transcript to ensure the accuracy of the quote: “Not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something that did not exist before.”
2. January 1, 1644 was a Friday, “cloudy and raining weather, with occasional sunshine and somewhat warm” according to The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography © 1891 The Historical Society of Pennsylvania 3. http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/usdeadly.asp That page showed me the deadliest hurricane’s in US history. At first I was suspicious as to whether or not I could believe this site as entirely accurate, but they also posted a link to the information at the website of the National Hurricane Center. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/nws-nhc-6.pdf
4. A blueprint for Fallingwater (http://www.fallingwater.org/assets/Site%20Plan%20and%20Floor%20Plans.pdf) was found on the landmark’s official website. Makes me glad I’m not an architect because I have no idea what this means.
5. http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/index.html?dod-date=721
In looking at this document I noticed that he's wearing a suit and tie and looks confused, or possibly has crooked eye brows like I do. It's in black and white and he's looking straight on. He's not smiling.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Drinking Laws and Culture links and tweets
Time magazine posted an article about how facebook statuses can help identify users with a drinking problem. That's what they said. What college students everywhere HEARD was "shit. we're about to get busted via facebook."
This site talks about drug and alcohol education at the University of Pittsburgh, a great place to start if interested in exploring "what happens next" after someone gets busted for breaking drinking policies on campus.
This site talks about drug and alcohol education at the University of Pittsburgh, a great place to start if interested in exploring "what happens next" after someone gets busted for breaking drinking policies on campus.
MYTH: Myth: The law only makes youth want to drink because it’s a “forbidden fruit.” THE TRUTH: http://ow.ly/6K4g2
Retweeted by @SamBert1072
Police say a man was drunk during his hearing with the magistrate on public drunkenness charges... patch.com/A-m7xX
Retweeted by @SamBert1072
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