Tuesday, 4 May 2010
feedback after distribution
jenny graham emailed us feedback we've recieved after the newspaper has been distributed.
“We've just put the underground
map on the wall and are fighting about who is on the coolest line
(that's teachers not students by the way!)
Initial reaction is that we can't wait to use it in the classroom -
could be a few more bigger images in there...
We'll use it with students next week (weds) and email you some more
feedback”
Mary Berrisford, Islington
“MediaMe looks great. Works really well with the colour, etc. Mega
achievement.”
Jenny Grahame
final accounts and costs of newspaper
Accounts
Outgoings
500 copies from newspaperclub £500 inc VAT
postage for first three orders £11.40
Income
advert Junction £350
advert Lincoln
advert OCR
Reigate 120 copies £60
Islington 40 copies £20
Netherhall 30 copies £15
free samples and copies for group members, moderator etc 50
still to sell 260 copies
to be advertised by jenny on OCR teachers site this week.
Monday, 26 April 2010
final newspaper
this is a video of the newspaper that we produced. it includes all of the pages and content that we made and it has the advertisements.
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
evaluation of final newspaper
how well does it meet your original intentions?
looking back at the brief and what we aimed for as a final result i'm pleased with the final paper. the information is presented well and the article structure with the style sheet we used looks professional. the professional look was the most important thing for me. i didn't want people reading it to view it as another student made project. i wanted it to look presentable and profesional, with good useful information that stuidents will use for revision. i think that we all did a great job and it meets my intentions. my only criticism is that the front cover doesn't look as eyecatching. other than that the content is great.
how does it look?
i think it looks really good, the articles i made for example i think look really good. the information is clear and is an easy read, doesn't look too demanding. this would appeal to our audience because from research we did on teenage learning, they don't nessesarily like a lot of writing. i think the front cover doesn't look as vibrant and eye-catching as i'd like. it should be the page that advertises the paper, and it doesn't look as exciting enough. it's okay though, it's not a bad front cover. i just think theres room for improvement of the presentation of the front cover. the article template is good though and the articles all look professional.
how pleased are you with your contributions?
in the end i ended up doing more than i expected for the paper. we were running out of time and there were still a few articles that needed doing referring to the exam questions. i made my orignal article, the article about wikipedia, and was very pleased with it. the presentation looks really good and the flow of the article is good as well. it isn't too demanding either whichn would appeal to our target audience. the other article i made was about the first part of the a2 exam. i had a rough idea what i needed to include but i researched what the exam questions were like and what you needed to include in your answer. i wrote a rough draft and gave it to my teacher to be looked at. there were some improvement but the general structire was good. i made the changes and added some colour to make it more presentable. i really like the final outcome and prefer it to my other article. i like the way that it's clear how it helps you in the exam. i also made a wordsearch to go on the games page.
how efectively did you work in your role and others in theirs?
we all worked well together, though the quality control team weren't very good at letting the other groups know about changes and such. for example, they didn't inform us that they had made a logo or a flat plan. to me, those things were in our right to know as it was a group effort making the paper. there lack of informing us meant we wasted time. i personally worked well, in terms of the content. i could have done more on my blog, but i think the articles i produced fit the biref and look professional. i'm really pleased with the outcome.
what could be learned from this experience?
i learned to work to a tight schedule and i also learned to have several processes of work, not just working to one target. team working was improved but i think that previous projects have had a bigger impact. usually in projects we work to one deadline, finish everything at the same time, with this project we had deadlines for drafts of articles and checkpoints to see if we were working quick enough. it was very time consuming, most of the time i was writing drafts overnight and then bringing them in the next day to receive feedback. it was a hectic schedule but it paid off and the thing i learnt most of all was doing work outside of college really helps when you come back to college. it means you can knuckle down and get feedback.
what has been learned from previous experience?
looking back at the brief and what we aimed for as a final result i'm pleased with the final paper. the information is presented well and the article structure with the style sheet we used looks professional. the professional look was the most important thing for me. i didn't want people reading it to view it as another student made project. i wanted it to look presentable and profesional, with good useful information that stuidents will use for revision. i think that we all did a great job and it meets my intentions. my only criticism is that the front cover doesn't look as eyecatching. other than that the content is great.
how does it look?
i think it looks really good, the articles i made for example i think look really good. the information is clear and is an easy read, doesn't look too demanding. this would appeal to our audience because from research we did on teenage learning, they don't nessesarily like a lot of writing. i think the front cover doesn't look as vibrant and eye-catching as i'd like. it should be the page that advertises the paper, and it doesn't look as exciting enough. it's okay though, it's not a bad front cover. i just think theres room for improvement of the presentation of the front cover. the article template is good though and the articles all look professional.
how pleased are you with your contributions?
in the end i ended up doing more than i expected for the paper. we were running out of time and there were still a few articles that needed doing referring to the exam questions. i made my orignal article, the article about wikipedia, and was very pleased with it. the presentation looks really good and the flow of the article is good as well. it isn't too demanding either whichn would appeal to our target audience. the other article i made was about the first part of the a2 exam. i had a rough idea what i needed to include but i researched what the exam questions were like and what you needed to include in your answer. i wrote a rough draft and gave it to my teacher to be looked at. there were some improvement but the general structire was good. i made the changes and added some colour to make it more presentable. i really like the final outcome and prefer it to my other article. i like the way that it's clear how it helps you in the exam. i also made a wordsearch to go on the games page.
how efectively did you work in your role and others in theirs?
we all worked well together, though the quality control team weren't very good at letting the other groups know about changes and such. for example, they didn't inform us that they had made a logo or a flat plan. to me, those things were in our right to know as it was a group effort making the paper. there lack of informing us meant we wasted time. i personally worked well, in terms of the content. i could have done more on my blog, but i think the articles i produced fit the biref and look professional. i'm really pleased with the outcome.
what could be learned from this experience?
i learned to work to a tight schedule and i also learned to have several processes of work, not just working to one target. team working was improved but i think that previous projects have had a bigger impact. usually in projects we work to one deadline, finish everything at the same time, with this project we had deadlines for drafts of articles and checkpoints to see if we were working quick enough. it was very time consuming, most of the time i was writing drafts overnight and then bringing them in the next day to receive feedback. it was a hectic schedule but it paid off and the thing i learnt most of all was doing work outside of college really helps when you come back to college. it means you can knuckle down and get feedback.
what has been learned from previous experience?
from previous experience i have learnt to be forceful. when we were doing group work for a project i was in charge and my job was to make sure my group were doing the work. i got criticized for not being the leader i needed to be. my group were slacking and doing the work but not to the best of their ability. i then decided to be more forceful in my approach. my group didn't like me as much after that but we got the work done and to a much higher standard than before. this project wasn't like that though because i didn't have a dominant role with in the group. my role was to produce the content. what i decided to do then was knuckle down and do the work to a high standard at home. this was my way of producing good work with out the leader having to be forceful.
Monday, 29 March 2010
final article
Is Wikipedia an online blessing?
I’m sure by now you’re familiar with Wikipedia, it’s unlimited source of information makes it a ‘go to’ site when researching. From Spike Jonze to Telephones it’s on there, but is the information on Wikipedia valuable enough not to have to search elsewhere?
What is Wikipedia?
Fundamentally, Wikipedia is an online encyclopaedia full of information on pretty much any topic or subject you can think of. Wikipedia’s goal is to make the sum of human knowledge available to everyone on the planet at no cost. Considering 580 million people have access to the internet and Wikipedia is in 250 different languages, their goal is well met. There aren’t paid professional journalists or authors who write the content though, any average Joe can write something and upload it to Wikipedia. It’s a completely self contained site written by the people, for the people. At present there are over 15 million articles on the site. Just think of all that accessible information. Before Wikipedia there wasn’t a website that had the sheer amount of reachable information at no cost to the user. Wikipedia has revolutionized the web. It isn’t the only online encyclopaedia, there are many similar sites that share the same format, but it is the most used and most recognized. According to lovetoknow.com, Wikipedia is the 8th most visited site on the web. Aleks Krotoski stated that, “Wikipedia provides the first stop down the rabbit hole of a complex topic”.
How accurate is Wikipedia?
The information contained in Wikipedia, like all information, depends on the knowledge or the ability of the person giving the information. Some information isn’t as accurate as it could be, when this occurs someone else can edit the information in order for it to be more precise. There are mistakes but are usually corrected in time. Wikipedia has taken numerous hits; there was talk not so long ago about an anonymous writer linking a former journalist John Seigenthaler with the assassination to Robert Kennedy and John F. Kennedy. There are people who devote time to correcting mistakes and assuring information is accurate. The way it works is if you post something on the site, if that post ever gets changed by another user, you’ll be notified. You then have the power to re-change it or leave it due to the information being better than your original post. Eventually people who post incorrect data will give up and then all that remains is the correct information on the specific topic. Therefore I’d say that a considerable amount of Wikipedia is true. You must also bear in mind the fact that most of the contend is opinionated so looking elsewhere for information isn’t a bad idea.
Should it be the ‘go to’ site?
I won’t lie, most of the time when I’m researching I go on Wikipedia, but it shouldn’t be the only site you go on. There are a number of reasons for this. The information might not be accurate so therefore you’re researching something that is wrong. The information might be truthful but it might not be detailed enough, meaning you’d only get basic knowledge. Basic knowledge doesn’t help you learn, it helps the understanding of a subject. After doing a questionnaire on how student’s research I found out that 1 in 10 people didn’t just use Wikipedia for research. It might not necessarily be the ‘go to site’ but it’s certainly used like one. When doing research you should use other meanings of research as well. It’s hard to ignore Wikipedia. Whatever you type in on Google search it’s bound to be the first link that comes up. In my opinion I think it’s best to scroll down at some point because even if you don’t get more information from another site, you’ll be able to compare information. Wikipedia might be more convenient but if you scroll down you might find another website that’s useful for research as well. There are other sites than Wikipedia, they do exist.
Other ways to research
There are so many other ways to research presides going on Wikipedia. Not just other sites online but videos are good as well. Depending on the type of person you are, you might find that watching videos about a certain topic is a better way at researching simply because you remember it better. It all comes down to what helps you. When researching, it’s always best to do too much research. Read articles, look at photos, watch videos, you remember what libraries are for? Use them because all these sources are here to help you. Use them to your advantage.
Is Wikipedia good for research then?
Wikipedia is a valuable source of online information because it’s a good starting point for research, no matter what topic. After you’ve looked at Wikipedia though, comparing the information to another source is best because you’ll then be able to determine it’s accuracy. Research is all about finding out the most you possibly can about something. Not everything is on Wikipedia. Looking into books and articles is a good way of finding out other information. Articles are especially good at finding out opinions on a specific subject. Personal opinions aren’t on Wikipedia, therefore if you’re doing research, spread your wings and look everywhere. The more research you do the better. If you’re doing something about film, look on imdb.com. if you’re looking for photos, go on flickr.com. also, there’s not much that isn’t on youtube.com one way or another. These sites were made to be used, so use them for what they were intended for. Don’t ignore them purely because staying on Wikipedia is easier.
I’m sure by now you’re familiar with Wikipedia, it’s unlimited source of information makes it a ‘go to’ site when researching. From Spike Jonze to Telephones it’s on there, but is the information on Wikipedia valuable enough not to have to search elsewhere?
What is Wikipedia?
Fundamentally, Wikipedia is an online encyclopaedia full of information on pretty much any topic or subject you can think of. Wikipedia’s goal is to make the sum of human knowledge available to everyone on the planet at no cost. Considering 580 million people have access to the internet and Wikipedia is in 250 different languages, their goal is well met. There aren’t paid professional journalists or authors who write the content though, any average Joe can write something and upload it to Wikipedia. It’s a completely self contained site written by the people, for the people. At present there are over 15 million articles on the site. Just think of all that accessible information. Before Wikipedia there wasn’t a website that had the sheer amount of reachable information at no cost to the user. Wikipedia has revolutionized the web. It isn’t the only online encyclopaedia, there are many similar sites that share the same format, but it is the most used and most recognized. According to lovetoknow.com, Wikipedia is the 8th most visited site on the web. Aleks Krotoski stated that, “Wikipedia provides the first stop down the rabbit hole of a complex topic”.
How accurate is Wikipedia?
The information contained in Wikipedia, like all information, depends on the knowledge or the ability of the person giving the information. Some information isn’t as accurate as it could be, when this occurs someone else can edit the information in order for it to be more precise. There are mistakes but are usually corrected in time. Wikipedia has taken numerous hits; there was talk not so long ago about an anonymous writer linking a former journalist John Seigenthaler with the assassination to Robert Kennedy and John F. Kennedy. There are people who devote time to correcting mistakes and assuring information is accurate. The way it works is if you post something on the site, if that post ever gets changed by another user, you’ll be notified. You then have the power to re-change it or leave it due to the information being better than your original post. Eventually people who post incorrect data will give up and then all that remains is the correct information on the specific topic. Therefore I’d say that a considerable amount of Wikipedia is true. You must also bear in mind the fact that most of the contend is opinionated so looking elsewhere for information isn’t a bad idea.
Should it be the ‘go to’ site?
I won’t lie, most of the time when I’m researching I go on Wikipedia, but it shouldn’t be the only site you go on. There are a number of reasons for this. The information might not be accurate so therefore you’re researching something that is wrong. The information might be truthful but it might not be detailed enough, meaning you’d only get basic knowledge. Basic knowledge doesn’t help you learn, it helps the understanding of a subject. After doing a questionnaire on how student’s research I found out that 1 in 10 people didn’t just use Wikipedia for research. It might not necessarily be the ‘go to site’ but it’s certainly used like one. When doing research you should use other meanings of research as well. It’s hard to ignore Wikipedia. Whatever you type in on Google search it’s bound to be the first link that comes up. In my opinion I think it’s best to scroll down at some point because even if you don’t get more information from another site, you’ll be able to compare information. Wikipedia might be more convenient but if you scroll down you might find another website that’s useful for research as well. There are other sites than Wikipedia, they do exist.
Other ways to research
There are so many other ways to research presides going on Wikipedia. Not just other sites online but videos are good as well. Depending on the type of person you are, you might find that watching videos about a certain topic is a better way at researching simply because you remember it better. It all comes down to what helps you. When researching, it’s always best to do too much research. Read articles, look at photos, watch videos, you remember what libraries are for? Use them because all these sources are here to help you. Use them to your advantage.
Is Wikipedia good for research then?
Wikipedia is a valuable source of online information because it’s a good starting point for research, no matter what topic. After you’ve looked at Wikipedia though, comparing the information to another source is best because you’ll then be able to determine it’s accuracy. Research is all about finding out the most you possibly can about something. Not everything is on Wikipedia. Looking into books and articles is a good way of finding out other information. Articles are especially good at finding out opinions on a specific subject. Personal opinions aren’t on Wikipedia, therefore if you’re doing research, spread your wings and look everywhere. The more research you do the better. If you’re doing something about film, look on imdb.com. if you’re looking for photos, go on flickr.com. also, there’s not much that isn’t on youtube.com one way or another. These sites were made to be used, so use them for what they were intended for. Don’t ignore them purely because staying on Wikipedia is easier.
Sunday, 28 March 2010
feedback from client - jenny graham
the liason (alex) took a copy of our final drafts and emailed them to jenny graham. she replied with individual feedback for everyone. this is what she said about my article.
nice, well informed piece, with lots of good argument. could you give a couple more examples of why wikipedia might be particulary useful in researching a media topic. the potnetial mis-use of wikipedia.
she also said that a bit was missing but that was my own stupid fault and was easily corrected by putting it back in. it was only a sentence. i'm happy to hear that she likes my article though. the feedback i got last time when i showed her my 2nd draft wasn't great. but her feedback has helped me to further my article and to make it the best it can be.
nice, well informed piece, with lots of good argument. could you give a couple more examples of why wikipedia might be particulary useful in researching a media topic. the potnetial mis-use of wikipedia.
she also said that a bit was missing but that was my own stupid fault and was easily corrected by putting it back in. it was only a sentence. i'm happy to hear that she likes my article though. the feedback i got last time when i showed her my 2nd draft wasn't great. but her feedback has helped me to further my article and to make it the best it can be.
final style sheet
when we had to design the final style sheet, we looked at the articles we had discussed about and talked about the aspects we liked and whyn they worked. then we had a vote. for instance, we looked at the title of one of the articles. everyone thought that the font was great, it standed out and it captured your attention, but it wasn't big enough. so we decided on a size. if it wasn't that simple we came up with a compromize. we worked quickly through this and had some good points to say about the final style sheet. it seemed that everyone was really interested in making this project the best.
minutes of meetings
people invlolved: james, hayden, ash, kirk
in a group discussed all the class' template/style sheets. we went through them individually pointing out how we felt and why that was. during the meeting i felt that the class had made progress because we all listened to what everyone had to say and we didn't interrupt or anything. each aspect that we didnt agree with we aired, these were:
-The poor use of text wrapping
- the boring text- unproffesional imagery
- lack of header and footers
- better placement of by-lines and box-outs, in order to present a better, less confusing read - we might border them
- nicer wrapping and smaller text for the quotation pull-outs
-mainly just a lack of professional look
this discussion went very quickly as we picked out the negatives really quickly - this may have been as we only had one lesson to work on the previews and rushed ourselves to get the text on there as soon as possible for examples.we;re now about to work on our new style-sheet in Pages. we've decided to drop the possibility of using InDesign as none of us know exactly how to use it well. after all, Pages is perfectly adequate - it centre images well, has good fonts, masking capabilities and wrapping options - all important for our tabloid design.
in a group discussed all the class' template/style sheets. we went through them individually pointing out how we felt and why that was. during the meeting i felt that the class had made progress because we all listened to what everyone had to say and we didn't interrupt or anything. each aspect that we didnt agree with we aired, these were:
-The poor use of text wrapping
- the boring text- unproffesional imagery
- lack of header and footers
- better placement of by-lines and box-outs, in order to present a better, less confusing read - we might border them
- nicer wrapping and smaller text for the quotation pull-outs
-mainly just a lack of professional look
this discussion went very quickly as we picked out the negatives really quickly - this may have been as we only had one lesson to work on the previews and rushed ourselves to get the text on there as soon as possible for examples.we;re now about to work on our new style-sheet in Pages. we've decided to drop the possibility of using InDesign as none of us know exactly how to use it well. after all, Pages is perfectly adequate - it centre images well, has good fonts, masking capabilities and wrapping options - all important for our tabloid design.
thursdays lesson
today when we got in we got into our groups and we were given all 3 of the groups articles, including our own. we had to write on it the pro's and con's for each article. the things we liked, the things that didn't work etc. after that the person from the group that designed the article (or had the most to say about it) got together seperatly and finalized a style sheet. i was the member of my group that went to talk about my views on the articles. i met up with hayden, ash and kirk. kirk wanted to hear what we had to say. we went through each of the articles deciding what we liked and such. we then decided what each of the things should be for the final article style sheet. what i mean is we decided the fonts, sizes, positions, column amounts. everything. then i went off and made a template that everyone could use for their articles. it was a good lesson because we got a lot of work done. and we were all happy with the final style sheet as well.
wednesdays lesson
today we were all given the longest in length article and we were asked to transfer it into pages and put it into an article format. it had to be on A3 and we had to include all the things that have told us about and such. then after we did that all the groups would come round and decide which aspects of each style we all liked the best. each group made an article on pages. i was the person out of my group to make the article. i decided the fonts and sizes and such that i thought looked good. then the rest of my group took the information and made the style sheet that would have been used for my article. i didn't put too much thought into it because i knew that it wasn't final or anything. i chose fonts and sizes that i thought looked presentable and professioanl. the layout i chose for the same reasons really, and that it looked good. we had printing issues so this took longer than expected. tomorrow we will come together and decided which ideas we like. then we are going to design the final style sheet.
feedback from student
this was feedback i got from my first draft of my article. the feedback i got from this was good because it showed me what i needed to work on more and it also showed me if my article was good enough. after the feedback i knew that the only issues were with missing things out or not using references.
feedback from student
a draft of my article was given to a student to look over and give feedback. he didn't know me but he was told what my article needed to include and such.
feedback from student about my article
after doing one of my early drafts, i gave it to one of my classmates to look over and give me some feedback. most of what he said was positive but he also gave me some things to work on and some things to think about which really helped.
he told me that my intro was great because it sounded interesting and made you want to read on. he also said that he thought that i should use more data to back my argument up with. he said on the whole it's a good article but just has a bit of tweaking that needs doing.
he told me that my intro was great because it sounded interesting and made you want to read on. he also said that he thought that i should use more data to back my argument up with. he said on the whole it's a good article but just has a bit of tweaking that needs doing.
how questionaire can help my article?
the answers given in the questionaire were very helpful. they showed my that most people only use wikipedia for research when online. it also showed me that most of peoples time online is spent socializing and not for work at all. i'm going to use some of this information in my article as a response.
response to questionaire
after doing the questionaire, my group came together and we put all of our information together and i wrote it all up on one sheet so that the data was all together and easily accessible. the answers we got were interesting and the information we got could certainly help us in our articles as well.
these were our responses: (15 people were used)
1a) when did you last access the internet?
8 people said yesturday
7 people said today
that means that people our age use the internet almost everday. not one persons answers were later than the previous day.
1b) what did you do when you were last online?
8 people were on social networking sites
2 people were downloading music illegally
1 person was playing games online
3 people were doing research for college work
1 person checked there emails
after looking at this you can see that a large proportion of the people questioned said they were on a social networking site.
2) which website did you last visit? why?
9 people said they were on facebook checking notifications and talking to friends
1 person went on hsbc to check there bank account
1 person looked something up on google
1 person watched a video on youtube
2 people went on wikipedia to look something up that was college related
1 person went on hotmail to check emails
again, most people are going on facebook and spending a lot of time talking to friends. one person i talked to said that they went on facebook to see what was going on. is facebook the new mobile phone?
3) when was the last time you used a researching website?
4 people said a month ago
2 people said a few weeks ago
1 person said 2 weeks ago
2 people said last week
2 people said today
1 person said last year
2 people said doesn't remember
1 person said yesturday
everyone i talked to said that the only regular researching website they use is wikipedia. this information will help me in my article
4) do you use other regular researching websites? is so which ones?
6 people just said wikipedia
7 people said wikipedia and they use google search and click on websites
2 people said wikipedia and imdb
this shows me that wikipedia is the most used researching website used and it also shows me that even if people use other sites by going through google, they don't remember the site names.
5a) do you have a social networking site?
11 people said just facebook
1 person said facebook and myspace
2 people said facebook and twitter
1 person doesn't have a social netorking site
people i asked said that they used to have bebo and myspace but they either deleted them or didn't use them anymore. i have a bebo and a myspace but the reason why i haven't deleted them is because i can't remember the username and passwords and such.
5b) how often do you update your facebook status?
4 people said once a day
1 person said 5 times a day
1 person said 3 times a day
2 people said 3 times a week
2 people said 2 times a week
3 people don't update it
2 people said they barely updated it
6) have you ever uploaded videos online? how old were you when you first made your account?
14 people said yes
1 person said no
10 people said that they were 16 and it was due to college
2 people said they were 12
1 person said they were 15
1 person said they were 14
these were our responses: (15 people were used)
1a) when did you last access the internet?
8 people said yesturday
7 people said today
that means that people our age use the internet almost everday. not one persons answers were later than the previous day.
1b) what did you do when you were last online?
8 people were on social networking sites
2 people were downloading music illegally
1 person was playing games online
3 people were doing research for college work
1 person checked there emails
after looking at this you can see that a large proportion of the people questioned said they were on a social networking site.
2) which website did you last visit? why?
9 people said they were on facebook checking notifications and talking to friends
1 person went on hsbc to check there bank account
1 person looked something up on google
1 person watched a video on youtube
2 people went on wikipedia to look something up that was college related
1 person went on hotmail to check emails
again, most people are going on facebook and spending a lot of time talking to friends. one person i talked to said that they went on facebook to see what was going on. is facebook the new mobile phone?
3) when was the last time you used a researching website?
4 people said a month ago
2 people said a few weeks ago
1 person said 2 weeks ago
2 people said last week
2 people said today
1 person said last year
2 people said doesn't remember
1 person said yesturday
everyone i talked to said that the only regular researching website they use is wikipedia. this information will help me in my article
4) do you use other regular researching websites? is so which ones?
6 people just said wikipedia
7 people said wikipedia and they use google search and click on websites
2 people said wikipedia and imdb
this shows me that wikipedia is the most used researching website used and it also shows me that even if people use other sites by going through google, they don't remember the site names.
5a) do you have a social networking site?
11 people said just facebook
1 person said facebook and myspace
2 people said facebook and twitter
1 person doesn't have a social netorking site
people i asked said that they used to have bebo and myspace but they either deleted them or didn't use them anymore. i have a bebo and a myspace but the reason why i haven't deleted them is because i can't remember the username and passwords and such.
5b) how often do you update your facebook status?
4 people said once a day
1 person said 5 times a day
1 person said 3 times a day
2 people said 3 times a week
2 people said 2 times a week
3 people don't update it
2 people said they barely updated it
6) have you ever uploaded videos online? how old were you when you first made your account?
14 people said yes
1 person said no
10 people said that they were 16 and it was due to college
2 people said they were 12
1 person said they were 15
1 person said they were 14
questionaires
in order to get some more collective data that we can all use to help our individual articles, in our groups we made a questionaire that we're going to ask a group of students. this information we can use as references in our articles. my article is about wikipedia but other members of my group are doing things on social netowkring sites etc. the questions we came up with were:
when was the last time you accessed the internet?
what did you do when you were online?
what website did you last visit?
why?
when was the last time you used a research website such as wikipedia?
what did you research on the internet?
do you use other websites regulary for research? if so which ones?
do you have a social networking page? which ones?
if you have facebook, how often do you update you status?
have you ever uploaded videos to youtuve/vimeo?
how old were you when you created your account?
when was the last time you accessed the internet?
what did you do when you were online?
what website did you last visit?
why?
when was the last time you used a research website such as wikipedia?
what did you research on the internet?
do you use other websites regulary for research? if so which ones?
do you have a social networking page? which ones?
if you have facebook, how often do you update you status?
have you ever uploaded videos to youtuve/vimeo?
how old were you when you created your account?
session with dave
dave came in again today and gave us some more advice on our newspaper. we told him where we were up to on the project which was creating the content. he told us that the next thing to think about was the appearence. he said that it wasn't as simple as where we would put pictures or what font the text would be in. in magazines and newspapers there are subtle differences that we readers don't notice. he said that there are usually up to 3 different fonts on a page. he also listed out other things we need to think about.
title - name of article
strapline - sentnece under title giving more information
cloumn amount - amount of columns per page
intro - short paragraph summerizing the article
crosshead - subheadings before paragraphs
pull quotes - quotes taken from article that make you want to read on
images - relate to the topic of the article
captions - text under images explaining what they are
box out - information in a box that isn't part of the article itself
header - text at top of page
footer - text at bottom of page
dave said that every magazine or newspaper has these things and each one has a specific font, font size and colour. these things need to be the same for all the articles for the newspaper. it's called the style sheet. the style of the look of the paper. we need to think about this for our newspaper.
title - name of article
strapline - sentnece under title giving more information
cloumn amount - amount of columns per page
intro - short paragraph summerizing the article
crosshead - subheadings before paragraphs
pull quotes - quotes taken from article that make you want to read on
images - relate to the topic of the article
captions - text under images explaining what they are
box out - information in a box that isn't part of the article itself
header - text at top of page
footer - text at bottom of page
dave said that every magazine or newspaper has these things and each one has a specific font, font size and colour. these things need to be the same for all the articles for the newspaper. it's called the style sheet. the style of the look of the paper. we need to think about this for our newspaper.
Sunday, 21 March 2010
ideas i had for title of magazine
after designing the title for the magazine i realised that we already had a title. i didn't mind though because it was fun designing the title. i made it in photoshop using the colours from our creative and media diploma logo. i wantd to include all of the colours in a stripe like pattern. i saw a logo design that i liked on google images and based it slightly round that.
i wrote out the name of the paper and duplicated the text 4 times. i then changed each of the texts colours to match the colours from our logo for creative and media. after that i put then on top of each other and deleted a small section of each of the texts so you can see the colours underneath.
this is what it looked like after i had finished. all of the creative and media colours are there and the stylising of the font isn't too immature. i tired to keep the font to look normal. didn't want a jazzy looking font style because the colouring wouldn't have worked so well. this way it's bold and stands out which through my research i found was crucial.
i wrote out the name of the paper and duplicated the text 4 times. i then changed each of the texts colours to match the colours from our logo for creative and media. after that i put then on top of each other and deleted a small section of each of the texts so you can see the colours underneath.
this is what it looked like after i had finished. all of the creative and media colours are there and the stylising of the font isn't too immature. i tired to keep the font to look normal. didn't want a jazzy looking font style because the colouring wouldn't have worked so well. this way it's bold and stands out which through my research i found was crucial.
feedback from jenny graham
alex (our liason) emailed a copy of all of our articles to jenny graham and she replied with some feedback on how she feels we could improve. this was my feedback.
"James’ piece on Wikipedia needs a lot more data and theoretical references to support his personal views – and he needs to unpick his section about ‘How ‘true’ is Wikipedia’, in which he makes some fairly general assumptions."
taking what she has said on board, i now know what improvements i need to make and which sections of my article need looking at closer.
-i need to use references and quotes when talking about my personal views. this way people sitting the exam can use these as references too.
-how true is wikipedia doesn't make sense, firstly i'm going to change the title to how accurate is wikipedia. and instead of stating my opinion i shall find an article and quote from that as to how accurate wikipedia is. my opinion isn't enough.
-double check statistics are up to date and use more references to data
-write the article with references to the exam questions as well.
"James’ piece on Wikipedia needs a lot more data and theoretical references to support his personal views – and he needs to unpick his section about ‘How ‘true’ is Wikipedia’, in which he makes some fairly general assumptions."
taking what she has said on board, i now know what improvements i need to make and which sections of my article need looking at closer.
-i need to use references and quotes when talking about my personal views. this way people sitting the exam can use these as references too.
-how true is wikipedia doesn't make sense, firstly i'm going to change the title to how accurate is wikipedia. and instead of stating my opinion i shall find an article and quote from that as to how accurate wikipedia is. my opinion isn't enough.
-double check statistics are up to date and use more references to data
-write the article with references to the exam questions as well.
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Is Wikipedia an online blessing?
I’m sure by now you’re familiar with Wikipedia, it’s unlimited source of information makes it a ‘go to’ site when researching. From Spike Jonze to Telephones it’s on there, but is the information on Wikipedia valuable enough not to have to search elsewhere?
What is Wikipedia?
Fundamentally, Wikipedia is an online encyclopaedia full of information on pretty much any topic or subject you can think of. Wikipedia’s goal is to make the sum of human knowledge available to everyone on the planet at no cost. Considering 580 million people have access to the internet and Wikipedia is in 250 different languages, their goal is well met. There aren’t paid professional journalists or authors who write the content though, any average Joe can write something and upload it to Wikipedia. It’s a completely self contained site written by the people, for the people. At present there are over 15 million articles on the site. Just think of all that accessible information. Before Wikipedia there wasn’t a website that had the sheer amount of reachable information at no cost to the user. Wikipedia has revolutionized the web. It isn’t the only online encyclopaedia, there are many similar sites that share the same format, but it is the most used and most recognized. According to lovetoknow.com, Wikipedia is the 8th most visited site on the web. Aleks Krotoski stated that, “Wikipedia provides the first stop down the rabbit hole of a complex topic”.
How accurate is Wikipedia?
The information contained in Wikipedia, like all information, depends on the knowledge or the ability of the person giving the information. Some information isn’t as accurate as it could be, when this occurs someone else can edit the information in order for it to be more precise. There are mistakes but are usually corrected in time. Wikipedia has taken numerous hits; there was talk not so long ago about an anonymous writer linking a former journalist John Seigenthaler with the assassination to Robert Kennedy and John F. Kennedy. There are people who devote time to correcting mistakes and assuring information is accurate. The way it works is if you post something on the site, if that post ever gets changed by another user, you’ll be notified. You then have the power to re-change it or leave it due to the information being better than your original post. Eventually people who post incorrect data will give up and then all that remains is the correct information on the specific topic. Therefore I’d say that a considerable amount of Wikipedia is true.
Should it be the ‘go to’ site?
I won’t lie, most of the time when I’m researching I go on Wikipedia, but it shouldn’t be the only site you go on. There are a number of reasons for this. The information might not be accurate so therefore you’re researching something that is wrong. The information might be truthful but it might not be detailed enough, meaning you’d only get basic knowledge. Basic knowledge doesn’t help you learn, it helps the understanding of a subject. When doing research you should use other meanings of research as well. It’s hard to ignore Wikipedia. Whatever you type in on Google search it’s bound to be the first link that comes up. In my opinion I think it’s best to scroll down at some point because even if you don’t get more information from another site, you’ll be able to compare information.
Other ways to research
There are so many other ways to research presides going on Wikipedia. Not just other sites online but videos are good as well. Depending on the type of person you are, you might find that watching videos about a certain topic is a better way at researching simply because you remember it better. It all comes down to what helps you. When researching, it’s always best to do too much research. Read articles, look at photos, watch videos, you remember what libraries are for? Use them because all these sources are here to help you. Use them to your advantage.
Is Wikipedia good for research then?
Wikipedia is a valuable source of online information because it’s a good starting point for research, no matter what topic. After you’ve looked at Wikipedia though, comparing the information to another source is best because you’ll then be able to determine it’s accuracy. Research is all about finding out the most you possibly can about something. Not everything is on Wikipedia. Looking into books and articles is a good way of finding out other information. Articles are especially good at finding out opinions on a specific subject. Personal opinions aren’t on Wikipedia, therefore if you’re doing research, spread your wings and look everywhere. The more research you do the better. If you’re doing something about film, look on imdb.com. if you’re looking for photos, go on flickr.com. also, there’s not much that isn’t on youtube.com one way or another. These sites were made to be used, so use them for what they were intended for. Don’t ignore them purely because staying on Wikipedia is easier.
I’m sure by now you’re familiar with Wikipedia, it’s unlimited source of information makes it a ‘go to’ site when researching. From Spike Jonze to Telephones it’s on there, but is the information on Wikipedia valuable enough not to have to search elsewhere?
What is Wikipedia?
Fundamentally, Wikipedia is an online encyclopaedia full of information on pretty much any topic or subject you can think of. Wikipedia’s goal is to make the sum of human knowledge available to everyone on the planet at no cost. Considering 580 million people have access to the internet and Wikipedia is in 250 different languages, their goal is well met. There aren’t paid professional journalists or authors who write the content though, any average Joe can write something and upload it to Wikipedia. It’s a completely self contained site written by the people, for the people. At present there are over 15 million articles on the site. Just think of all that accessible information. Before Wikipedia there wasn’t a website that had the sheer amount of reachable information at no cost to the user. Wikipedia has revolutionized the web. It isn’t the only online encyclopaedia, there are many similar sites that share the same format, but it is the most used and most recognized. According to lovetoknow.com, Wikipedia is the 8th most visited site on the web. Aleks Krotoski stated that, “Wikipedia provides the first stop down the rabbit hole of a complex topic”.
How accurate is Wikipedia?
The information contained in Wikipedia, like all information, depends on the knowledge or the ability of the person giving the information. Some information isn’t as accurate as it could be, when this occurs someone else can edit the information in order for it to be more precise. There are mistakes but are usually corrected in time. Wikipedia has taken numerous hits; there was talk not so long ago about an anonymous writer linking a former journalist John Seigenthaler with the assassination to Robert Kennedy and John F. Kennedy. There are people who devote time to correcting mistakes and assuring information is accurate. The way it works is if you post something on the site, if that post ever gets changed by another user, you’ll be notified. You then have the power to re-change it or leave it due to the information being better than your original post. Eventually people who post incorrect data will give up and then all that remains is the correct information on the specific topic. Therefore I’d say that a considerable amount of Wikipedia is true.
Should it be the ‘go to’ site?
I won’t lie, most of the time when I’m researching I go on Wikipedia, but it shouldn’t be the only site you go on. There are a number of reasons for this. The information might not be accurate so therefore you’re researching something that is wrong. The information might be truthful but it might not be detailed enough, meaning you’d only get basic knowledge. Basic knowledge doesn’t help you learn, it helps the understanding of a subject. When doing research you should use other meanings of research as well. It’s hard to ignore Wikipedia. Whatever you type in on Google search it’s bound to be the first link that comes up. In my opinion I think it’s best to scroll down at some point because even if you don’t get more information from another site, you’ll be able to compare information.
Other ways to research
There are so many other ways to research presides going on Wikipedia. Not just other sites online but videos are good as well. Depending on the type of person you are, you might find that watching videos about a certain topic is a better way at researching simply because you remember it better. It all comes down to what helps you. When researching, it’s always best to do too much research. Read articles, look at photos, watch videos, you remember what libraries are for? Use them because all these sources are here to help you. Use them to your advantage.
Is Wikipedia good for research then?
Wikipedia is a valuable source of online information because it’s a good starting point for research, no matter what topic. After you’ve looked at Wikipedia though, comparing the information to another source is best because you’ll then be able to determine it’s accuracy. Research is all about finding out the most you possibly can about something. Not everything is on Wikipedia. Looking into books and articles is a good way of finding out other information. Articles are especially good at finding out opinions on a specific subject. Personal opinions aren’t on Wikipedia, therefore if you’re doing research, spread your wings and look everywhere. The more research you do the better. If you’re doing something about film, look on imdb.com. if you’re looking for photos, go on flickr.com. also, there’s not much that isn’t on youtube.com one way or another. These sites were made to be used, so use them for what they were intended for. Don’t ignore them purely because staying on Wikipedia is easier.
Sunday, 14 March 2010
draft of article
Is Wikipedia an online blessing?
I’m sure by now you’re familiar with Wikipedia, it’s unlimited source of information makes it a ‘go to’ site when researching. From Spike Jonze to Telephones it’s on there, but is the information on Wikipedia valuable enough not to have to search elsewhere?
What is Wikipedia?
Fundamentally, Wikipedia is an online encyclopaedia full of information on pretty much any topic or subject you can think of. Wikipedia’s goal is to make the sum of human knowledge available to everyone on the planet at no cost. Considering 580 million people have access to the internet and Wikipedia is in 250 different languages, their goal is well met. There aren’t paid professional journalists or authors who write the content though, any average Joe can write something and upload it to Wikipedia. It’s a completely self contained site written by the people, for the people. At present there are over 15 million articles on the site. Just think of all that accessible information.
How true is Wikipedia?
Since I’m a regular Wikipedia user, I’d say that most of the content is accurate, but then again there are people who like to waste time by changing something. There are people who devote time to correcting mistakes and assuring information is accurate. The way it works is if you post something on the site, if that post ever gets changed by another user, you’ll be notified. You then have the power to re-change it or leave it due to the information being better than your original post. Eventually people who post incorrect data will give up and then all that remains is the correct information on the specific topic. Therefore I’d say that a considerable amount of Wikipedia is true.
Should it be the ‘go to’ site?
I won’t lie, most of the time when I’m researching I go on Wikipedia, but it shouldn’t be the only site you go on. There are a number of reasons for this. The information might not be accurate so therefore you’re researching something that is wrong. The information might be truthful but it might not be detailed enough, meaning you’d only get basic knowledge. Basic knowledge doesn’t help you learn, it helps the understanding of a subject. When doing research you should use other meanings of research as well. It’s hard to ignore Wikipedia. Whatever you type in on Google search it’s bound to be the first link that comes up. In my opinion I think it’s best to scroll down at some point because even if you don’t get more information from another site, you’ll be able to compare information.
Other ways to research
There are so many other ways to research presides going on Wikipedia. Not just other sites online but videos are good as well. Depending on the type of person you are, you might find that watching videos about a certain topic is a better way at researching simply because you remember it better. It all comes down to what helps you. When researching, it’s always best to do too much research. Read articles, look at photos, watch videos, you remember what libraries are for? Use them because all these sources are here to help you. Use them to your advantage.
Is Wikipedia good for research then?
Wikipedia is a valuable source of online information because it’s a good starting point for research, no matter what topic. After you’ve looked at Wikipedia though, comparing the information to another source is best because you’ll then be able to determine it’s accuracy. Research is all about finding out the most you possibly can about something. Not everything is on Wikipedia. Looking into books and articles is a good way of finding out other information. Articles are especially good at finding out opinions on a specific subject. Personal opinions aren’t on Wikipedia, therefore if you’re doing research, spread your wings and look everywhere. The more research you do the better. If you’re doing something about film, look on imdb.com. if you’re looking for photos, go on flickr.com. also, there’s not much that isn’t on youtube.com one way or another. These sites were made to be used, so use them for what they were intended for. Don’t ignore them purely because staying on Wikipedia is easier.
I’m sure by now you’re familiar with Wikipedia, it’s unlimited source of information makes it a ‘go to’ site when researching. From Spike Jonze to Telephones it’s on there, but is the information on Wikipedia valuable enough not to have to search elsewhere?
What is Wikipedia?
Fundamentally, Wikipedia is an online encyclopaedia full of information on pretty much any topic or subject you can think of. Wikipedia’s goal is to make the sum of human knowledge available to everyone on the planet at no cost. Considering 580 million people have access to the internet and Wikipedia is in 250 different languages, their goal is well met. There aren’t paid professional journalists or authors who write the content though, any average Joe can write something and upload it to Wikipedia. It’s a completely self contained site written by the people, for the people. At present there are over 15 million articles on the site. Just think of all that accessible information.
How true is Wikipedia?
Since I’m a regular Wikipedia user, I’d say that most of the content is accurate, but then again there are people who like to waste time by changing something. There are people who devote time to correcting mistakes and assuring information is accurate. The way it works is if you post something on the site, if that post ever gets changed by another user, you’ll be notified. You then have the power to re-change it or leave it due to the information being better than your original post. Eventually people who post incorrect data will give up and then all that remains is the correct information on the specific topic. Therefore I’d say that a considerable amount of Wikipedia is true.
Should it be the ‘go to’ site?
I won’t lie, most of the time when I’m researching I go on Wikipedia, but it shouldn’t be the only site you go on. There are a number of reasons for this. The information might not be accurate so therefore you’re researching something that is wrong. The information might be truthful but it might not be detailed enough, meaning you’d only get basic knowledge. Basic knowledge doesn’t help you learn, it helps the understanding of a subject. When doing research you should use other meanings of research as well. It’s hard to ignore Wikipedia. Whatever you type in on Google search it’s bound to be the first link that comes up. In my opinion I think it’s best to scroll down at some point because even if you don’t get more information from another site, you’ll be able to compare information.
Other ways to research
There are so many other ways to research presides going on Wikipedia. Not just other sites online but videos are good as well. Depending on the type of person you are, you might find that watching videos about a certain topic is a better way at researching simply because you remember it better. It all comes down to what helps you. When researching, it’s always best to do too much research. Read articles, look at photos, watch videos, you remember what libraries are for? Use them because all these sources are here to help you. Use them to your advantage.
Is Wikipedia good for research then?
Wikipedia is a valuable source of online information because it’s a good starting point for research, no matter what topic. After you’ve looked at Wikipedia though, comparing the information to another source is best because you’ll then be able to determine it’s accuracy. Research is all about finding out the most you possibly can about something. Not everything is on Wikipedia. Looking into books and articles is a good way of finding out other information. Articles are especially good at finding out opinions on a specific subject. Personal opinions aren’t on Wikipedia, therefore if you’re doing research, spread your wings and look everywhere. The more research you do the better. If you’re doing something about film, look on imdb.com. if you’re looking for photos, go on flickr.com. also, there’s not much that isn’t on youtube.com one way or another. These sites were made to be used, so use them for what they were intended for. Don’t ignore them purely because staying on Wikipedia is easier.
Saturday, 13 March 2010
assigned jobs for project
everyone now how has a job to do in terms of creating content for the paper. this is what everyones doing for the paper. the good thing about working out the content is you can then start working out the flat plan and work out what's going where in the newspaper. i think my article will go near tims because it's about the same topic. but then again tims article is about the wikipedia game, mines informative where as tims could be mistaken for an activity. his could go near the back along with the activities. we haven't finalized content yet.
Assigned jobs
•Alex and Sam to email potential advertisers for the newspaper today
•Tim and myself to work together, both doing wikipedia related articles
•Matt L - TV catch up article with tara
•Ash - Online video gaming
•Alie - Twitter article
•Philippa - How facebook affects social life
•Matt H - The audience move from Myspace to Facebook
•Hayden - Zeitgeist forecast
•Dave - Online gaming communities
•Loz - The evolution of music
•Alex - internet flash games article
•Sam - character profiles on Simon Panrucker and David Gauntlett
•Mike - continuing on blog feedback and reflection
Assigned jobs
•Alex and Sam to email potential advertisers for the newspaper today
•Tim and myself to work together, both doing wikipedia related articles
•Matt L - TV catch up article with tara
•Ash - Online video gaming
•Alie - Twitter article
•Philippa - How facebook affects social life
•Matt H - The audience move from Myspace to Facebook
•Hayden - Zeitgeist forecast
•Dave - Online gaming communities
•Loz - The evolution of music
•Alex - internet flash games article
•Sam - character profiles on Simon Panrucker and David Gauntlett
•Mike - continuing on blog feedback and reflection
coming up with a name for the paper
the other day we all got together and had to come up with ideas for the name of the paper. we were given post it notes and we had to write our ideas on them and then give them back to the quality control group. ideas i had were things like 'pass guide' and 'media guide'. i took into account what the paper was for and who it was for. the names i came up with all the same idea. the paper is meant to help students pass the exam so thats where that idea came from.
after the quality control group looked over the post its and looked at everyones ideas they came up with 2 final names. 'media muse' and 'media me'. we all had a vote on which one we prefered and 8 people voted for 'media me'. i was happy with the name. it sounded personal which is good because revision usually is a very personal thing. everybody revises differently. it also reflects what the paper is for. te paper is to help students pass, so media me sounds as if it's there to help everyone. it's a snappy name too.
designing logo
another thing i wanted to think about was the logo for the project. we already have a name, the name is 'media me'. but we don't have a logo. the logo pesides the content is the most crucial thing. i'm going to look into designing the logo. maybe just come up with some ideas and then someone else can make the logo. some people in the groups don't have much to do so maybe i could give them this project to do. i'll give them the sketch and they can make the logo on photoshop or something.
12th march lesson with barney
today in barneys session, we discussed ways in which our drafts of the articles would be beneficial to students for the exam. he wrote up 6 different things to think about that would be used to answer question 2 of the exam for A2 media. the six different things were:
media in the online age
global media
postmodern
we media and democracy
media and collective ID
contemporary media regulation
these are all things that will help us to answer the question in the exam. therefore our articles, if they're going to be of any use to A2 students, need to express some of these views. barney asked us to see which ones were in our articles. we then put them in order from 1 to 6. 1 being it's visible in the article to 6 being its not very visible.
my order was:
global media
media in the online age
postmodern
we media and democracy
media and collective ID
contemporary media regulation
my reasonings were simple. global media was first because i'd talked a lot about wikipedia's intention to have the sum of all human knowledge to be available to everyone globally. media in the online age was 2nd because wikipedia has revolutionized the way people find information. postmodern was 3rd because wikipedia is a play on an old idea, the encyclopeadia. we media was 4th because wikipedia is a self generated site made by the people for the people. media and collective identity was 5th because anyone can write an article about anyone on wikipedia but i hadn't talked a lot about this. the last one i hadn't talked about much at all.
barney said that 5 out of 6 wasn't bad at all and that there might have been things included in my article that i didn't realise. he said that it was a worthy article that is beneficial to students.
designing a flyer
yesturday we were asked to think about what the flyer should include. basically, the liason in the group is going to a teachers convention in lodon and he wants to hand out flyers promoting our newspaper. the idea being that people will get interested and want to buy some copies. we were asked, as a group, to collectively come up with some ideas for flyer content. we made a brainstorm of what we thought we should include.
after coming up with these ideas we were asked to design a flyer (A5 in size) and to bring it in next week so that alex can take it to the conference on friday. i really enjoy making things like this so i'm excited to come up with some ideas and design it. i'll probably use paint shop pro to design it as it's easier for me. i have to program at home.
after coming up with these ideas we were asked to design a flyer (A5 in size) and to bring it in next week so that alex can take it to the conference on friday. i really enjoy making things like this so i'm excited to come up with some ideas and design it. i'll probably use paint shop pro to design it as it's easier for me. i have to program at home.
dave speaking to us again about development
dave came in again today and went through with us the basics on making a good magazine. he spoke to us about the content. he said to consider 3 questions when writing an article for a magazine.
•Do people want to read it?
•Is it useful and up-to-date?
•What can you give to the reader that they couldn’t find/research anywhere else?
He also gave us information about how to go about things. such as researching for the articles and how we should write them and such. he gave us a list of 4 things that we should think about.
1.Research - wikipedia/google, pete (chief examiner), finding experts, fresh information, other articles, cross-reference, don’t be sloppy.
2.Angle.
3.Tone - News is the opposite to opinion piece (‘I’), features (history of/how to), interview, advertorial.
4.Present - ‘Box Out’ (pete interview, with picture and box of bio?)
These are all useful pieces of information that will help us in going out making the newspaper in a professional way and help us with ideas and the order of work there is to do.
i found this helpful because it always sounds better coming from somebody else, even if i was thinking it to begin with. dave also explained to me about te tone of the paper. because the biggest problem i was having was how to write it.
•Do people want to read it?
•Is it useful and up-to-date?
•What can you give to the reader that they couldn’t find/research anywhere else?
He also gave us information about how to go about things. such as researching for the articles and how we should write them and such. he gave us a list of 4 things that we should think about.
1.Research - wikipedia/google, pete (chief examiner), finding experts, fresh information, other articles, cross-reference, don’t be sloppy.
2.Angle.
3.Tone - News is the opposite to opinion piece (‘I’), features (history of/how to), interview, advertorial.
4.Present - ‘Box Out’ (pete interview, with picture and box of bio?)
These are all useful pieces of information that will help us in going out making the newspaper in a professional way and help us with ideas and the order of work there is to do.
i found this helpful because it always sounds better coming from somebody else, even if i was thinking it to begin with. dave also explained to me about te tone of the paper. because the biggest problem i was having was how to write it.
ideas for content of paper
today the quality control team stopped the groups doing work for a moment and gave us post it notes. the idea was that we had to come up with suggestions on the content for the newspaper. obviously, after doing research on articles we already had some ideas. these were some of the ideas we all came up with.
•Criss Cross/Wordsearches/Crosswords
•Wikipedia Game
•Past Exam Questions and Revision Tips
•Student and Teachers Voice Section
•History of the Internet
•How Twitter Saved a Country
•Videos for the Blind
•Photos of Students Working
•Home Made 3D Cinema
•Comic Strip/Photostory of a Media Student
•Competitions
•Timelines
•Pub Quiz
•Technological Revolution and Future of Technology
•Fact or Fiction
•Gorillaz
•Exam Outlines
•Colour by Media Words
•Interactive Items
•Keep language informal like in other teen magazines like game magazines and stuff
•Get advertising from people
they don't just consist of articles but of games and activities as well. i thought that it was a really good exercise. after all the ideas were put up on the white board and we looked at them it looked as if there were some really good ideas. i think it made us think about the project a little more seriously. as a class, we're getting on really well in this project.
•Criss Cross/Wordsearches/Crosswords
•Wikipedia Game
•Past Exam Questions and Revision Tips
•Student and Teachers Voice Section
•History of the Internet
•How Twitter Saved a Country
•Videos for the Blind
•Photos of Students Working
•Home Made 3D Cinema
•Comic Strip/Photostory of a Media Student
•Competitions
•Timelines
•Pub Quiz
•Technological Revolution and Future of Technology
•Fact or Fiction
•Gorillaz
•Exam Outlines
•Colour by Media Words
•Interactive Items
•Keep language informal like in other teen magazines like game magazines and stuff
•Get advertising from people
they don't just consist of articles but of games and activities as well. i thought that it was a really good exercise. after all the ideas were put up on the white board and we looked at them it looked as if there were some really good ideas. i think it made us think about the project a little more seriously. as a class, we're getting on really well in this project.
todays lesson - dave
today one of the other media teachers came into to talk to us about his old job. he used to be the debuty head of gatemaster, which was a gaming magazine. firstly he just wanted to find out what we were doing and the process in which we were designing the paper. after we told him he told us about the structure of how it worked for him while he was working in magazine design.
he explained the structure of who was in charge and who was below each member of the team.
The Structure of Editors.
Editor
↓
Deputy Editor → Art Editor
↓
Production Editor → Section Editor → Section Editor
↓
Staff Writer
what he said was the editor has final say on pretty much every decision made. if someone went up to him and gave him an idea for an article, if the editor didn't like it, it wouldn't be used. the art editor would be in charge of the overall look of the magazine so wouldn't nessessarily have say in the content. the staff writer would be given an article to write and would go ahead and write it, sticking to a deadline for drafts and such. dave explained that it was a tight system and was a small group as well, he said that teams can be bigger but he worked in a place where the team was quite small.
flat plan:
he also told us about flat plans. a flat plan is a way of presenting the paper or magazine in seperate sections, such as double page spreads and front and back pages. the pages are lined up so you can play around with what will go where and such. it starts off blank like the one below. whilst it's blank you can think about what you want to include and where you want it to go.
the nest stage is adding content. once you've decided what content is going to go where, you draw it on so that you know what you need to do still. it's a good way of visually seeing what needs to be done and how it's going to look.
the final stage is after a page or spread is done, you tick it off so that if you look at the flat plan, you still know what has to be done. this is a good technique because you can look at the flat plan and see whats already been done and what still has to be finished. with out a flat plan everything would be made and finished simply to meet the deadline. this way you know what needs to be done at all times. theres no messing around trying to chase people up.
Dave explained to us that during the making of a newspaper, there will be many versions of each article or spread. they are kept in a folder on the computer. once you've made a spread you put it in the raw copy folder. once the spread is put into raw copy its taken out and changed, then it's put into sub copy. it's moved around until it's gets to 'to send'. once its in there, it's ready to be printed off. this is a good idea because theres no hassle trying to find the right version of the page or article. this has happened to me before in projects. trying to find the right version of something when i haven't put it in a folder.
RAW COPY
↓
SUB COPY
↓
TO ART
↓
FROM ART
↓
TO CAPTION
↓
FINAL CHECK
↓
TO SEND
I think it will be a good idea to have this type of thing for our project, re-naming the files as they are moving through the sections of editing, and it is also a good idea to keep back-ups of all of those files, even the files from past edits.
Dave also spoke to us about all the separate deadlines that there are in an issue of a newspaper, these deadlines will also apply to our work and we will be working to these deadlines.
Deadines.
•Flat Plan Deadline (leaders of teams)
•Resource Checking Deadline
•Copy Deadline - all writing done
•Final Deadline - editor has seen everything and checked it is complete
•Print Deadline - PDF sent for printing
he explained the structure of who was in charge and who was below each member of the team.
The Structure of Editors.
Editor
↓
Deputy Editor → Art Editor
↓
Production Editor → Section Editor → Section Editor
↓
Staff Writer
what he said was the editor has final say on pretty much every decision made. if someone went up to him and gave him an idea for an article, if the editor didn't like it, it wouldn't be used. the art editor would be in charge of the overall look of the magazine so wouldn't nessessarily have say in the content. the staff writer would be given an article to write and would go ahead and write it, sticking to a deadline for drafts and such. dave explained that it was a tight system and was a small group as well, he said that teams can be bigger but he worked in a place where the team was quite small.
flat plan:
he also told us about flat plans. a flat plan is a way of presenting the paper or magazine in seperate sections, such as double page spreads and front and back pages. the pages are lined up so you can play around with what will go where and such. it starts off blank like the one below. whilst it's blank you can think about what you want to include and where you want it to go.
the nest stage is adding content. once you've decided what content is going to go where, you draw it on so that you know what you need to do still. it's a good way of visually seeing what needs to be done and how it's going to look.
the final stage is after a page or spread is done, you tick it off so that if you look at the flat plan, you still know what has to be done. this is a good technique because you can look at the flat plan and see whats already been done and what still has to be finished. with out a flat plan everything would be made and finished simply to meet the deadline. this way you know what needs to be done at all times. theres no messing around trying to chase people up.
Dave explained to us that during the making of a newspaper, there will be many versions of each article or spread. they are kept in a folder on the computer. once you've made a spread you put it in the raw copy folder. once the spread is put into raw copy its taken out and changed, then it's put into sub copy. it's moved around until it's gets to 'to send'. once its in there, it's ready to be printed off. this is a good idea because theres no hassle trying to find the right version of the page or article. this has happened to me before in projects. trying to find the right version of something when i haven't put it in a folder.
RAW COPY
↓
SUB COPY
↓
TO ART
↓
FROM ART
↓
TO CAPTION
↓
FINAL CHECK
↓
TO SEND
I think it will be a good idea to have this type of thing for our project, re-naming the files as they are moving through the sections of editing, and it is also a good idea to keep back-ups of all of those files, even the files from past edits.
Dave also spoke to us about all the separate deadlines that there are in an issue of a newspaper, these deadlines will also apply to our work and we will be working to these deadlines.
Deadines.
•Flat Plan Deadline (leaders of teams)
•Resource Checking Deadline
•Copy Deadline - all writing done
•Final Deadline - editor has seen everything and checked it is complete
•Print Deadline - PDF sent for printing
finished wordsearch
after we finished the wordsearch, we copied it into pages and then wrote out the definitions next to it. we then printed 5 copies and handed it out to a few members of the group. me and natalie also had a go, it took us quite a long time to finish it so it definatly passed the difficulty rating. we just wanted to check and see if all the words were there and we handed it out to see if other people could work out the answers to the definitions.
designing the wordsearch - making the wordsearch
these are the words that we put into the wordsearch, these are the names of the websites that we use in class or have done. also it features sites that have had an impact on today.
here is a list of the definitions for the words. this is what is going to be next to the finished wordsearch, instead of just the words like a normal one.
on the website where you can create your own wordsearch, you need to follow a certain amount of steps before ending up with the finished article. step one is coming up with a name for the wordsearch. step 2 is selecting a subject that the wordsearch is intended for and for which age group. stage 3 is working out the size of the grid for the wordsearch and deciding how many words they're going to be.
stage 4 is deciding the words that will be included in the wordsearch. me and natalie had already done this so this wasn't a problem and didn't take long at all. stage 5 is deciding the difficulty of the random letters that fill the gaps. you also chose if there will be any words that go backwards or diagonal. we selected the wordsearch to be difficult. this decision was based on the age group its intended for. A2 students need a bit of a challenge.
stage 6 is the finished wordsearch, if your not happy with it you can go back and change some of the steps. me and ali were very happy with the wordsearch. we thought it looked great.
here is a list of the definitions for the words. this is what is going to be next to the finished wordsearch, instead of just the words like a normal one.
on the website where you can create your own wordsearch, you need to follow a certain amount of steps before ending up with the finished article. step one is coming up with a name for the wordsearch. step 2 is selecting a subject that the wordsearch is intended for and for which age group. stage 3 is working out the size of the grid for the wordsearch and deciding how many words they're going to be.
stage 4 is deciding the words that will be included in the wordsearch. me and natalie had already done this so this wasn't a problem and didn't take long at all. stage 5 is deciding the difficulty of the random letters that fill the gaps. you also chose if there will be any words that go backwards or diagonal. we selected the wordsearch to be difficult. this decision was based on the age group its intended for. A2 students need a bit of a challenge.
stage 6 is the finished wordsearch, if your not happy with it you can go back and change some of the steps. me and ali were very happy with the wordsearch. we thought it looked great.
designing a wordsearch
today our group leader wasn't in college so me and natalie decided to play around with the activity side of the paper. we thought about ways we could make game and activities educational and not childish either. we decided to make a wordsearch. we didn't want it to be just an average wordsearch though, a simple find the word kind of wordsearch. we wanted to find a way of making it different. we decided to have all of the answers in the wordsearch as the names of websites that are useful when disscusing ‘Media in the Online Age’. These are type of websites like; search engines, social networking sites and public broadcasting sites. this way the information would cover things they could use in the exam. the way we changed the format of a wordsearch is instead of having a word and then finding it, we gave a definition of a word, then the student would have to find out the word by doing research. the game is revision in itself.
the first thing we did was we came up with words we could use for the wordsearch. we just thought of websites that influence today or websites that we've used on our course. basically, we chose relevant sites for an A2 media student. then we wrote down the definitions. we had to be careful when it came to definitions thought because they would have to match the ones the students would research. we wrote down the definitions and then checked on wikipedia if the definitions were suitable. luckily, they were.
i then found a wordsearch design website and followed the steps.
questionaire
we were asked to come up with some questions today to ask students and find out what they'd like us to include in the paper. i thought this was a great idea and i worked with natalie (part of my group) on this and came up with some questions. what we did was we made a brainstorm of all the questions we could ask, then i typed them up and printed them out and gave it to the quality control group. doing this task made me look at the project differently. it made me realise that we're making an actual product that students are going to use for help on their exams. it also made me think about the presentation of the paper and what it should look like. me and natalie thought about what we'd want out of it and put it in a question format to find out what other students think.
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