all the news thats fit to print
by jonathan dee
1st july 2007
Wikipedia, as nearly everyone knows by now, is a six-year-old global online encyclopedia in 250 languages that can be added to or edited by anyone. (“Wiki,” a programming term long in use both as noun and adjective, derives from the Hawaiian word meaning “quick.”) Wikipedia’s goal is to make the sum of human knowledge available to everyone on the planet at no cost. Depending on your lights, it is either one of the noblest experiments of the Internet age or a nightmare embodiment of relativism and the withering of intellectual standards.
Love it or hate it, though, its success is past denying — 6.8 million registered users worldwide, at last count, and 1.8 million separate articles in the English-language Wikipedia alone — and that success has borne an interesting side effect. Just as the Internet has accelerated most incarnations of what we mean by the word “information,” so it has sped up what we mean when we employ the very term “encyclopedia.” For centuries, an encyclopedia was synonymous with a fixed, archival idea about the retrievability of information from the past. But Wikipedia’s notion of the past has enlarged to include things that haven’t even stopped happening yet. Increasingly, it has become a go-to source not just for reference material but for real-time breaking news — to the point where, following the mass murder at Virginia Tech, one newspaper in Virginia praised Wikipedia as a crucial source of detailed information.
So indistinct has the line between past and present become that Wikipedia has inadvertently all but strangled one of its sister projects, the three-year-old Wikinews — one of several Wikimedia Foundation offshoots (Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Wiktionary) founded on the principle of collaboratively produced content available free. Wikinews, though nominally covering not just major stories but news of all sorts, has sunk into a kind of torpor; lately it generates just 8 to 10 articles a day on a grab bag of topics that happen to capture the interest of its fewer than 26,000 users worldwide, from bird flu to the Miss Universe pageant to Vanuatu’s ban on cookie imports from neighboring Fiji. On bigger stories there’s just no point in competing with the ruthless purview of the encyclopedia, which now accounts for a staggering one out of every 200 page views on the entire Internet.
The tricky thing is, the process by which Wikipedia usually, eventually gets things right — the notion that mistakes in a given entry, whether intentional or unintentional, will ultimately be caught and repaired as a function of the project’s massive, egalitarian oversight — doesn’t seem as if it would work when people are looking for information about events unfolding in real time. How on earth can anyone be trusted to get the story right when any version of the story is only as accurate, or even as serious, as the last anonymous person to log on and rewrite it?
Nothing is easier than taking shots at Wikipedia, and its many mistakes (most often instances of deliberate vandalism) are schadenfreude’s most renewable resource. But given the chaotic way in which it works, the truly remarkable thing about Wikipedia as a news site is that it works as well as it does. And what makes it work is a relatively small group of hard-core devotees who will, the moment big news breaks, drop whatever they’re doing to take custody of the project and ensure its, for lack of a better term, quality control. Though Wikiculture cringes at the word “authority,” in a system where a small group of people has the ability to lock out the input of a much larger one, it’s pure semantics to call that small group’s authority by any other name. Still, the only way to install yourself in that position of authority on Wikipedia is to care about it enough. So who are the members of this all-volunteer cadre, and why should it matter so much to them whether Wikipedia is any good at all?
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what i found out?
firstly, the article is 3 years old so therefore the information given might not be as accurate as id like it to be. i also found a nice quote that i could use.
'wikipedias goal is to make the sum of all human knowledge available to everyone on the planet at no extra cost'
Saturday, 13 March 2010
article i will be working on
i decided to go for 'is wikipedia a blessing?'. my reasons for this are simply because i think it will be more beneficial to the readers and that's the most important thing in this project, creating something a student can use for revision. i'd like to think that research help and knowledge on wikipedia would be of some use. it's certainly helped me.
coming up with an article
today my team leader asked me to come up with an article idea that would be beneficial for the paper. i wrote down some ideas. i thought about what i could include and what would help me learn if i was reading the paper. there were a number of different steps i could take. i could do exam help, i could write about a specific site and do a case study, i could even design a puzzle or an activity. these were my ideas:
is wikipedia a blessing?
this would cover aspects such as research help and knowledge on how it founded and when it was made. it would also answer the question at hand, is it a blessing? is it better than other info on other sites or even knowledge in books. i think this would be a valid article.
are youtube video creators as creative as scorcese?
this was a point i made in an essay the other year. its an interesting point to make. just because reknowned directors have money and reputation doesn't make them more creative, if anything people with no funding that are still able to get a reputation are more creative surely? this is the point i'd make. i'd also talk a bit about youtube and what it's intentions were, a brief summary of it's history.
is wikipedia a blessing?
this would cover aspects such as research help and knowledge on how it founded and when it was made. it would also answer the question at hand, is it a blessing? is it better than other info on other sites or even knowledge in books. i think this would be a valid article.
are youtube video creators as creative as scorcese?
this was a point i made in an essay the other year. its an interesting point to make. just because reknowned directors have money and reputation doesn't make them more creative, if anything people with no funding that are still able to get a reputation are more creative surely? this is the point i'd make. i'd also talk a bit about youtube and what it's intentions were, a brief summary of it's history.
what the newspaper should include
obviously the paper needs to include valuable information that students can learn from. it also needs to provide information that students can revise from, preparing them for their exam. this isn't as simple as just writing articles and throwing in big words and a few facts. we need to include content that appeals to every student, as not every student learns in the same way. we also need case studies in the paper so that students can use them as references in the exam and also so they can pick out quotes that could be useful.
would a crossword be as beneficial as an article on net research? i think it would, and my reasons for this is because students learn in different ways. some students attentions spans last a few minutes if their not interested. these kind of students would therefore prefer the activities that would be included in the paper. students that prefer learning from others would like articles written in 1st person perhaps or interviews. other students would obviously rather either have a mixture or just written content. these are things to think about.
i think that we should cover all the nessessary content that we need to cover but broaden that out a bit by making them a different way of learning. then there would always be something that would appeal to a student, what ever their prefered learning stragey.
would a crossword be as beneficial as an article on net research? i think it would, and my reasons for this is because students learn in different ways. some students attentions spans last a few minutes if their not interested. these kind of students would therefore prefer the activities that would be included in the paper. students that prefer learning from others would like articles written in 1st person perhaps or interviews. other students would obviously rather either have a mixture or just written content. these are things to think about.
i think that we should cover all the nessessary content that we need to cover but broaden that out a bit by making them a different way of learning. then there would always be something that would appeal to a student, what ever their prefered learning stragey.
target audience for paper
the target audience for the paper are students studying media A level at A2 level. the reason why we're making the paper is because we too are studying for the exam but we believe that we have a better understanding of the subject due to the fact that we have 3 times the amount of lessons as a media A level student. this way we benefit as well because we are learning while teaching others.
magazine covers
although the paper we're producing is in a newspaper format, same paper and same ink, that doesn't mean that we can't take idea from magazines too. i personally think that magazine covers appeal more to the age group than newspapers. it's mostly to do with the vibrant colours and lack of text. the only text is brief summary of the magazines content. it doesn't have articles on the cover like newspapers do. the name of the magazine is bigger on a magazine as well, especially for empire. this is mainly to do with trend. empire and marie claire are popular brand names. holding a magazine is like wearing fashionable clothes these days, or having an ipod instead of an mp3 player. it's a fashion accessory. i don't think that our paper will be used like this, the purpose of our product is to inform and it's for educational use, not social use. that doesn't mean that empire and marie claire haven't showed me anything useful though. the fact that these magazines are aimed at our target audience is very interesting.
things to think about for making newspaper:
slightly informal to appeal towards reader more. more user friendly
vibrant and clourful, attractive to the eye
bold and eye catching, make it stand out
use of photos
not too many articles per page, don't intimidate reader
priliminary research - newspaper layouts
straight away this paper looks different than the daily mail. firstly, it's more informal. the largest heading, meaning the heading that gets peoples attention, is 'gotcha'. this is standard english, therefore it appeals to a different audience. i'm not saying that i think the headings and articles in the paper i'm creating should have slang such as 'gotcha' in it but it's an interesting thing to look into. another thing that i've found out is that it only has 1 article on it. the one article has 3 different headings though. this is the complete opposite of the daily mail.
due to the fact that i'm trying to reach out to a younger audience, and the daily mail is aiming at a slightly more mature audience, i should look into a structure more like the sun. the reason being is that the sun is aimed at a slightly less mature audience and there techniques of getting readers seems to work. theres no reason why i shouldn't take on board there marketing strategies.
priliminary research - newspaper layouts
this is the front cover of the daily mail. the first thing that strikes me about it is that it has 3 articles on one page. each one is only a summery, meaning you need to look into the paper to read on, but it looks quite intimidating at a glance. i don't think this type of format will appeal to our target audience. we need something eye catching and vibrant. something a student will want to pick up and read, with out having to be forced. the daily mail is eye catching, the photo stands out due to it's size and the headings of each article are bold and stand out as well. the different sized articles are interesting. the one with the photo has a reletively large font size but the one at the bottom of the page has the largest. the one slightly to the right has the smallest. they all have things about them that make people read them. the article with the photo imediatly shows the reader what the article is about, therefore people will read if they're interested. the article with the smallest font will look small, therefore the reader will be interested simply because he wants to know what it's about. the article with the largest font size is huge and fills nearly half the page, these kind of articles can be read at a glance, as if you were walking past a shop with it on display. these are the articles that get peoples attention the most. they are usually snappy or feature keywords that appeal to everyday people in the political climate of the time of the papers release.
taking on board some of the points i made from the paper, the font sizes of the articles is interesting. also, the photos are important. we need a paper that looks eye catching and the way it's written needs to appeal to our target audience. that doesn't mean to say that it needs to be informal or feature slang. it needs to be feature topics that appeal to people my age, students. maybe a bit of informality will be suitable but at the end of the day it needs to be informative.
what the extended project is
for my extended project we, as a class, decided to design and create a newspaper featuring useful information on media in the online age. the nespaper will be aimed at students studying media A level at A2 level. not only will the newspaper be valuable to students who are studying the exam, it will also be beneficial for us because we too are sitting the exam. we can learn from researching and teaching others and the students reading the newspaper can learn from the information at hand.
i'm really excited about this project because we haven't done anything like this before. i also think that it will be a good way to combine all our knowledge built up over the 2 years and create something that people can learn from. the way it's going to work is we're all going to be given a role in the group and we're going to stick to our roles. this project won't work without cooporation from everyone and everyone sticking to their roles.
i'm really excited about this project because we haven't done anything like this before. i also think that it will be a good way to combine all our knowledge built up over the 2 years and create something that people can learn from. the way it's going to work is we're all going to be given a role in the group and we're going to stick to our roles. this project won't work without cooporation from everyone and everyone sticking to their roles.
Monday, 8 March 2010
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
schedule for extended project
1-5 march - defining the task, setting up blogs, allocating jobs, early research, project proposal forms.
8-12 march - research and planning, feedback from client, ongoing blogging of ALL activity.
15-19 march - draft materials and further feedback, ongoing activity blogging.
22-26 march - trial materials with year 12 and make refinements for finished product/ newspaper
19-1st april - completion of newspaper for client and printing, completion of activity log and evaluation activity.
8-12 march - research and planning, feedback from client, ongoing blogging of ALL activity.
15-19 march - draft materials and further feedback, ongoing activity blogging.
22-26 march - trial materials with year 12 and make refinements for finished product/ newspaper
19-1st april - completion of newspaper for client and printing, completion of activity log and evaluation activity.
the final groups for the project
Liason: Alexander Whitcombe
Quality Control
Evindence: Tara Cox/Mike Shaw
Reflection: Mike Shaw/Tara Cox
Schedule: Kirk Kemp
Production Team
Red Team
Red Leader: Laurence Smith
Red One: David Pinchen
Red Two: Hayden Martin
Red Three:Matthew Hornby
Blue Team
Blue Leader: Philippa Price
Blue One: Joe Robinson
Blue Two: Natalie Nicoll
Blue Three: James Walker (me)
Gold Team
Gold Leader: Sam Chappell-Winnington
Gold One: Tim Hodson
Gold Two: Matt Leonowicz
Gold Three: Ashley Atherton
what i think the roles should be
Liason: Matthew Hornby
Quality Control
Evidence: Kirk Kemp
Reflection: Laurence Smith
Schedule: Philippa Price
Production Team
Red Team
Red Leader: Tara Cox
Red One: Matthew L
Red Two: Mike Shaw
Red Three: Tim Hodson
Blue Team
Blue Leader: James Walker
Blue One: Joe Robinson
Blue Two: Alexander Whitcombe
Blue Three: Hayden Martin
Gold Team
Gold Leader: Sam Chappell-Winnington
Gold One: Natalie Nicoll
Gold Two: David Pinchen
Gold Three: Ashley Atherton
the reasons behind these groups are as follows. Matthew Hornby is good at communication, he can do research and development but he's better at communicating with people. For our interaction project he was good at discussing issues with the client. That's why i decided to make him Liason.
The reasons why i chose the people i did for the quality control is because they all get on really well and work well together. They get the work done as well. Kirk is good at keeping evidence so that's the reason why i chose him. Laurence and Philippa are both very hard workers as well. For this reason i chose them to be in the quality control.
As for the other groups, the groups work well together and are productive. The group team leaders are all good with leading roles, judging from past projects. I think that these roles will all work really well. As a class we're going to come up with a final role sheet.
the reasons behind these groups are as follows. Matthew Hornby is good at communication, he can do research and development but he's better at communicating with people. For our interaction project he was good at discussing issues with the client. That's why i decided to make him Liason.
The reasons why i chose the people i did for the quality control is because they all get on really well and work well together. They get the work done as well. Kirk is good at keeping evidence so that's the reason why i chose him. Laurence and Philippa are both very hard workers as well. For this reason i chose them to be in the quality control.
As for the other groups, the groups work well together and are productive. The group team leaders are all good with leading roles, judging from past projects. I think that these roles will all work really well. As a class we're going to come up with a final role sheet.
the client for the project
Our client for the extended project is Jenny Grahame. She works at the English and Media Center in London, we went there for a visit last year to find out about media magazine. If what we produce meets the requirements of Jenny and the English and Media Center than it will be distributed via their website.
The other contact will be Julian McDougle, a cheif examiner for A2 OCR Media Studies. He is for advice and quieries as the newspaper has to be about media in the online age. Speaking with Julian will help us get information that is more accurate and he will help guide us through our research for the newspaper.
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