EITHER A SIGN OF THE END OF CIVILIZATION OR A TRIUMPH OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA MAVERNS.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported on October 16th that Griffith University added “tweets” as part of a writing exercise in journalism class.
“Some students’ tweets are not as in depth as you might like. But I don’t know if getting them to write an essay is any more beneficial,” said Jacqui Ewart, senior lecturer at the university. SMH article HERE
On October 23, Switched.com commented on the story, using the headline University Adds Twitter to Curriculum and adding a graphic that is republished here:
The information starts to skew. The original newspaper article mentions an assignment where journalism students were required to “tweet” a story from the field. My impression is that was an assignment in an existing course.
Amar Toor, writing in Switched.com, makes a commentary that may have changed the story:
We understand the reluctance of some students to show up for a 9 AM class on something as apparently “colloquial” as Twitter. But it’s pretty inarguable that Twitter is the new face of media. For better or worse, the value of brevity in broadcast media is at an all-time high, and the next generation of journalists should at least familiarize themselves with the requisite tools — how exactly one goes about crafting an “in-depth” 140-character tweet is another question. Switch.com article HERE.
Seventeen hours ago, under the “Holy Kaw” section of Alltop.com, the story is titled University makes Twitter class mandatory for journalism students.
The post by Noelle Chun provides the following commentary:
As a journalism school graduate, I think this is silly. Why?
1. There are no rules for Twitter.
2. To truly succeed at Twitter, you should think outside the box—not how a social media professor instructs you to.
3. Most of the student journalists can likely learn the mechanics of microblogging on their own.
4. Why are journalists supposed to excel at Twitter again? Is there an economically sustainable model behind it?
Show me a class that will teach students how to write a great nut graf, headline or deck. Then we’re talking. Great tweets can come out of the foundations of good writing, the instinct for a good story and just a little bit of enterprise. So let’s work on those skills first.
Am I totally wrong here? See Holy Caw item HERE
Chun may not be wrong, but the assumption that there is a stand alone Twitter class may be. The path to Alltop never got back to the original newspaper article:
[via Mashable via PSFK via Switched (true story)]
No one sent an email to Doctor Jacqui Ewart, the senior lecturer at Griffith University interviewed by the Herald, for clarification.
Dr Jacqui Ewart is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities at Griffith University. She is
a former journalist and media manager. She is interested in how the media represents Muslims
and ethnic minorities. Her research focuses on media representations, cultural diversity and the
media, talkback radio, citizen journalism, and terrorism and the media. She is the author and coauthor
of several books and more than 30 journal articles.
Added:
Dr Jacqui Ewart is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities at Griffith University. She is a former journalist and media manager. She is interested in how the media represents Muslims and ethnic minorities.
Her research focuses on media representations, cultural diversity and the media, talkback radio, citizen journalism, and terrorism and the media.
She is the author and coauthor of several books and more than 30 journal articles. I have sent an email to Dr. Ewart asking for a reaction/response.
ADDED
Professor Ewart’s response.
Alltop removes item, Professor Ewart’s observations about her experience.
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Home-Based Nukes ?
4 commentsCommentary proffered by S. Marshall:
You think things are moving pretty fast nowadays in the Fire Service? It sure seems like it to me. I was in the Fire Service in the 70′s through the early 90′s…until I decided it was time for you youngsters to take over. Compared to fire fighting of the 70′s, today’s Fire Service is like science fiction or maybe rocket science. The technology now in use was only a dream in some designers mind…or in some cases, the designers hadn’t even been born yet!
The next big challenge as I see it, is the technological advances on our battle grounds. You’ve had to deal with changes in how buildings are constructed, new hazards in freight transport, how cars are constructed, and even how they are powered. So what’s next? How about nuclear reactors in the home?
Sounds insane doesn’t it? This is no “Back To The Future” Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor with a flux capacitor. This is something being planned and marketed in the US and it’s coming to a home in your first due and probably sooner than you think.
Toshiba has designed a small reactor called the 4S. It’s designed to power a small community for about 30 years at a very low cost. So what happens when you are dispatched for a melt down? Or more likely, for some yahoo who got three sheets to the wind and has now driven his 4X4 into the containment structure…and guess who gets to save him? That’s right, you!
In reality, the reactor is designed to be buried about 100 feet below grade and capped with concrete. It’s a sealed unit with “no user serviceable parts”. Once the fuel is depleted, it has to be dug up and taken back to the factory for servicing and a new unit left in place.
And this is from a company who had a serious problem with laptop batteries bursting into flame!
Still think it’s waaaaay off in the future? Galena Alaska is scheduled to be the test bed site for just such a reactor. It is intended to be a 10 milliwatt reactor..with a $25 million dollar price tag because it will be the first and will be used as a reference site for later installations. To their credit, Toshiba will pay for nearly all of the construction costs at this particular site.
So now on top of the hazardous materials in trucks by the thousands, extremely heavy freight train traffic all over the country, cars that are powered with gigantic batteries and couches that will cause a flash over with the mere thought of a fire anywhere near it, you get to worry about becoming a nuclear technician.
I’m not here to offer up expertise in how to control a runaway reactor sitting on the corner of Main and South Streets, just to remind you that as confusing as things are right now, they are about to get a whole lot worse.
Toshiba and some other manufacturers are also planning an even smaller unit that will power a single household. Imagine, a nuclear reactor sitting in every house, right next to the furnace! I think I will wait until safe fission is available.
We may need to return to the days of lime green fire apparatus so that the paint matches the glow we will get!
Firegeezer recommends that you read more about Galena’s upcoming move to Micro-Nuclear power HERE.