Lifehacker has the best tips... even for writing.

I went through the link Professor Reisner passed on to us from www.lifehacker.com.

I have to say, these tips will come in handy whether I end up in the writing field or not. As a college student, writing has had a way of becoming part of my life. And not just writing down notes, or answers to questions... But writing for everything from essays to presentations, to absence e-mails to letters to my advisors, etcetera.

Here, I'll take you through the highlights of the article; the tips I learned and want to pass on.

When we sit in front of computers with access to the web, we have the world at our fingertips. I have come to accept that this is the reason why I get so easily sidetracked when writing an article for class, or when writing an essay for ethics, or when thinking up things to write in this blog. Well, lifehacker.com has found a way for my A.D.D to focus itself: behold- distraction-free writing tools!

What these are, are simple to use basic writing software that block out all the little cyber gadgets that software like Microsoft Word offer that make it hard to focus on just writing. If you're interested in these, google Ommwriter Dana II, which not only offers a clear space for free writing, but offers catchy sounds as you type and peaceful ambient and piano music you can switch through to make your writing experience smoother; the only catch is that it's just for Mac. There's also Writemonkey, which offers a simple black screen with green letters to write out your ideas on, no extra noise included. And finally, look through CreaWriter if you're a PC, and you'll find the equivalent of OmmWriter Dana II, smooth sounds included.

Another tip that I feel will definitely help me get over my extended periods of writer's block is long-hand writing. For some reason, and as lifehacker.com puts it, writing by hand helps by staying out of your thought process. When I'm typing, I notice that I do a lot of pausing and thinking, then typing, then pausing to think again, but when I write long-hand, I write as I think, no pauses in-between. I suppose it's because writing by hand takes a bit longer than typing so my thoughts can catch up as my hand writes, as opposed to typing faster than my thoughts can process ideas.

Another hint from this great article: Learn from other good writers! I particularly like this hint because honestly, I don't know who is a good writer half of the time, and this article points out some who are, therefore giving me ideas on who to read from. In this list are included Stephen King and Conan O'Brien. I tried finding O'Brien's blog, but no luck there. Any hints as to what he's written that is good, drop me a message! I only found his book "...In the Year 2000."

So, I'll leave you the link if you didn't get around to it. I highly suggest reading through it.

Click here for the article.

until next time!

Backgrounding can be exciting!

So far, we've spent quite some time learning how to background people, and gotten a glimpse at backgrounding corporations.

I think that it's amazing how far the internet has taken us in making this process a bit faster and a bit more organized.

Last Wednesday in class, I was amazed at how Professor Reisner described the origin of an excel spreadsheet, which was quite literally a spreadsheet of paper. I think that ever since computers were put together to (originally) organize data, our field had a shot at becoming more objective and at being able to have access to documents that back up our stories with more precision.

I wonder how many errors were made that may have had serious implications before the use of computers to compile large sections of information dealing with numbers, percentages and statistics.

Although technology and computers make this process a bit easier for us, I do have to say that it's a double-edge sword because we seem to start off, at least I know I feel this way, as a bit more lazy. Like, the idea of having to go to a court house really doesn't sound exciting to me. It's like an idea of , "well I guess I'll have to do that if I really can't get access to the information I need any other possible way through the web."

I think that if and when I start reporting, when I come to need documents from places like the courthouse, or places where I physically have to go, or literally call the person in charge and wager out a deal to get what I need, I'll think back on this class and remember what the teacher taught us: That even though a lot of information that we may need is accessible through the web, we won't have access to ALL of it and we need to be ready to search in the places that aren't in the web.

Just with the couple of weeks that we've spent in public records I feel that I've learned more about journalism and reporting than I have in my three semesters at FIU so far.

I have to say however, that I'm wondering how arithmetics will come into play next week.

What I like about this class so far?

For one, I appreciate being (practically) forced to read the news. For once, I was the one informing my co-workers of the most recent news instead of being informed by them. I feel like current events are becoming a bigger part of my life, and like any other type of learning, it gives me the thirst for wanting to continue to learn about the world around me. I found a pretty cool way to do this too. Check out the link bellow for an interesting way to look at headlines, both national and world-wide:

http://newsmap.jp/

I also like our in-class discussions. I'm learning a lot of new tips I hadn't caught on to before. Being in this class has given me a chance to really ask myself if maybe reporting and news-writing might be of more interest to me than to just round out my resume and my skills as a technical producer. Maybe it's because Reisner feeds it to us like such a cool career choice. I may be biased because I find it ridiculously cool that he took his daughter to a Paramore concert, and therefore anything he does must be cool?

O.k, I'll stop, for now.

:)

Two Ledes, which one is better?

o A man robbed a local gas station last night after holding up the attendant with a switch blade knife only to escape on-foot with $14.37, said the city police.

o Last night a man held up a gas station attendant with a switch blade knife, only to escape on-foot with $14.37, said the city police.

SO. WHICH ONE IS A BETTER LEDE?

Here are the notes we were given.

· a. There was a holdup at a gas station last night.
b. A man armed with a switch blade knife held up the attendant.
c. The amount taken was $14.37.
d. After the robbery the man fled on foot.
e. The gas station is at 610 Mobile Ave.
f. All information came from city police.
g. There was a potted plant in the main office

h. The robber was white.

Second Look-Through

After our discussion in class, we were asked to go back to the same article and review it with a fresh mind and new ideas of what makes any article a good or bad one.

As I reviewed my article once again (link on previous post), I realized I found it is well-written, indeed. I found it to be very clear and interesting. It gave enough detail into the topic at hand to inform the reader without boring him or her. It was concise and to the point, touching on most potential questions the audience might have about the topic, which was the new education curriculum offered to students in different languages.

One thing that this article did particularly well on was showing, not telling the audience what this different approach to education is. The author resorted to quoting students and school staff about the programs in order to show why these students are interested in this program, or what they find appealing about what they are doing within the program.

This article was more informative than anything else. It proved to have reliable sources, including a participating school's principal as well as the administrative director of the MDPS division of bilingual education and world languages, Joanne Urrutia.

I liked this lesson because it gave me a chance to judge a piece for myself, and then I was able to go back and view the same article with new lessons learned in the classroom.

Well-written Article

More High School Students Learning in Other Languages

The article that I chose is about education. It was published on August 31, 2010, and it was written by Tania Valdemoro. The name is “More High School Students Learning in Other Languages.” This article caught my attention due to its topic. As I read into it, I liked many things about it that made it work for me.

One of the attributes that stand out about this article to me is the way in which it starts. The title of the article gave me an idea of what I might find inside, and it became the hook that made me take the time to read it. The lead is one that guides me through different programs that exist in different parts of Miami, but it purposefully leaves out the “how it works” or “why this is allowed” part for later reading. I was interested in reading the article because the lead was more of a hook to the topic at hand.

I liked that through the introduction it is very vague on the why and the how of the newsworthy topic, but as it goes on, it answers these questions not only with facts, but it is accompanied by responses by students of these new programs. I also liked that it is divided into sections with titles, so I know what the section deals with as I continue reading.

This article is successful in informing me about this alternative way to learn in different languages. It is much unbiased about the topic, being careful to stay away from controversial ideas such as these programs, especially the ones in Spanish, becoming a crutch for students who come from Latin America and won’t need to apply themselves to learn the local language, English. Another issue it stayed away from, and therefore becoming impartial about, is that education in these programs might be better because it is more challenging and more hands-on and varied than traditional education in Miami-Dade County.

I think that being impartial about news is important because it can be very easy to sway from the newsworthy content and move into feature and editorial forms of writing when working on an article. This article served as a good example of how to not do that.