Newstrust

As a Newstrust newbie, I was actually a bit nervous to submit and rate stories. Maybe it was because of all the talk of being rated yourself by others. Self-consciousness is never a good ingredient in journalism, however, so I got over it and visited BBC's website to find some interesting stories involving the global economy.

The first story I found was on the fine wine industry. The story said that wine prices are declining because demand is going down and people are purchasing less expensive wine to protect their wallets. I gave it a 4.2. Side note, not 20 minutes after I submitted the story, someone else reviewed it. I think Newstrust is awesome in that it seems to create its own community by allowing everyone to review each other's submitted stories.

The second story I submitted was on the bee industry. Go figure bees are actually a really important part to the European economy. But according to this story, Europe is concerned. I gave it a 3.4, and I didn't like the fact that it didn't really have any sources, never mind quotes. But I did find the story interesting and informative, which is why it's scored higher, and it did include some enlightening statistics.

The third story I found was on crude oil prices sinking below $50 dollars a barrel for the first time since May 2005. As a driver, and traveller in general, the story caught my eye (and made me a little bitter that for the first time since I could drive I don't have a car.) It did include a quote, and a graph to illustrate its point, but other than that it wasn't very well sourced. I gave it a 3.4 as well.

Obviously I'm a little nicer than my fellow graduate students, but I think that's because I'm new to reviewing. Give me time as a member of the Newstrust community, and I'll be just as critical and dogged as everyone else. I think Newstrust is a great place to learn how to edit pieces. Although it's a relatively general reviewing tool, the different areas it asks members to review are the same areas editors look at in the pieces they are working on. To make itself even better in this aspect, I think Newstrust could go even further in depth with its review questions.

Although originally nervous about doing this, I enjoyed the experience, and plan on frequenting the site from now on.

Coffee and college: coffee shops at or near Northeastern University

On a cold, incredibly windy day in downtown Boston, I found myself hoofing it down Boylston Street in search of caffeine, and lunch.

Rebecca's Cafe is a chain cafe based solely in Massachusetts. The particular location I found was in a small corner of an enormous building on Boylston. 500 Boylston.

I hit lunch rush hour, so it was crowded with suits on their lunch hour and people taking a break from being buffeted by the wind outside over a cup of joe. The employees, however bogged down in orders they may have been, were still very polite and friendly to their customers. They chatted with people in line as they prepared orders, and genuinely acted happy to be serving them. The lines moved quickly. I purchased a small house blend coffee and a blueberry muffin, both of which were very good, and just sat in a corner of the cafe to watch the world go by.

People seemed to relax once they sat down at the tables with their lunch (I mostly saw soup and crackers). I did as well. After I took my notes, I read a book and enjoyed the atmosphere. All in all, it was a nice experience, and I love coffee.

To see the location of Rebecca's Cafe, and for more coffee shops in the Northeastern University area, see our collaborated map: Caffeinated Campus.

Maps

I found the New York Times' map of the Tour de France a worth while piece because it puts the distance of the race in perspective (88.9 miles or 143 km). It also puts the geographic terrain in perspective as well. These racers are riding bicycles over steep mountains, which is illustrated on the map.

I really like the photos that are presented with map as well. Each photo of each stage captures the elation of the athlete in their moment of victory. The other photos that are included with the map are pretty incredible. I just think it's nifty to map out a race. It helps show just how hard the athletes had to work to travel as far as they did.

Another map I personally found interesting was the trails.com, because I really enjoy the outdoors and hiking. The topographic maps show where the more challenging trails are in each state. However, trails.com does charge after a two week trial. And if that's the case, I'll just do it the old fashioned way and pull out a paper map of state parks.

It seems as though google maps mania has very interesting and convenient maps to look at. Like Bud bars in the area. Who wouldn't want to know those locations?

Spikey Em

My favorite video of Emily Sweeney's hands down was the 1-2-3 Party coverage, just because it was so outrageous and funny.

Emily said it was always a dream of hers to work at the Globe, and now because of her new media knowledge, she has made herself a valuable employee for the Globe South.

I think for our class, Emily is a "real life" example of where we might end up in 5 years. As a Northeastern alum having joined the Globe 3 years after she graduated, she had some very sound advice about learning about technology in the field.

I also really enjoyed her piece with her colleague her Billy Baker on Boston slang. As an outsider who notices the accent very easily, I could appreciate the humor and the fun in the clip. She made her work on this particular clip sound very easy. Having a resource like archive.org seems like it would be very convenient to have if one wants to make a fun movie with several different images open to the public.

Emily said that Globe reporters are all encouraged to carry around flip phones when out in the field. She thinks, as do many reporters these days, that having well rounded knowledge of new media can help in getting a job in journalism.

One thing that Sweeney said I found the most interesting is that when she is reporting with a video camera, she has to be wary that people are not just performing for the camera. If they do, it brings up ethical issues for journalists. So where does a journalist draw the line? In the clip on 1-2-3 Party, she said this was a particular concern of hers, however she had learned that these performs acted just as crazy when they weren't in front of a camera.

Sweeney prefers to just let things happen, even if they are not perfect.

Election Day 2008: Boston, MA

I walked down the street to the polling place for my neighborhood, Moreville House at 100 Norway Street, to see what was going on at the poll.

To my surprise, it was not that busy when I went at 1 pm. I also had a very rude greeting when I walked in brandishing my camera for the poll volunteers to see. Inevitably, I was told to leave, and as I left one of the volunteers whispered to me "Catch 'em as they are coming out."

So I did. And I took some pictures around the poll as well, just to spite them.

Election 2008: Poll pictures.

They are also posted at the Polling Place Photo Project.

For the love of trees

Since the beginning of the term, I've been continuing to nose around treehugger.com. As a result, I've become a huge fan of the project.

Here's some history on the site.

In 2004, Graham Hill (now Vice President of the project) founded Treehugger with the help of Media Architecture Advisor Nick Aster.

During the last four years, the Web site has been "dubbed," as it states, the Green CNN and the Green Blog God.

The project has 10 staffers and over 50 writers from over 10 different countries covering 8 categories of green news.

The categories are:
1. Cars and Transportation
2. Science and Technology
3. Design and Architecture
4. Culture and Celebrity
5. Travel and Nature
6. Food and Health
7. Business and Politics
8. Fashion and Beauty

Planet Green, is actually a sister site to Treehugger. In its "about" section, it claims to be the first and only 24-hour Eco-lifestyle television network. They are both part of the Discovery Company.

Treehugger has been nominated for several awards during its lifetime, and offers up its virtual trophy case as a testament to that fact.

Some of the new media presentations it provides are podcasts, vlogs, blogs, and a user-generated blog called Hugg.

It even has a job board where it posts available job opportunities in Eco-related fields, much like an environmentally friendly Craigslist.

Here are some of the blogs I personally found interesting and helpful for my own lifestyle:
What girl doesn't like makeup? And who doesn't want to save the world looking their best? This post is about doing both.
And since tomorrow is the big day, this post on carpooling to the polls is festive and Eco-friendly.

I did find the list of contact information. I had a hard time finding it at first because I had to scroll all the way down on the about page to find the section named "How can I contact Treehugger?" It's not a page on its own, which I don't necessarily like.

I think I would really be interested in working for Treehugger in the future. I would enjoy writing about saving the world one green step at a time.