Making choices

Heading into Thanksgiving weekend I really thought I knew what I was going to do with my schedule next semester. But a long weekend gave me too much time to think, despite the massive amount of homework hanging over me.

How is someone suppose to determine what opportunities are actually best. I have the opportunity to be a part of two amazing internships next semester. They might not be great to some people, but I definitely didn't expect to have a choice in internships for next semester. One is for my minor. I will get six hours class credit, get paid and get to work in the South Carolina state house. The other is with a major news company. I'll get to report, might get paid and I will still work in the South Carolina state house. Normally, the second choice would be a no brainer, getting to report, what I want to do. But for some reason, the one with the class credit keeps popping up in my head as something I should really be a part of next semester.

I'm not asking anyone to make my decisions for me, I am just wondering how do others decide what is best for their future when two really good opportunities are present?

Deserted streets and tumbleweeds

Hello, Bloggers:

No postings for a week?
We must be approaching the end.
Deadlines. Reports. Examinations.
That's what faculty are up to.
What about you?
Your semester been productive?
Any new revelations to share?
Maybe with the sun setting early
and a chilly wind whistling down,
you've shuttered your windows.
Let's hear from you before you put out the lights.

Professor Wiggins

Annual employment survey

The report on the annual survey of journalism and mass comm. graduates, their employment prospects and salaries is out from the University of Georgia. Sobering news. Any thoughts? (See related Common Sense Journalism entry.)

How students get information

From Doug: I belong to a journalism professor's list, JOURNET, and last week a poster started a thread by posing the question (paraphrased): We talk a lot about students' difficulty with writing, but should we also be talking about their diffculty in reporting -- especially their reluctance to go and talk with people and an overreliance on electronic sources?

That prompted a post from University of Alaska student Chris Luth (one of the querying professor's students) that I thought was very insightful. I've reproduced it here with his permission. I'd like to get reactions:

Well, I'm not an instructor, but I thought I'd give a student's
perspective. (My experience is limited, so don't take me too seriously.)

I think your first contention is correct. We are an impatient generation. I've got Google searching (Googling?) down to a science. If I'm eating eggs for breakfast and suddenly am struck with the question of which came first -- the chicken or the egg -- I can have the answer (or at least some interesting opinion) within three minutes. (This happens a lot.)

My computer never shuts down, and my Internet is always on. So I type "Chicken egg first" right in my Google toolbar, and within a half a second I get 647,000 matches, the first of which is -- well, that's a bad example.

But you get the idea.

I even have Google set to display the first 1-100 matches instead of the default 1-10. My eye is trained to quickly skim for (relatively)reliable results.

Conversely, finding people to interview is slow work. First, finding the right person is much harder than Googling. Sometimes a phone number or email address will appear on a Web page, but often you end up spending a few hours hopping from one referral to the next.

Second, you actually have to converse with a person. Sometimes it's a nice, easy, natural conversation. Other times, especially when you're new, you're not sure what to ask. I'm getting better, but I still feel inarticulate when I'm interviewing. I would have felt much more comfortable if my journalism teachers would have worked more hands-on with me in interviewing. I remember being sent out on my first practice assignment in my media writing class and not having a clue what to ask people. I came back empty-handed and with a belief I wasn't any good at interviewing.

But that's me.

Third, online communication is competing with face-to-face communication. E-mail and instant messaging is very common. Today's generation writes much more like they talk, at least in those media.(Of course, that's no excuse for "ppl writnig 2 uthers liek this." That duzn't du it 4 me.) I communicate with most of my friends via e-mail or
in a chat room we've set up, and online communication satisfies most of my needs. I tend to subconsciously think that if an online communique won't work, it's not worth following up on. There are easier fish to catch.

Fourth, today's culture is so bombarded with information and analysis that we can sometimes err on the side of not forming our own ideas. I saw a newspaper article recently that said people with cell phones are shown to be more reliant on others to help them make decisions. (Why does a guy need to worry about deciding between Best Foods mayonnaise and the in-store brand when he can call his wife and ask her what she wants?) There's a balancing act between satisfying curiosity and information overload.

As I said above, I can quickly Google anything I want to know. I'm still curious. I look up a lot of information every day. But that information can quickly become too much, and the Internet can sometimes think for me. There's so much analysis already done that sometimes I don't need to analyze it for myself.

I don't think your second idea is as true. I can recognize the difference between newsworthy and non-newsworthy material, and I'm developing that sense even more through journalism classes. Your first hypothesis has to do with students lacking a desire to act while your second one has more to do with a fundamental lapse in students' ability to perceive. I don't think that this generation is less aware -- if anything, we're trained to see everything all of the time -- as much as it is just lazy.

I hope I've given you some good food for thought. Hope your article goes well!

Chris Luth
Journalism/Public Communications junior
University of Alaska Anchorage

Journ Burn

Thanks to Southwest Missouri State's Journ Burn for cross-linking with us.

'So what is that college thing?'

I have never been so thankful for my future profession and how it makes me aware of my government.

This weekend at my second job, some of the girls I worked with asked me to explain the Electoral College. They said they knew it existed, but other than that they were clueless. So, in the middle of our store I explained the Electoral College and then we started talking politics.

I don't usually like talking specifics about politics because I try really hard to be independent of partisanship, but I felt this was one of those times where talking would do some good.

We talked about the upcoming election and the girls I was working with didn't understand why the senate race was so important. I'm not sure if they even knew about local referendums and races that will be on the ballot, the ones that will have a direct effect on the community first. From my poli sci class that studies voting behaviors, I knew all the stats on why people didn't vote and how much of the population was uninformed about elections, but I had never seen it at first hand. I grew up around people who always researched candidates and their issues. My family has never voted straight party ticket, and they sure as heck weren't going to vote on personality; they voted for who would represent them and constituents in the best manner.

I realized how fortunate I am to constantly be forced to stay on top of issues and know what is going on around me. And because of this, I know there is more behind a campaign than ads and trash talk.

I know there are people who aren't like these girls, but a vast majority of our country is uninformed, and if they even bother voting at all, they probably don’t know everything about the person they are voting for.

So, if you aren't sure about who you are voting for, look up some information, away from their websites and other biased sources (I know, there aren't many out there), but don't be an uninformed voter, for this election or future ones.

Oh yeah, just in case you have been living under a rock, GO VOTE TOMORROW!!!!