Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Front Page Stories
*DHTWD (with photos): Research effects of “talking on the phone while driving” legislation and comparing local legislation in different counties in Georgia.
*KWHEROS (with photos): Guitar Hero and Rock Band are taking over the video game world. There are also many knockoffs and a new “DJ Hero” is coming out soon. I will talk about how musicians feel about this technology, what they feel this is doing to music in general, and if they like it. Also how much it costs to make these games, how much the bands who sell them the rights to their songs get, if they are getting more well known, etc.
*DHXINGO (with photos):Information about Xingo service, an alternative form of transportation for students who don’t want to take taxis or rely on friends for DD. If students
*EDDIC: How technology can interrupt the classroom when students use laptops, phones or digital music players. Student and teacher opinions.
*ABTHEFT (with photos):About breaking and entering cars. Whether it is an issue among students on campus and how to prevent theft from your vehicle.
*KWHEROS (with photos): Guitar Hero and Rock Band are taking over the video game world. There are also many knockoffs and a new “DJ Hero” is coming out soon. I will talk about how musicians feel about this technology, what they feel this is doing to music in general, and if they like it. Also how much it costs to make these games, how much the bands who sell them the rights to their songs get, if they are getting more well known, etc.
*DHXINGO (with photos):Information about Xingo service, an alternative form of transportation for students who don’t want to take taxis or rely on friends for DD. If students
*EDDIC: How technology can interrupt the classroom when students use laptops, phones or digital music players. Student and teacher opinions.
*ABTHEFT (with photos):About breaking and entering cars. Whether it is an issue among students on campus and how to prevent theft from your vehicle.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Amanda Duval-- ASF Pharmacy Number Chart
All the Numbers Add Up to New Pharmacy Building
By Amanda Duval
2007—The year the University of Georgia broke ground to begin building the Pharmacy South Building, located off Green Street in South Campus.
93,300—Total square feet of the new pharmacy building, double the size of the old pharmacy school.
45— Number of years since the pharmacy school faculty, staff and students have seen any renovation or technological advance this great.
2—Number of open research labs in the new pharmacy building. Each of the labs has at least 10 student work stations where students learn to make IVs, fill prescriptions and compound medications.
500—Number of pharmacy students currently enjoying and taking advantage of the new building and all of its new technology.
44,000,000—Total cost of the new pharmacy building, $5 million more than planned. The extra money spent was well worth it to many pharmacy students and faculty.
194—Amount of pharmacy students each of the two auditoriums in the new pharmacy building can seat. In the old building, most auditoriums would hold a maximum of 120 students.
1—Number of universities in Georgia that have pharmacy buildings this technologically advanced. UGA’s is the only pharmacy school building in Georgia that has its own pharmacy and its own lab where chemotherapy treatments can be made. It is the only LEDE certified green building on the UGA campus
Edited my Jessica Cole
By Amanda Duval
2007—The year the University of Georgia broke ground to begin building the Pharmacy South Building, located off Green Street in South Campus.
93,300—Total square feet of the new pharmacy building, double the size of the old pharmacy school.
45— Number of years since the pharmacy school faculty, staff and students have seen any renovation or technological advance this great.
2—Number of open research labs in the new pharmacy building. Each of the labs has at least 10 student work stations where students learn to make IVs, fill prescriptions and compound medications.
500—Number of pharmacy students currently enjoying and taking advantage of the new building and all of its new technology.
44,000,000—Total cost of the new pharmacy building, $5 million more than planned. The extra money spent was well worth it to many pharmacy students and faculty.
194—Amount of pharmacy students each of the two auditoriums in the new pharmacy building can seat. In the old building, most auditoriums would hold a maximum of 120 students.
1—Number of universities in Georgia that have pharmacy buildings this technologically advanced. UGA’s is the only pharmacy school building in Georgia that has its own pharmacy and its own lab where chemotherapy treatments can be made. It is the only LEDE certified green building on the UGA campus
Edited my Jessica Cole
Problem Solution Chart about the eLC - Pelham
Potential Problem
The version of the browser you use is incompatible with eLC.
To learn whether your browser is compatible, complete a browser check by clicking the button on the eLC homepage or go to the website http://kb.blackboard.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=25368512.
You have more than one version of Java installed. You need version 6 (build 1.6.0) of Java for eLC.
To learn what version of Java currently on your computer, go to your computer's control panel and find the Java program. Select the "General" tab and click "About."
You have the incorrect version of Java installed.
You need version 6 (build 1.6.0) of Java for eLC.
To learn what version of Java currently on your computer, go to your computer's control panel and find the Java program. Select the "General" tab and click "About."
Your Web browser blocks pop-ups.
A toolbar, such as Google Toolbar, Yahoo! Toolbar or ICQ Toolbar, blocks pop ups.
Security software, such as ZoneAlarm or AdAware, blocks pop-ups.
Some toolbars have various features that interfere with eLC.
Your Web browser's cache interferes with eLC.
Java's cache interferes with eLC.
Solution
Try using an alternate Web browser already on your computer or install an alternate Web browser.
Uninstall the incorrect version of Java.
Uninstall the incorrect version of Java. Uninstall any other Sun Java, JRE, J2SE, or JVM programs. Go to www.java.com and install Java version 6 (build 1.6.0)
Change your browser settings to allow pop-ups.
Change your toolbar settings to allow pop-ups.
Change your security settings to allow pop-ups.
If you've already changed your settings to allow pop-ups but still experience problems, then uninstall your toolbars.
Go into your browser's tools and choose to clear cache. Your cache could also be called temporary internet files, private data or browsing history.
Go to your computer's control panel and find the Java program. Go into Java's settings for temporary files and choose to delete all temporary files.
The version of the browser you use is incompatible with eLC.
To learn whether your browser is compatible, complete a browser check by clicking the button on the eLC homepage or go to the website http://kb.blackboard.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=25368512.
You have more than one version of Java installed. You need version 6 (build 1.6.0) of Java for eLC.
To learn what version of Java currently on your computer, go to your computer's control panel and find the Java program. Select the "General" tab and click "About."
You have the incorrect version of Java installed.
You need version 6 (build 1.6.0) of Java for eLC.
To learn what version of Java currently on your computer, go to your computer's control panel and find the Java program. Select the "General" tab and click "About."
Your Web browser blocks pop-ups.
A toolbar, such as Google Toolbar, Yahoo! Toolbar or ICQ Toolbar, blocks pop ups.
Security software, such as ZoneAlarm or AdAware, blocks pop-ups.
Some toolbars have various features that interfere with eLC.
Your Web browser's cache interferes with eLC.
Java's cache interferes with eLC.
Solution
Try using an alternate Web browser already on your computer or install an alternate Web browser.
Uninstall the incorrect version of Java.
Uninstall the incorrect version of Java. Uninstall any other Sun Java, JRE, J2SE, or JVM programs. Go to www.java.com and install Java version 6 (build 1.6.0)
Change your browser settings to allow pop-ups.
Change your toolbar settings to allow pop-ups.
Change your security settings to allow pop-ups.
If you've already changed your settings to allow pop-ups but still experience problems, then uninstall your toolbars.
Go into your browser's tools and choose to clear cache. Your cache could also be called temporary internet files, private data or browsing history.
Go to your computer's control panel and find the Java program. Go into Java's settings for temporary files and choose to delete all temporary files.
Using Social Networks to Find the Best New Music
Using Social Networks to Find the Best New Music
by Christopher Benton
It is very easy to get music online. Legal or illegal, there are hundreds of means to download entire artist’s catalogs from the superobscure to the superstar. But with more decision comes indecision, and the question for the music fan becomes: what should I play?
Like the music industry itself, social networking has revolutionized the way in which consumers experience new music. Here’s some of the best social networks to discover your new favorite band.
MYSPACE MUSIC
In blogyears, Myspace Music is a dinosaur, but it is still one of the best sites for music lovers. Practically every artist has a Myspace page that allows fans to stream a couple songs, find out about tour dates, and even contact their favorite artists.
LAST FM
Like Pandora, but much more powerful, Last.fm allows users to build their own customizable radio station based on artist, song, or genre. Based on the characteristics of your radio station, the site will recommend other artists to you. Last.fm can even plug into your iTunes so you can play your library remotely. Access to iTunes also means that you can make friends with Last.fm profile and make recommendations to them, while Last.fm determines how “music compatible” you are based on similarities in taste. It’ll even tell you the last thing your friends have listened to.
RATE YOUR MUSIC
Rateyourmusic is a music critic’s social network, no credentials necessary. After you make a profile, you can rate millions of artist’s albums and even write your own review if you wish. This seemingly simple setup has many implications. From the rating system, RYM compiles lists, so you can easily search through the highest rated albums by year, artist, and genre, as constantly updated. The whole idea is very democratic and the best music gets pushed to the top. These are real music fans here, so anything in the yearly top 100 is always awesome and frequently on the fringes of mainstream. Users can also make their own lists, friend others, and recommend music to these friends.
DROWNED IN SOUND
Drowned in Sound is music criticism at its finest, or at least at it’s most Web 2.0. The British website posts reviews, features, and interviews like any other online reprint music publication but also contains a strong community component. For instance, users can post comments on any article or review, so listeners get in their own “two cents.” There is also a discussion board where readers can compose articles, look for band mates, sell equipments, host music forums, and debate the merits of staff-made articles.
HYPEMACHINE
Hypemachine is MP3 blog aggregator. Better than your RSS feed, Hypemachine is a constantly updating site that reposts streamable MP3s from all over the web. Hypemachine probably puts it best when they write: “To put it simply, the Hype Machine keeps track of what music bloggers write about. We handpick a set of kickass music blogs and then present what they discuss for easy analysis, consumption and discovery. This way, your odds of stumbling into awesome music or awesome blogs are high.”
BLIP.FM
Twitter meets Last.fm with Blip. The whole service hinges on the question: “What song do you want to Blip?” With millions of songs in its catalog, you can type any song you want (be it a MP3 or its accompanying music video) and then push it online. You can either play the song you Blip or play any song someone else Blips. The site is basically a series of user song recommendations.
Captions for Future Photographs of Food Bank Stories
Food Faceoff: Dexter Adams, Director of the Physical Plant-Grounds Department at UGA, is faced with thousands of pounds of wasted food after football games. “It’s Saturday in Athens” hopes to take this food and distribute it to hungry citizens of Athens-Clarke County.
Winning Means More This Thanksgiving: Nicole Foo, member of the Student Government Association of UGA, is working with the Food Bank of Georgia to achieve UGA’s goal of raising 50,000 pounds of food for the Georgia vs. Georgia Tech game.
Rivalry Brings Schools Together: In August of 2008, Taylor Burnham and Keegan Keel founded Conscious Alliance UGA hoping to feed hungry citizens of Athens-Clarke County. Conscious Alliance UGA is one organization contributing to the goal of raising 50,000 pounds of food for the Georgia vs. Georgia Tech.
Food Bank of NE Georgia: Zachary Burgess, kitchen supervisor for Our Daily Bread, works with Food Bank of Northeast Georgia to provide meals to hungry citizens. Burgess observed a change in the populace coming in and out of the kitchen; people are not necessarily homeless but hungry.
Winning Means More This Thanksgiving: Nicole Foo, member of the Student Government Association of UGA, is working with the Food Bank of Georgia to achieve UGA’s goal of raising 50,000 pounds of food for the Georgia vs. Georgia Tech game.
Rivalry Brings Schools Together: In August of 2008, Taylor Burnham and Keegan Keel founded Conscious Alliance UGA hoping to feed hungry citizens of Athens-Clarke County. Conscious Alliance UGA is one organization contributing to the goal of raising 50,000 pounds of food for the Georgia vs. Georgia Tech.
Food Bank of NE Georgia: Zachary Burgess, kitchen supervisor for Our Daily Bread, works with Food Bank of Northeast Georgia to provide meals to hungry citizens. Burgess observed a change in the populace coming in and out of the kitchen; people are not necessarily homeless but hungry.
A Quick Guide to Social Media
Ali Rosenberger
Twitter: Users start by creating a free account by completing a profile, including uploading a picture. Users can even link their account to a cell phone, which allows the user to receive and send messages to and from others no matter where they are. An update that is sent to friends is called a “tweet." These tweets are limited to 140 characters, and are on the same level as Facebook’s “status updates”.
Facebook: Another free social networking site that allows users to keep in touch with people they know, or make “friends” by searching the database. Users can upload photos, information about themselves, join groups with other members, and even download applications and games. Facebook has also recently added Facebook Chat, which is an instant messaging service accessed through the site.
LinkedIn: Also free to join, LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site. Much like Facebook, LinkedIn allows users to keep in touch with old acquaintances, and also make useful business connections. Users create a profile based around their professional background with information like schools attended, previous employers, and current employment. It can then be used to find jobs, people, and business opportunities recommended by someone in one's contact network. Employers can also list jobs and search for potential candidates.
SpiffBox: Another free-to-join social networking site, SpiffBox is the newest social networking site that actually “pays you to be social.” SpiffBox combines many different features of social networking and photo sharing sites, like email, friending, chat, updates and photo sharing. SpiffBox uses a points system as incentive for communication between members. Users can even earn real money by responding to emails, chats, friend invites and sharing photos.
Twitter: Users start by creating a free account by completing a profile, including uploading a picture. Users can even link their account to a cell phone, which allows the user to receive and send messages to and from others no matter where they are. An update that is sent to friends is called a “tweet." These tweets are limited to 140 characters, and are on the same level as Facebook’s “status updates”.
Facebook: Another free social networking site that allows users to keep in touch with people they know, or make “friends” by searching the database. Users can upload photos, information about themselves, join groups with other members, and even download applications and games. Facebook has also recently added Facebook Chat, which is an instant messaging service accessed through the site.
LinkedIn: Also free to join, LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site. Much like Facebook, LinkedIn allows users to keep in touch with old acquaintances, and also make useful business connections. Users create a profile based around their professional background with information like schools attended, previous employers, and current employment. It can then be used to find jobs, people, and business opportunities recommended by someone in one's contact network. Employers can also list jobs and search for potential candidates.
SpiffBox: Another free-to-join social networking site, SpiffBox is the newest social networking site that actually “pays you to be social.” SpiffBox combines many different features of social networking and photo sharing sites, like email, friending, chat, updates and photo sharing. SpiffBox uses a points system as incentive for communication between members. Users can even earn real money by responding to emails, chats, friend invites and sharing photos.
Silver Alt Budget
KLPOLIALT
The story: What prominent politicians are on social media.
Format type (Q&A, bio, etc.): Q&A
Reporter/editor: Kristen Luca, Megan Niager
Text length: 261 words
MNTWITALT
The story: Finding a job using Twitter.
Format type (Q&A, bio, etc.): Glossary
Reporter/editor: Megan Niager, Kristen Luca
Text length: 257
ARSMALT
The Story: Quick guide to some of the popular social media sites; what they are and how to use them
Format Type: Glossary
Reporter/Editor: Ali Rosenberger/Chris Benton
Text Length: Between 200-300
USNTFBNM
The Story: Pictorial guide explaining how to use social networks to discover new music.
Format Type: Picture essay
Reporter/Editor: Christopher Benton/Ali Rosenberger
Text Length: 600 words
The story: What prominent politicians are on social media.
Format type (Q&A, bio, etc.): Q&A
Reporter/editor: Kristen Luca, Megan Niager
Text length: 261 words
MNTWITALT
The story: Finding a job using Twitter.
Format type (Q&A, bio, etc.): Glossary
Reporter/editor: Megan Niager, Kristen Luca
Text length: 257
ARSMALT
The Story: Quick guide to some of the popular social media sites; what they are and how to use them
Format Type: Glossary
Reporter/Editor: Ali Rosenberger/Chris Benton
Text Length: Between 200-300
USNTFBNM
The Story: Pictorial guide explaining how to use social networks to discover new music.
Format Type: Picture essay
Reporter/Editor: Christopher Benton/Ali Rosenberger
Text Length: 600 words
The Life and Times of Auto-Tune (rough)
1990: Dr. Harold Hildegard founds Jupiter Systems, eventually Antares Audio Technologies
1997: Antares introduces Auto-Tune, a pitch-correcting software program
1998:
-Cher releases her hit song “Believe," which uses Auto-Tune to construct its distinctive bridge
-The song’s producers claim the Auto-tune effects are actually a vocoder, trying to protect a trade secret
2000: Gigi D’Agostino releases the Auto-Tuned “La Pasion,” which becomes number 1 in Belgium
2001: Janet Jackson releases the Auto-Tuned “All For You,” remaining on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks
2004: T-Pain rises to fame with his Auto-Tune-based “Hard & B” style, which takes on imitators
2008: T-Pain claims a right to royalties from any artist using Auto-Tune
2009:
-Death Cab for Cutie protests the widespread use of Auto-Tune at the 51st Grammy Awards with blue ribbons
-Jay-Z releases “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)”
1997: Antares introduces Auto-Tune, a pitch-correcting software program
1998:
-Cher releases her hit song “Believe," which uses Auto-Tune to construct its distinctive bridge
-The song’s producers claim the Auto-tune effects are actually a vocoder, trying to protect a trade secret
2000: Gigi D’Agostino releases the Auto-Tuned “La Pasion,” which becomes number 1 in Belgium
2001: Janet Jackson releases the Auto-Tuned “All For You,” remaining on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks
2004: T-Pain rises to fame with his Auto-Tune-based “Hard & B” style, which takes on imitators
2008: T-Pain claims a right to royalties from any artist using Auto-Tune
2009:
-Death Cab for Cutie protests the widespread use of Auto-Tune at the 51st Grammy Awards with blue ribbons
-Jay-Z releases “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)”
MNTWITALT
The Twitterverse:
Twitter? What the heck is that? Twitter lingo has become a second language to thousands of teens, adults, celebrities, businesses and beyond. Here’s the breakdown:
Tweet: A tweet is a post or status update on Twitter, a microblogging service. Because Twitter only allows messages of 140 characters or less, "tweet" is as much a play on the size of the message as it is on the audible similarity to Twitter.
At Reply: A direct message donated with @ before a specific user name that is sent only to the Tweeter that was mentioned.
Direct Message: DM is used to send a private message to someone that the rest of the Twitterverse cannot see.
TwitPic: A Web site for users to post pictures to the Twitter service via tweet by uploading pics from mobile devices onto the site. Primarily used to capture moments as they are taking place in real-time.
Blog: A blog is a form of online writing, picture-taking, journaling, etc. for people to implement as a means of expressing thoughts, ideas, job opening, whatever! While a blog is not exclusive to Twitter, many users will add links to blogs as a means of sharing and distributing information to followers.
So that’s it! There are hundreds of other definitions within the social media world but these are a few you will hear the most of within this article and when first starting out with Twitter. If you don’t have a Twitter account already, jump on the Twitter bandwagon and go set one up at twitter.com!
Twitter? What the heck is that? Twitter lingo has become a second language to thousands of teens, adults, celebrities, businesses and beyond. Here’s the breakdown:
Tweet: A tweet is a post or status update on Twitter, a microblogging service. Because Twitter only allows messages of 140 characters or less, "tweet" is as much a play on the size of the message as it is on the audible similarity to Twitter.
At Reply: A direct message donated with @ before a specific user name that is sent only to the Tweeter that was mentioned.
Direct Message: DM is used to send a private message to someone that the rest of the Twitterverse cannot see.
TwitPic: A Web site for users to post pictures to the Twitter service via tweet by uploading pics from mobile devices onto the site. Primarily used to capture moments as they are taking place in real-time.
Blog: A blog is a form of online writing, picture-taking, journaling, etc. for people to implement as a means of expressing thoughts, ideas, job opening, whatever! While a blog is not exclusive to Twitter, many users will add links to blogs as a means of sharing and distributing information to followers.
So that’s it! There are hundreds of other definitions within the social media world but these are a few you will hear the most of within this article and when first starting out with Twitter. If you don’t have a Twitter account already, jump on the Twitter bandwagon and go set one up at twitter.com!
Elephants
Did You Know…
- Elephants are the largest living land mammal.
- They are characterized by their long trunks, thick, round legs, and large heads with big, flat ears.
- An elephant’s trunk is a combination of the animal’s upper lip and nose (the nostrils are found in the tip). The trunk weighs about 290 pounds in adult males and can lift about 250 kg.
- The trunk is essential for daily functions such as breathing, eating and drinking.
- Elephant tusks are made of ivory and are considered enlarged incisor teeth. Tusks protect the trunk and are also used for activities like defense, digging, lifting objects and collecting food.
- Elephants’ colors vary from gray to brown. They have coarse and sparse hair covering their bodies.
- Elephants are most likely to be found in savannas, grasslands and forests.
Edited by Katie Weise
Sydney Slotkin Q&A
Allison Weiss, 22-year-old singer/songwriter from Athens, Ga has gained notable recognition on the Internet from her strategic use of social networking website to promote her music and herself.
Sydney Slotkin: What sites do you use the most to promote your music and why are they good tools?
Allison Weiss: Right now my primary promotion sites are Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and YouTube, with MySpace in a quiet fourth place. They're all great tools because they allow me to directly interact with fans of my music. I like to know a lot about the people listening to my music so that I can provide them with as awesome of an experience as possible. I format my promotion efforts based on what I see people saying and doing. For instance, instead of just hoping people will like a t-shirt, I can ask them directly. I recently did this with my new record (which comes out in November), by allowing my fans to vote on two of the songs on the album.
More specifically... Twitter is great because it's so easy and so addictive. Tumblr is great because it's like Twitter, except with greater possibilities for sharing information, and it's got a super strong community feel. Facebook is great because everybody and their mother (literally) is on it and using it constantly. MySpace is not great, but unfortunately if you're a musician you have to have one...
In addition to these, I also use iLike, ReverbNation, Virb, Vimeo, PureVolume, FourSquare, Last.fm, LinkedIn, and a million others. Basically if you name it, I'm probably on it... I just can't think of them all right now.
SS: What are some of the direct results you've seen from using these sites to promote your music? If you want to give some specific examples, that might be easier.
AW: I guess I just mentioned a couple things up there, but in addition to that, I just see my fanbase growing more and more every day. The fact that I'm out there on the internet all the time means people can follow me or listen to my music whenever they want and decide for themselves if they like it. Also, it's really easy for someone to send their friends a link to my MySpace or my Twitter or something, and so the word-of-mouth promotion works really well. I've definitely met people at shows who come up to me and tell me they found me on YouTube or MySpace or that they follow me on Twitter or Tumblr. It's pretty incredible. I recently went to Los Angeles and played a show in a coffee shop, and there were probably 30-40 people there, even though it was my first time. I consider that a pretty awesome turnout. The majority of them had found me online through various social networking sites. One girl in particular said she'd been a fan for about 5 years, after she found a cover song I did on YouTube. She told me that her and her now-boyfriend met because of that cover. That's pretty incredible, if you ask me!
SS: What do you think has been the best result from using these sites as promotional tools? What do you think just doesn't work for you?
AW: Definitely just the ability to connect with fans and to spread my music to as many people as possible. I think of myself as more than just music. I'm kind of my own brand. A lot of the people who really like my songs also really like me as a whole package. When I perform, I talk a lot between songs and banter with the audience, and the internet gives me a place to show that side of my personality that comes with the performance. I haven't really found anything yet that doesn't work for me. I'll give anything a shot. I joined Twitter over a year ago, but only started using it to it's full extent a few months ago. So from that experience I've found it's a good idea to give everything a shot. I can usually tell when something's got the potential to get huge, though, so if I really believe in a service I'll go for it and promote it hardcore. I don't know if you've heard of Tumblr.com, but when I joined it, none of my friends were on it, until I forced them to join. I think there were maybe two other people in Athens who had one. Now it seems like everyone I know is getting one, and I think it's only getting bigger.
SS: What kind of potential do you think social networking sites have for musicians promoting themselves?
AW: I can't imagine trying to be a musician in a world without social networking. If it weren't for MySpace and YouTube and Twitter and all that, nobody would know who I am. Social media allows musicians to self promote like they've never been able to before, and I believe it can only get better. I recently joined a site called LiveStream.com, and I've been broadcasting some of my concerts to the internet. I also do impromptu living room shows whenever I feel like it. A couple weekends ago I did a marathon show where I played for 4.5 hours, and I had about 150 people watching it the whole time. There's also a chat room attached to the video, so my fans can interact with eachother. They were all talking about what time they had to get up (or stay up to) to watch the stream. It was amazing. There were people from the UK, Australia, Germany... all over the place, really! It's kind of mind blowing to know that I've got fans across the globe, and it's only because I'm really good at the internet. Well, I mean, I guess they like my music too. Hah.
SS: How exactly did you use all these websites to promote yourself so far? I just added you and Twitter and you have over 2000 followers.
AW: I basically just use them regularly and honestly. With Twitter, I try my best to be really engaging. I always tell people, Twitter is ridiculous at first, but when you get the hang of it, it can be really fun. It's more than just saying "I'm having a sandwich," it's about discussing that sandwich in detail, putting an exciting spin on it, or doing whatever you can to make it as interesting as possible in 140 characters or less.
ASF- AECAFE
By Alexis Economy
The Glad Shack, adjacent to the cafeteria, once sold drinks and snacks but now it sells school spirit items and apparel.
Currently a coffee shop is under construction in the school's library. As of now there is no definite date set for its opening.
The lay out of this high schoo l cafeteria is similar to the lay out of a mall food court.
Edited by: Lauren Willson
The Glad Shack, adjacent to the cafeteria, once sold drinks and snacks but now it sells school spirit items and apparel.
Currently a coffee shop is under construction in the school's library. As of now there is no definite date set for its opening.
The Clarke Central High School Cafeteria offers healthy lunch options, such as fresh vegetables at the salad bar.
The Clarke Central cafeteria has six lines that serve a variety of foods, including pizza.
Edited by: Lauren Willson
Alt. Story
Katie Weise
Time Line of Music Video Game Releases
2005:
Guitar Hero
2006:
Guitar Hero 2
2007:
Guitar Hero 3, Rock Band, Guitar Hero Encore Rocks the 80s, Guitar Hero Carabiner, Guitar Hero 3 Mobile
2008:
Guitar Hero World Tour, Guitar Hero: Aero Smith, Guitar Hero: On Tour, Guitar Hero: On Tour: Decades, Guitar Hero 3 Backstage Pass, Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile, Rock Band 2, Rock Band Track Packs: Vol.1, ACDC Live, Vol.2
2009:
Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero: Metallica, Guitar Hero Smash Hits, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, Band Hero, DJ Hero, Guitar Hero on Tour: Modern Hits, Guitar Hero 5 Mobile, Guitar Hero Arcade, The Beatles: Rock Band, Rock Band Unplugged, Rock Band Mobile, Lego Rock Band, Rock Band Track Packs: Classic Rock, Country, Metal.
Time Line of Music Video Game Releases
2005:
Guitar Hero
2006:
Guitar Hero 2
2007:
Guitar Hero 3, Rock Band, Guitar Hero Encore Rocks the 80s, Guitar Hero Carabiner, Guitar Hero 3 Mobile
2008:
Guitar Hero World Tour, Guitar Hero: Aero Smith, Guitar Hero: On Tour, Guitar Hero: On Tour: Decades, Guitar Hero 3 Backstage Pass, Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile, Rock Band 2, Rock Band Track Packs: Vol.1, ACDC Live, Vol.2
2009:
Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero: Metallica, Guitar Hero Smash Hits, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, Band Hero, DJ Hero, Guitar Hero on Tour: Modern Hits, Guitar Hero 5 Mobile, Guitar Hero Arcade, The Beatles: Rock Band, Rock Band Unplugged, Rock Band Mobile, Lego Rock Band, Rock Band Track Packs: Classic Rock, Country, Metal.
Alternate Story Text
Q: Who are some prominent Democrats using social media?
A: President Barack Obama is on Facebook and Twitter. Links to information and ways to participate in the political process are posted on both of the Web sites. On Facebook, President Obama has over 6.8 million supporters. On Twitter, under the username BarackObama, he has over 2.4 million followers.
Sen. Claire McCaskill is a prominent Twitter user with over 33,000 followers. Her page, claircmc, features updates about her political activities and ideas, and her personal life. She also responds to many ‘tweets’ she receives from other users.
Sen. Chris Dodd’s office maintains a Twitter page, under the username SenChrisDodd, with updates about the Senator’s activities as well as linking to political videos and articles. Sen. Dodd has over 9,000 followers. On Faecbook, he has over 3,000 supporters.
Q: Who are some prominent Republicans using social media?
A: Sen. John McCain has a Twitter and Facebook account. On Twitter, at SenJohnMcCain, where he has over 1.5 million followers, he posts information about his activities, links to articles, and political thoughts. He also holds conversations with his daughter Meghan McCain through her Twitter. His Facebook account, where he has over 500,000 supporters, is updated similarly.
Rep. John Boehner is the Minority Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. He has over 11,000 followers on Twitter, account name GOPLeader, and over 18,000 supporters on Facebook. He updates with links to political articles and videos.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of Calif. has over 1.3 million followers on Twitter, under the name Schwarzenegger. He updates with information about his activities, photos, and links to articles.
A: President Barack Obama is on Facebook and Twitter. Links to information and ways to participate in the political process are posted on both of the Web sites. On Facebook, President Obama has over 6.8 million supporters. On Twitter, under the username BarackObama, he has over 2.4 million followers.
Sen. Claire McCaskill is a prominent Twitter user with over 33,000 followers. Her page, claircmc, features updates about her political activities and ideas, and her personal life. She also responds to many ‘tweets’ she receives from other users.
Sen. Chris Dodd’s office maintains a Twitter page, under the username SenChrisDodd, with updates about the Senator’s activities as well as linking to political videos and articles. Sen. Dodd has over 9,000 followers. On Faecbook, he has over 3,000 supporters.
Q: Who are some prominent Republicans using social media?
A: Sen. John McCain has a Twitter and Facebook account. On Twitter, at SenJohnMcCain, where he has over 1.5 million followers, he posts information about his activities, links to articles, and political thoughts. He also holds conversations with his daughter Meghan McCain through her Twitter. His Facebook account, where he has over 500,000 supporters, is updated similarly.
Rep. John Boehner is the Minority Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. He has over 11,000 followers on Twitter, account name GOPLeader, and over 18,000 supporters on Facebook. He updates with links to political articles and videos.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of Calif. has over 1.3 million followers on Twitter, under the name Schwarzenegger. He updates with information about his activities, photos, and links to articles.
ASF- ABCar
Car theft is always a risk when leaving a car parked in an open parking lot or parking garage. Help yourself by protecting your car from theft.
The 10 most-stolen cars in Georgia for 2008, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau were:
1) 1994 Honda Accord
2) 1994 Honda Civic
3) 2004 Ford F150 Pickup
4) 1994 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee
5) 1990 Chevrolet 4x2 Pickup
6) 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass
7) 2002 Ford Explorer
8) 2000 Dodge Caravan
9) 1999 Ford Taurus
10) 1997 Toyota Camry
Here are some tips from the UGA Police website about how to prevent vehicle theft:
1) Make sure you don’t leave the keys in your car or leave your car idling while unattended.
2) Check that your doors and windows are locked at all times.
3) Hide valuables, such as Ipods, GPS devices and cell phones, or take them with you.
4) Set your car alarm or use a steering wheel lock.
While nothing is guaranteed, taking measures similar to these will help prevent your car from being broken into and/or stolen.
Edited by: Dana Hortman
The 10 most-stolen cars in Georgia for 2008, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau were:
1) 1994 Honda Accord
2) 1994 Honda Civic
3) 2004 Ford F150 Pickup
4) 1994 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee
5) 1990 Chevrolet 4x2 Pickup
6) 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass
7) 2002 Ford Explorer
8) 2000 Dodge Caravan
9) 1999 Ford Taurus
10) 1997 Toyota Camry
Here are some tips from the UGA Police website about how to prevent vehicle theft:
1) Make sure you don’t leave the keys in your car or leave your car idling while unattended.
2) Check that your doors and windows are locked at all times.
3) Hide valuables, such as Ipods, GPS devices and cell phones, or take them with you.
4) Set your car alarm or use a steering wheel lock.
While nothing is guaranteed, taking measures similar to these will help prevent your car from being broken into and/or stolen.
Edited by: Dana Hortman
ASF-Zingo Athens profile
Who? Zingo Athens
What? Athens premiere designated driver/chaffeur service
Where? 398 Foundry Street, Athens, Georgia 30601
How? Call Zingo at 1-866-75- NODUI (66384)
When?
Hours of Operation:
Monday-Wednesday, 8 p.m.-3 a.m.
Thursday-Saturday 8 p.m.-4 a.m.
Closed Sundays. After hours service available by appointment.
Cost: $10 pick-up, and $2 per mile
Name: David Iezzi
Age: 23 years old
Hometown: Vidalia, Georgia
Employed: 8 months
Job description: Zingo dispatcher; answers calls, routes drivers; used to drive for Zingo.
Quotes:--“We have one driver that is on duty during the weekdays.”
--“The amount of customers we have using Zingo depends on if there is a home game in town or not. On game day weekends, we make about 25 to 35 rides. On nongame weekends, we have 16 to 18 rides.”
--“I like my job, except for the fact people get mad because of the wait time.”
--“I would agree that Zingo is better than taxis, because for one, you have your car the next day. Second, you know the person is legit. Not to mention it is cheaper if you pack more people in.”
Name: Brian Miller
Year/major: Senior journalism major at UGA
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Employed: working since mid-June, 3-4 months
Job description: Zingo driver
Quotes:
--“I have many stories, but nothing that can be printed.”
--“What I like most about my job is that I get to meet a lot of people, especially bar owners.”
--“I also like when I get big tips from customers.”
--“One time, I drove 98 miles, past Watkinsville to Madison, then back to Athens.”
Name: Winston Murray
UGA alumni
Hometown: Newnan, Georgia
Employed: Over a month
Job description: Zingo driver
Quotes:
--“I don’t have too many crazy stories; nothing that really sticks.”
--“I have one sad story though. I was driving this guy and his dog, Gizmo, home one night. During the ride to the guy’s place, Gizmo had pressed his paw down on the button and jumped out of the backseat window. We didn’t notice the dog had been missing until we got to the guy’s place. The guy was distraught, screaming and crying. It was sad. I didn’t ever find out what happened to Gizmo.”
Name: Matt Fuller
Year/major/school: Freshmen healthcare science major at Athens Tech
Hometown: Powder Springs, Georgia
Employed: A couple of months
Job description: Zingo driver
Quotes:
--“I really like my job a lot. It’s a good chance to make money. Also, I get to help people out.”
--“I lost one of my best friends recently. He was driving home one night and a person drinking and driving ran into him.”
--“On my first night as a driver, I made $100 on tips from the same customer. They tried to force me to go to a party with them. They even threatened to beat me up if I didn’t go.”
Edited by: Ashley Bene
What? Athens premiere designated driver/chaffeur service
Where? 398 Foundry Street, Athens, Georgia 30601
How? Call Zingo at 1-866-75- NODUI (66384)
When?
Hours of Operation:
Monday-Wednesday, 8 p.m.-3 a.m.
Thursday-Saturday 8 p.m.-4 a.m.
Closed Sundays. After hours service available by appointment.
Cost: $10 pick-up, and $2 per mile
Name: David Iezzi
Age: 23 years old
Hometown: Vidalia, Georgia
Employed: 8 months
Job description: Zingo dispatcher; answers calls, routes drivers; used to drive for Zingo.
Quotes:--“We have one driver that is on duty during the weekdays.”
--“The amount of customers we have using Zingo depends on if there is a home game in town or not. On game day weekends, we make about 25 to 35 rides. On nongame weekends, we have 16 to 18 rides.”
--“I like my job, except for the fact people get mad because of the wait time.”
--“I would agree that Zingo is better than taxis, because for one, you have your car the next day. Second, you know the person is legit. Not to mention it is cheaper if you pack more people in.”
Name: Brian Miller
Year/major: Senior journalism major at UGA
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Employed: working since mid-June, 3-4 months
Job description: Zingo driver
Quotes:
--“I have many stories, but nothing that can be printed.”
--“What I like most about my job is that I get to meet a lot of people, especially bar owners.”
--“I also like when I get big tips from customers.”
--“One time, I drove 98 miles, past Watkinsville to Madison, then back to Athens.”
Name: Winston Murray
UGA alumni
Hometown: Newnan, Georgia
Employed: Over a month
Job description: Zingo driver
Quotes:
--“I don’t have too many crazy stories; nothing that really sticks.”
--“I have one sad story though. I was driving this guy and his dog, Gizmo, home one night. During the ride to the guy’s place, Gizmo had pressed his paw down on the button and jumped out of the backseat window. We didn’t notice the dog had been missing until we got to the guy’s place. The guy was distraught, screaming and crying. It was sad. I didn’t ever find out what happened to Gizmo.”
Name: Matt Fuller
Year/major/school: Freshmen healthcare science major at Athens Tech
Hometown: Powder Springs, Georgia
Employed: A couple of months
Job description: Zingo driver
Quotes:
--“I really like my job a lot. It’s a good chance to make money. Also, I get to help people out.”
--“I lost one of my best friends recently. He was driving home one night and a person drinking and driving ran into him.”
--“On my first night as a driver, I made $100 on tips from the same customer. They tried to force me to go to a party with them. They even threatened to beat me up if I didn’t go.”
Edited by: Ashley Bene
Erin Dillard - Q & A Format
Many professors have an opinion about whether or not laptops are useful for individual students in the classroom. With the Internet providing access to a multitude of distractions, some professors have begun to wonder whether students are engaged in class. In the Q&A below, UGA faculty question if this is a problem, and if so, what should be done about it?
Sonya Collins, a freshman composition instructor who has been at the University of Georgia for a year, and Richard Neupert, a film studies professor who has been at the university for 16 years, weigh in on how they feel about laptops in the classroom.
Question: Have you noticed students paying more attention to the laptop in front of them than the lecture during class time?
Collins: Students in my class were required to use a website called EMMA to hand in papers and do most of their work on. But with one particular class, I noticed that everyone was on Facebook or Instant Messenger the entire time.
Neupert: Really just in the last three years, since the University went wireless. I had a student win an online poker tournament one time. I was in the middle of lecture, when all the sudden a group of students in the back began to cheer. They were just all watching this one student, rather than paying attention.
Question: So you have never thought to have any rules against it?
Collins: When it became too much of a problem, I attempted to fade out laptop usage. I told them to close their laptops when they didn’t need them. I hated it, because I felt like I was patrolling. I wanted it to be a room full of adults; I felt like a high school teacher.
Neupert: I am just not really sure it’s my job to patrol it. I can remember when students still asked if it was OK to use laptops in class. The only time I don’t allow it is during films. No electronic devices can be used during movies or the student will be dropped from the class.
Question: So do you think laptops are ever useful in class?
Collins: I think it’s a shame on the student side, because there are a lot of advantages to having laptops in class. The class I had trouble with was freshman class, and those students may be better about it now.
Neupert: Some things are great, some students are just too dependent upon. People are so constantly interwoven. It becomes too much of a distraction.
Scott Shamp, the director of the New Media Institute at UGA, understands why this can be a problem, but he also knows that it cannot be beat. He has his own opinion on how to deal with it.
Question: Have you noticed students paying more attention to the laptop in front of them than the lecture during class time?
Shamp: I don’t believe that you can make people focus. Young people today live in a totally different environment. Technology has made the walls to class more permeable, it’s not a sealed environment.
Question: So you have never thought to have any rules against it?
Shamp: I do not suffer under an illusion that students are paying more attention to me. There is no way to do away with it now. Professors are fighting a losing battle against technology. They are not put in there to be hall monitors. It’s not successful to tell them to shut their computers. It alienates them.
Question: So do you think laptops are ever useful in class? How can you make them more useful?
Shamp: I have had students stop me in lecture because I had gotten something wrong. They had been doing research on it while I was lecturing. I think the faculty has to up their game and create a more exciting, stronger visual environment. Instead of fighting it, the best professors find a way to use it.
Edited by Amanda Duvall
Sonya Collins, a freshman composition instructor who has been at the University of Georgia for a year, and Richard Neupert, a film studies professor who has been at the university for 16 years, weigh in on how they feel about laptops in the classroom.
Question: Have you noticed students paying more attention to the laptop in front of them than the lecture during class time?
Collins: Students in my class were required to use a website called EMMA to hand in papers and do most of their work on. But with one particular class, I noticed that everyone was on Facebook or Instant Messenger the entire time.
Neupert: Really just in the last three years, since the University went wireless. I had a student win an online poker tournament one time. I was in the middle of lecture, when all the sudden a group of students in the back began to cheer. They were just all watching this one student, rather than paying attention.
Question: So you have never thought to have any rules against it?
Collins: When it became too much of a problem, I attempted to fade out laptop usage. I told them to close their laptops when they didn’t need them. I hated it, because I felt like I was patrolling. I wanted it to be a room full of adults; I felt like a high school teacher.
Neupert: I am just not really sure it’s my job to patrol it. I can remember when students still asked if it was OK to use laptops in class. The only time I don’t allow it is during films. No electronic devices can be used during movies or the student will be dropped from the class.
Question: So do you think laptops are ever useful in class?
Collins: I think it’s a shame on the student side, because there are a lot of advantages to having laptops in class. The class I had trouble with was freshman class, and those students may be better about it now.
Neupert: Some things are great, some students are just too dependent upon. People are so constantly interwoven. It becomes too much of a distraction.
Scott Shamp, the director of the New Media Institute at UGA, understands why this can be a problem, but he also knows that it cannot be beat. He has his own opinion on how to deal with it.
Question: Have you noticed students paying more attention to the laptop in front of them than the lecture during class time?
Shamp: I don’t believe that you can make people focus. Young people today live in a totally different environment. Technology has made the walls to class more permeable, it’s not a sealed environment.
Question: So you have never thought to have any rules against it?
Shamp: I do not suffer under an illusion that students are paying more attention to me. There is no way to do away with it now. Professors are fighting a losing battle against technology. They are not put in there to be hall monitors. It’s not successful to tell them to shut their computers. It alienates them.
Question: So do you think laptops are ever useful in class? How can you make them more useful?
Shamp: I have had students stop me in lecture because I had gotten something wrong. They had been doing research on it while I was lecturing. I think the faculty has to up their game and create a more exciting, stronger visual environment. Instead of fighting it, the best professors find a way to use it.
Edited by Amanda Duvall
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
FLOOD VICTIMS TURN TO TWITTER
Ali Rosenberger
ATHENS, Ga. - With excessive rainfall practically drowning the city of Atlanta the weeks surrounding September 20, 2009, people everywhere have been tuned in to keep track of the flood and its developments. Many students at the University of Georgia are Atlanta natives and turned to social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter for information about their hometown during the flood.
(Pictured above is flood damage to a home in Buckhead 2 days after the floodwater subsided)
Although TV and radio news maintain their audience, it is social media outlets that many are turning to as their primary news source. From updates on social networking Web sites like Facebook and Twitter, people of all ages are exchanging information through social media. With this constant flow of new information, social media users expect their news organizations to keep up.
News organizations everywhere broadcasted updates and details daily to inform the public of damages and future forecasts.
“My family lives in Buckhead, and I knew they were being affected by the flood because of what I heard on the news,” said Kieva Hannon, currently in her fifth year at UGA. “Having to be in class every day and not with my family during such a hard time has been really stressful.”
(Pictured right is Kieva Hannon, a 21 year old business major at the University of Georgia. Hannon is checking her Twitter page for updates about the flood.)
Hannon said that she stayed updated with details about her area through personal tweets—which are status updates or posts on Twitter of 140 characters or less—by her friends and neighbors still living in Atlanta. “Being able to see what was happening every minute through Twitter really gave me piece of mind throughout the whole thing,” Hannon said.
Hannon was not the only one looking to Twitter for flood updates. The tag “#atlflood” was one of the top trending topics on Twitter—trending topics are typically one-sentence summaries of the most popular topics that people are “tweeting” about. They are listed on the Twitter homepage, and clicking on a trending topic brings up the most recent tweets about that topic, and the latest news and photos for that topic.
Because people are obtaining newsworthy information through outlets like Twitter and Facebook, news organizations are presented with a challenge: maintaining their audience by having the most recent and reliable news at any second, at any time of day.
Twitter has been a raising eyebrows in the newsroom for going on three years now, it allows the organization to post minute by minute updates on breaking news. From national newspapers like the New York Times to campus newspapers like UGA’s Red and Black, since Twitter’s creation in 2006, more and more news organizations have incorporated it as one of their news sharing outlets.
“We have an automatic update system set up through Twitterfeed, where the top five stories printed every day go to the Red and Black’s Twitter page,” said Ed Morales, the editorial advisor for the Red and Black.
The Red and Black adds about 20 followers a day to their Twitter page. Morales also said that when there is local breaking news, especially news that affects students, there is a huge jump in followers. During the Zinkhan case in Athens, for instance, the Red and Black gained over 1,000 followers in 36 hours.
Morales’s phone is synced to the Red and Black’s Twitter page.
“When there is breaking news, either I or another one of the editors will personally update our site,” Morales said. “Like when the Georgia Theater was burning down, for example, I was the one tweeting updates because I was actually there.”
When it comes to non-local news, Morales said the Red and Black tends to leave it up to larger publications to inform the public. During the Atlanta flood, for instance, Morales said he hoped people would have gone to the Atlanta Journal Constitution first, because those are the reporters on site, with the most up to date information.
“I might have posted links to other news sources on my personal Twitter page, but the Red and Black is a campus newspaper. There’s no need to report secondary information,” Morales said.
The AJC posted flood updates via Twitter almost every hour during the primary days of the flood. From weather forecasts to school closings to missing persons, the AJC made sure to have up-to-date information that its audience could rely on.
“My family really isn’t one of the most technologically savvy families I know…” said Anne Jones, a senior fashion major at UGA. But Jones said that her family recently started using Twitter to stay connected.
“I’ve got a brother at school in Alabama, and one that works in Chicago” Jones said, “and rather than my parents calling each of us with updates about what had been going on, dad just posted to his Twitter page.”
Even now, in the weeks after the flood, the AJC continues to tweet information about repairs being done, missing persons, and even information on hazards like sinkholes caused by the excessive rainfall. This information has been crucial to many family members of UGA students still living in metro-Atlanta.
“The only reason I use Twitter is to stay updated with news. I can connect to it from my iPhone, and get updates all day of what’s going on or who’s doing what,” said Pam Griffin, a 44-year old from Woodstock, Ga. “And what’s more is that I can follow a number of news sites at a time, unlike listening to a radio station or watching TV,” said Griffin.
Griffin has 2 kids, one of whom attends Gainesville State University in Athens, Ga. She said they are the ones responsible for introducing her to Twitter, and teaching her how to use it to her advantage. (Pictured left is road damage caused by the flooding in Marietta, Ga.)
“I have had to change my route to work twice since the flood because of road closings,” said Griffin, an insurance agent who commutes from Woodstock to Atlanta daily, “and I only heard about the closings before I actually stumbled upon them because of Twitter,” Griffin said.
The Emerging Giant
21-year-old Eliza McArthur buying tickets for Kings of Leon through Live Nation Entertainment.
The Emerging Giant
By Blakeney Spong
ATHENS, Ga. - What do you get when you combine the nation’s largest ticketing company with the nation’s biggest concert promoter? Answer: a massive company that breaks into every facet of the music industry, not to mention a magnet for anti-trust legislation and a horde of consumer complaints.
In early February, Live Nation and Ticketmaster began negotiations for a merger between the two giants, which essentially has created one monster company called Live Nation Entertainment that combined their ticketing, marketing, data centers and back-offices, according to the Live Nation Entertainment press release.
“The companies will be combined in a tax-free, all-stock merger of equals with a combined enterprise of $2.5 billion…Live Nation and Ticketmaster shareholders will each own approximately 50 percent of the combined company,” the press release read.
The clear problem with this merger is the monopoly it has forced on the music industry and on concert-goers and music fans.
“It’s never a good thing when there’s a monopoly in any field. When there’s no competition, they can do whatever they want,” said Savannah Weeks, a 21-year-old Music Business student.
Ticketmaster was, by far, the most successful and well-known ticketing service in the country. Live Nation initially began as a company intent on providing consumers with an alternative, thereby generating competition in the market.
Live Nation seemed to be the company for the job, forcing Ticketmaster to perform at a higher level and prove itself to consumers. Live Nation quickly grew to be the nation’s largest concert promoter, an owner of dozens of amphitheaters (including the House of Blues) and has made over 360 deals with major artists like Madonna, Shakira and Jay-Z. In addition, Live Nation was in charge of 161 of the 200 tours in 2001, according to Billboard magazine.
However, Ticketmaster reestablished itself as the premiere ticketing service when it announced a plan to buy a majority of Front Line Management in October 2008. Front Line Management was one of the most powerful management companies in the world, according to Billboard magazine, and boasted touring acts such as the Eagles, Aerosmith, Fleetwood Mac, Jimmy Buffet and Christina Aguilera.
Though Ticketmaster seemed to be on top again, two major ticket debacles (one involving Ticketmaster, one with Live Nation) produced major disappointment by consumers in both companies and drove down shareholder investments. During Bruce Springsteen’s Working on a Dream tour, Ticketmaster re-routed fans to the company’s secondary site TicketsNow, which sells tickets at a premium price, even though regularly-priced tickets were still available. Live Nation experienced trouble when the Web site essentially crashed due to an overload of fans trying to buy tickets for the Phish reunion tour. Shortly thereafter, discussions of a merger between the two companies began to circulate.
Weeks isn’t the only one with these same concerns. Sen. Herb Kohl of Wash. commented on the merger after it was announced.
“What does Live Nation’s decision to merge with its competitor rather than fight in the market tell us about the company’s ability to compete with Ticketmaster? If Live Nation can’t compete, who can?” said the Senator.
Bruce Springsteen also expressed his opinion about the merger in a letter to fans on his Web site after the Ticketmaster disaster.
“The only thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan that it is now would be Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system, thereby returning us to a near monopoly situation in music ticketing,” Springsteen wrote.
However, not all venues and artists have experienced such a massive effect as a result of the merger. Smaller venues in Athens like the Melting Point, 40 Watt and the Georgia Theater have not been affected in the same way venues like Philips Arena or Aaron’s Amphitheatre.
“Live Entertainment Nation controls everything, from promotions to ticket sales, by having this really intense monopoly that covers every aspect of a tour. As a small venue, we’re just on the same scope,” said Lexi Irvin, a 21-year-old Music Business student and intern at the Georgia Theater.
Irvin said that the merger doesn’t affect Athens as much because the city is home to so many small venues that can’t facilitate the huge concerts that Live Nation Entertainment is responsible for. Although these venues may book some national acts occasionally, for the most part, concert-goers are attending shows featuring local talent and buying tickets directly from these venues’ Web sites or in local record stores like School Kids Records.
Even with regard to the merger’s effect on national artists and big venues, not everyone has jumped on the bandwagon of disgust.
“I don’t think it’s a big deal. The two companies are good at what they do, and from a business standpoint, the merger makes sense,” said Dustin Barrett, a 21-year-old Finance major. “Merger or not, I wouldn’t have been buying tickets anywhere else. All I’m saying is for me, it didn’t change anything.”
Artists in favor of the merger include Seal, Eddie and Wolfgang Van Halen and Shakira (not a huge shocker considering her $70 million deal with Live Nation).
“Anything that can strengthen the link between music creators and music lovers has my support,” said Seal in a Rolling Stone interview, who has no stake in either company. “I believe the combined company will achieve that by aligning resources, talent and services.”
Live Nation Chief Executive Michael Rapino and Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff believe the merger “will help save jobs in the beleaguered music industry by forming a strong American company that can fend off foreign takeover threats,” according to an interview in Rolling Stone.
While this may be true, the central argument for opponents of the merger stand by the fact that concert-goers have no choice but to pay the prices and fees set forth by Live Nation Entertainment to see their favorite musicians. They have no legitimate alternative to turn to if they are unsatisfied with or overcharged by this ticketing conglomerate.
“I wanted to go to the Coldplay show this summer, but the tickets were $30, a $20 parking fee, a $13 convenience charge and there may have been another venue fee. I just couldn’t afford it,” said Weeks. “I feel like the real victim is unfortunately the music fan.”
For now the merger stands, but the outcome of anti-trust legislation has yet to be determined. However, you can bet the battle will be fierce.
“If nothing else, this controversy demonstrates another ailment of the music industry as the Internet and changing technology have taken over and transformed our daily lives,” said Haley Walker, a 21-year-old International Business major.
Edited by Thomas Patrick Hooper
Coldplay concert at Philips Arena in November 2008.
Mixed Reviews on Classroom Technology
James Porter, associate dean of the Odum School of Ecology, uses PowerPoint slides during his lecture on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at the
SARAH PELHAM
Technology is changing the way professors teach and students learn at the
“In some cases, I have seen technology make a bad talk worse. Please, please, no more boring PowerPoint text slides!” said James Porter, associate dean of the Odum School of Ecology. “You shouldn’t use technology to fire a hose at students with more information.”
Porter incorporates short video clips from the news and uses animated computer programs to show how ecosystems change over time in his classes.
“Instructional technology is a tool,” Porter said. “In skilled hands it can help to create a marvelous learning environment. However, it cannot make up for instructional incompetence, sloppy thinking or boring ideas.”
Visual media, the most commonly used form of classroom technology, has the potential to engage students better than lectures alone. Images and graphics can help students organize, understand and remember information and ideas, several studies show.
“I’m a very visual person, so it’s really good for me,” said Kate Mischaikow, a senior public relations major from
“I like having the text of the lecture,” said Megan Hooper, a sophomore animal science major from
Although students may enjoy slides to help them take notes or prepare for a test, a recent study reported that 59 percent of students find at least half of their lectures boring and that PowerPoint might be the cause, according to a July article in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Researchers at the
Some students at UGA also find presentation software, such as PowerPoint or Keynote, boring.
“It’s overused, and it’s the same thing over and over again,” said Vishal Aggarwal, a junior biochemistry major from Johns Creek, Ga. “Kids just start tuning out. It can be used in class, but just sparingly.”
James Moore, a professor in the
“Probably my biggest concern about the use of technology stems from people using it just because they can,”
For the past 15 years, Moore and other instructors in the
“I’ve learned that if you’re teaching something and the students get it, you can teach it on a blackboard,”
“I think our natural inclination is when something is new, exciting or cool we want to use it for everything,”
Edited by Erin Dillard
DJ Hero Scratches into the Spotlight
Katie Weise
A family plays Rock Band with all the different instruments in their house.
Guitar Hero developed and is set to release it's expansion.
The release of Guitar Hero four years ago spawned a new era in the gaming world. From Rock Band to DJ Hero, interactive video games that allow players to shred on the electric guitar, bang on the drums, or belt out a killer solo have taken over the youth of America.
DJ Hero, a music video game that is an expansion of Guitar Hero is set to be released on Oct. 27. To score points, the player has to "scratch" the turntable on the in time to marks that scroll on the screen. It features some DJs such as the late DJ AM, DJ Shadow, and Daft Punk.
“It’s kind of funny how the gaming trend is starting to follow the ‘hip’ music scene,” said Ross Bennett, a public relations major and music minor, “Who ever thought Daft Punk would be on a video game?”
The release of Guitar Hero four years ago spawned a new era in the gaming world. From Rock Band to DJ Hero, interactive video games that allow players to shred on the electric guitar, bang on the drums, or belt out a killer solo have taken over the youth of America.
DJ Hero, a music video game that is an expansion of Guitar Hero is set to be released on Oct. 27. To score points, the player has to "scratch" the turntable on the in time to marks that scroll on the screen. It features some DJs such as the late DJ AM, DJ Shadow, and Daft Punk.
“It’s kind of funny how the gaming trend is starting to follow the ‘hip’ music scene,” said Ross Bennett, a public relations major and music minor, “Who ever thought Daft Punk would be on a video game?”
Bennett has played guitar for over seven years, along with piano for a year and half. He is the keyboardist in a regional “dance-punk” band called Zlam Dunk.
“DJ Hero doesn't look like it is anything similar to DJ'ing though,” he said. “Probably as similar as the guitar is to real guitar playing.”
The turntable controller includes a rotatable turntable, three “stream” buttons, a crossfader, effects dial and Euphoria button. Euphoria is the Guitar Hero equivalent of Star Power, an effect that gives the player extra points for not missing any notes.
“DJ Hero doesn't look like it is anything similar to DJ'ing though,” he said. “Probably as similar as the guitar is to real guitar playing.”
The turntable controller includes a rotatable turntable, three “stream” buttons, a crossfader, effects dial and Euphoria button. Euphoria is the Guitar Hero equivalent of Star Power, an effect that gives the player extra points for not missing any notes.
DJ Hero includes mixes by artists Black Eyed Peas, Justice, M.I.A., Beastie Boys and Gwen Stefani.
Dr. Casey O’Donnell, assistant professor at UGA with a specialization in the analysis of videogames, videogame technologies, videogame development production practices, pitch a similar game idea to Sony in 2004. His goal for “Virtual DJ” was to get inner city kids interested in math, but the company wasn’t interested.
“Really good games get put on the self for years,” he said. “Scratching is cool, but the downside is they are milking the ‘Hero’ platform.”
Guitar Hero 5, DJ Hero’s originator, was released without much attention on Sept. 1. Even though it has new features, The Beatles: Rock Band stole the stage. Bands composed of any combination of available instruments, a Rockfest competitive mode consisting of several various scoring mechanisms, and both song-specific and general Challenges to unlock new avatars, clothing and other extras in the game were no match for the 1960s pop sensation.
The Beatles: Rock Band was released Sept. 9 and was the third in the series of Rock Band. Rock Band, a music video game that includes guitar, bass, drums and microphone, introduced the multi-instrument version of the game, along with downloadable tracks in 2007.
Dr. Casey O’Donnell, assistant professor at UGA with a specialization in the analysis of videogames, videogame technologies, videogame development production practices, pitch a similar game idea to Sony in 2004. His goal for “Virtual DJ” was to get inner city kids interested in math, but the company wasn’t interested.
“Really good games get put on the self for years,” he said. “Scratching is cool, but the downside is they are milking the ‘Hero’ platform.”
Guitar Hero 5, DJ Hero’s originator, was released without much attention on Sept. 1. Even though it has new features, The Beatles: Rock Band stole the stage. Bands composed of any combination of available instruments, a Rockfest competitive mode consisting of several various scoring mechanisms, and both song-specific and general Challenges to unlock new avatars, clothing and other extras in the game were no match for the 1960s pop sensation.
The Beatles: Rock Band was released Sept. 9 and was the third in the series of Rock Band. Rock Band, a music video game that includes guitar, bass, drums and microphone, introduced the multi-instrument version of the game, along with downloadable tracks in 2007.
Rock Band 2 followed shortly after while Guitar Hero released two more guitar games. Soon, Guitar Hero released Guitar Hero: World Tour in 2008, including the multi-instrument settings.
“People associate themselves with guitar hero or rock band,” said Andy Slagle, a business management major at UGA. “It's sort of like Coke and Pepsi.”
With the new features in these games of creating your own songs to play on the game, the question of what the technology is doing to the art of creating comes up.
“How can you create a song with five buttons on a fake instrument?” said Bennett.
O’Donnell, who worked on developing Guitar Hero 2 and the subsequent Guitar Hero games, said that the music isn’t the only part of the game that is art.
“It is a non-trivial task taking music and making it into something playable on Rock Band,” he said.
Originality has recently caused a riff between some artists and the video games. Courtney Love and Dave Grohl expressed anger and disappointment when they found out Kurt Cobain’s character could be unlocked to sing on others other than Nirvana’s. On the new Rock Band, Ringo is shown playing drums on a song when it was actually another Beatles’ member life also bothered Beatles fans.
“You can’t expect these games to be perfect,” said Taylor Adams, a marketing major at UGA. “They are not a replica of real life, they are games.”
Sources:
Taylor Adams
Casey O’Donnell
Andy Slagle
“People associate themselves with guitar hero or rock band,” said Andy Slagle, a business management major at UGA. “It's sort of like Coke and Pepsi.”
With the new features in these games of creating your own songs to play on the game, the question of what the technology is doing to the art of creating comes up.
“How can you create a song with five buttons on a fake instrument?” said Bennett.
O’Donnell, who worked on developing Guitar Hero 2 and the subsequent Guitar Hero games, said that the music isn’t the only part of the game that is art.
“It is a non-trivial task taking music and making it into something playable on Rock Band,” he said.
Originality has recently caused a riff between some artists and the video games. Courtney Love and Dave Grohl expressed anger and disappointment when they found out Kurt Cobain’s character could be unlocked to sing on others other than Nirvana’s. On the new Rock Band, Ringo is shown playing drums on a song when it was actually another Beatles’ member life also bothered Beatles fans.
“You can’t expect these games to be perfect,” said Taylor Adams, a marketing major at UGA. “They are not a replica of real life, they are games.”
Sources:
Taylor Adams
Casey O’Donnell
Andy Slagle
Ross Bennett
DJ Hero is set to be released Oct. 27
Zlam Dunk plays a show in Austin, Texas.
A family plays Rock Band with all the different instruments in their house.
Trading in Music Notes For Plastic Guitars
By: Jessica Cole
On September 9, 2009, the video game world introduced a brand new version of Rock Band featuring the music of The Beatles. In its first week, Beatles Rock Band sold over 700,000 units, according to Rockband.com, and the numbers are on the rise
Gamespot.com reported Guitar Hero World Tour sold $3.4 million worth of games in 2008 alone. There’s no denying that the rhythm gaming hype has only begun, with the growing business of artist inspired video games it seems that kids have found their substitute for learning an actual instrument.
But, is this a real problem?
According to some seasoned rock stars, the problem is very real. Take former Rolling Stone bassist Bill Wyman for example. He told reporters, “It encourages kids not to learn [an instrument].”
“It makes less and less people dedicated to really get down and learn an instrument. I think it is a pity so I’m not really keen on that kind of stuff,” Wyman said.
Wyman says no, but Pink Floyd’s drummer Nick Mason showed a bit more optimism on the subject.
“It’s an interesting new development,” Mason said. But he went on to show his frustrations toward the music video game business.
“It irritates me having watched my kids do it - if they spent as much time practicing the guitar as learning how to press the buttons they'd be damn good by now,” Mason said.
Certain musicians are against the Rock Band/Guitar Hero craze, but the sale of these video games are showing no sign of slowing down. Guitar Hero 5 was released a week before Beatles Rock Band and sold nearly 800,000 units by its second week.
With the music videogame having no end in sight, will we eventually see a world where no one plays music anymore and we just mimic it through a videogame?
Jeff Soileau, a guitar instructor who has been playing for 31 years, has not seen any drastic rise in the amount of people looking for guitar training, but then again, he hasn’t seen a drop either.
“I teach about 10 students a month, and about four of them are ages 10-12, and they all play Guitar Hero,” Soileau said. “I haven’t noticed any increase, but it’s obviously very popular.”
As for whether or not he thinks the games promote learning an instrument, Soileau is torn.
“The students that I have all own it [Guitar Hero/Rock Band] and play it, but there might be other kids out there that aren’t calling me up for lessons, it probably ends up about a 50/50 split,” he said.
“I could see how some kids may be lured into a false sense of accomplishment, thinking that they can pick up a real guitar and get proficient in a month. It takes years and years of playing to become advanced. I could see how kids could be disillusioned.”
Revon F. an employee of the video game chain EB Games said that in an average month about 10 to 15 Rock Band and Guitar Hero games are sold. F. couldn’t give me the maximum quantity of games that the store carries, but he did say the monthly sales seem high.
Tran Woods, an employee at Atlanta’s Guitar Center, has been working at the instrument retailer for four years and said about 40 to 50 guitars are sold a month.
“I’ve seen an increase in them [guitars] selling since music videogames have been released,” Woods explained.
“I think it inspires people to want to play the guitar. I would say that they motivate people to actually buy and learn an instrument.”
According to the numbers, both guitar sales and video game sales are up.
Danny Davis, a religion major at the
“It won’t teach you the specific technique of a specific instrument but it teaches you rhythm and tempo,” he said. “I think it makes them want to learn more.”
No-Fi, Wavves Hit it Big through Social Media
A New Kind of Rockstar
by Christopher Joshua Benton
Popular indie rock website Gorilla v. Bear, in addition to a few to other blogs, have become the penultimate tastemakers for the no-fi genre
Photo: Christopher Joshua Benton
Athens, Ga--Watching Nathan Williams in his music video for “No Hope Kids,” filmed during his world tour, it is easy to imagine him a picaresque hero, getting wasted and playing shows, unwittingly implicated in the machinations of blog hype and Internet coolhunting. In less than two years, he’s released two albums, a bevy of cassettes, and has endured the hype and backlash waves of fickle music listeners. Already, he’s in the redemption phase. Wavves is the paradigm for a new kind of alternative band made on the Internet and in bedrooms, and promoted via social media tools.
Wavves was the bedroom pop project of one Nathan Williams (age 23); now, the epitome of “Gorilla v. Bear” blog hype, don’t-take-too-much-X-before-playing-stadiums advice from your mom, and the poster boy for the n of genre. Wavves also now includes the hardest working drummer in showbiz, Zach Hill.
His music probably hinges on an impossibility: if you ever tried playing a scratched Smiley Smile bootleg LP on blown-out speakers, so you used the line-out; instead, connecting the vinyl to that amp that’s been stuck in overdrive since you found it at some garage sale, the output would sound awful, but it’d also, maybe, reach that equilibrium of vaguely tuneful/ groggy pixilation/ distortion noise that Wavves has adopted as his own. His lo-fi noise music (no-fi) buries melody behind a heavy level of grit.
He’s not the only one: Why is everyone and their mom in a lo/no-fi band these days?
“I don’t know, Williams said laughing in a phone interview. "Maybe because it’s easy to do, it’s easy to record, and it doesn’t really cost money. But I’m not sure. I wouldn’t say I’m any scene in particular, I’m just labeled that."
"No-fi's really popular with these blogger guys," Williams said later, outside the 40 Watt Club after his performance.
At 21, after quitting his day job, Nathan Williams spent a month making ramshackle home recordings in GarageBand that would become his first two albums. Through the course of those two D.I.Y. albums, titled Wavves and Wavvves.
Simple and wide-eyed, it’s his pseudo-adolescent, bratty Brian Wilsonisms and up-Beat-Happening-floor-tom pop that transforms such drab subject matter into optimistic stoner anthems.
It wouldn’t be reductive to say Wavves has tapped into the cool zeitgeist where everyone has a fuzzy bedroom pet project, where everyone has a little too much consonance in their name (see UUVVWWZ, Lovvers, Nodzzz), and where no one can really play their instruments.
It is arguable that without the power of the blogging community and other social media like Hypemachine (a blog aggregation tool that collects MP3s from various weblog platform), Wavves and bands like him would still be very obscure.
"I think the first place that gave me press was that blog Gorilla v. Bear," Williams said.
"Gorilla v. Bear" is a popular web destination for indie music. With over 3 million visitors a week, it has become a forum for heralding what will become the next big thing in independent rock music.
"I never heard of the genre no-fi until I started going to Gorilla v. Bear, and there's this new genre 'chillwave' that Carles from that 'Hipster Runoff' website made up. It's like their inventing genres…," Andrew Dykes said, a local musician who hopes to get involved in the blog machine.
Ryan Grub, lead singer of another up-and-coming no-fi band Ganglians, currently on tour with Wavves, is convinced of the power of blogs. "We're not one of those Internet guys, but it's hard to imagine who would know about us without blogs and stuff."
Perhaps most significant of this new rockist narrative is that “overnight success” is literal—relative popularity is instantaneous and measured by a new temporality called “blog years,” an ADD blank (screen) generation eye-blink test, akin to a “light year.”
The short incubation period from obscurity, to hypeblogged, to Pitchfork Best New Music wunderkind, to backlash, only magnifies that most of these bands can’t perform live. When Williams first started playing live shows last spring, he was terrible. His inexperience reached a tipping point during his so-called “meltdown” at the Primavera Sound Festival in May where he took a cocktail of ecstasy, Valium, and Xanax, harassed the audience and was booed off stage.
“When I first started playing, the first couple of shows were with 500 people, so I just got thrown into it and I didn’t have any time to work the set out with somebody and practice and play smaller shows for a while. It just kinda blew up so quickly and I was playing for tons of people right away so it wasn’t necessarily very good in the very beginning. There was stuff to work out and its just like with anything, you do it enough and you get better at it,” he said.
Since then, Wavves has played to glowing live reviews and plenty of redemption feature stories. And with a new album already recorded, it seems he’s about go through it all over again. Whether Wavves or Ganglians are still around after the hype, is anyone's guess.
Kyle Hoover, Ganglians guitarist seems hopeful, talking out of a sinus infection. "It's tough on tour, but I want to do this forever."
Forever and anon, with a little blog love, it seems like any musician with a dream and recording equipment can be propelled from anonymity to fame.
Edited by Ali Rosenberger
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