Jessica's favorite part about this story was the topic. She is very interested in music, so writing about it came very easy to her. She enjoyed researching information about how many Rock Band videogames have been sold and researching the feedback from many famous musicians.
I think Jessica has the start to a great story. There were minor technical problems. The only recurring problem I saw was the long graphs that needed to be broken up. I like the quotes she has because they are from credible sources who know what they are talking about when it comes to music, but I feel that a quote from a music teacher at UGA, a quote from a music student and a quote from someone who owns a music store or something else still musically related would be helpful to the article. Showing how this affects UGA will add length and news content to the story as well. Overall, I think it is a great story and has a lot of interesting facts that I did not know about Rock Band or music education.
NEW LEDE:
With the sales of music videogames rapidly increasing, musicians and music educators fear that the use of videogames as a supplement to playing instruments will result in the decline of music education.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
ALGAEUS ARTICLE
Step aside, bio-diesel, here is a new way for Athens residents to go green--with the Algaeus, a car that runs on algae-based fuel. Sponsored by the Veggie Van Organization, the Algaeus successfully completed a 10-day road trip across America on Sept. 18, 2009. The Algaeus drove from San Francisco to New York City averaging 150 miles per gallon which is a considerably larger amount of mileage compared to the Algaeus’ ancestor, the Toyota Prius.
Other Athens residents have converted their cars to use bio-diesel, or bio-fuel, which is made entirely from vegetable oil. Used vegetable oil can be obtained from local restaurants who would normally throw it out. William Hummet, 34, a resident of Athens who works at The Grit restaurant, makes his own biodeisel at home.
“[Making bio-fuel] is relatively simple, really. I read about how to do it online, there are so many sites, and so many different ways of doing it. I brew it in a paint bucket,” Hummet said.
Other Athens residents have discarded the automobile altogether, opting for riding a bike and public transportation methods. Jackie Little, 22, a fabric design major at the University of Georgia from Richmond, Virginia, does not own a car.
“I don’t feel like I need a bike in Athens. I ride my bike to class, and if I need to go anywhere far away I can just borrow a friend’s car or take the bus,” Little said.
With the rising gas prices and pollution, the Toyota prius has become a popular choice on the road. Many congregate at the Athens Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings at Bishop Park.
Laura Wood, 24, a local Athens resident who attended undergraduate school at the University of Georgia who now attends graduate school for jewelry making at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, is one such prius owner.
“I love my little car! I feel so good driving it too, like I’m saving the world or something, it’s a great thing. Everyone should buy one,” Wood said.
Other Athens residents have converted their cars to use bio-diesel, or bio-fuel, which is made entirely from vegetable oil. Used vegetable oil can be obtained from local restaurants who would normally throw it out. William Hummet, 34, a resident of Athens who works at The Grit restaurant, makes his own biodeisel at home.
“[Making bio-fuel] is relatively simple, really. I read about how to do it online, there are so many sites, and so many different ways of doing it. I brew it in a paint bucket,” Hummet said.
Other Athens residents have discarded the automobile altogether, opting for riding a bike and public transportation methods. Jackie Little, 22, a fabric design major at the University of Georgia from Richmond, Virginia, does not own a car.
“I don’t feel like I need a bike in Athens. I ride my bike to class, and if I need to go anywhere far away I can just borrow a friend’s car or take the bus,” Little said.
With the rising gas prices and pollution, the Toyota prius has become a popular choice on the road. Many congregate at the Athens Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings at Bishop Park.
Laura Wood, 24, a local Athens resident who attended undergraduate school at the University of Georgia who now attends graduate school for jewelry making at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, is one such prius owner.
“I love my little car! I feel so good driving it too, like I’m saving the world or something, it’s a great thing. Everyone should buy one,” Wood said.
Live Nation Entertainment: The Emerging Giant
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: the Loch Ness monster of the music industry, not to mention a magnet for anti-trust legislation and a horde of consumer complaints.
In February of 2009, Live Nation and Ticketmaster began negotiations for a merger between the two giants, essentially creating one monster company called Live Nation Entertainment that combined their ticketing, marketing, data centers and back-offices, according to their 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. 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, owner of dozens of amphitheaters (including the House of Blues on a smaller ownership scale) 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 re-established 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 boasting 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 Bruce Springsteen and Ticketmaster, the other involving Live Nation and Phish) produced major disappointment by consumers in both companies and drove down shareholder investments. Shortly thereafter, discussions of a merger between the two companies began to circulate.
“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.
Weeks isn’t the only one with these same concerns. Senator Herb Kohl of Washington 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 on his Web site after the Ticketmaster disaster related to Springsteen’s Working on a Dream tour.
“The only thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than 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.
Not everyone has jumped on the bandwagon of disgust over the merger, however.
“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.”
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.”
The outcome of anti-trust legislation has yet to be determined, but 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.
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: the Loch Ness monster of the music industry, not to mention a magnet for anti-trust legislation and a horde of consumer complaints.
In February of 2009, Live Nation and Ticketmaster began negotiations for a merger between the two giants, essentially creating one monster company called Live Nation Entertainment that combined their ticketing, marketing, data centers and back-offices, according to their 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. 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, owner of dozens of amphitheaters (including the House of Blues on a smaller ownership scale) 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 re-established 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 boasting 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 Bruce Springsteen and Ticketmaster, the other involving Live Nation and Phish) produced major disappointment by consumers in both companies and drove down shareholder investments. Shortly thereafter, discussions of a merger between the two companies began to circulate.
“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.
Weeks isn’t the only one with these same concerns. Senator Herb Kohl of Washington 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 on his Web site after the Ticketmaster disaster related to Springsteen’s Working on a Dream tour.
“The only thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than 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.
Not everyone has jumped on the bandwagon of disgust over the merger, however.
“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.”
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.”
The outcome of anti-trust legislation has yet to be determined, but 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.
Article #2 - First Draft
(Title pending)
Thomas Patrick Hooper
ATHENS, Ga. – Bands like the Beatles may have revolutionized music, but with the digital age in full swing, the artists may not be the only driving force in the music industry anymore.
With music piped into elevators and laid over commercials, people experience music now more than ever before.
“The way that the world is experiencing music is new,” said Eric Stetson, a 23-year-old music composition major at Georgia Southern. “We take music for granted. It’s ubiquitous. It’s all around us.”
TV programs like the wildly successful American Idol have put up-and-coming musicians in the public eye while video games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero make the everyman into the musician.
“It’s not really anything new, but I think they’ve done the best job of it,” said Bruce Burch, director of the Music Business program at the University of Georgia, of the American Idol phenomenon.
However, American Idol may be symptomatic of a greater trend in the musical world, as the industry has begun moving to court the performer and not the other way around.
The progressive rock group the Decemberists have emerged as a clear cut example, coming out of the city of Portland, Ore., far from the musical capitals of Los Angeles and Atlanta.
“Music has been decentralized,” said Burch of the Decemberists. “You don’t have to be in a major music center anymore.”
That hasn’t kept the innovations of the digital age from having received its fair share of flack from performers of many genres.
Singer-songwriter Ben Folds lampooned the changes of the editing process in the lyrics of “Rockin’ the Suburbs,” which carries the line “the song producer with computers fixes all my shitty tracks.”
Folds isn’t the only one who has taken notice.
Indie rock group Death Cab for Cutie made a statement at the 51st Grammy Awards, when the band members wore blue ribbons to protest the widespread use of Auto-Tune, a software program that corrects the tune of a voice or instrument.
Rapper Shawn Corey Carter, better known by his stage name Jay-Z, took things a step further. In June of 2009, he released D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune) in protest of the program’s widespread use in the industry.
“It’s been around a lot longer than people think,” said Stetson in reference to the program, which began to gain national attention after Cher’s obvious use of it in her1998 song, “Believe.”
Since then, Auto-Tune has founds its way into the hands of any number of artists, with rapper T-Pain being the most visible example.
Will Hodge, a Marietta-based producer/engineer/songwriter who has been in the business for 20 years, doesn’t see any harm in using Auto-Tune.
“Background vocals need to be more in tune because they’re more a part of the instrumentation,” said Hodge, who also uses the program quite extensively in bass recordings. “The only way to get a real bass track is to play it on a keyboard.”
While the Auto-Tune controversy has become a trend, it comes on the heels of the sampling debate.
Artists initially relied on the instruments in their hands and the voices in their throats, but computers have made it possible for artists to cut and paste certain vocals, instruments and melodies into another, entirely unrelated song. The process has drawn criticism for its perceived lack of originality.
“They’re just taking existing pieces of existing media and making something,” said Hodge, who likened the sampling process to a collage. “As long as [the writer] is getting paid, it’s not a big deal.”
Unfortunately, not every sample is properly attributed, which has sparked a handful of highly publicized lawsuits. One of the most notable cases arose in the late 80s, when rapper Vanilla Ice sampled the bassline of “Under Pressure,” a Queen-Davie Bowie collaboration.
“It’s an inevitable thing,” Hodge said of the changes sweeping the industry. “It’s insane what I can do with an iPhone… I’m a purist. I think the people that will advance in the industry are the people associated with the pure songwriter. It all starts with the song.”
With the history of music stretching back so far and the recording industry being as young as it is, it’s anyone guess as to where the industry will go in the future.
“People shouldn’t be afraid of change,” said Stetson.
Thomas Patrick Hooper
ATHENS, Ga. – Bands like the Beatles may have revolutionized music, but with the digital age in full swing, the artists may not be the only driving force in the music industry anymore.
With music piped into elevators and laid over commercials, people experience music now more than ever before.
“The way that the world is experiencing music is new,” said Eric Stetson, a 23-year-old music composition major at Georgia Southern. “We take music for granted. It’s ubiquitous. It’s all around us.”
TV programs like the wildly successful American Idol have put up-and-coming musicians in the public eye while video games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero make the everyman into the musician.
“It’s not really anything new, but I think they’ve done the best job of it,” said Bruce Burch, director of the Music Business program at the University of Georgia, of the American Idol phenomenon.
However, American Idol may be symptomatic of a greater trend in the musical world, as the industry has begun moving to court the performer and not the other way around.
The progressive rock group the Decemberists have emerged as a clear cut example, coming out of the city of Portland, Ore., far from the musical capitals of Los Angeles and Atlanta.
“Music has been decentralized,” said Burch of the Decemberists. “You don’t have to be in a major music center anymore.”
That hasn’t kept the innovations of the digital age from having received its fair share of flack from performers of many genres.
Singer-songwriter Ben Folds lampooned the changes of the editing process in the lyrics of “Rockin’ the Suburbs,” which carries the line “the song producer with computers fixes all my shitty tracks.”
Folds isn’t the only one who has taken notice.
Indie rock group Death Cab for Cutie made a statement at the 51st Grammy Awards, when the band members wore blue ribbons to protest the widespread use of Auto-Tune, a software program that corrects the tune of a voice or instrument.
Rapper Shawn Corey Carter, better known by his stage name Jay-Z, took things a step further. In June of 2009, he released D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune) in protest of the program’s widespread use in the industry.
“It’s been around a lot longer than people think,” said Stetson in reference to the program, which began to gain national attention after Cher’s obvious use of it in her1998 song, “Believe.”
Since then, Auto-Tune has founds its way into the hands of any number of artists, with rapper T-Pain being the most visible example.
Will Hodge, a Marietta-based producer/engineer/songwriter who has been in the business for 20 years, doesn’t see any harm in using Auto-Tune.
“Background vocals need to be more in tune because they’re more a part of the instrumentation,” said Hodge, who also uses the program quite extensively in bass recordings. “The only way to get a real bass track is to play it on a keyboard.”
While the Auto-Tune controversy has become a trend, it comes on the heels of the sampling debate.
Artists initially relied on the instruments in their hands and the voices in their throats, but computers have made it possible for artists to cut and paste certain vocals, instruments and melodies into another, entirely unrelated song. The process has drawn criticism for its perceived lack of originality.
“They’re just taking existing pieces of existing media and making something,” said Hodge, who likened the sampling process to a collage. “As long as [the writer] is getting paid, it’s not a big deal.”
Unfortunately, not every sample is properly attributed, which has sparked a handful of highly publicized lawsuits. One of the most notable cases arose in the late 80s, when rapper Vanilla Ice sampled the bassline of “Under Pressure,” a Queen-Davie Bowie collaboration.
“It’s an inevitable thing,” Hodge said of the changes sweeping the industry. “It’s insane what I can do with an iPhone… I’m a purist. I think the people that will advance in the industry are the people associated with the pure songwriter. It all starts with the song.”
With the history of music stretching back so far and the recording industry being as young as it is, it’s anyone guess as to where the industry will go in the future.
“People shouldn’t be afraid of change,” said Stetson.
unedited- katie weise
Since the release of the first Guitar Hero by RedOctane and Activision in 2005, music video games have grown and expanded from the single or double player guitar and bass.
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 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, 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.
The newest Guitar Hero was released without much attention on Sept. 1.
Even though it has new features, such as: drop-in/drop-out play, 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, The Beatles: Rock Band stole the stage.
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, business management major. “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.
“The fear of loss of originality only reminds us that something new has to come,” said Daniel Vega, Sound Recording Technology major at Texas State University.
Bennett agrees.
“How can you create a song with five buttons on a fake instrument?”
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 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, 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.
The newest Guitar Hero was released without much attention on Sept. 1.
Even though it has new features, such as: drop-in/drop-out play, 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, The Beatles: Rock Band stole the stage.
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, business management major. “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.
“The fear of loss of originality only reminds us that something new has to come,” said Daniel Vega, Sound Recording Technology major at Texas State University.
Bennett agrees.
“How can you create a song with five buttons on a fake instrument?”
Editors Notes for Sarah Pelham
Power point technology in class lectures. Sarah's concerns that her topic is not very "newsy." She had a a lot of resources, making an exact direction difficult. One thing she noted was that professors were extremely passionate about power points, and had a lot to say about how they felt about them. Concern is lack of focus.
Important to note: what we have talked about recently in lecture - people are visual pleased first. Such as when reading newspapers - people's eyes are drawn to graphics. I think this could be a good point in noting why power point is beneficial. But, another point to make is that power point isn't newest form of technology, and students expect more out of technology than just power point slides with typing on them.
Alternate Lede: Visual media technology has altered the way professors teach and students learn at the University of Georgia, although neither group agrees whether or not these changes are necessary.
Important to note: what we have talked about recently in lecture - people are visual pleased first. Such as when reading newspapers - people's eyes are drawn to graphics. I think this could be a good point in noting why power point is beneficial. But, another point to make is that power point isn't newest form of technology, and students expect more out of technology than just power point slides with typing on them.
Alternate Lede: Visual media technology has altered the way professors teach and students learn at the University of Georgia, although neither group agrees whether or not these changes are necessary.
Twitter Establishes Presence in the Hunt for Jobs
Megan Niager
“There are a lot of Twitter naysayers out there. Until you start playing with Twitter, it’s hard to understand the value of it,” said Sloane Kelly, content developer for BFG Communications in Savannah, Ga., who used this social media tool to invite job seekers to post their application for a recent job opening at the company.
Kelly works in the content department at BFG, “a nationally ranked, brand building creative solutions machine,” according to their Web site. Kelly arrived at the company roughly three years ago and while BFG already had blog as a means to get their feet wet, there needed to be more of a social media presence, she said.
BFG has several social media accounts, including Facebook, Flickr and MySpace and while the content department works as a collaborative force to update their social media, Kelly maintains the Twitter account. “Twitter is the world that I like to play in,” she said.
Twitter is a social media networking site that gives users the opportunity to post “tweets” about whatever they wish in 140 characters or less. In the words of the service, “It is what you make of it.”
BFG had previously mentioned job openings via Twitter, but this was the first time they specifically asked for interested parties to apply for a position as Assistant Content Manager without the traditional cover letter and resume, she said.
After posting the opening via Twitter, BFG Communications wrote on their blog, “We decided to do things differently this time around with the application process… The job requires a great deal of social media savvy. So the hope is applicants will not only show us why they’re perfect for the job but also their understanding of Twitter and the social web.”
“It’s been awesome and an interesting way to get to know people,” she said. There was a lot of creativity in the way that people respond, Kelly said.
BFG received highly positive response from an impressive group of people, she said. There have been several applicants who stood out creatively and made good use of the social media space, which is exactly what they’re looking for, Kelly said.
Nicole Galletta, 27, saw the tweet posted by BFG inviting job seekers to apply for their opening via Twitter. Galletta had been recently laid off from Sojo, Inc, a branding and marketing firm in Atlanta, Ga., and used the social networking resources she was already a part of to find a new job.
Galletta replied to the BFG tweet by posting a link to a blog she wrote as a means to sell herself to the company. Her tweet was public, meaning it could be seen by all users on Twitter. “It was pretty bold,” Galletta said. She said she's never put a job out there like that before.
Galletta said she’s definitely benefited from using social media, especially Twitter. Just as in real life, people benefit from the connections they have with people, she said. “With Twitter, you establish a connection and reap the benefits,” Galletta said.
“Twitter is the place to be,” she said. She explained a lot of people are still confused about Twitter, thinking, “it’s like just updating your Facebook status a bunch of times.”
Janet Fouts is an expert in the field of social media. As a "social media enabler", she defines her job as helping people understand what social media is and figure out what their goals are within the social media world. She then helps them implement those goals.
From an article on her Web site entitled “Job Hunting with Social Media”, Fouts pointed out that “everything that is written on Twitter is archived in just a few minutes by the search engines.” Fouts encourages her clients to perform a Google search on themselves and analyze the message and perception they are delivering to the virtual world.
Many people are adopting social media already in job searches, she said. “Pretty soon, you’re not going to be able to ignore it because it’s going to become the norm,” Fouts said. Fouts said to use Twitter to let your loyal followers know that you’re looking for a job, and be specific about what you’re looking for.
Heather Huhman is the founder and President of Come Recommended, which is an online community that connects the best entry level candidates with the best employer, she said. Huhman also tweets and post public relations related job openings on Twitter.
Huhman said she has heard from 100 new hires this year who said they obtained a job through a tweet or link that she posted. "I need people to tell me," she said. She said that there's really no way to track the success rate if she doesn't hear from applicants.
Sloane Kelly of BFG Communications doesn’t know if this form of job application will become a trend for everyone but it has worked for them. "We’re always trying to push the envelope and break the typical mold by thinking outside of the box," she said. "That’s what we’re all about."
Edited by: Kristen Luca
“There are a lot of Twitter naysayers out there. Until you start playing with Twitter, it’s hard to understand the value of it,” said Sloane Kelly, content developer for BFG Communications in Savannah, Ga., who used this social media tool to invite job seekers to post their application for a recent job opening at the company.
Kelly works in the content department at BFG, “a nationally ranked, brand building creative solutions machine,” according to their Web site. Kelly arrived at the company roughly three years ago and while BFG already had blog as a means to get their feet wet, there needed to be more of a social media presence, she said.
BFG has several social media accounts, including Facebook, Flickr and MySpace and while the content department works as a collaborative force to update their social media, Kelly maintains the Twitter account. “Twitter is the world that I like to play in,” she said.
Twitter is a social media networking site that gives users the opportunity to post “tweets” about whatever they wish in 140 characters or less. In the words of the service, “It is what you make of it.”
BFG had previously mentioned job openings via Twitter, but this was the first time they specifically asked for interested parties to apply for a position as Assistant Content Manager without the traditional cover letter and resume, she said.
After posting the opening via Twitter, BFG Communications wrote on their blog, “We decided to do things differently this time around with the application process… The job requires a great deal of social media savvy. So the hope is applicants will not only show us why they’re perfect for the job but also their understanding of Twitter and the social web.”
“It’s been awesome and an interesting way to get to know people,” she said. There was a lot of creativity in the way that people respond, Kelly said.
BFG received highly positive response from an impressive group of people, she said. There have been several applicants who stood out creatively and made good use of the social media space, which is exactly what they’re looking for, Kelly said.
Nicole Galletta, 27, saw the tweet posted by BFG inviting job seekers to apply for their opening via Twitter. Galletta had been recently laid off from Sojo, Inc, a branding and marketing firm in Atlanta, Ga., and used the social networking resources she was already a part of to find a new job.
Galletta replied to the BFG tweet by posting a link to a blog she wrote as a means to sell herself to the company. Her tweet was public, meaning it could be seen by all users on Twitter. “It was pretty bold,” Galletta said. She said she's never put a job out there like that before.
Galletta said she’s definitely benefited from using social media, especially Twitter. Just as in real life, people benefit from the connections they have with people, she said. “With Twitter, you establish a connection and reap the benefits,” Galletta said.
“Twitter is the place to be,” she said. She explained a lot of people are still confused about Twitter, thinking, “it’s like just updating your Facebook status a bunch of times.”
Janet Fouts is an expert in the field of social media. As a "social media enabler", she defines her job as helping people understand what social media is and figure out what their goals are within the social media world. She then helps them implement those goals.
From an article on her Web site entitled “Job Hunting with Social Media”, Fouts pointed out that “everything that is written on Twitter is archived in just a few minutes by the search engines.” Fouts encourages her clients to perform a Google search on themselves and analyze the message and perception they are delivering to the virtual world.
Many people are adopting social media already in job searches, she said. “Pretty soon, you’re not going to be able to ignore it because it’s going to become the norm,” Fouts said. Fouts said to use Twitter to let your loyal followers know that you’re looking for a job, and be specific about what you’re looking for.
Heather Huhman is the founder and President of Come Recommended, which is an online community that connects the best entry level candidates with the best employer, she said. Huhman also tweets and post public relations related job openings on Twitter.
Huhman said she has heard from 100 new hires this year who said they obtained a job through a tweet or link that she posted. "I need people to tell me," she said. She said that there's really no way to track the success rate if she doesn't hear from applicants.
Sloane Kelly of BFG Communications doesn’t know if this form of job application will become a trend for everyone but it has worked for them. "We’re always trying to push the envelope and break the typical mold by thinking outside of the box," she said. "That’s what we’re all about."
Edited by: Kristen Luca
Pharmacy Building Receives New Addition
By Amanda Duval
October 6, 2009
ATHENS, Ga.-- Two years, 93,000 square-feet and $44 million later, the University of Georgia has a brand new pharmacy building, filled with brilliant technology and a lot of excited pharmacy students.
In November of 2007 UGA broke ground to begin building Pharmacy South, located on Green Street in South Campus, which came as a much needed addition to the outdated Robert C. Wilson Pharmacy that has been used since 1964.
Pharmacy South is attached to the R.C. Wilson building by a glass enclosed bridge on the second floor. The Wilson building will still be used for lecture for first-year pharmacy students, but the majority of the classes and labs will be held in Pharmacy South.
"It’s just a wonderful, wonderful addition,” said George Francisco, associate dean of the College of Pharmacy.
“Basically we had three years of students and classes that we had to work into two rooms, and it just made everything crazy. Classes were all day and we were trying to sandwich labs in the middle." Francisco said. "This [new addition] gives us some time to spread out the students so they have a more structured learning environment."
Pharmacy South is almost double the size of Pharmacy North and is home to two 194-seat auditoriums, three 30-seat classrooms, seminar rooms, discussion rooms, two large open research labs and an executive conference room.
"It allows the college to go from teaching classes of 120 students to classes of 200 students," said campus architect Danny Sniff. "It allows the College to meet the demands of educating new pharmacy students.”
In addition to the large amount of classroom space, there is also a large study area complete with wireless Internet computer stations, small group seating areas and hundreds or reference books at the fingertips of each pharmacy student enrolled. Kroger donated a large portion of the money used to build the new building, so the study room was named the Kroger Learning Center.
Another technological advancement in the pharmacy building is its capability to use distance learning.
“In each classroom we have two cameras in the back and one camera in the front of the room so that students who are on different campuses can watch and participate in the same lectures in Athens, at the same time as the students here,” said Francisco.
"We'll have some classes where professors in Augusta can teach us via broadcast," said Lora Oliver, a first-year pharmacy student from Oconee.
Distance learning is only one of the many advancements the new pharmacy building has to offer. In each of the open labs, there are flat screen televisions throughout the labs to ensure students can see exactly what their professors are doing at the front of the classroom.
Each lab has at least 10 student work stations with multiple cameras watching the students work and sending live feed to a control room where professors can observe multiple students at one time and ensure their success. At these stations, students will learn how to administer IVs, compound medicines and perform other tasks that practicing pharmacists do everyday.
Pharmacy South will undoubtedly have an effect on the more than 500 students currently enrolled in the College of Pharmacy and the nearly 40 faculty and staff members, but it will also have an effect on aspiring pharmacy students all over the state of Georgia since UGA has the only public college of pharmacy.
“I am so excited to be a part of the first class to use the new pharmacy building,” said first-year pharmacy student Lea Klingenbeck.
“The building is such a great place to learn and with all of the technological advancements, like the recorded lectures and labs,” said Klingenbeck. “The faculty and staff is doing everything they can to guarantee that each student is successful.”
Pharmacy South is the only building on campus to earn the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver Certification - a national benchmark for design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. Decisions to make the building LEED certified came primarily from students.
The new pharmacy building is considered by many students a home away from home. Since most students spend upwards of eight hours a day in the building the designers added space for each student to have a locker, showers for students who ride their bikes to class, and two student lounges for students needing a break or snack between classes.
Although the building only took two years to build, 20 years of planning went into the new Pharmacy South. With all the new state of the art equipment, it is interesting what part of the building is Francisco’s favorite.
Standing in the basement of the four story building, Francisco looks out over an empty parking lot, pushes a quarter-sized button and instantly sirens begin to sound.
“It’s only a garage door, but when you close it, it sounds exactly like Star Trek,” said Francisco.
Edited by Sarah Pelham
The Kroger Learning Center is an important part of the 93,000 square-foot
pharmacy building. The learning center has wireless Internet computer
stations, multiple study rooms and hundreds of reference books available
to the pharmacy students enjoying the new building.
Photo by Jon Kim
October 6, 2009
ATHENS, Ga.-- Two years, 93,000 square-feet and $44 million later, the University of Georgia has a brand new pharmacy building, filled with brilliant technology and a lot of excited pharmacy students.
In November of 2007 UGA broke ground to begin building Pharmacy South, located on Green Street in South Campus, which came as a much needed addition to the outdated Robert C. Wilson Pharmacy that has been used since 1964.
Pharmacy South is attached to the R.C. Wilson building by a glass enclosed bridge on the second floor. The Wilson building will still be used for lecture for first-year pharmacy students, but the majority of the classes and labs will be held in Pharmacy South.
"It’s just a wonderful, wonderful addition,” said George Francisco, associate dean of the College of Pharmacy.
“Basically we had three years of students and classes that we had to work into two rooms, and it just made everything crazy. Classes were all day and we were trying to sandwich labs in the middle." Francisco said. "This [new addition] gives us some time to spread out the students so they have a more structured learning environment."
Pharmacy South is almost double the size of Pharmacy North and is home to two 194-seat auditoriums, three 30-seat classrooms, seminar rooms, discussion rooms, two large open research labs and an executive conference room.
"It allows the college to go from teaching classes of 120 students to classes of 200 students," said campus architect Danny Sniff. "It allows the College to meet the demands of educating new pharmacy students.”
In addition to the large amount of classroom space, there is also a large study area complete with wireless Internet computer stations, small group seating areas and hundreds or reference books at the fingertips of each pharmacy student enrolled. Kroger donated a large portion of the money used to build the new building, so the study room was named the Kroger Learning Center.
Another technological advancement in the pharmacy building is its capability to use distance learning.
“In each classroom we have two cameras in the back and one camera in the front of the room so that students who are on different campuses can watch and participate in the same lectures in Athens, at the same time as the students here,” said Francisco.
"We'll have some classes where professors in Augusta can teach us via broadcast," said Lora Oliver, a first-year pharmacy student from Oconee.
Distance learning is only one of the many advancements the new pharmacy building has to offer. In each of the open labs, there are flat screen televisions throughout the labs to ensure students can see exactly what their professors are doing at the front of the classroom.
Each lab has at least 10 student work stations with multiple cameras watching the students work and sending live feed to a control room where professors can observe multiple students at one time and ensure their success. At these stations, students will learn how to administer IVs, compound medicines and perform other tasks that practicing pharmacists do everyday.
Pharmacy South will undoubtedly have an effect on the more than 500 students currently enrolled in the College of Pharmacy and the nearly 40 faculty and staff members, but it will also have an effect on aspiring pharmacy students all over the state of Georgia since UGA has the only public college of pharmacy.
“I am so excited to be a part of the first class to use the new pharmacy building,” said first-year pharmacy student Lea Klingenbeck.
“The building is such a great place to learn and with all of the technological advancements, like the recorded lectures and labs,” said Klingenbeck. “The faculty and staff is doing everything they can to guarantee that each student is successful.”
Pharmacy South is the only building on campus to earn the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver Certification - a national benchmark for design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. Decisions to make the building LEED certified came primarily from students.
The new pharmacy building is considered by many students a home away from home. Since most students spend upwards of eight hours a day in the building the designers added space for each student to have a locker, showers for students who ride their bikes to class, and two student lounges for students needing a break or snack between classes.
Although the building only took two years to build, 20 years of planning went into the new Pharmacy South. With all the new state of the art equipment, it is interesting what part of the building is Francisco’s favorite.
Standing in the basement of the four story building, Francisco looks out over an empty parking lot, pushes a quarter-sized button and instantly sirens begin to sound.
“It’s only a garage door, but when you close it, it sounds exactly like Star Trek,” said Francisco.
Edited by Sarah Pelham
The Kroger Learning Center is an important part of the 93,000 square-foot
pharmacy building. The learning center has wireless Internet computer
stations, multiple study rooms and hundreds of reference books available
to the pharmacy students enjoying the new building.
Photo by Jon Kim
Technology Devices Attractive in Car Break-Ins
By Ashley Bene
While the Athens “crime emergency” hasn’t affected on-campus crime, the University of Georgia Police Department warns students to be safe and keep their personal items out of their cars.
Corporal Darrell Ponder of the UGA Police Department said that while on-campus vehicle break-ins haven’t been on the rise, students should always take precautions to keep their valuables like iPods or laptops safe.
“Lock your doors,” Corporal Ponder said. “Roll up your windows, and anything of value, take it with you.”
Thieves tend to be looking for things they can grab quickly, according to Corporal Ponder. Small electronics items like iPods, GPS devices, or even laptops are most likely to attract thieves. Even change in the center console can spark a break-in.
“The main thing we find is a lot of the time people leave items of value in their car,” Corporal Ponder said.
Although being on a campus can make students feel safer, Corporal Ponder warns against students letting their guards down. He says people forget UGA is an open campus, and its not just people from outside breaking into cars either. It can be students too.
“Sometimes people just walk by and pull on door handles and if the car is unlocked, they get your stuff,” Corporal Ponder said.
Many students are already taking precautions.
Lindley Curtis, a senior majoring in Public Relations from Jonesboro, Ga., parks in the North Campus Parking deck. She said she never worries about her car being broken into.
Curtis said a friend’s car was broken into last year because her friend left his iPod on the front seat. She said she takes her iPod and GPS device with her whenever she leaves her car.
“I’m very conscious of my surroundings and I make sure every time I leave my car that I pick everything up off the seat,” Curtis said.
Jennifer Bell, a sophomore Spanish and geography major from Lawrenceville, Ga., says she went to a police seminar about staying safe around campus.
“After going to that, I definitely stepped it up.”
Bell says she keeps valuable items, like her iPod, on her at all times. The only things she leaves in her car are clothes or similar personal items.
“I set my car alarm, but I feel that no one’s going to steal anything.”
Corporal Ponder warns that parking decks tend to be the most heavily hit. They are more difficult for police to patrol because of the many levels. Parking lots closer to downtown are also more likely to be hit.
And as for using a car alarm, Corporal Ponder warns that it’s not a sure-fire safety device.
“Alarms go off so much, they don’t mean anything to people,” Corporal Ponder said. “If the police hear an alarm, we’ll usually go investigate though.”
Corporal Ponder said sometimes students who come from small towns or affluent areas aren’t as diligent about locking their car doors as they should be.
Curtis says her hometown, Jonesboro, Ga., is ranked as the 5th most dangerous county in Georgia.
“I have to take those precautions whether I’m at home or in Athens” Curtis said. “It’s just something that, because of where I grew up, it’s a habit.”
While the Athens “crime emergency” hasn’t affected on-campus crime, the University of Georgia Police Department warns students to be safe and keep their personal items out of their cars.
Corporal Darrell Ponder of the UGA Police Department said that while on-campus vehicle break-ins haven’t been on the rise, students should always take precautions to keep their valuables like iPods or laptops safe.
“Lock your doors,” Corporal Ponder said. “Roll up your windows, and anything of value, take it with you.”
Thieves tend to be looking for things they can grab quickly, according to Corporal Ponder. Small electronics items like iPods, GPS devices, or even laptops are most likely to attract thieves. Even change in the center console can spark a break-in.
“The main thing we find is a lot of the time people leave items of value in their car,” Corporal Ponder said.
Although being on a campus can make students feel safer, Corporal Ponder warns against students letting their guards down. He says people forget UGA is an open campus, and its not just people from outside breaking into cars either. It can be students too.
“Sometimes people just walk by and pull on door handles and if the car is unlocked, they get your stuff,” Corporal Ponder said.
Many students are already taking precautions.
Lindley Curtis, a senior majoring in Public Relations from Jonesboro, Ga., parks in the North Campus Parking deck. She said she never worries about her car being broken into.
Curtis said a friend’s car was broken into last year because her friend left his iPod on the front seat. She said she takes her iPod and GPS device with her whenever she leaves her car.
“I’m very conscious of my surroundings and I make sure every time I leave my car that I pick everything up off the seat,” Curtis said.
Jennifer Bell, a sophomore Spanish and geography major from Lawrenceville, Ga., says she went to a police seminar about staying safe around campus.
“After going to that, I definitely stepped it up.”
Bell says she keeps valuable items, like her iPod, on her at all times. The only things she leaves in her car are clothes or similar personal items.
“I set my car alarm, but I feel that no one’s going to steal anything.”
Corporal Ponder warns that parking decks tend to be the most heavily hit. They are more difficult for police to patrol because of the many levels. Parking lots closer to downtown are also more likely to be hit.
And as for using a car alarm, Corporal Ponder warns that it’s not a sure-fire safety device.
“Alarms go off so much, they don’t mean anything to people,” Corporal Ponder said. “If the police hear an alarm, we’ll usually go investigate though.”
Corporal Ponder said sometimes students who come from small towns or affluent areas aren’t as diligent about locking their car doors as they should be.
Curtis says her hometown, Jonesboro, Ga., is ranked as the 5th most dangerous county in Georgia.
“I have to take those precautions whether I’m at home or in Athens” Curtis said. “It’s just something that, because of where I grew up, it’s a habit.”
ChriSTOPHER BENTON--Article 2
New Artists Hits It Big Through Social Media
From the Bedroom to the Stadium
Christopher Joshua Benton
Fuzz-skuzz buzz band Wavves is just some regular-guy dude from San Diego who smokes weed, wakes up late, rides his skateboard, trying to catch old-ass Garfield cartoons in the wee hours, or at least that’s the impression he gives off; he’s best-coast chill and sings about it. 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 no-fi 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 something like shit, but it’d also, maybe, reach that equilibrium of vaguely tuneful/ groggy pixilation/ distortion noise that Wavves has adopted as his own.
He’s not the only one: Why is everyone and their mom in a lo/no-fi band these days?
(Laughs) “I don’t know. 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,” Williams said.
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, Williams has explored kinda-sad themes like ennui, stupid sub-cultures, and drug freakouts, titling his songs plainly “So Bored,” “California Goth” and “Weed Demon.” 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 forum mostly consisting of free-to-create weblog platforms, 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."
Perhaps most significant of this new rockist narrative is that “overnight success” is a literalism—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 sucked. 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 he’ll be relevant a few years from now is anyone’s guess, but if he can write fifteen stuck-in-your head melodies in month, I’d go with longevity. Either way, he’s down for the ride, one that hopefully includes munchies. I’ll leave you with William’s last words:
“I’m sorry, I have to go, we’re pulling up to the Burger King right now!”
The New Political Wheel
Kristen Luca
With the expansion of online social media, politics and political campaigning may be developing a new face on the Internet.
Social media services like Twitter and Facebook allow users to quickly get messages out to large groups of people, and are quickly gaining in popularity. According to a recent New York Times article, the tracking firm comScore has measured Twitter’s traffic at 54 million visitors a month. For politicians and political candidates who devote much energy to getting their names and messages out to their constituents, these Web sites might hold potential.
Samantha Jose, communications director for the Young Democrats at the University of Georgia, said that the Democratic party has already taken advantage of the possibilities social media offers. She referenced President Obama’s 2008 campaign, and his use of Facebook and Twitter to spread the word about his platforms on issues and updates about events.
Jose also thought the Democratic party takes more advantage of social media services than does the Republican party. “I’d like to think we’re a little bit quicker on the uptake,” she said.
Matthew Ralston, PR Director for UGA’s College Republicans, said that he thought the Republican party as a whole was not using social media as much as the Democratic party. Ralston said he at the moment few Republicans were utilizing the services and others were behind.
“It’s like the wheel has just come out of the sky for them,” Ralston said.
However, he also thought that in the future more in the party would come to use the services to get their messages out. He pointed to the low cost of the services and their ability to reach many people in just a few clicks.
But social media is not useful only to campaigning politicians. In June, Reuters reported that the U.S. State Department had asked Twitter to delay an upgrade that would have shut down the service during the daytime in Iran. Iranians protesting the presidential election results were using Twitter to speak with each other and get past blocks on communication set up by the Iranian government.
At a time when options were severely restricted, Iranians turned to the Internet and social media sites to broadcast their thoughts and political movements. The U.S. government recognized the importance of Twitter to the situation in Iran and interceded with the company to minimize the inconvenience to those in Iran.
Private citizens, more traditionally associated with the expansion of social media, have the opportunity to use the technology not only as an audience but as active participants. Samantha Jose, of the Young Democrats, thinks that the greatest advantage in using social media to spread political ideas is that citizens are more informed.
The nature of the Internet also allows for communication and debate in a way that more traditional forms of media, like print and cable, do not. “Social media allows for debate to be way more instantaneous,” Jose said.
She added that on the Internet, there is no filter for information. Access to publishing software on the Web is cheap and often free, allowing anyone with a connection to upload their thoughts and hold a conversation. However, Jose thinks that the overall benefits of using social media outweigh the risk of encountering less substantial or non-credible information.
Users can find other benefits to having politicians on Facebook and Twitter, too. Ben Clark, a UGA student and member of the Young Democrats, says that he ‘friended’ several politicians on Facebook during the 2008 election season. Including President Barack Obama, he also follows Sen. Chris Dodd and former Sen. John Edwards.
Having his Facebook accounts associated with the politicians’, though, is not entirely to read through their updates and messages. “During the election,” Clark said, “I wanted everyone to know who I supported.”
Politicians are not the only ones who can send political messages through social media.
With the expansion of online social media, politics and political campaigning may be developing a new face on the Internet.
Social media services like Twitter and Facebook allow users to quickly get messages out to large groups of people, and are quickly gaining in popularity. According to a recent New York Times article, the tracking firm comScore has measured Twitter’s traffic at 54 million visitors a month. For politicians and political candidates who devote much energy to getting their names and messages out to their constituents, these Web sites might hold potential.
Samantha Jose, communications director for the Young Democrats at the University of Georgia, said that the Democratic party has already taken advantage of the possibilities social media offers. She referenced President Obama’s 2008 campaign, and his use of Facebook and Twitter to spread the word about his platforms on issues and updates about events.
Jose also thought the Democratic party takes more advantage of social media services than does the Republican party. “I’d like to think we’re a little bit quicker on the uptake,” she said.
Matthew Ralston, PR Director for UGA’s College Republicans, said that he thought the Republican party as a whole was not using social media as much as the Democratic party. Ralston said he at the moment few Republicans were utilizing the services and others were behind.
“It’s like the wheel has just come out of the sky for them,” Ralston said.
However, he also thought that in the future more in the party would come to use the services to get their messages out. He pointed to the low cost of the services and their ability to reach many people in just a few clicks.
But social media is not useful only to campaigning politicians. In June, Reuters reported that the U.S. State Department had asked Twitter to delay an upgrade that would have shut down the service during the daytime in Iran. Iranians protesting the presidential election results were using Twitter to speak with each other and get past blocks on communication set up by the Iranian government.
At a time when options were severely restricted, Iranians turned to the Internet and social media sites to broadcast their thoughts and political movements. The U.S. government recognized the importance of Twitter to the situation in Iran and interceded with the company to minimize the inconvenience to those in Iran.
Private citizens, more traditionally associated with the expansion of social media, have the opportunity to use the technology not only as an audience but as active participants. Samantha Jose, of the Young Democrats, thinks that the greatest advantage in using social media to spread political ideas is that citizens are more informed.
The nature of the Internet also allows for communication and debate in a way that more traditional forms of media, like print and cable, do not. “Social media allows for debate to be way more instantaneous,” Jose said.
She added that on the Internet, there is no filter for information. Access to publishing software on the Web is cheap and often free, allowing anyone with a connection to upload their thoughts and hold a conversation. However, Jose thinks that the overall benefits of using social media outweigh the risk of encountering less substantial or non-credible information.
Users can find other benefits to having politicians on Facebook and Twitter, too. Ben Clark, a UGA student and member of the Young Democrats, says that he ‘friended’ several politicians on Facebook during the 2008 election season. Including President Barack Obama, he also follows Sen. Chris Dodd and former Sen. John Edwards.
Having his Facebook accounts associated with the politicians’, though, is not entirely to read through their updates and messages. “During the election,” Clark said, “I wanted everyone to know who I supported.”
Politicians are not the only ones who can send political messages through social media.
Flood Victims Turn to Twitter
Ali Rosenberger
ATHENS, Ga. - In the past two weeks, Atlanta and its surrounding areas have seen anywhere between 5 to 20 inches of rainfall, at least twice as much as this time last year. TV and radio stations have been broadcasting updates and details daily to inform the public of damages and future forecasts.
Although TV and radio news maintain their audience, it is social media outlets that many are beginning to turn to as their primary news source. From Facebook updates to tweets on Twitter, people of all ages are exchanging all kinds of information through social media. With this constant flow of information—present 24 hours a day—these social media users expect their news organizations to keep up.
Many students at the University of Georgia are Atlanta natives and turned to Facebook and Twitter for information about their hometown during the flood.
“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.”
Hannon said that she stayed updated with details about her area through personal tweets 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.
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.
TV Stations like WSB-TV even have Twitter sites.
“Watching the news on TV is reliable, but not all day long. Sure, I can turn on CNN and watch until they decide to switch to the topic that I am actually interested in,” said Brian Stearns, a UGA sophomore from Decatur, “but I don’t have the patience for that. I’d much rather go online and look at their website or their recent tweets to get the information I’m looking for,” Stearns said.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution 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.
Even now, in the days 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.
“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 mother and career woman originally from Marietta. “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.
“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.
ATHENS, Ga. - In the past two weeks, Atlanta and its surrounding areas have seen anywhere between 5 to 20 inches of rainfall, at least twice as much as this time last year. TV and radio stations have been broadcasting updates and details daily to inform the public of damages and future forecasts.
Although TV and radio news maintain their audience, it is social media outlets that many are beginning to turn to as their primary news source. From Facebook updates to tweets on Twitter, people of all ages are exchanging all kinds of information through social media. With this constant flow of information—present 24 hours a day—these social media users expect their news organizations to keep up.
Many students at the University of Georgia are Atlanta natives and turned to Facebook and Twitter for information about their hometown during the flood.
“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.”
Hannon said that she stayed updated with details about her area through personal tweets 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.
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.
TV Stations like WSB-TV even have Twitter sites.
“Watching the news on TV is reliable, but not all day long. Sure, I can turn on CNN and watch until they decide to switch to the topic that I am actually interested in,” said Brian Stearns, a UGA sophomore from Decatur, “but I don’t have the patience for that. I’d much rather go online and look at their website or their recent tweets to get the information I’m looking for,” Stearns said.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution 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.
Even now, in the days 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.
“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 mother and career woman originally from Marietta. “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.
“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.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Shuttle 5500 has found its niche in Athens shuttle scene
By: Alexis Economy
Searching for something more than just a regular taxi ride to campus on game days? Then catch a ride with Shuttle 5500, Athens’s newest and most innovative game day shuttle service!
The service started by business partners James Tomol and Jordan Dyce is part of a management class taught at the University of Georgia, through the Terry College of Business. The class, taught by Christopher Hanks, allows students to formulate their own business plans and then actually launch the proposed business idea during the semester.
According to Hanks, while many business schools offer similar classes that enable students to develop a business plan, only the University offers a class that concentrates primarily on launching the actual business.
“We are the only entrepreneurship program in the country with an exclusive focus on launching the actual business,” said Hanks.
So why do a shuttle service on game day in Athens, when the city already has numerous taxis and vans?
The answer, “to create an experience,” said James Tomol, a senior and management major from Sarasota, Fla. and also the group leader of Shuttle 5500.
“We don’t want to be a commodity we want to be compelling and provocative,” said Tomol.
That’s what you get with Shuttle 5500, a new kind of game day ride experience. While on the ride guests can play trivia games about Georgia football or just talk about experiences at the University and the Terry College of Business.
“Most of our customers are UGA alum and more specifically Terry alum, so most of the time we just end up talking about Terry and different business related issues,” said Tomol.
In addition to trivia and good conversation, guests are offered the option of purchasing chips or soft drinks and are even offered free pizza. During its first weekend of business, Fox’s Pizza sponsored Shuttle 5500 and donated pizzas to be distributed on the rides.
According to Tomol, the business is hoping to get more sponsors and to work out a deal where if you buy a Shuttle 5500 shirt and wear it, you are eligible for different deals and savings at the businesses on the actual shirt.
Through this t-shirt idea Tomol and his business partner Jordan Dyce, a senior and management major from Atlanta, Ga. are hoping to make the service free. Currently Shuttle 5500 is looking for more advertisers to cover their main costs, so the t-shirt can just be a benefit or option to using the shuttle service.
However the search for more advertisers is not by any means meant to imply that this business venture has been unsuccessful thus far. In fact, it has been quite the opposite. With only one weekend under its belt, the business can already boast serving approximately 200 guests.
“On our first weekend we began running at around 9:00 a.m. and then started again about an hour after the game ended. We did not finish until around 4:00 a.m. It was crazy,” said Dyce.
The shuttle picks up at mainly the Howard Johnson, Hampton Inn, and the Country Inn Suites near the intersection of Atlanta Highway and Alps Road and makes pick ups and drop offs about every thirty minutes. The shuttle picks up at the three hotels and then drops guests off at the bus stop near the arch in the downtown.
With parking costs soaring to $40 and taxis costing $10 and upwards per person, Shuttle 5500 seems to have found its niche in offering a unique and full experience (for nearly no cost) to Georgia fans on game day.
Designated driver business thrives in the Classic City
Designated driver business thrives in the Classic CityBy Dana J. Hortman
ATHENS, Ga., -- It’s Friday night in the Classic City.
You and your friends are stress free for the weekend and ready to let loose from the weekly class routine.
You hit up your favorite local hot spots—Terrapin, General Beauregard’s, The Winery.
Several hours and drinks later, the world isn’t looking as clear as it had when you drove downtown. Panicked, you’re probably thinking, “How am I going to get home?”
The solution: Zingo Athens.
The popularity of Zingo Athens Designated Drivers is continuing to prosper with business from many university students who choose to use a more unique alternative form of transportation when leaving the bars.
Launched in April of 2008 by three local Athenians Scott Allen, Matt Presnell and Travis Presnell, Zingo Athens Designated Drivers is an Atlanta-based charter that offers Athenians a truly one of a kind driver/chauffer service.
The Zingo’s designated driver arrives at the customer’s location on a Di Blasi, an Italian manufactured folding motorbike.
The R series Di Blasi motorbike, 64 lb. dry and 70 lbs. wet, is folded up into a canvas tote and placed in the trunk of the customer’s vehicle.
Next, the Zingo designated driver drives the customer’s vehicle to his or her location, removes the motorbike, and returns to the Zingo headquarters located downtown.
“I think it’s about the same as taking a taxi, the same risks are involved,” said Ashley Hall, a senior advertising major from Lawrenceville, Ga. “Some random person is driving you home. Hopefully, you’re not alone in your own car; because the driver knows you’re alone and where you live. But I guess it’s the same with taxis.”
“I think Zingo would be safer for students, especially females,” said Jamarl Glenn, a University of Georgia alumnus. “The fact is most people can recognize the Zingo driver’s because of their standard uniform and scooter. But, you don’t really know the taxi driver.”
The Atlanta-based company, Zingo Transportation, Inc., was founded in October 2005 by entrepreneur’s Jim Valentine and Charles Barfield.
A year later, they were joined by PX Head, who is currently the company president and resides over all nationwide development of the Zingo concept.
According to an interview posted on Daryn Kagan.com, Head was involved in a drinking and driving accident that killed his friend and fraternity brother, Benjamin Hawkins on June 11, 2004.
Head and some friends, including Hawkins, had been out drinking and were on their way home when Head lost control of the car and hit a utility pole.
He was charged with vehicular homicide, and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and two years of probation.
As president, Head’s job includes establishing the Zingo brand across the country.
Georgia isn’t the only state following the Zingo trend. Other locations include cities in Arizona, California, Florida and North Carolina.
The Classic City is the 12th city across the nation to adopt this extraordinary form of designated driver services.
“I’m not familiar with Zingo, but it seems like a good idea,” said Sumner Bain, a senior psychology major from Atlanta. “One of the main reasons I don’t go downtown is because I live out too far from downtown and taxis are expensive, especially going back and forth from the bars.”
“I guess I would try Zingo, because then, I know my car wouldn’t get towed or I wouldn’t have to find someone to drive me back to my car the next morning,” Hall said.
For customers interested in utilizing Zingo’s services, the Zingo Website recommends calling 30 to 40 minutes in advance of when you want your driver to arrive.
The expected time of arrival for a Zingo driver can range anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes.
The cost is a $20 pick-up fee, which includes the first 3 miles, plus a $2-per-mile thereafter.
Pricing also includes a 25 percent discount for students, including those who attend the University of Georgia.
To learn more information about Zingo Athens and the many services they offer to the Classic City, visit the Zingo Website at http://www.zingoathens.com/.
Erin Dillard - First Draft, Second Article
PROFESSORS RECOGNIZE TECHNOLOGY AS DISTRACTIONS
By Erin Dillard
ATHENS, Ga. - With today’s booming texting and Internet opportunities, students and faculty both are experiencing a constant competition for distractions.
With almost all students bringing cell phones and many bringing laptops to the classroom, disruptions and distractions during class time are inevitable.
Though to most students the constant access and use of cell phones and laptops seems normal, some professors recognize how quickly and recently the phenomenon occurred.
“It really is recent; mainly really just in the last three years, since the university went wireless,” said Richard Neupert, an Introduction to Cinema professor.
Neupert has been at the University of Georgia for 16 years, and he can remember when students still asked permission to use laptops during class.
“I don’t think it’s an issue of the old professor versus the young students,” said Neupert. “Some things are great, but some things students are just too dependent upon.”
Neupert still allows students to use laptops during class, even though he has had a student win an online poker tournament during one of his lectures.
“I was in the middle of lecture, when all the sudden a group of students in the back began to cheer,” he said. “They were just all watching this one student, rather than paying attention.”
He has also had complaints about students watching pornography on their laptops. Still, he allowed students to have laptops during class.
“I am just not really sure it’s my job to patrol it,” he said.
He does, however, not allow lap tops during films and will even drop a student for doing so. He considers bright laptops during a film too much of a distraction.
Sonya Collins, a freshman English composition instructor, also allows students to use laptops during lecture and class time.
“Freshmen composition used a Website called EMMA to access all class material, so the students brought their lap tops,” Collins said.
“In one particular class, everyone was on Facebook and Instant Messenger the entire time,” she said. “I began to notice them closing their lap tops when I walked around the room.”
Collins slowly attempted to phase out lap top usage, by discouraging it, and tell students to close their lap tops when she thought their usage wasn’t necessary.
“I hated it, because I felt like I was constantly patrolling,” she said. “I wanted it to be a room full of adults; I felt like a high school teacher.”
Scott Shamp, the director of the New Media Institute, has his own view on how to deal with this feeling of “patrolling.”
“I don’t believe you can make people focus ,” said Shamp. “Young people today live in a totally different environment. Attempting to create a distraction free vacuum is not the way to solve the problem.”
Shamp believes that the recent evolution of technology has made classroom walls permeable and no longer a sealed environment. Instead of fighting the revolution, the best professors find a way to use it.
“As professors, we need to help students and other faculty understand why it’s a bad communication strategy, but not necessarily a bad learning strategy,” he said.
“It’s not successful to tell students to shut their computers; it alienates them,” he said.
“The classroom is 20 percent students, 80 percent me. The faculty has to up their game and create an exciting, stronger, more visual learning environment in order to compete.”
Shamp believes that the classroom environment will only be different when the current learning generation becomes the ones who are teaching.
“Universities are big ships that don’t turn fast,” he said.
In the mean time, Shamp claims that there is no use in fighting students who are determined to be distracted by I Phones and Facebook.
“Professors are fighting a losing battle against technology in the classroom; they aren’t put in there to be hall monitors.”
By Erin Dillard
ATHENS, Ga. - With today’s booming texting and Internet opportunities, students and faculty both are experiencing a constant competition for distractions.
With almost all students bringing cell phones and many bringing laptops to the classroom, disruptions and distractions during class time are inevitable.
Though to most students the constant access and use of cell phones and laptops seems normal, some professors recognize how quickly and recently the phenomenon occurred.
“It really is recent; mainly really just in the last three years, since the university went wireless,” said Richard Neupert, an Introduction to Cinema professor.
Neupert has been at the University of Georgia for 16 years, and he can remember when students still asked permission to use laptops during class.
“I don’t think it’s an issue of the old professor versus the young students,” said Neupert. “Some things are great, but some things students are just too dependent upon.”
Neupert still allows students to use laptops during class, even though he has had a student win an online poker tournament during one of his lectures.
“I was in the middle of lecture, when all the sudden a group of students in the back began to cheer,” he said. “They were just all watching this one student, rather than paying attention.”
He has also had complaints about students watching pornography on their laptops. Still, he allowed students to have laptops during class.
“I am just not really sure it’s my job to patrol it,” he said.
He does, however, not allow lap tops during films and will even drop a student for doing so. He considers bright laptops during a film too much of a distraction.
Sonya Collins, a freshman English composition instructor, also allows students to use laptops during lecture and class time.
“Freshmen composition used a Website called EMMA to access all class material, so the students brought their lap tops,” Collins said.
“In one particular class, everyone was on Facebook and Instant Messenger the entire time,” she said. “I began to notice them closing their lap tops when I walked around the room.”
Collins slowly attempted to phase out lap top usage, by discouraging it, and tell students to close their lap tops when she thought their usage wasn’t necessary.
“I hated it, because I felt like I was constantly patrolling,” she said. “I wanted it to be a room full of adults; I felt like a high school teacher.”
Scott Shamp, the director of the New Media Institute, has his own view on how to deal with this feeling of “patrolling.”
“I don’t believe you can make people focus ,” said Shamp. “Young people today live in a totally different environment. Attempting to create a distraction free vacuum is not the way to solve the problem.”
Shamp believes that the recent evolution of technology has made classroom walls permeable and no longer a sealed environment. Instead of fighting the revolution, the best professors find a way to use it.
“As professors, we need to help students and other faculty understand why it’s a bad communication strategy, but not necessarily a bad learning strategy,” he said.
“It’s not successful to tell students to shut their computers; it alienates them,” he said.
“The classroom is 20 percent students, 80 percent me. The faculty has to up their game and create an exciting, stronger, more visual learning environment in order to compete.”
Shamp believes that the classroom environment will only be different when the current learning generation becomes the ones who are teaching.
“Universities are big ships that don’t turn fast,” he said.
In the mean time, Shamp claims that there is no use in fighting students who are determined to be distracted by I Phones and Facebook.
“Professors are fighting a losing battle against technology in the classroom; they aren’t put in there to be hall monitors.”
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Red Team Budgets
SLUG: ABTheft
The story: About breaking and entering cars. Whether it is an issue among students on campus and how to prevent theft from your vehicle.
Type of story: News Feature
Reporter/Photographer: Ashley Bene
Editor: Dana HortmanLength: 500-700 words
Photos: UGA Parking LotDeadline: September 29, 2009
SLUG: DHXingo
The story: 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 want to use it.
Type of story: News Feature
Reporter/Photographer: Dana Hortman
Editor: Ashley Bene
Length: 500-700 words
Photos: Students downtownDeadline: September 29, 2009
SLUG: AEShuttle
The story: A MGMT 5500 class offers game day transportation as part of business class.
Type of story: News Feature
Reporter/Photographer: Alexis Economy
Editor: Lauren Willson
Length: 500-700 words
Photos: students in class, students running shuttle on game day
Deadline: September 29, 2009
SLUG: LWGreen
The story: Different methods of going green with Athens residents’ transportation. Example- Algaeus
Type of story: News Feature
Reporter/Photographer: Lauren Willson
Editor: Alexis EconomyLength: 500-700 words
Photos: Algaeus (hopefully), A group of Prius
Deadline: September 29, 2009
The story: About breaking and entering cars. Whether it is an issue among students on campus and how to prevent theft from your vehicle.
Type of story: News Feature
Reporter/Photographer: Ashley Bene
Editor: Dana HortmanLength: 500-700 words
Photos: UGA Parking LotDeadline: September 29, 2009
SLUG: DHXingo
The story: 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 want to use it.
Type of story: News Feature
Reporter/Photographer: Dana Hortman
Editor: Ashley Bene
Length: 500-700 words
Photos: Students downtownDeadline: September 29, 2009
SLUG: AEShuttle
The story: A MGMT 5500 class offers game day transportation as part of business class.
Type of story: News Feature
Reporter/Photographer: Alexis Economy
Editor: Lauren Willson
Length: 500-700 words
Photos: students in class, students running shuttle on game day
Deadline: September 29, 2009
SLUG: LWGreen
The story: Different methods of going green with Athens residents’ transportation. Example- Algaeus
Type of story: News Feature
Reporter/Photographer: Lauren Willson
Editor: Alexis EconomyLength: 500-700 words
Photos: Algaeus (hopefully), A group of Prius
Deadline: September 29, 2009
Budget
SLUG: BS Livenation and Ticketmaster
The story: I want to talk about the merger between these two companies, and the impact that has had and will continue to have on the music industry. I will try to talk to some people in the Music Business program and some frequent concert-goers to pin down how the increase in ticket sales has affected their ability to go to shows.
Reporter/Editor :Blakeney Spong/Thomas Hopper
Photos/Graphics: photo of concert, livenation’s web site, etc.
Length: 500 to 600 words
Deadline: Next Tuesday
SLUG: PH Modern Music Recording
The story: I hope to report on the nature of recording and production in the digital age. Just as music itself is changing, so is the way music is being produced, created, and explored. All sorts of new editing tools and electronic options must have had some sort of impact on the medium.
Reporter/Editor: Thomas Patrick Hooper/Blakeney Spong
Photos/Graphics: Interior of a recording studio
Length: 500 to 600 words
Deadline: Next Tuesday
SLUG: SS Rise of Records
The story: Talk about how the sale of records is way up and almost surpassing the sale of CDs in record stores. Many artists are releasing their new music as vinyl records with a code on the inside for a free online download of the mp3 version of their album. I want to talk about how the technological advances are making mp3 and downloading so prevalent, yet more and more people prefer more retro vinyl copies. I will ask sources why they do or don’t prefer vinyl and will talk to record store owners.
Reporter/Editor: Sydney Slotkin/Katie Weise
Photos/Graphics: photo of shoppers in a record store, or record store employees stocking or selling records
Length: 500 to 600 words
Deadline: Next Tuesday
SLUG: KW HEROS
The story: 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.
Reporter/Editor: Katie Weise/Sydney Slotkin
Photos/Graphics: photo of people playing rock band/guitar hero/etc.
Length: 500 to 600 words
Deadline: Next Tuesday
The story: I want to talk about the merger between these two companies, and the impact that has had and will continue to have on the music industry. I will try to talk to some people in the Music Business program and some frequent concert-goers to pin down how the increase in ticket sales has affected their ability to go to shows.
Reporter/Editor :Blakeney Spong/Thomas Hopper
Photos/Graphics: photo of concert, livenation’s web site, etc.
Length: 500 to 600 words
Deadline: Next Tuesday
SLUG: PH Modern Music Recording
The story: I hope to report on the nature of recording and production in the digital age. Just as music itself is changing, so is the way music is being produced, created, and explored. All sorts of new editing tools and electronic options must have had some sort of impact on the medium.
Reporter/Editor: Thomas Patrick Hooper/Blakeney Spong
Photos/Graphics: Interior of a recording studio
Length: 500 to 600 words
Deadline: Next Tuesday
SLUG: SS Rise of Records
The story: Talk about how the sale of records is way up and almost surpassing the sale of CDs in record stores. Many artists are releasing their new music as vinyl records with a code on the inside for a free online download of the mp3 version of their album. I want to talk about how the technological advances are making mp3 and downloading so prevalent, yet more and more people prefer more retro vinyl copies. I will ask sources why they do or don’t prefer vinyl and will talk to record store owners.
Reporter/Editor: Sydney Slotkin/Katie Weise
Photos/Graphics: photo of shoppers in a record store, or record store employees stocking or selling records
Length: 500 to 600 words
Deadline: Next Tuesday
SLUG: KW HEROS
The story: 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.
Reporter/Editor: Katie Weise/Sydney Slotkin
Photos/Graphics: photo of people playing rock band/guitar hero/etc.
Length: 500 to 600 words
Deadline: Next Tuesday
SILVER TEAM BUDGETS
Slug: ARSOCIALFLOOD
The story: How news organizations are using social media as a breaking news outlet and how social media users responding to instant coverage; emphasis on the coverage of the Atlanta floods.
Reporter/Editor: Ali Rosenberger/Chris Benton
Photos/Graphics: Photo of someone tweeting about the flood or, if possible, flood picture
Length: 600 words
Deadline: Tuesday, September 29
Slug: SOCIALSELLING
The story: Increase in social media business exchanges: personal or commercial. Related to the decrease in newspaper classifieds, etc.
Reporter/Editor: Megan Niager/Kristen Luca
Photos/Graphics: Classified ad photo, someone at ABH or Red&Black
Length: 600 words
Deadline: Tuesday, September 29
Slug: KLPOLITICS
The story: How people are utilizing social media to reach political goals and spread political ideas.
Reporter/Editor: Kristen Luca/Megan Niager
Photos/Graphics: Possible photos of College Republicans or Young Democrats
Length: 600 words
Deadline: Tuesday, September 29
Black Team Story Budgets II
ADPHARM
The story: The technology in the new pharmacy building, and how students and faculty are interacting with it.
Type of story: News feature
Reporter/Photographer: Amanda Duval
Editor: Sarah Pelham
Length: 600
Photos: Lab in pharmacy building
Deadline: Sept. 29, 11 a.m.
EDDIC
The story: How technology can interrupt the classroom when students use laptops, phones or digital music players. Student and teacher opinions.
Type of story: News feature
Reporter/Photographer: Erin Dillard
Editor: Jessica Cole
Length: 600
Photos: None
Deadline: Sept. 29, 11 a.m.
SPPPT
The story: Faculty and student opinions of presentation software, such as Microsoft Powerpoint, and how it influences learning.
Type of story: News feature
Reporter/Photographer: Sarah Pelham
Editor: Erin Dillard
Length: 600
Photos: Instructor using presentation software
Deadline: Sept. 29, 11 a.m.
JCROCK
The story: How rock band and guitar hero affect the way people learn how to read and play music. Talk to musicians, music faculty and students.
Type of story: News feature
Reporter/Photographer: Jessica Cole
Editor: Amanda Duval
Length: 600
Photos: People playing Guitar Hero, Rockband
Deadline: Sept. 29, 11 a.m.
The story: The technology in the new pharmacy building, and how students and faculty are interacting with it.
Type of story: News feature
Reporter/Photographer: Amanda Duval
Editor: Sarah Pelham
Length: 600
Photos: Lab in pharmacy building
Deadline: Sept. 29, 11 a.m.
EDDIC
The story: How technology can interrupt the classroom when students use laptops, phones or digital music players. Student and teacher opinions.
Type of story: News feature
Reporter/Photographer: Erin Dillard
Editor: Jessica Cole
Length: 600
Photos: None
Deadline: Sept. 29, 11 a.m.
SPPPT
The story: Faculty and student opinions of presentation software, such as Microsoft Powerpoint, and how it influences learning.
Type of story: News feature
Reporter/Photographer: Sarah Pelham
Editor: Erin Dillard
Length: 600
Photos: Instructor using presentation software
Deadline: Sept. 29, 11 a.m.
JCROCK
The story: How rock band and guitar hero affect the way people learn how to read and play music. Talk to musicians, music faculty and students.
Type of story: News feature
Reporter/Photographer: Jessica Cole
Editor: Amanda Duval
Length: 600
Photos: People playing Guitar Hero, Rockband
Deadline: Sept. 29, 11 a.m.
Texting While Driving
Athens-Clarke County has no law against texting while driving, an activity which increases the chances of being in an accident eight times, said a recent study from the University of Utah.
There is a law in Athens against talking on a cell phone while driving a car. According to the University of Utah’s reports, talking on a cell phone increases the risk of an accident only four times, only half the risk level of texting while driving.
There is also a law in Athens against driving while intoxicated, where you are four times more likely to be in an accident. Therefore, a person texting on their cell phone is twice as likely to get into a car accident than if they were talking on their cell phone or intoxicated at the legal limit.
Lauren Hoffman, 22, a student from Dallas, Texas majoring in anthropology at The University of Georgia, is amused by the close calls a person can have when looking at their phone instead of the road.
“I text and drive all the time, and almost get into about 20 car accidents every day,” said Lauren Hoffman, age 22, a student from Dallas, Texas majoring in anthropology at The University of Georgia.
For teenagers, texting is the most distracting thing to do while handling a vehicle, according to a Students Against Destructive Decisions report released in 2007. The report took a survey where 37 percent of teens said texting was the most dangerous thing to do while driving; over talking on a cell phone, being in an emotional state, messing with the radio, or having several friends in the car.
“Driving with cell phone in hand has become so natural to me, it’s like texting while walking, which I guess isn’t exactly the best thing to do either,” said Rachel Barnhart, age 20, a student from Atlanta, Ga. majoring in advertising and women’s studies at UGA. “I’ve wandered out into the middle of oncoming traffic multiple times while sending a text, and one of my friends got hit by a car from not paying attention to what was going on in the road because she was texting.”
“Athens police should start worrying about texters, not slightly tipsy drivers!” said Barnhart when presented with the fact that texting is twice as bad as driving at the legal intoxication limit of a blooc alcohol limit of .08.
Legislature has been proposed to cut off a state’s federal highway funds if laws against texting while driving are not implemented in the next two years. The first wave of restricting cell phone use has hit Georgia in the past year, with the implementation of laws against talking on a cell phone while driving. Not every county has that law yet, since outlawing talking on a cell phone while driving has trickled down from the Northern states and bigger cities to the south and smaller towns.
One of the biggest concerns with implementing legislature against texting while driving is the problem of how to enforce it.
“I see people looking at their cell phones all the time, but I don’t know if they are texting or not,” said Athens-Clarke county police officer Mikal Ellis, 28.
The University of Utah report stated that there seems to be a disconnection between a person’s risk assessment and his or her respective behavior. Texting while driving is one of those risks that people are not taking seriously.
“There seems to be a carelessness on the road now, like people just don’t care whether it’s dangerous or not, because all the stress for safe driving has been focused on drunk driving and wearing your seat belt,” said John Ellis Mansour, 21, a student from Newnan, Ga. with an undecided major at Gainesville State College.
There is a law in Athens against talking on a cell phone while driving a car. According to the University of Utah’s reports, talking on a cell phone increases the risk of an accident only four times, only half the risk level of texting while driving.
There is also a law in Athens against driving while intoxicated, where you are four times more likely to be in an accident. Therefore, a person texting on their cell phone is twice as likely to get into a car accident than if they were talking on their cell phone or intoxicated at the legal limit.
Lauren Hoffman, 22, a student from Dallas, Texas majoring in anthropology at The University of Georgia, is amused by the close calls a person can have when looking at their phone instead of the road.
“I text and drive all the time, and almost get into about 20 car accidents every day,” said Lauren Hoffman, age 22, a student from Dallas, Texas majoring in anthropology at The University of Georgia.
For teenagers, texting is the most distracting thing to do while handling a vehicle, according to a Students Against Destructive Decisions report released in 2007. The report took a survey where 37 percent of teens said texting was the most dangerous thing to do while driving; over talking on a cell phone, being in an emotional state, messing with the radio, or having several friends in the car.
“Driving with cell phone in hand has become so natural to me, it’s like texting while walking, which I guess isn’t exactly the best thing to do either,” said Rachel Barnhart, age 20, a student from Atlanta, Ga. majoring in advertising and women’s studies at UGA. “I’ve wandered out into the middle of oncoming traffic multiple times while sending a text, and one of my friends got hit by a car from not paying attention to what was going on in the road because she was texting.”
“Athens police should start worrying about texters, not slightly tipsy drivers!” said Barnhart when presented with the fact that texting is twice as bad as driving at the legal intoxication limit of a blooc alcohol limit of .08.
Legislature has been proposed to cut off a state’s federal highway funds if laws against texting while driving are not implemented in the next two years. The first wave of restricting cell phone use has hit Georgia in the past year, with the implementation of laws against talking on a cell phone while driving. Not every county has that law yet, since outlawing talking on a cell phone while driving has trickled down from the Northern states and bigger cities to the south and smaller towns.
One of the biggest concerns with implementing legislature against texting while driving is the problem of how to enforce it.
“I see people looking at their cell phones all the time, but I don’t know if they are texting or not,” said Athens-Clarke county police officer Mikal Ellis, 28.
The University of Utah report stated that there seems to be a disconnection between a person’s risk assessment and his or her respective behavior. Texting while driving is one of those risks that people are not taking seriously.
“There seems to be a carelessness on the road now, like people just don’t care whether it’s dangerous or not, because all the stress for safe driving has been focused on drunk driving and wearing your seat belt,” said John Ellis Mansour, 21, a student from Newnan, Ga. with an undecided major at Gainesville State College.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Television: Is it Hurting or Helping Children's Education?
JESSICA COLE
Athens, Ga.-- Recent studies have shown that allowing children under the age of two to watch excessive amounts of television programming can be detrimental to their learning habits later in life, according to esciencenews.com.
On the site, a professor from the
In a Thai study that was published in Acta Paediatrica in 2008, Christakis discovered that children who are under two years old and watch TV for two hours or more a day are more likely to obtain delayed language skills in later life. The study went even further, saying that toddlers between seven and 16 months old did not know as many words as children who did not grow up watching TV programming.
The review also pointed out that infants 14 months old or older learned better from real human interaction, rather than a program on a TV screen or computer screen. The study said even though children imitate what they on these programs, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are learning anything, or grasping any concepts.
So the question remains, are there any positive effects to viewing TV at a young age? And how much is too much?
Meghan Brown, a Senior at the
“It depends on the amount of TV they watch. I would say it’s had an effect on my 11-year-old brother because we always stuck him in front of the TV,” she says, “He’s gotten used to watching TV and playing video games, and those have been a big influence in his life.”
Dr. Alison Alexander, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications, specializes in the study of children’s television and the effect it has on children. Through her research, she has found that Ms. Brown’s deduction of her brother wasn’t very far from the findings of Dr. Alexander’s studies.
“It’s really important to note that TV viewing isn’t so much harmful unless it is done in excess. It’s not good because children need diversity,” she says, “One question that is needed to be asked is ‘what is being replaced’?”
But when Ms. Brown asked whether or not she thinks she’s been affected personally by the media, her answer isn’t as assured.
“To a small degree, yes, I believe I’ve been affected by it [TV]. But I think I’ve been affected less than my brother,” she said. “I don’t remember what it was like when I was little. I remember going outside more than anything.”
The same question was asked to another student around the same age as Ms. Brown, Leslie Ring, a Senior accounting major at the
When asked whether or not television effects children’s learning abilities, Ring said, “I don’t know, I think they get suckered into TV shows and then they don’t study.”
But when asked TV personally affecting her she explained she doesn’t think she’s been affected, though she points this toward, not the actual viewing of television, but the quality of the programming.
“Think about MTV,” she says, ‘When we [her generation] watched MTV it was music videos, when you watch it now, it’s just shows like the Real World, True Life, etc. These are all reality shows. I just don’t think growing up watching music videos affects you as much.”
The “Me vs. Them” problem, the idea that “they” are affected, but “I” am immune, is something that Dr. Alexander has witnessed first hand when she teaches her students, finding that what students initially thought about how kids view TV, was changed once they were given an assignment to actually observe a child watching television. “This romanticizing of the past isn’t unusual,” she says, “but in the future the answers are going to be much more complex than we initially thought.”
Friday, September 18, 2009
Social Media Jobs--Blessings or Burdens?
ALI ROSENBERGER
Athens, Ga-- Due to the current state of the economy, jobs in many fields have been eliminated. However with the increased popularity of social networking sites, new jobs are being created in the name of social media.
Since the explosion of social media outlets, information sharing has never been so easy. Between social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, and multimedia sharing sites including YouTube and Flickr, people are coming together and making connections like never before.
With the number of people looking for information via social networks, it only makes sense that large companies and corporations jump right in. In the past few years, dozens of new positions have been made for the people whose job it is to stay up to date with social media. Titles such as social media consultant, community manager, online reputation manager, blogger outreach manager, and even social media editor have appeared on the “wanted” lists for some of the world’s largest companies.
The New York Times recently hired their first full-time social media editor, Jennifer Preston. According to the memo sent out by the New York Times—which Preston posted on Twitter—it is in her job description to concentrate full-time on expanding the use of social media networks and publish platforms to improve New York Times journalism and deliver it to readers.
The Internet and other media outlets in general have been a threat to printed publications for some time now; however social media has made the public even more dependent on the Internet as their main source for information.
Smaller publications have had to consider expanding to social media outlets to keep up with the rising trend. “My wife and I thought we could handle producing the magazine in print with just a few other writers on staff,” said Athens local Gregory Sanders, 39, managing editor at Athens Food & Culture.
The magazine was originally started in Macon, Ga., as a free guide to local restaurants and attractions. But, through print alone, Sanders worries that his magazine may not reach the high number of college students in Athens who tend to be more computer savvy.
“Our first issue just hit stands last week, and I’m already thinking I might need to hire someone to do a Web site or blog to go along with it,” Sanders said.
With the pressure of a recession and the ever fickle supply of jobs available, the explosion of new positions in the social media scene is a breath of fresh air for many soon-to-be college grads.
“I have been so nervous about graduating next year with a degree in advertising. We’re in a recession, nobody is buying anything,” said Rhanatah Griffith, 22, a senior advertising major at the University of Georgia from Atlanta.
“But now—thanks to the whole new dimension that social media has created to advertise through—there are more job opportunities for people like me, and there is a whole new frontier to master from now until graduation,” Griffith said.
Cecil Bentley, the Director of Corporate and Alumni Relations for UGA’s Grady College recognizes the shift in advertising and publication from print to digital, and the increasing need for students to build multiplatform skills to keep up with the job market.
“Many publications only exist online, and they require social networking to remain standing,” Bentley said. “Twitter and Facebook are ways to do business, they are places of constant and ongoing networking,” he said.
Bentley also said that employers are not hiring based solely on college courses taken or degrees earned. Companies are now looking for a broad range of actual, marketable skills, like how to successfully advertise using social networking sites. Since the digital age is becoming more and more like second nature to America’s youth, employers are looking to hire from the younger demographic—those who are in the know when it comes to social media.
Athens, Ga-- Due to the current state of the economy, jobs in many fields have been eliminated. However with the increased popularity of social networking sites, new jobs are being created in the name of social media.
Since the explosion of social media outlets, information sharing has never been so easy. Between social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, and multimedia sharing sites including YouTube and Flickr, people are coming together and making connections like never before.
With the number of people looking for information via social networks, it only makes sense that large companies and corporations jump right in. In the past few years, dozens of new positions have been made for the people whose job it is to stay up to date with social media. Titles such as social media consultant, community manager, online reputation manager, blogger outreach manager, and even social media editor have appeared on the “wanted” lists for some of the world’s largest companies.
The New York Times recently hired their first full-time social media editor, Jennifer Preston. According to the memo sent out by the New York Times—which Preston posted on Twitter—it is in her job description to concentrate full-time on expanding the use of social media networks and publish platforms to improve New York Times journalism and deliver it to readers.
The Internet and other media outlets in general have been a threat to printed publications for some time now; however social media has made the public even more dependent on the Internet as their main source for information.
Smaller publications have had to consider expanding to social media outlets to keep up with the rising trend. “My wife and I thought we could handle producing the magazine in print with just a few other writers on staff,” said Athens local Gregory Sanders, 39, managing editor at Athens Food & Culture.
The magazine was originally started in Macon, Ga., as a free guide to local restaurants and attractions. But, through print alone, Sanders worries that his magazine may not reach the high number of college students in Athens who tend to be more computer savvy.
“Our first issue just hit stands last week, and I’m already thinking I might need to hire someone to do a Web site or blog to go along with it,” Sanders said.
With the pressure of a recession and the ever fickle supply of jobs available, the explosion of new positions in the social media scene is a breath of fresh air for many soon-to-be college grads.
“I have been so nervous about graduating next year with a degree in advertising. We’re in a recession, nobody is buying anything,” said Rhanatah Griffith, 22, a senior advertising major at the University of Georgia from Atlanta.
“But now—thanks to the whole new dimension that social media has created to advertise through—there are more job opportunities for people like me, and there is a whole new frontier to master from now until graduation,” Griffith said.
Cecil Bentley, the Director of Corporate and Alumni Relations for UGA’s Grady College recognizes the shift in advertising and publication from print to digital, and the increasing need for students to build multiplatform skills to keep up with the job market.
“Many publications only exist online, and they require social networking to remain standing,” Bentley said. “Twitter and Facebook are ways to do business, they are places of constant and ongoing networking,” he said.
Bentley also said that employers are not hiring based solely on college courses taken or degrees earned. Companies are now looking for a broad range of actual, marketable skills, like how to successfully advertise using social networking sites. Since the digital age is becoming more and more like second nature to America’s youth, employers are looking to hire from the younger demographic—those who are in the know when it comes to social media.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Spotify, Beacon for the Music Industry
By: Blakeney Spong
New music streaming Web site offers free access to millions of songs and play lists
ATHENS, Ga.-The new online “jukebox” Spotify may be the key to successfully putting the music industry at ease in this digital age. Already blazing a trail, Spotify is registering approximately 500,000 new users daily throughout Europe, according to Rolling Stone magazine.
Since the launch of iTunes in 2003, the online music mega-store has been responsible for 70 percent of all online music sales, including over 6 billion songs in its six years of operation. Despite the company’s success, it won’t be able to compete with the allure of a free product.
From Ruckus to Pandora, free music services have popped up all over the nation trying to bridge the gap between music consumers and the way they get their music, because not everyone wants to buy it (hence the trouble with piracy in the music industry). Plenty of people would rather stream music for free on their computers.
“Having music on my iPod or in my car is great, but what’s even better is having unlimited access to music that’s free,” said Lewis Brown, a Marketing major from Nashville, Tenn.
Spotify was founded in Stockholm in 2006 and launched in the UK in 2008. This online “radio station” provides a free 6 million track catalogue and as of March 2009, a clientele of over 1 million members.
Members who use Spotify can instantly access any song in the catalogue and create/share playlists with other users. Members using Spotify for free are subject to minimal amounts of advertising; however, a premium subscription is available. This level of membership costs around $14 per month and allows users full access to the catalogue ad-free, a higher sound quality, travel access and exclusive offers.
Another advantage of a premium membership is the ability to use Spotify on an iPhone. Apple recently approved a free application that allows premium users to search for new music and stream play lists from the Web site.
The partnership will be a huge asset to Spotify as far as giving consumers an incentive to buy a premium membership instead of using it for free. Although the benefits for Spotify may be easily understood, the motivations behind Apple’s support are a little unclear.
“Spotify has got so much buzz right now that it may be the next big thing, like Twitter and Facebook. It’s worked in Europe and now it’s coming over here and I’d be willing to bet that they [Apple] got a piece of it. They see the writing on the wall. They’re in the business of selling iPhones. iTunes is a big part of their revenue, but they sell iPhones,” said Bruce Burch, director of UGA’s Music Business Program.
In addition, Spotify now sells MP3 downloads as well as allowing users to just play songs. Currently, it links users to songs or albums from 7Digital (an online music store based in London), but Spotify is also negotiating with iTunes and Amazon.
In addition to creating headway for the music industry as an acceptable business model for the future, Spotify is also opening new roads on the promotion side of the music business by allowing unsigned artists to upload their music. With help from sites like http://www.dittomusic.com/ and Record Union, unknown artists can get their music directly to listeners on Spotify.
“I’ve talked to radio stations in Atlanta before and they won’t play your music unless your signed or on the top 50 on the charts. I would use it [Spotify] because any way to get your music out there when you’re unsigned is good because you need the publicity,” said Tanna Key, a 15-year-old aspiring musician from Rome, Ga.
Spotify is not yet available in the U.S because of licensing restrictions, but is expected to launch here at the beginning of next year and join several countries across Europe. According to Burch, these restrictions probably have to do with getting record labels on board.
“Getting a major record label to sign on is difficult because everybody wants to wait and make sure it’s going to work,” Burch said.
The hype about Spotify is generating a lot of interest in the U.S, especially with the recent display of support from Apple.
“It’s a really exciting time for the music industry. Anything could happen,” said Meredith McBee, a 21-year-old student senior in the Music Business Program. “Spotify’s proof of that.”
Edited by Jessica Cole
New music streaming Web site offers free access to millions of songs and play lists
ATHENS, Ga.-The new online “jukebox” Spotify may be the key to successfully putting the music industry at ease in this digital age. Already blazing a trail, Spotify is registering approximately 500,000 new users daily throughout Europe, according to Rolling Stone magazine.
Since the launch of iTunes in 2003, the online music mega-store has been responsible for 70 percent of all online music sales, including over 6 billion songs in its six years of operation. Despite the company’s success, it won’t be able to compete with the allure of a free product.
From Ruckus to Pandora, free music services have popped up all over the nation trying to bridge the gap between music consumers and the way they get their music, because not everyone wants to buy it (hence the trouble with piracy in the music industry). Plenty of people would rather stream music for free on their computers.
“Having music on my iPod or in my car is great, but what’s even better is having unlimited access to music that’s free,” said Lewis Brown, a Marketing major from Nashville, Tenn.
Spotify was founded in Stockholm in 2006 and launched in the UK in 2008. This online “radio station” provides a free 6 million track catalogue and as of March 2009, a clientele of over 1 million members.
Members who use Spotify can instantly access any song in the catalogue and create/share playlists with other users. Members using Spotify for free are subject to minimal amounts of advertising; however, a premium subscription is available. This level of membership costs around $14 per month and allows users full access to the catalogue ad-free, a higher sound quality, travel access and exclusive offers.
Another advantage of a premium membership is the ability to use Spotify on an iPhone. Apple recently approved a free application that allows premium users to search for new music and stream play lists from the Web site.
The partnership will be a huge asset to Spotify as far as giving consumers an incentive to buy a premium membership instead of using it for free. Although the benefits for Spotify may be easily understood, the motivations behind Apple’s support are a little unclear.
“Spotify has got so much buzz right now that it may be the next big thing, like Twitter and Facebook. It’s worked in Europe and now it’s coming over here and I’d be willing to bet that they [Apple] got a piece of it. They see the writing on the wall. They’re in the business of selling iPhones. iTunes is a big part of their revenue, but they sell iPhones,” said Bruce Burch, director of UGA’s Music Business Program.
In addition, Spotify now sells MP3 downloads as well as allowing users to just play songs. Currently, it links users to songs or albums from 7Digital (an online music store based in London), but Spotify is also negotiating with iTunes and Amazon.
In addition to creating headway for the music industry as an acceptable business model for the future, Spotify is also opening new roads on the promotion side of the music business by allowing unsigned artists to upload their music. With help from sites like http://www.dittomusic.com/ and Record Union, unknown artists can get their music directly to listeners on Spotify.
“I’ve talked to radio stations in Atlanta before and they won’t play your music unless your signed or on the top 50 on the charts. I would use it [Spotify] because any way to get your music out there when you’re unsigned is good because you need the publicity,” said Tanna Key, a 15-year-old aspiring musician from Rome, Ga.
Spotify is not yet available in the U.S because of licensing restrictions, but is expected to launch here at the beginning of next year and join several countries across Europe. According to Burch, these restrictions probably have to do with getting record labels on board.
“Getting a major record label to sign on is difficult because everybody wants to wait and make sure it’s going to work,” Burch said.
The hype about Spotify is generating a lot of interest in the U.S, especially with the recent display of support from Apple.
“It’s a really exciting time for the music industry. Anything could happen,” said Meredith McBee, a 21-year-old student senior in the Music Business Program. “Spotify’s proof of that.”
Edited by Jessica Cole
Athens Music Industry Adopts Twitter
Athens Music Industry Adopts Twitter
By Christopher Benton
The blank (screen) generation is all atwitter about Twitter, tweets, (hash) tags, and other jargonic miscellany associated with the “micro” blog. With its sub-text-message mantra of “140 characters or less,” Twitter is breaking down the former walls of communication and eliminating the middleman. The effect of this is clear in the music industry, which is rapidly adopting the technology for various forms of promotion. Many local members of the Athens music community are finding ways to use Twitter, too.
“I just got one,” Andrew Dykes, a solo folk artist who plays under the pseudonym Green Gerry, said. “I was hesitant to use Twitter at first, but then my friend made me one. I mostly use it so fans know what I’m up to…”
For Dykes, Twitter is not just a one-way interface with fans, but a dialogue. And while he may use Twitter to publicize himself and reach out to fans, his fans have also reached back, even sometimes helping him while on tour:
“Whenever I’m on tour, the question is, like, ‘Do I have to sleep in the car again tonight?,’ and there’s this mad search to find someone to stay with and couch-surf. But when I started posting on Twitter that I was looking for somewhere to stay in town, I’d sometimes get like 5 replies.”
Twitter may frequently be about self-promotion but sometimes, the self-promotion needs self-promotion. This need for meta-promotion is one of the service’s main drawbacks, at least, that is according to Daniel Clower, a local booker and band manager.
“When I was an intern working with social media for a PR company…we made a few [band] Twitters but the problem we had was getting people to follow. Even for our larger groups with tens of thousand of MySpace friends, we couldn’t even break a thousand on Twitter…The question was, ‘How do people know this Twitter even exists?’”
Clower tried advertising various Twitter accounts on other social media sites like MySpace and Facebook, but still to no avail.
“We quickly realized we were pushing the wrong content…publicists may run MySpace pages but when fans see a Twitter I think they want a personal connection to the band, so bands should operate their own accounts.”
While the “If you build, they will come” adage may not work in the Twitter world, there does seem to be a correlation to the amount of the “Tweets,” or posts a user makes, with the amount of people who follow.
Adrian Zelski, lead singer in the reggae band DubConscious agrees. “We have a twitter but I stopped tweeting when we got really busy and I purchased the club [New Earth Music Hall]…last time I checked, I think we had at least one thousand less followers."
Consistency may be the key, and while his band may have stopped “tweeting,” Zelski hasn’t given up experimenting with uses for the service for his other ventures. Zelski’s newly opened music venue “New Earth Music Hall,” on West Dougherty St. has a new Twitter account. So far, it’s mostly a forum for announcing shows and drink specials.
It’s not just the artists, their publicists, and the symbiotic venue system that has the Twitter bug, the publications that cover the whole thing has it too. Michelle Gilzenrat, music editor for local magazine Flagpole, has been tweeting for over a year, mostly announcing secret shows and posting local music news. The speed of Twitter’s service was especially useful this May: when the Georgia Theatre caught fire around 7 am, Gilzenrat’s Twitter was constantly updated with instantaneous news about the event, hours before Flagpole’s official site could post the same news.
Twitter may be a useful tool for music industry, but it is still just one pillar of a much more vast structure needed to promote music. Publicist Michelle Roche, who runs the local PR firm Michelle Roche Media Relations, likes the new tools offered by the Web 2.0 paradigm, but issued a warning in her address to UGA’s chapter of International Association of Business Communicators a year ago:
“Although MySpace Music, Facebook and Twitter and all these other so-called ‘social media’ tools are allowing musicians to connect directly with fans, and publicize themselves, there is still a definite need for music publicists.”
Twitter is far from the ultimate promotional tool, but it certainly has been a game changer for the music industry. And as Twitter further develops, it seems local musicians will find even newer, cooler ways to utilize the service.
By Christopher Benton
The blank (screen) generation is all atwitter about Twitter, tweets, (hash) tags, and other jargonic miscellany associated with the “micro” blog. With its sub-text-message mantra of “140 characters or less,” Twitter is breaking down the former walls of communication and eliminating the middleman. The effect of this is clear in the music industry, which is rapidly adopting the technology for various forms of promotion. Many local members of the Athens music community are finding ways to use Twitter, too.
“I just got one,” Andrew Dykes, a solo folk artist who plays under the pseudonym Green Gerry, said. “I was hesitant to use Twitter at first, but then my friend made me one. I mostly use it so fans know what I’m up to…”
For Dykes, Twitter is not just a one-way interface with fans, but a dialogue. And while he may use Twitter to publicize himself and reach out to fans, his fans have also reached back, even sometimes helping him while on tour:
“Whenever I’m on tour, the question is, like, ‘Do I have to sleep in the car again tonight?,’ and there’s this mad search to find someone to stay with and couch-surf. But when I started posting on Twitter that I was looking for somewhere to stay in town, I’d sometimes get like 5 replies.”
Twitter may frequently be about self-promotion but sometimes, the self-promotion needs self-promotion. This need for meta-promotion is one of the service’s main drawbacks, at least, that is according to Daniel Clower, a local booker and band manager.
“When I was an intern working with social media for a PR company…we made a few [band] Twitters but the problem we had was getting people to follow. Even for our larger groups with tens of thousand of MySpace friends, we couldn’t even break a thousand on Twitter…The question was, ‘How do people know this Twitter even exists?’”
Clower tried advertising various Twitter accounts on other social media sites like MySpace and Facebook, but still to no avail.
“We quickly realized we were pushing the wrong content…publicists may run MySpace pages but when fans see a Twitter I think they want a personal connection to the band, so bands should operate their own accounts.”
While the “If you build, they will come” adage may not work in the Twitter world, there does seem to be a correlation to the amount of the “Tweets,” or posts a user makes, with the amount of people who follow.
Adrian Zelski, lead singer in the reggae band DubConscious agrees. “We have a twitter but I stopped tweeting when we got really busy and I purchased the club [New Earth Music Hall]…last time I checked, I think we had at least one thousand less followers."
Consistency may be the key, and while his band may have stopped “tweeting,” Zelski hasn’t given up experimenting with uses for the service for his other ventures. Zelski’s newly opened music venue “New Earth Music Hall,” on West Dougherty St. has a new Twitter account. So far, it’s mostly a forum for announcing shows and drink specials.
It’s not just the artists, their publicists, and the symbiotic venue system that has the Twitter bug, the publications that cover the whole thing has it too. Michelle Gilzenrat, music editor for local magazine Flagpole, has been tweeting for over a year, mostly announcing secret shows and posting local music news. The speed of Twitter’s service was especially useful this May: when the Georgia Theatre caught fire around 7 am, Gilzenrat’s Twitter was constantly updated with instantaneous news about the event, hours before Flagpole’s official site could post the same news.
Twitter may be a useful tool for music industry, but it is still just one pillar of a much more vast structure needed to promote music. Publicist Michelle Roche, who runs the local PR firm Michelle Roche Media Relations, likes the new tools offered by the Web 2.0 paradigm, but issued a warning in her address to UGA’s chapter of International Association of Business Communicators a year ago:
“Although MySpace Music, Facebook and Twitter and all these other so-called ‘social media’ tools are allowing musicians to connect directly with fans, and publicize themselves, there is still a definite need for music publicists.”
Twitter is far from the ultimate promotional tool, but it certainly has been a game changer for the music industry. And as Twitter further develops, it seems local musicians will find even newer, cooler ways to utilize the service.
The Concert Experience -The 3D industry tries to tackle live music events
An environmental economics major at the University of Georgia spent $12.50 on what could have cost over a hundred dollars to see her favorite band.
Two summers ago, Roxanne DeMarco, 19, went to see “U2: 3D.” She admitted she idolizes Bono and was grateful for the chance to avoid the insane ticket prices to see her favorite band play a concert in South Africa. She got to experience this while sitting in the Washington D.C. Museum of Natural History.
“It felt like I was really there,” she said. “I was rockin’ out in my chair.”
A 3D concert is a recorded concert of a band that is released across the country in movie theaters to try and convey a “live performance.” Filming events in 3D was intended to be an inexpensive and effective way for fans to see concerts and sports.
The first major band to try it was U2 in 2008. “U2:3D” spent 586 days in almost 700 theaters worldwide. It was followed by “Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds” and “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience.”
“The bands that make these are giant powerhouses that are making even more money for already very well off bands,” said Bruce Birch, the director of UGA’s Music Business Program. “But they are a way for a band to reach an audience who might not be able to afford a live concert ticket.”
These 3D music experiences, however, have struggled to find a mass audience. “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience” ran for 35 days in theaters and only made $23 million worldwide. On their World Tour 2009, the brothers have already made almost double that in just the first 2 months of touring. The tour ends on Nov. 26.
“3D concerts released in movie theaters are gimmicks pissing on the true art of making a movie,” said Alec Wooden, executive editor of Athens Blur Magazine, a local music magazine.
Nathan Bach, member of unsigned Dear Savannah respects the art, but doesn’t think it can replace the real experience.
“Technology will never be able to replicate what a live show can do,” he said.
Compared to the profit made by 3D concerts, animated 3D movies’ have a much better track record when it comes to profit and audience satisfaction, according to one UGA alumni.
“Everyone loves movies that Pixar makes in 3D,” said Rebekah Madebach, who majored in Management in Terry College of Business. “I can’t wait for ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to come out.”
The 3D film “UP” made over $400 million worldwide, and the smaller budgeted horror film, “My Bloody Valentine 3D”, made over $93 million. In the 3D “sports world”, ESPN tried to broadcast NFL Network's presentation of Oakland at San Diego last fall in 3D to a not so agreeable response.
“I tried to sit through it, but couldn’t,” said DeMarco. “But the boys seem to enjoy seeing the continuous shots of the cheerleaders in 3D.”
ESPN is tried their second attempt on Saturday, Sept. 12, to a much better reaction. The University of Southern California vs. Ohio State was shown in USC's Galen Center on Saturday and simultaneously at venues in Columbus, Ohio, and Dallas.
Josh Miller, art history major at USC, can’t afford football tickets, but was able to see the game at the Galen Center.
“The coolest part was watching the punt return,” he said. “It made me realize how scary it is to have 11 guys running at you, ready to basically kill you.”
The 3D industry is growing, and it seems that every type of event will eventually try it, even if they don't make a large profit. The economy right now is forcing businesses to try any cheaper way possible to make money, and 3D concerts or events are no exception.
“This Is It”, a film about Michael Jackson with behind-the-scenes and rehearsal footage will be the next film to feature digital 3D music sequences. It is scheduled to be released Oct. 30.
edited by Kristin
Two summers ago, Roxanne DeMarco, 19, went to see “U2: 3D.” She admitted she idolizes Bono and was grateful for the chance to avoid the insane ticket prices to see her favorite band play a concert in South Africa. She got to experience this while sitting in the Washington D.C. Museum of Natural History.
“It felt like I was really there,” she said. “I was rockin’ out in my chair.”
A 3D concert is a recorded concert of a band that is released across the country in movie theaters to try and convey a “live performance.” Filming events in 3D was intended to be an inexpensive and effective way for fans to see concerts and sports.
The first major band to try it was U2 in 2008. “U2:3D” spent 586 days in almost 700 theaters worldwide. It was followed by “Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds” and “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience.”
“The bands that make these are giant powerhouses that are making even more money for already very well off bands,” said Bruce Birch, the director of UGA’s Music Business Program. “But they are a way for a band to reach an audience who might not be able to afford a live concert ticket.”
These 3D music experiences, however, have struggled to find a mass audience. “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience” ran for 35 days in theaters and only made $23 million worldwide. On their World Tour 2009, the brothers have already made almost double that in just the first 2 months of touring. The tour ends on Nov. 26.
“3D concerts released in movie theaters are gimmicks pissing on the true art of making a movie,” said Alec Wooden, executive editor of Athens Blur Magazine, a local music magazine.
Nathan Bach, member of unsigned Dear Savannah respects the art, but doesn’t think it can replace the real experience.
“Technology will never be able to replicate what a live show can do,” he said.
Compared to the profit made by 3D concerts, animated 3D movies’ have a much better track record when it comes to profit and audience satisfaction, according to one UGA alumni.
“Everyone loves movies that Pixar makes in 3D,” said Rebekah Madebach, who majored in Management in Terry College of Business. “I can’t wait for ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to come out.”
The 3D film “UP” made over $400 million worldwide, and the smaller budgeted horror film, “My Bloody Valentine 3D”, made over $93 million. In the 3D “sports world”, ESPN tried to broadcast NFL Network's presentation of Oakland at San Diego last fall in 3D to a not so agreeable response.
“I tried to sit through it, but couldn’t,” said DeMarco. “But the boys seem to enjoy seeing the continuous shots of the cheerleaders in 3D.”
ESPN is tried their second attempt on Saturday, Sept. 12, to a much better reaction. The University of Southern California vs. Ohio State was shown in USC's Galen Center on Saturday and simultaneously at venues in Columbus, Ohio, and Dallas.
Josh Miller, art history major at USC, can’t afford football tickets, but was able to see the game at the Galen Center.
“The coolest part was watching the punt return,” he said. “It made me realize how scary it is to have 11 guys running at you, ready to basically kill you.”
The 3D industry is growing, and it seems that every type of event will eventually try it, even if they don't make a large profit. The economy right now is forcing businesses to try any cheaper way possible to make money, and 3D concerts or events are no exception.
“This Is It”, a film about Michael Jackson with behind-the-scenes and rehearsal footage will be the next film to feature digital 3D music sequences. It is scheduled to be released Oct. 30.
edited by Kristin
Social Media Goes Academic
By Kristen Luca
Facebook may soon be coming to a classroom near you.
Or at least one of its companions in the social media market may be. Services like Facebook, Twitter, and del.icio.us are not going unnoticed on college campuses. Two University of Georgia professors have decided to work with those services in their classrooms.
Karen Russell, associate professor at Grady College, uses several social media platforms in her courses.
“Since I teach PR and social media is important ... I try to expose them all to social media,” Russell said.
She connects with her students through del.icio.us, a social bookmarking Web site. Russell assigns her course readings through the service, which is a place for Internet users to share and distribute links.
While Russell uses delicious, Scott Shamp, director of the New Media Institute at UGA, utilizes Facebook, a popular social network for college students. Facebook is another popular social networking Web site, which allows users to make profiles and create groups based on interests. Students are required to have a account to join the class Facebook group, which is used to send out readings, answer student questions, and deliver assignments. Shamp could not be reached for comment, but his teaching assistant Cindy Reynolds spoke on the use of Facebook in teaching the “Introduction to New Media” course.
“Some of them didn’t want to join,” Reynolds said, “but we made them. It’s a New Media course and they need to use new media.”
Facebook facilitates class communication for her course. For instance, according to Reynolds, she gets asked the same questions by students repeatedly, and the Facebook group cuts down on the time spent answering them by allowing her to answer the question once.
Facebook is not the only option for classrooms. In addition to del.icio.us, Karen Russell uses Twitter. “My favorite by far is Twitter. [My students] will tell you I’m addicted to it,” she said.
Twitter is a microblogging service allowing users to update their page with messages of 140 characters or less. Users can choose to receive updates, called “tweets,” from other accounts, as well as reply to tweets and hold conversations.
Russell uses Twitter to communicate with her students. “I could do the same thing by e-mail,” she said, “but doing it by Twitter forces them to use it.”
Russell said that social media allows her to connect to students on a more personal level, since her students often use their Twitter accounts to comment on their personal lives. She said that the technology gives her the ability to get to know students in a different way.
However, some are resistant to the idea. Ricky Contes, a third-year English major, said he would be uncomfortable if a professor required him to use social media for class. Even with services like Twitter, which do not offer as many potentially personal details as Facebook, he said he would object to their use in a classroom setting. Contes also said that if social media and academics were combined, “I would never get anything done.”
When Russell first started using Twitter for class, in the summer of 2008, students’ reactions were similar to Contes’s. “Let me tell you,” she said, “at first they hated it.”
This semester, however, her students have been more agreeable. The Web site’s popularity has reached the point where her students already have accounts before coming to class and she has received positive feedback about it. She also uses other Web sites like PROpenMic, an online community for PR students, educators, and professionals.
A student who has not used social media in class before seemed to reflect that attitude. Katie Wyke, a fourth-year English major, said that she would enjoy using social media for coursework.
“It’d be easy to get on it. I’m on it anyway sometimes,” said Wyke.
While social media have become more popular, convenience and a personal quality have now extended that reach to desks in UGA classrooms.
Edited by: Christopher
Facebook may soon be coming to a classroom near you.
Or at least one of its companions in the social media market may be. Services like Facebook, Twitter, and del.icio.us are not going unnoticed on college campuses. Two University of Georgia professors have decided to work with those services in their classrooms.
Karen Russell, associate professor at Grady College, uses several social media platforms in her courses.
“Since I teach PR and social media is important ... I try to expose them all to social media,” Russell said.
She connects with her students through del.icio.us, a social bookmarking Web site. Russell assigns her course readings through the service, which is a place for Internet users to share and distribute links.
While Russell uses delicious, Scott Shamp, director of the New Media Institute at UGA, utilizes Facebook, a popular social network for college students. Facebook is another popular social networking Web site, which allows users to make profiles and create groups based on interests. Students are required to have a account to join the class Facebook group, which is used to send out readings, answer student questions, and deliver assignments. Shamp could not be reached for comment, but his teaching assistant Cindy Reynolds spoke on the use of Facebook in teaching the “Introduction to New Media” course.
“Some of them didn’t want to join,” Reynolds said, “but we made them. It’s a New Media course and they need to use new media.”
Facebook facilitates class communication for her course. For instance, according to Reynolds, she gets asked the same questions by students repeatedly, and the Facebook group cuts down on the time spent answering them by allowing her to answer the question once.
Facebook is not the only option for classrooms. In addition to del.icio.us, Karen Russell uses Twitter. “My favorite by far is Twitter. [My students] will tell you I’m addicted to it,” she said.
Twitter is a microblogging service allowing users to update their page with messages of 140 characters or less. Users can choose to receive updates, called “tweets,” from other accounts, as well as reply to tweets and hold conversations.
Russell uses Twitter to communicate with her students. “I could do the same thing by e-mail,” she said, “but doing it by Twitter forces them to use it.”
Russell said that social media allows her to connect to students on a more personal level, since her students often use their Twitter accounts to comment on their personal lives. She said that the technology gives her the ability to get to know students in a different way.
However, some are resistant to the idea. Ricky Contes, a third-year English major, said he would be uncomfortable if a professor required him to use social media for class. Even with services like Twitter, which do not offer as many potentially personal details as Facebook, he said he would object to their use in a classroom setting. Contes also said that if social media and academics were combined, “I would never get anything done.”
When Russell first started using Twitter for class, in the summer of 2008, students’ reactions were similar to Contes’s. “Let me tell you,” she said, “at first they hated it.”
This semester, however, her students have been more agreeable. The Web site’s popularity has reached the point where her students already have accounts before coming to class and she has received positive feedback about it. She also uses other Web sites like PROpenMic, an online community for PR students, educators, and professionals.
A student who has not used social media in class before seemed to reflect that attitude. Katie Wyke, a fourth-year English major, said that she would enjoy using social media for coursework.
“It’d be easy to get on it. I’m on it anyway sometimes,” said Wyke.
While social media have become more popular, convenience and a personal quality have now extended that reach to desks in UGA classrooms.
Edited by: Christopher
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