Final Blog

When coming to this class I thought I knew something about journalism and citizen journalism and everything else we were going to talk about but I really had no clue. I knew what journalism was but was unclear about citizen journalism, I never heard it. As for blogging I heard of it and knew what it was but had never done it.

Through reading the book and the articles that we were given I have learned that citizen journalism is a lot of hard work and time it took to get the stories. I have learned that you need to back your sources and the more proof you have the better off you are. The examples that Professor Bekken has talked about helped me understand what citizen journalism really is. The thing I remember most from the readings is the “potter wars.” All of the confrontation over something that seemed so simple but to some it was a very big deal. I did enjoy the book because he talked as if he was blogging and not writing a book. It made it more interesting to read.

The technology as the hardest part of the whole class, the use of the camcorders and voice recorders will be a huge help in the real world. Since the real world is depending on technology this class helped prepare me for the use of technology and able to edit it. Being in college I thought it was a good idea that we covered issues about Albright. Having people, like any professor that read the blog, respond to the blog I think will help Albright in the future. The topics presented are situation that students feel very strong about and hopefully it will benefit Albright.

When we had to critique someone else blogs and podcasts, I was a little nervous because I did not want to be mean in my opinion and have someone get mad at me. The way that Professor Rakus made us write the critique and not write our names I thought it was very smart and enjoyed doing it. I believe it really helped out to get a students opinion on what they thought. We had many responsibilities and that is what it is like in the real world, so in that sense it was good. I found every topic that we all picked were good topics because we were not assigned it, we had the freedom to make our own choice in what we found interesting.

Blogging, I do not care what anyone says, is a form of journalism. People that do it may not have a masters is journalism or communication but it is a form of journalism in the sense there is research behind it and write it. If they are blogging about something the bloggers must research what they are talking about. If it was not for bloggers society would not be able it state their opinions in a fast, non-formal way.