My Reflection

Before taking this class I knew little to nothing about citizen journalism and blogging. Other than a few other blogs on which I’ve written, I never knew of the all the capabilities that a blog could have, such as an audio or video portion. The other blogs I took part in were never for anything else but for enjoyment, the thought that anyone else would read it never crossed our minds, but I now know that blogs and citizen journalists can write or create a work which can change things.
Through this class I’ve learned that blogging and citizen journalism takes on many forms than those we’ve created in our minds. Things like spoilers, democratic campaigns, and even unpublished news all take place on blogs and are done by citizen journalists. This class has really opened my eyes to the possibility that blogs can serve a higher purpose than just posting your things on the internet. The readings that we had to do for this class really wanted to take blogging out of the stereotype that it really isn’t that important. The author used many examples which encompassed a lot of the movements, campaigns, and news stories which began because of a blog or a story written by an average person. After seeing all these examples I do agree that people should not count out citizen journalism, it could be the way of the future.
The hands-on portion of this class was the hardest part, by far. I’ve had good experience with the technological equipment needed each component to complete my projects I found each project easier and easier the more frequently I did them. Most of my interviews with people have been pleasant, and most of the Albright faculty made themselves available for my needs. There have been some ruffled feathers because of some of the projects that I did, but I never received any problems from any of my interviewees. The class critiques were the hardest part of this class for me. For this portion of the class we had to go to sites, or review a work and evaluate it on a given criteria. Critiques were the hardest part for me because for some of them we did not have anything to grade each one on, and when we did have the criteria, the body of my work was very offhanded and unstructured trying to hit every question. Blogging in this format, about the college, there is a responsibility that comes along with it, you can’t just post anything you want because people will be reading it. After interviewing people it’s very important that you represent them in the way they actually answer the questions you ask, and it is required that you give everyone involved in the story a voice to speak on the situation.
I believe that in this state we’re in, where print journalism is going through a transition and many don’t trust their news anchors, citizen journalism has become a crucial part of communication. I believe that anyone can be a journalist in this day, it all comes down to what journalism is. Journalism is writing that reflects superficial thought and research, which is exactly what we’re doing. For this class every writer on this blog became a journalist when we began to write about subjects that required research and digging up. This class helped me see that a reporter is more than what we perceive as a journalist, it’s someone who executes the story in the way which it needs to be told, which I felt we did, and what every blogger does when he/she does a story that involves more than just themselves.
in this class, for the most part they were readily available at the Gingrich Library. After getting the hang of each camera, digital voice recorder, and the software needed, and after shown how to use