To start of this blog, I just wanted to show you how careless and poor work quality there is in this school. Are this the type of people you want to hire for your company?

Editing Fail

Where’s the proofreading in this? Don’t the editors at least read the whole newspaper before having it printed? Are they that lazy and stupid? If this was a newspaper circulating in the city; how many millions would of copies would be recalled and how many millions would the company have lost? To those Philippine newspapers I hope you see this. Make sure you don’t higher any of these guys. Its startling how they did not even see that the Micro Hydro Solar article is exactly the same as the Telemed. Even the Oilgae is wrong, its actually about the Micro Hydro Solar article. This is just plain rubbish!

This post is actually a rather long reply to a question about flash photography in a heritage forum Midland Heritage, so it may read a little strangely.

Blimey now this is a big can of worms. Firstly I would really recommend the strobist blog as an excellent resource lighting 101 this will take you straight to the first page of their (rather long) lighting tutorial which will give you all the info you could possibly want.

One way to use these flashes  is  to fill shadows   when you are lighting a dark dingy room, I would suggest that a set of triggers is a good first purchase for this and will help immensely, especially if you havent got any of the shiny flashes that will trigger wirelessly.

I always find it easier to work from an example and I quite like this one as it is not immediately apparent that I have used a lot of flash.

I have just used the one unit which has been placed just behind the door on the left and bounced off a silver reflector (though the wall would also work).

The reason I needed to light this was that the difference between the sunlight streaming down the stairs and the door which was deep in shadow and rather gloomy, so I metered for the stairs and used a process of trial and error to find the correct fill.

With this shot there is some evidence that I may have used a flash, first the colour of the light is different, cool the side where I have used the flash and warm on the other where the sunlight is coming down the stairs. Secondly the light is concentrated at the bottom of the door which is a giveaway that a small light source has been used (firing two or more flashes through a diffuser or large bedsheet may have helped lessen this but it is not really the most practical or portable of solutions).

I will often use a flash to highlight a section of detail aswell, this shot is the usual long exposure on a tripod which people are used to 1.3 seconds at iso 100 and an aperture of f13. the flash here is lighting the foreground and bringing detail to the “thing” at the front.

In this shot the flash would have been firing at quite a high power despite the long exposure, this is due to the aperture being so small and the way that flash lights a picture.

Put simply the flash only cares about aperture as the burst of light is emitted for roughly 1/10000 sec, only one burst is emitted during a normal exposure so it doesnt matter what the shutter speed is to the flash.

Having said this the ambient light obviously cares about both so in a long exposure the flash may not appear as evident but this is only due to the natural light taking over as the dominant light source and stifling the light from the flash.

Going back to the picture the flash is very evident here because the area it is lighting is in shadow allowing the flash to be the dominant source of light, it needed the high power to allow enough light to hit the sensor through a small hole in a very short space of time.

This was the part of flash photography I always struggled with but the best way is really to experiment.

Another way I will often use flash like this is to kill all the ambient light in a room and allow the flash to light the scene on its own.

The geek info for this image is: 1/250 sec at f10.

It would make sense for me to increase the shutter speed further to something like 1/1000 as this would allow me to reduce the aperture and put less strain on the flash units, however the flash will not sync at this speed 1/250 being the maximum on my camera. So I am stuck with f10 which isnt so bad as it allows me to keep everything nice and sharp.

Without the flash the frame is black, the little detail you can see on the background is due to spill from the lights

To light the picture I used two lights, one on a stand right in front of where the model was jumping at around chest hight on the model. This flash was zoomed in towards the model as I wanted to concentrate the beam of light on her (this also reduces the power needed as more light goes where you want it) doing this makes the beam harder and narrower and is a great way to bring attention to a specific point in an image.

The second light was low down right below the camera and bounced off a silver reflector, this light was as wide as I could make it and lower power than the first as I wanted a soft light just to fill the shadows left by the main beam (it is also this light that caused the spill).

The only problem with lighting this way is you are forced to blend the light, filling any unexpected shadows and keeping the light from becoming a distraction.

You are not restricted to darkness for these techniques either and they can be a viable and interesting alternative to a HDR image. This shot was exposed for the sky on a bright day with the sun at my 5 o’clock. This caused the top of the Helicopter to be exposed, but left the detail at the bottom dark and in the shadow. To counter this I used two lights one either side of the helicopter (my 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock), these lights were used to give the bottom of the helicopter a little more exposure than the light hitting the top, bringing your focus to the front of the helicopter and giving the picture more impact than a normal exposre could allow.

I hope this has been somewhat useful to some people, and sorry about the length, this is a technique I use in most of my images at work and while it may take some getting used to, once you have an idea about what the light will do it becomes a very powerful tool that can be set up quickly and easily

A note on my kit: All the above were taken with a Fuji S5 Pro, a Nikon 17-35mm f2.8 lens and one or two nikon speedlights. I use an old Sb26 connected to a trigger and an sb800 which fires wirelessly when it detects the light from the first flash (or any other flash for that matter) my bag also contains a silver/gold reflector and a cheepo Jessops tripod which I use as a stand. All fairly cheap and most importantly very portable

I regularly put images using this technique on my Flickr page and include a brief description of the lighting used.

Sorry I missed yesterday’s newspaper. We had to leave early for Thanksgiving. But there’s a lot to do today. The newspaper is bursting of stuff to come! Who knew that for once it would be this way?

The recent “chill” on the island has gotten the island excited. To celebrate winter’s coming, the Ski Village is hosting a Snow Maze for members!

Coins for Change will be coming back on Dec. 10th! Get your bells out and get ready to help!

There are a lot of things going on today, but what about everything else?

OKAY! Putting yesterday aside, now for today’s news!  The snow maze has started, but before you go, take a lift up to the Ski Hill. There’s a free blue touge there, and a new sledding catalog!

Pretty sweet, but not as sweet as the snow maze! Head back down to the Ski Village and jump into the maze! If you want to cheat or are really lost, there’s a stand besides the maze entrance that shows you the right way to go! Just click on it and the red button and this map appears.

Take a few twists and turns.. uhm.. wait was it this way? No this way. Ah! Here we are! The end of the maze!

Go inside the strange cave with strange *hint* footprints outside and pick up a Yeti outfit!

…….I feel like this was planned… *murmur murmur* Oh! Sorry. Ignore me. =^_^=”‘

After you leave the maze, go to the sport shop. There’s a new catalog for you to look at. I really think the green team is becoming popular..

…..Yay GREEN! AND BLUE!
Uh yeah…

Anyways, there’s only three secrets in this one. The green hockey outfit, hidden in the cheering green penguin, the green goaly outfit, hidden in another cheering green penguin, and the white pom-poms, hidden in the word, “ice”.

Is there anything I’m forgetting… Oh! Yes! On the walls of the Fire Dojo are now instructions and the legend, like in the regular dojo.

And another thing Club Penguin forgot to announce! We have new music in our igloos!

Until next time,

Waddle on and discover new adventures!

Bubblegum423

There hasn’t been any “copying and pasting of news” this week – it’s been a busy one with a lot of deadlines. It’ll return come Monday. I also went to the launch on Baker Street last night of Trading Places, a new book by award-winning photographer and all-round good chap Steve Bloom. Also my dad. So that’s why posts have been scant: but it’s Friday, so I thought I’d cheer you all up with a few tips on how to survive the Christmas do…

The Christmas party: that perfect time to let your hair down and throw your reputation to the winds. What other time of year can you mock your boss, flirt with your co-workers and dance in your knickers, all at once?

But as legions of office drones know, that opportunity comes with a priceless hangover.

A good story was told by Adam, of High Street, Cardiff city centre. Things went wrong at his old job when fire fighters got more than they bargained for in a call-out.

Adam said: “My old work, a now-defunct bank, had a Christmas party in the office in 2003. There was a buffet, an awards ceremony for the year’s work, and karaoke machine, with added smoke machine.

“So the party was in full swing, people singing, people dancing and the smoke machine smoking. After about two hours of this, some men dressed in fireman outfits arrived at the office. Some of the female staff – including managers – assumed these were strippers.

“They started, well, gyrating around the men, trying to take off their ‘outfits’. The thing is though, they were actual firemen: the smoke machine had set the alarms off.

“Not surprisingly, that was the last Christmas party we were given in that office.”

So how does the humble worker bee prevent getting into pickles like these? Here are some ideas. Which type are you?

FOR THE NEW GUY

You have got to be extra-careful. For you have just entered a parallel world, in which your every move will be scrutinised to fit with the ‘banter’ of man-all-man employees who’ve been spending longer with each other than their wives for several decades.

So if you’ve been waiting for that perfect time to share your secret love of musicals, discuss French theatre, come out as gay or, worse, as a vegan, your first Christmas party isn’t it.

And beware, because it will seem like a good idea when you’re nine pints down and standing on the table without trousers or dignity.

Instead the best policy is cower in the corner, if possible with other trainees, and talk about ludicrously safe subjects.

Think along the lines of cars, ties (not shoes), bitter (not lager) and possibly politics, but make sure you tow the standard line: “Just how bad is that Gordon Brown?” Or you could stick to the ergonomic management keyboard:

FOR THE NEW GIRL

You’re over here. The punch is over there. In the middle is overweight Gwyn from accounts who always puts himself deliberately between you and the photocopier so you have to squeeze past.

This should be as good a hint as any not to drink anything. You’re young, fresh-faced, intelligent and unknown to you most people in the office are competing to be you, or worse, especially in Gwyn’s case.

So if they get you drunk, you’ll slowly turn into them: following the downward course until spring, when someone even younger and prettier comes in and sure enough, you want to be her.

Or, worse, you’ll canoodle in the corner with lovestruck Gwyn who, come 2010, will make sure he’s not only blocking the photocopier, but also the vending machine, water cooler and door.

But you’ve not got the same option as the New Guy. You can’t lurk in the corner with the fairer sex and a G&T, because unlike office guys, who mumble into their pints and keep eyes on ties, office girls will make sure they’re heard.

So it’s a no-go, especially if they have any gossip on Gwyn. The best bet is to flirt briefly with everything in the room – and walk away with your head held high.

FOR THE SAD HACK IN THE CORNER

You’re the only person older than the boss, so to rub in the fact you didn’t succeed even more you’ll be asked to toast him/her. If you’re sober, this will be an excellent exercise in brown-nosing. If you’re not, it’ll be an exercise in damage limitation.

You will be inclined to make a cruel joke. Do not bend to this temptation. It will probably come out wrong, meaning after 26 years of the same old story at the office do, you’ll be repeating yourself again in the new year. Someone else will get that promotion, and you’ll be stuck counting down the days on your free calendar to the next party.

You’ll also be inclined to do your famous boss-impression. Unfortunately, its fame is probably due to an in-joke among your younger colleagues, and isn’t actually funny. Plus, impressions at office dos are seldom better than that dance Ricky Gervais did in The Office. Often, they’re worse.

So don’t do it. And especially, please, don’t try and impersonate Ricky Gervais. Just no.

FOR THE BOSS

Finally, if you’re the boss and you’ve not been told about the office party, it could be a surprise do for you.

Be prepared to walk through that door after ‘urgent business’ calls you in to be greeted with party poppers and bubbly by the whole staff. By the time they’ve finished stroking your ego you won’t be able to get your head through the door.

But it more likely means you’ve not been invited.

So a word of caution: have a good think about how well-liked you are. Do you bend, bad breath and all, over the hunched shoulders of your well-meaning employees and whine you-could-probably-do-this advice in their ears?

Do you give motivational speeches standing on tables where you use star-charts and words like “self-fulfilment”? Do you keep everyone on past 5.30pm in the name of “building a community spirit”?

If any of these things apply to you, you are probably one of those Hated Bosses you’ve heard so much about. Your best bet would be to stay at home with your kids. They’re too young to realise how irritating you are yet.

Snag is many of us don’t even see any wrong-doing in employing  child labour for household work.  And many who have a chokra or mundu in residence believe they are  doing the  unfortunate children and their parents  a huge favour by  giving them a livelihood.  Children in household jobs are,  in most cases,  brought from the employer’s native village with the consent of  their parents.

In  a few cases a  faithful boy from the village comes with a bride in the family, as part of  the ‘dowry’ she brings. Our movies glorify  child labour by portraying the leading man in a family drama as someone who came into the family as chokra . Viewed in the light of the middle-class indifference to the issue and  the domestic compulsions of parents who send their children out to  work in cities,  The Hindu report makes refreashing reading.  According to the report,  it was the Mangalore media that first took it  up with the authorities.  The newspaper not only played the story on  Page One, it also identified the  wrong-doers -  a  local businessman and a doctor couple.  Whether or not they get punished under the  law such negative publicity may well be deterrent  to others in their social circle.

I read the Metro newspaper on pretty much, a daily basis. Before anyone reminds me I know it is a FREE paper so I shouldn’t complain about it, but it has annoyed me too much now and I feel I must rant!

The gaming and movie reviews SUCK!

I don’t mean the final scoring of a review, I pay little attention to this bit anyway. What I mean is; What a pile of gibberish, its like they copied a review from a pre-release one, that another gaming/movie website, already produced a month earlier. There is no indication the reviewer has even played the game or watched the movie and this does my nut!

Again, I know it is free but it would be a much better free paper if they either wrote a real review or just “cut the chuff” out of it altogether! Arrrrhhhhh.

Okay, rant over.

*Jakarta Globe, 11 December 2008

In the far corner of a house in Cimanggis, 40 kilometers from Central Jakarta, a boy walks by, pushing an empty wheelchair.
His gait is rather strange, his legs twisted at odd angles. He walks carefully, relying more on the wheelchair than pushing it. The quietness is sporadically shattered by screams. Short and high in pitch, like a frustrated toddler grappling for words that refuse to form.
In its sprawling compound on the main road of Jalan Raya Bogor, Wisma Tuna Ganda houses 30 children and adults with various forms of cerebral palsy and autism.
Most have lived here since they were toddlers. Fifty percent are over the age of 30; the oldest is 40.
Kristanti, the deputy head of Wisma Tuna Ganda, explains: “We treat residents for a maximum of 20 years, but some stay longer because their families are hesitant to take them back or have abandoned them completely. Where else can they go? So they become our responsibility.”
In a bright room with open windows, residents sit on safety chairs playing with colorful sets of shapes.
Most stare emptily into space, saliva dribbling from their lips.
Rusdi, the only one with coherent speech, answers in a slurred voice when asked his age and the name of his father.
Blind, the 36-year-old holds a forefinger to his left ear whenever he speaks, as if straining to hear.
The institution does not provide residents with a formal education.
“It is enough to teach them how to interact, understand who they are, and daily survival skills like putting on clothes and feeding themselves,” Kristanti says.
A caretaker is teaching Icha, the youngest resident, how to play with blocks. She does not look like she was born with a defect. But she is autistic and has yet to walk or speak at 3 years of age.
“She responds to her own name,” says Kristanti with a smile, “which means at least she understands who she is.”
Polo shirts, T-shirts, shorts and pants hang in the garden in neat rows under the morning sun. A man sits at the end of the hall, his legs crossed, eyes closed, swishing his head from left to right. There is a big grin on his face. On approach, gray hairs can be seen on his head.
“Fikri is one of the older ones. He is mobile but blind,” says Kristanti as she rubs Fikri’s head. At times his hands flutter up, as if playing  an imaginary piano. “They live in their own world,” Kristanti adds.
Neat white tiles dominate the physiotherapy room where chaos reigns. The floor is littered with bodies, prone and writhing. Three caretakers in dusky pink uniforms heave a child up and strap her to a standing frame. To the left, two children hang on frames like forgotten puppets; their legs and arms bound to splints of padded steel to keep them from stiffening and bending. The children wear heavy orthopedic shoes so they will not develop flat feet or curling toes. They are strapped to boards with cloth straps, hands hanging limply above their heads. For an hour they rest that way to straighten their muscles and practice standing.

“At first, they were angry and would struggle against it,” says Rita Komala who has been a physiotherapist and caretaker for 11 years. “But now they have gotten used to it and some can fall asleep.”
The room is clean and the physiotherapy equipment new —a  noticeable difference from the past when there was an absence of generous donors. Prior to funding, treatment was not maximal due to the high cost of equipment for therapy.
“Shoes for preventing flat feet cost Rp 2 million,” comments Rita.
It is hard to tell the boys from the girls, or the men from the women. Everyone has short hair, cut off for convenience, and wears a T-shirt and pants. Their names are written in permanent marker on their clothing. Rizka, on the middle standing frame, flashes a big grin. She has sharp features, like a bird.
A commotion occurs in the middle of the floor. Ribs jutting out of his thin skin, a tall teenage boy is being undressed by caretakers. He has relieved himself in his pants and they are removing his adult pampers. They turn him over to powder him; his pelvic bones are visible.
One caretaker squeals upon seeing his erection. The 17-year-old’s pimply face remains expressionless. The caretakers laugh off the incident, quickly dressing him and strapping him to a chair. A napkin is placed under his chin like a bib.
“He leaks at both ends,” jokes a caretaker. “Like a tap,” says another.
A caretaker takes hold of another child and sits her down on a padded wooden seat. “They have to learn to sit,” says  Kristanti, “so their spines can be trained.”
“Susan,” she says pointing to a child with painfully thin and distorted limbs who is lying on her back, “cannot be trained to stand because her legs have become too spastic. If we force it, her legs will break.”

Lying stiff on the corner of a thin foam mattress, Vivi, in lollypop-pink stripes, blinks her large eyes and grunts. She wears splints, except on her right arm which was injured in a wheelchair accident.
“When Vivi was born, she was a healthy baby who had the chance to run and speak,” says Rita. She succumbed to cerebral palsy at 18 months.

Once everyone is strapped into standing positions, seated or stretched straight on the mat, the room falls quiet. Sounds from a soap opera blare from a television set. No one pays attention to it. The caretakers sit around the room and joke with one another.
Renni, who has regularly visited the home since 1993, comes bearing snacks. Renni went to physiotherapy school with Rita and is a freelancer now. She comes to volunteer for a few hours every week and says she feels something is missing when she does not.
“How are you, Ika?” she says as she high-fives Rizka, whose hands are tied above her head.
The 17-year-old beams beautifully, her mouth filed with sharp, black stumps that were once teeth. To her left, a plump girl grunts, laughs and shakes her head.
The caretakers crowd around Renni and eat her offerings.
“Rizka was so pretty when she was younger,” recounts Rennie. “But once she started menstruating, and through lack of care, her teeth have gone bad.”
Popping a peanut into her mouth, a caretaker speaks of Nano, who was left in a dumpster in Ancol, North Jakarta, when he was 5.
“He will always yell for food if he sees any,” she laughs. Nano is now 22.
“Many parents just leave them,” says Kristanti. “Some move houses without telling us their new address. Most never ask about their children. Sometimes when we feel a child needs their parents, we even pay for the parents to come here.”
An hour later more children are carried into the physiotherapy room. These are the ones who have finished their lessons next door. The caretakers busy themselves by massaging baby oil onto the atrophied limbs of the newcomers and joke with the children. Rizka and her two friends are released from their standing frames and left to roam the floor, their leg splints still attached. Little yelps and mini-screams are heard around the room. It is hard to tell whether the children are expressing pain, boredom or pleasure.
Rita and Rennie dote on Icha, their backs to Vivi in the corner. Vivi’s forehead turns lobster-red when she wails.
“Leave her, she is only seeking attention,” says Renni.

“Icha is cute so everyone hugs her and plays with her,” says a caretaker. “No one hugs Vivi.”

Vivi’s cries eventually brings a caretaker over to remove her splints. Once freed, her left arm bends inward and hardens. Her legs jerk shut. With emaciated limbs she resembles a sparrow with broken wings.
“They cannot move so their muscles athropy, their limbs getting smaller and smaller,” Renni explains.
Rizka, seeing the snacks near the mat, pulls her body along with her arms to take a crisp. She chews quietly. Crumbs fall.
Icha, the smallest, strapped to one of the standing boards, hangs like a cartoon character with her upright ponytail shooting out of the top of her head. Slightly cross-eyed she has a look of constant awe. She smiles and laughs at a caretaker who sits and dangles a camera phone in front of her.

Dani, an apple-cheeked girl with gorgeous dark eyes that disappear when she smiles, bangs her body against the standing frame next to Icha’s. Beside her, Putri, mouth agape, is silent and peers passively from behind her upright arms at the scene around her, slowly moving her head from left to right.
Rizka has another go at the snacks. She takes a few nuts then throws them on the floor.
“Leave it, she will eat them from there,” says a caretaker as Rizka picks a nut off the tile.
Buck-toothed and sporting blue socks featuring a superhero, Nanda is out of her shackles and is being trained to sit on a padded seat. She curls her head down and purrs in delight when someone rubs the back of her neck. After sitting for a while, she belches and throws up. A caretaker rushes over to clean her and rub minyak kayu putih, or cajuput oil, on her stomach.
“We’re going to lie you down on the floor, OK?” she says to Nanda.
Meanwhile, Dimas runs around the room creating havoc, pushing an empty standing frame and swinging the support straps. Physically he is in fine form but Dimas is autistic and cannot speak. He starts yelling and pulls people toward a hanging strap, wanting to play.
Lunchtime rolls around. All the children are taken off the standing frames and are left lying on the floor in various distorted positions as the caretakers prepare the food. Dani, effervescent, keeps laughing as a caretaker removes her splints. Vivi is spoon-fed on her back, her head propped up. The mashed up meal dribbles down her chin. Yellow and soft, her lunch also lands on her nose.
Putri sits upright beside her, solemnly flattening her rice before slowly bringing it to her mouth. A tiny dark-skinned girl by her feet stretches an arm toward her, eyeing her plate.
Dimas swoops in and steals her prawn cracker. Her reaction to catch him was too slow. She resumes her meal without a fuss.
On the opposite side of the room, Icha sneezes and looks surprised. Dani breaks out in laughter. Vivi, clean after her meal, suddenly throws open her sticks of arms, her huge eyes bulging toward the ceiling. She looks like a crucified child.
In the main house, the air is calmer and the atmosphere somber. Here lie the children too ill to move, in beds that have bars to prevent them from falling out. Above each bed is a wooden board listing each child’s name, birth date, origin, date of entry and ailments.
Tiffany, 6, is the frailest and the worst case. “Blind, spastic, mute, paralyzed,”  Kristanti reads.
In the dark, the whites of her wide eyes glow like sunken torchlights as a caretaker brings a spoonful of tomato soup to her mouth.
Yunas, 18, has been living at Wisma Tuna Ganda for 13 years. Although mute, he has full comprehension skills and responds with sign language and gestures. He often acts as a guide for visitors.
Upstairs, in the girls’ and women’s quarters, is Teresia. The T-shirt she is wearing says Dyna but Yunas knows it is her.
Aged and lined, with bony bent limbs curved like a meditating yogi, Teresia is the oldest resident. She arrived five years after the place opened in 1975. In the bed nearby, a girl squeals, happy to be playing with a handful of black pebbles.
There has only been one recorded case of adoption since the institution’s inception.
“It was in 1975 and a Dutch person adopted a boy. Of course, the child was active and could be independent,” Kristanti says. “No one would take a child who couldn’t move. It is too much hassle.”
Rare is the occasion when a child is taken back by their families. The fortunate few who are able to be productive are placed in other institutions to learn trade skills which are not provided here. But most residents die in the institution, often forgotten or abandoned by their families.
“An institution like this is not a place to break ties. A child has a right to be loved and cared for, here or at home,” Kristanti says. “But most people abandon their responsibility once they give their child over to us. Parents don’t realize they cannot forget their children.”

(Photos: Titania Veda)

I know 90% of my posts are what most people could call “stupid” but i wanted to share something “not stupid” just to feel better and a little smarter.

“The future of Newspaper Design” is the name of a post i found in abduzeedo, it talked about “i” a portuguese company that is trying to change things for traditional newspapers, they came up with a really good idea of “restructuring” the content, that made them came with 5 needs they wanted the paper to have:

1. Opinion is the first section of the paper, based on the key word think. No other Portuguese paper starts out with opinion.

2. Radar is the second, accompanied by the key word know. Figueiredo said the assumption was that readers will already know a lot from other sources, but Radar aims to offer a quick overview of everything that has happened in the past 24 hours. The section is eight pages long, and the longest article is half a page.

3. Zoom is the third section, connected to the key word understand. The 22-26 page section looks at between eight and 13 topics in depth, with articles taking up one to ten pages. “We deal with these subjects with a lot of care, and we use the best teams,” Figueiredo said.

4. The fourth section is called More, linked to the key concept feel. This is where anything about people’s private, cultural, social lives goes. Figueiredo explained that the team did not want to give the section a more specific name, or the content would be limited. More encompasses the fifth need that the paper wanted to address: sports, about 80% of which is focused on football – “this is very important in Portugal,” Figueiredo said.

It is a really interesting new way to approach another type of people, with other interests and other points of view.

To read the whole article you can visit:

Editors weblog
Innovations in news paper

And to visit the newspaper page:
Ionline

Newspapers have acted as the primary source of news across the world for centuries. They stand as symbol a of journalism itself and are associated with the most quality news in the industry. Yet across the UK and indeed the world, newspapers have been experiencing a noticeable decrease in popularity as sales have steadily dropped since the late 90s hitting the industry and those within it hard. In most recent years especially, newspapers have been forced to lay off countless journalists just to see profit and post pone death. Indeed, recent trends in market would suggest the future of newspapers does not look very positive.

According to research conducted by the ‘Audit Bureau of Circulations’; ‘While British Newspapers such as the Times may have enjoyed a steady 726,349 newspaper sales a month in 2000; it’s readership has now dropped to 617,483; a drop of over 100,000 readers a month, and it would be fair to say newspapers such as the Times are the lucky ones. ‘Popular’ and ‘low brow’ red banner, the Sun, has experienced a readership drop of over 400,000 a month since 2000. It’s also important to note that these falling rates in newspaper sales, are not exclusive to the British isles. American newspapers such as the New York Times have also reported a fall in sales as well as those in Europe and Asia.

Unless people in general just aren’t as interested in the news today as they were ten years ago, the figures from this research would suggest that a vast amount of the general public are now getting their news from a new and more appealing source, which in many ways is exactly what they are doing.

The ‘Internet’ or, ‘World Wide Web’ as it is sometimes known came into existence in the 1980s but use of it by the general public did not become really popular until the 90s. The internet today is now extremely accessible, as anyone within walking distance to one of the millions of internet cafes or a simple laptop or even mobile phone, can now ’surf the web’. The internet has affected society far and wide. Similar to the ‘East India Trading Company’, railways, the telegraph, or the telephone in their day, the internet has changed the face of the world. If pre- mentioned company brought about globalisation for countries, the internet has brought globalisation to the people themselves. Almost every single individual in the world has access to the internet and so in theory, everyone can contribute to ‘the death of journalism either by using it as a new primary source of news, neglecting newspapers, or by creating their own news feed heightening competition with the industry.

The internet holds many advantages over other sources of news perhaps explaining why internet journalism is fast becoming the most popular news medium both for retrieving and receiving news. Every second, an unfathomable amount of data is uploaded to the internet every single second, thanks to websites such as word press, and youtube that rely on user generated content and legitimate news sites such as bbc news and online newspapers. With the internet, publshing is easier then ever.

Newspapers even before their decline in popularity were quite exclusive when it came to who and what was published in them. This is because many newspaper have a target audience to whom they wish to appeal to meaning certain news was highlighted more then others as well in a certain style and certain angles taken. This is to help ensure their continuation and survival. Because of this the most many new journalists could ever hope for was to have letters published on the comment pages as it was difficult to break into and is possibly another reason why they are in decline today.

Looking back at the impact of the internet on newspapers and journalism as an industry, in many respects the internet is the liberator of the people by given each individual the potential to voice their opinion to the world. Citizen journalism is the act of journalism practised by an individual without extensive experience or training in the field. The first use of it was in newspapers or magazines when photographs were sent in by the public. Today however, citizen journalism has entered a completely new generation. Now anyone, with access to the internet has the ability to be a published journalist through blogging. Blogging is now the most common form of citizen journalism in the world with literally millions of individuals practicing it. According to Biz Stone, co- founder and director of the popular blogging website ‘Twitter’:

“Blogging kick started a revolution in hyperconnectivity…we now know that the potential exists for everyone to have a voice”

The act of blogging is the collection of information or data on a space of the internet known as a blog. There the user known as a ‘blogger’ can write whatever he or she wants to be viewed by everyone on the internet. Blogging exists in many forms with many sites offering people the ability to blog. On the video hosting site ‘youtube’, individuals can create video blogs and on ‘wordpress’ videos, text and sound bytes can all be used to express oneself freely, and for no fee. In many respects blogging is a good thing as it gives people the ability to document current affairs and news, communicate with each other, express themselves more freely promoting democracy, and offering a genuine insight into everyday occurrences. This offers users millions of different views and perspectives, and offers documentation of how people lived for future generations to study. A downside to this however is that with so many people blogging, it’s difficult for an internet user to differentiate between quality blogs and those that are not, and even harder for a blogger to become well known. Most popular blogs are those written by celebrities either in journalism, or identified as one in another field. Most people view these blogs simply for entertainment purposes,or a supplement to news obtained either via newspaper or online new sites. However, there are journalists in the industry that believe citizen journalism is in effect stealing their readerships which is a worrying thought as news often found on a blog website is unregulated and so open to manipulation, bias and opinion.

Because many those who practice Citizen journalism through blogs are laymen and the work goes unregulated, it means that news written by them does not need to meet professional standards and in most cases does not. When writing for a publication or company, journalists are obligated to follow a code of conduct and any piece of work that does not abide by the rules of it shall, or should be, rejected by the editor of the company. This means that those who rely on citizen journalists solely for the purpose of news are in danger of being mislead, whether it be the intention of the citizen journalist, or by mistake. However, one must remember that blogs are foremost used for entertainment. Although there are blogs that offer true, and intellectual insight into current affairs the vast majority of them do not and should not be considered real news.

The internet is also capable of supplying to the it’s users twenty four hours news, a feat that newspapers cannot match. In her book; “Qualitve Research in Journalism” Sharon Hartin fully and effectively explains its still growing significance to 21^st century journalists and the transformation of news it has brought with it. She states that:

“Shocking world event can now be viewed almost at the instant they happen- then observed as they continue to develop”

The twenty four news cycle that was first introduced by cable news channels in television and is yet another supposed woe for the professional journalist and indeed newspapers. In the twenty four hour news cycle, newsrooms and news itself moves at a much faster pace. Rather then stories being presented as news on a daily basis as you would find in a newspaper or regular news broadcast, twenty four hour news runs on a twenty four hour basis, processing stories as they come in and presenting them to the public as soon as possible. In theory, it never stops. Whilst from a consumer point of view, twenty four hour news is a good thing, it is yet another factor leading to the demise of newspapers as demand for twenty four news heightens, newspapers being left behind as they are often a day to late in reporting.

Another contributing factor to newspapers demise is the growing realisation that news in no longer localised any more. With the internet also came the a for mentioned ‘globalisation’. Although small and isolated communities do exist, a great majority of the worlds populations live in cities and other urban areas. Localised news no longer has meaning or relevance for many people as everywhere is now interconnected via the web and newspapers cannot communicate on a global scale as the internet can.

Seeing the potential to broadcast news and perhaps, some newspapers set up websites in the 90s, one of the earliest being The Guardian newspaper which founded the Guardian Online in 1999. In this way the internet has created a whole new breed of twenty four hours news. Now news articles can be written, edited, and published even quicker then twenty four hour broadcast on cable television can. Many newspapers now have two newsrooms, one for print journalism and the other for online. Although the online websites make profit from online advertising, it is not enough to compensate for the loss of revenue from falling newspaper sales and so if, it would seem if journalists and newspapers wish to survive as suppliers of news, they must change how they broadcast it; making a transition from print to focus more primarily on internet news- the more popular of the two mediums. This of course does not solve the problem of funding; though recent developments in ‘News Corp’ offer a possible solution.

As of August 09, the billionaire media baron, Rupert Murdoch, head of ‘News Corp’ announced he was planning to begin charging for access to the new sites The Times online, The Sunday Times online, The Sun and News of the world; a move he believes will save the industry and ensure the future of quality journalism and the journalists who practice it. This certainly is a possibility as ‘Wall Street Journal’ has already proved subscription fees to news and articles can be successful. However, Jason Whittaker in his book ‘Web production for writers and journalists’ may disagree. In the book he offers a useful insight into the idea charging for online content puts forward, the following theory.

“The idea is that at present , users may be unwilling to pay for content, but when a fifty- year old database becomes a fully searchable archive, the text and graphics we tend to treat as ephemeral are suddenly given a new lease of life”

There is however issues that first must be addressed before all of journalism conforms to this. Just as musicians and film makers struggle to prevent piracy of their property so to, would journalists and their news. It would be very possible for an independent journalist or indeed another company to pay a subscription and then copy and upload the news data a offer it for free, essentially stealing it. However, should system appear that would solve this problem, online websites such as the Guardian online could well become the new, central, and only home of the Guardian.

Whilst newspapers do still sell, trends suggest that they are to be it quite frankly, a dyeing medium. Being seen as the traditional source of news simply isn’t enough to guarantee its survival as younger generations now turn to the more practical and in many ways superior internet, that can offer twenty four hour news, in text, audio or video form and at any time or anywhere. It’s simply a case of technological triumph over an older form media, much in the same way the dvd replaced the video tape.

Hey party penguins! A new issue of the newspaper is out. Not much that wasn’t already known is in there.

Tomorrow the Ski Village will celebrate the chill!

Then in December Coins for Change will return!

Other featured content is:

In focus: Places to take your pets!

Aunt Arctic answered questions about songs in rooms and jobs.

This weeks “secret” is getting a prize from “community work” during secret agent missions.

Then comes the usual jokes, riddles, poetry, comics, and puzzle.

Upcoming Events

Starting tomorrow: New sports catalog items for the winter chill.

New penguin style catalog December 4

New postcards on Friday, December 11

Coming Soon: Return of “The Quest of the Goledn Puffle” to the stage!

Its at pretty cool newspaper but its not one of the best here is the first page

These are the events

Check out the new Newspaper!

All you need to know about Card Jitsu Fire

Don’t you love Card Jitsu  Fire? I do. If you’re having trouble playing, just read other penguin’s tips and tricks on how to play!

Winter is on it’s way!

Well, it seems as if winter is already here! The Ice Rink is coming back there’s a new Snow and Sports Catalog, and guess what! There is going to be a Great Snow Maze!! All of this is happening TOMORROW, November 27th!!

Coins for Change

Remember Coins for Change? Donate some of your coins that you earned from playing games on Club Penguin by going to a little “Coins for Change” stand somewhere around the island, and you will be helping people around the world!

Upcoming Events:

Want to know what’s coming up? Here are the Upcoming Events:

November 27

• The Ice Rink Returns
• The Great Snow Maze is here!
• New Snow and Sports Catalog!!!

December 4

• Brand New Penguin Style Catalog
• New Pin!!

December 11

• More Postcards!
• Coins for Change is here!

Look at all those things that we have to look forward to! Woot! Can’t wait!

Hello Penguins!, Its Thursday So You Know What That Means! New Newspaper! Heres All The Information ABout The New Newspaper Below!

First, More News About Card Jitsu Fire!

Next, Tomorrow The New Snow And Sports Catalog Will Be Coming Out! It Will Have Ice Skates And Lots More! Also There Will Be The New Sleds At The Ski Hill AND! There Will Be The Great Snow Maze At The Ski VIllage With A Secret Prize At The End!

And, Coins For Change Is Returning! Its Coming Back To The Island December 15th! So Rockhopper Will Be Close So Check Out The Telescope And Keep An Eye Out!

Now, The Events! Tomorrow Theres The Snow Maze And All Things Snowy! Theres New Postcards And Penguin Styles Coming And The Return Of The Quest For The Golden Puffle!

I Cant Wait Till Tomorrow! Ill Be Getting On My Ice Skates And Heading To The Ice Rink! What Are You Looking Forward To? As Always Ill Have The Cheats For You For When You Get Back From School!

~Pizza Bar~ Penguin Insider 2 Owner

Hey

The Newspaper is out today! Click the pictue to view the paper. The events are located below!

Events:

November 27th – New Sleds for Ski-Hill

November 27th – New Sports Catalog

December 4th – New Penguin Style Catalog

December 11th – New Postcards (Christmas)

December 4th – New Pin

December 11th – Coins for Change

Waddle On

Eddersm

Check out the newspaper!

The Great Snow Maze is tomorrow!  This is going to rock!  I hope they make it hard!  All Club Penguin stuff is for little peeps! lol Bye!!!

My photos from yesterday’s presidential turkey pardon made it to the front page of The Norwalk Hour and are on display at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

The Newseum’s outdoor exhibit showcases the front page of every newspaper in the Uniter States, so I’m pretty honored to have my photo on display there, along with Katerina Voutsina’s article. Here’s the photo:

Nov. 25, 2009-Barbara Erena, Anthony Erena and their granddaughter Riley, 10, of Wilton, Conn., at the annual Turkey Pardon on the steps of the White House in Washington, D.C.

Here’s the front page:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

New Club Penguin Times Newspaper Out Today!!

Card-Jitsu As We All Know Is Here!

Member’s Only

Ski Village Celebration Starts

Tomorrow-Friday November 27-30 2009.

Club Penguin’s

“Coins For Change”

Starts December 1, 2009.

Classified Section

Did You Know??

Certain Missions Give Special Rewards!!

Upcoming Events!

New Commenting Contest

For A Free Month’s Membership To Club Penguin

Ends Today At 6pm-E.S.T.

Winner Announced Friday Morning

Just In Time For

“Member’s Only Event”

(I can’t wait, I’m excited to see who it is!!!)

QUESTION OF THE DAY????

WHAT IN YOUR LIFE ARE YOU

THANKFUL FOR????

FOR THOSE OF US

CELEBRATING THANKSGIVING TODAY…

I HOPE ALL OF YOU HAVE AN AWESOME DAY

WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY.

EAT LOTS OF FOOD AND ENJOY!!

JUST DON’T OVER-DO IT!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM MY FAMILY TO YOURS!!

Hey Penguins!

Club Penguin Times Issue #215 is finally out! It is full with news about ninjas, winter festivals, new catalogs and much more! To read the Club Penguin Times Issue #215 just click the link  below! If you would like read the full review of Issue #215 then scroll down!

Click Here to View the Latest Newspaper without logging on to CP!

Here is the Cover Page:

This Newspaper is packed full of information on Card Jitsu Fire! Check out the Featured Story:

Far! I have been so focused on becoming a Fire Ninja over the past few days that I forgot that the Snow Maze was coming! The Snow Maze will be at the Ski Village and starts tomorrow! Take a look:

Also Coins For Change is returning! Coins for a Change is “Virtual Donation Scheme” Where us penguins donate our virtual coins to 3 causes. Club Penguin has up to 1 million dollars (in real money) to spend. We decide on which cause gets the most money by donating our virtual coins we use to one cause. The cause with the most coins gets the most money in real life. Here was last years causes were:

1. Kids who are poor and cannot go to school
2. Kids who are sick
3. Kids without parents or hurt by war

Check it out here:

Cool hey? Here is the upcoming events for Club Penguin:

Here is a rundown on the latest events:

1. New Racing Sleds- November 27th
2. New Snow and Sports Catalog- November 27th
3. Snow Maze Event- November 27th
4. New Clothing Catalog December 4th
5. New Penguin Mail Postcards- December 11th
6. Coin for a Change Starts- December 11th

So there is a lot going on this month! It is so exciting! But can you believe it? It’s only less than a month away till Christmas! I am counting each day till Christmas. What do you want for Christmas? I really want an Ipod Touch. Don’t forget to check out my Ultimate Guide on Becoming a Fire Ninja: Just Click here to become a Fire Ninja.

~Jamie~

Events

New Racing Sleds: Friday

Snow and Sports Catalog: Friday

Snow Maze: Friday

Penguin Style Catalog: December, 4

New Pin: December, 4

Events

New Racing Sleds: Friday

Snow and Sports Catalog: Friday

Snow Maze: Friday

Penguin Style Catalog: December, 4

New Pin: December, 4

White House Reporter Using Shorthand

We journalists like to think of ourselves as scrappy purists. Give us a reporter’s tablet and a Bic pen, and we craft prose that makes readers smell the waffly-goodness of a corn dog at the state fair, hear the grating nasal tone of the politician’s condescension, and see the glistening sheath of ice the winter storm slipped on the birch tree’s limb.

All this from scribbled notes and a photographic memory.

For as long as I can remember, my print journalism teachers in high school and college, as well as some wonderful editors,  looked down their noses at audio tape recorders. Relying on electronics was not considered real journalism. After all, Woodward and Bernstein didn’t need a tape recorder to break Watergate. It was, in fact, admitting some reporting deficiency to need an electronic device — like  we were Hell’s Angels bikers with training wheels.

Ironically, however,  journalism students in the United States —for the most part — are not required to take shorthand. (In the United Kingdom and Australia, most journalism students must perfect shorthand before graduating from college.) Most of us U.S. reporters rely on some self-taught skill of eliminating vowels or using stick-man symbols. It is, indeed, not perfect — especially when time has lapsed between note-taking and filing the story or when, say, your pen is low on on ink and you miss a few sentences reaching for your fresh one.

After 22 years of reporting, editing and mentoring interns, I have become very opinionated about this practice: Journalists should use all the technology afforded them to ensure accuracy. Young journalists should be taught shorthand in college and modern journalists should use both a notebook and a digital recorder when conducting interviews.

Holding firm to some silly tough-guy rule helps neither the writer nor the reader. To wit: When I was stringing for Bloomberg back in the mid-90s, I interviewed one of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, and she gave me an important quote about the possible rise in the fed funds rate. In my notes, I had written the quote with an up arrow — so my first read of the scribble implied that she said the rates were likely to climb. Listening to the tape, I realized I had missed the key words “not likely” — completely changing the quote. On the flip side, when I was crafting the profile of Under Secretary of Education Sara Martinez Tucker, my mini cassette tape (pre-digital recorders) got mangled at the end — and I had to rely on my notes for some crucial information.

In an age when telling apart a trained journalist from a community blogger is difficult, journalists should do everything in their power to use best practices… to deliver to our readers the *most* accurate quotes, warts and all. And, more importantly, as journalists, we must always put ourselves in our subjects’ shoes. Would I want a reporter taping my interview to ensure statement accuracy? You bet your press pass.

Me? I use a digital recorder and a notebook. And I record my telephone interviews, always with permission from the source at the other end.

Go ahead and call me a wimpy journalist. But remember, I’ve got it all on tape.

The editor of the Northern Ireland editon of the Sunday World is beaten up in the centre of Belfast…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: tent city. The blog is also related to: nebraska city.