Bullying…it’s nothing new

I remember as I entered my 5th grade year, I was excited for a new beginning at a new school and the thought of making new friends.  Little did I know, I would become the victim of tremendous bullying for the next four years.  It got so bad, that I had to transfer to another middle school in the half of my 7th grade semester, but at the new school things hadn’t changed much and I was bullied even more.  Facebook wasn’t around at this time so I faced more traditional bullying…name called, fights, etcetera. 

Today in the age of social media, kids are faced with the threat of cyberbullying.  It has taken over our schools and there have been a few incidents in which students have committed suicide over cyberbullying.  When I was middle school, I did think of committing suicide, but I was raised in the church and the lord had reached out to me before I had done something horrendous.  I never told my parents, even though they found out I had missed 57 days of school in the 8th grade due to my fear of getting bullied, and if they asked why I missed so many days, I lied to them.  It was embarrassing to tell them I was getting bullied.  My teachers wouldn’t care either, even when the bullying happened in their faces. 

 Lori Cullen, a blogger for the Times Union advises parents to step up and watch what their children are doing because the first step to stopping bullying begins at home.

“It’s not just about keeping an eye on my kids online, but also offline as well,” Cullen said.

Lt. Joseph Donohue of the State police department agreed.

“We need to get in front of this thing as parents and teach our kids ethics online,” he said. “It starts at home.  Parents are the key.  Instill a sense of right and wrong from the gecko.”

Sandra Marley, a local principal advises for all parents and teachers to keep an eye closing on the children if they need to suspect any kind of bullying.

“Know your students and know them well, see if there are any patterns in their behaviors,” Marley said.

I believe if parents and teachers communicate with their students and show them right from wrong, we may see less of cyberbullying.  Parents need to know what there kids are doing online and teachers need to keep an eye out for any suspicious behaviors that may indicate that bullying is present.

Snapple’s genius media campaign

Yes, the best stuff on earth apparently means commercials as well as ingrediants.  Snapple has released a comedic urban music video to market it’s Snapple brand, and yes I fell for its charm.  The video features six Snapple employee’s dancing and singing about Snapple, while wearing hip clothes and bringing in the element of humor to attract more attention to it’s brand.  The video is available on Youtube and is indeed web exclusive.  I love this video and I think that if more people view and like this video as well, Snapple may have a successful marketing online strategy.

Is the Internet changing the way we think?

Let’s go back in time, you know, before the Internet; back to a time when students used a type writer for all of their essays and would spend countless hours in the library picking out books to complete their research. These days are extinct. Today, students live in a world ruled by the Internet. They use the Internet as a means for research and communication. It’s faster and easier and it isn’t going anywhere soon.

Let’s face it, the Internet is here and its presence is certainly known. For high school and college students, the Internet can be used for research. There are books online and tons of information to get a hold of. A student can use the Google search engine and find an answer to a question within a second. Schools are moving their syllabus online and not to mention there are online universities, so a person get achieve their bachelor degree online without ever stepping inside a school.

“It’s making us lazy,” said Kayla, a student at UAlbany. “We don’t have to go to the library and read a book when we can Google it and do our paper.”

Alyssa Keluchia, a UAlbany student, believes that the Internet cannot provide the unique experience of research at the Library.
“Online, you’re only getting an overview of thing and not getting the indepth meaning of when we go to the library and look up books,” she said.

Perhaps this is true. Web sites such as Wikipedia provide adequate information but can prove to be untrustworthy. Regardless, students still use this site to conduct research rather than heading to their library.

Today, social media has played a role in students’ lives. Web sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have gained millions of memberships and popularity of young adults. Most students spend a large amount of time on these sites that some say it can be detrimental to ones focus of study.
“Young teenagers have trouble reading 10-12 pages of literature without going on Facebook,” said Reid Berkanan, a UAlbany student.
Kayla, a UAlbany student explains, “They’re getting used to the short attention span…their getting used to the 140 characters on Twitter.”

Perhaps the future of our students will be dependent on the Internet. Schools are looking more towards the Internet than to our teachers. Professor Michael Huber of UAlbany, remembered about a school in Bethlehem, where many teachers were set free from their positions and in place, the school bought every child a computer. If buying students a computer seems to be more in demand of hiring teachers, perhaps that is where we are going in the future.

Imagine in 20 years from today, there will be half as many teachers and double the amount of computers. Every student will probably learn from online instructional videos, will conduct their research online and communicate on a first hand means through the Internet. The strength of our education in America will perhaps be reliant on the Internet.

Reasons to have twitter

Before I was introduced to twitter in my first journalism class, I didn’t want anything to do with it.  I thought it was a dumb idea to begin with, that is the concept of twitter.  Now I love it and I’ll tell you why.

As a journalist, I need to stay connected with the community.  What better way to stay connected than by following people in my community through twitter?  I follow the Albany Police Department, all the local new channels and newspapers and other prominent people in my community.  I also follow my friends and their friends; this is one way of coming up with news ideas or article topics.

I get to know the community on a personal level.  I hear their cries, feel their pain and know their likes.  Twitter is a great way of getting to know the community on a personal level.

I can learn about upcoming events in the community, special sales or deals by following certain companies or people on twitter.

The list goes on.  In my opinion, I think twitter will stand strong for the next few years until the next social media fad will spring up.

 

Online ads can be annoying

I can find myself pulling my hair and pounding my fist whenever an online ad pops up and doesn’t let me go to where I need while surfing the Internet.  Yes, I am grateful for advertisements online, because they pay the Web sites money, which in turn keeps the Web sites functioning (as cost for bandwidth are sky-high) and in turn keeps me a happier person.

There are some online advertisements that I don’t mind more than others.  The ones I don’t like completely re-direct me to another page, the page of the advertisers, also I dislike pop up ads because they slow my computer down.  The prettier the ad I find, makes my computer slower.

The ads I do like are usually hidden from the middle of the screen, they usually take up space at the corner of the Web sites, so that they’re no too distracting.  I like that Hulu gives you a choice to pick and watch an ad of interest to you, usually they give you three ads and you’re supposed to choose one.  And finally I like the interaction ads that usually come in the form of a mini game; quite fun if you ask me.

So yes, I am grateful for ads but I also find them annoying sometimes.  My advice for advertisers is to try not to over do it.

Smartphones, a journalists best friend

Imagine that you’re an off duty journalist and you’re walking down main street and see a police officer abuse a child with a night stick.  If anything, you want to take a photo or record a video of what you see but you take out your phone and it neither has a camera or any recording device.  You lucked out.

Todays journalists should be equipped with a smartphone.  Sure they are more expensive than other phones but it should be a standard.  Here’s why…

Smart phones can take pictures.

Can record video and audio, includes live streaming for reporting the news.

Provide keyboards for faster news article typing

Allow you to post stories.

Provide email

Provide Apps

Twitter introduces the new Twitter Translation Center

How many people do you follower on Twitter? How many follow you? How many people do you wish you could follow if only you could speak their language?

 

Well, Twitter is on the wheel of invention, or should I say they’re expanding their twitter horizons.  Today they have announced the new Twitter Translation Center.

“The Translation Center allows us to crowdsource translations from our passionate users in order to more quickly launch Twitter in additional languages,” according to their blog, blog.twitter.com.

Currently, twitter is in English, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Spanish.  They have added Indonesian, Russian and Turkish; they plan on adding more languages by the end of this year.

 

International News is Important

International news is important because it informs us of what’s happening in the world (our backyard) and it also helps us make important daily decisions.

Think about it… If Hitler rose to power and the U.S. had no idea what was going on because it didn’t have press coverage would things be different today? International news connects the U.S. to other countries and visa versa.

I like to read international newspapers.  I frequently like to read www.japantimes.co.jp.  It informs me of what kinds of things are going on in japan and this is important because I plan to move their in the near future.  Being informed everyday about what goes on over there will make my move easier.  I also read the VOCERO, a newspaper based in Puerto Rico.

Technology Leading journalism

In the 1900′s, your city might have had 10 newspapers; certainly things have changed over time and especially in the 21st century.  Newspapers today are cutting back on staff writers, pages in the paper and are moving online.

The future of journalism is online.  That’s right, I said it!  Especially with the younger crowd, they don’t stop at the local grocery store to by the newspaper when they can just go on its Web site for free.

Technology that will save journalism is the iPad or its competitors.  Why? Because it’s the biggest trend and hottest selling item since the iPod.  When it had first hit the shelves, stores were sold out of it.

Another reason why the iPad might help save journalism, it because there are app for newspapers.  For a certain price a month – most likely cheaper than print – you can purchase the app and gain access to news easily.  With the iPad, you wont be able to visit the paper’s Web site for free also so it pushes you to buy the app.

And plus, the iPad is portable and reading the newspaper app can save you a trip to the grocery store.

Special people in Albany…

            What truly make the city of Albany unique are not its famous restaurants, historic monuments or its remarkable architecture, but the people who call this city their homes.  Those who wake up to the morning sun and slip between the sheets at the call of the night here in Albany and those who work to keep this city alive are truly unique. 

           That said, you may find very interesting people throughout the Capital, even the man at the corner bookstore. That man at the bookstore would be Kenneth Weden, born in south Albany and has had the privilege to live here his whole life.  He is the owner of the Capital Bookstore on 402 Broadway, a few feet away from the Hudson River on the right of his store and a few feet away from the cities major eateries and stores on the left side.  But his bookstore is no Barnes and Noble; even though you may find just about any book you have ever read in your childhood there. It is more of a collection of antique books among other things like old newspapers and magazines.  In fact, in front of the store, you can even read some of the front page sections of old newspapers from the Capital Region dating back to when the Americans were at war with the “Japs.” 

           For Weden, his journey in Albany began when his half Swedish half Irish father came to Albany to live in the 1920’s looking for work and a better life in the booming city.  Gunnor Weden took pride in Albany. He became a floor sander for most of his life in Albany while his wife, Kenneth’s mother, was a traditional stay at home mom who looked after the children. At that time, there were lots going on in Albany.

            “I cherish when downtown Albany was busy before the malls were built,” Weden said recalling his childhood in Albany. “I remember riding on the trolley cars and the red and cream buses.  They had once coble stones and trolley tracks coming down State and Pearl Street.” 

            Weden, cannot forget how much he was in love with Albany as a child.  He dug within his memories and pulled out those dearest to him. “When you’re young, you’d have a lot of romanticism about cities.  I used to get the feel of the city by walking down the streets,” Weden said.

            When Weden was younger, his love for books showed as he collected as much as he could.  His twin brother, Eric Weden, would accompany him to local rummage sales to collect books.  Over the years, Weden built up a collection of over thousands of books, many old and some newer printed editions.  Most of these books can be bought at his book store, which he opened seven years ago to share his love for books with others.  His favorite books deal with history, facts and religion. “I like to read the Britannica, I’m always learning something new from there,” Weden said.

            And so, the saying “Home is where the heart is,” is true for some people.  As Kenneth Weden opens the book and skims through the pages of his memorable past in Albany, he knows that his home is and will always be in Albany,NY.