Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Feature Writing: Communication in the future?
Well, today we had a advisor meeting, and I realize that I graduate in the Fall '09. I do not think I am ready to go into the job market, so I am thinking about applying to graduate school. But I do not know what graduate program I want to do. I am not so sure I want to do any communication graduate program, I mean, I have enjoyed all my communication courses at FSC, but I think I want to pursue a different direction in graduate school. Thankfully, I still have some time to think about what I want to do.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Florida Orange Crop Shrinks
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released today February its orange crop forecast for the 2008-2009 season, reducing its earlier estimate by two point five percent, or four million boxes.
The USDA attributed the decline to smaller sizes and increased fruit drop. USDA said it would continue to assess the impact of the freezes. The crop is now expected to total 158 million boxes.
“The USDA has taken off several million boxes since their original orange estimate in October and with the field reports we’re getting regarding fruit damage and juice yield loss from the late January and early February freezes we would expect less juice production than we were just a month ago,” Executive VP/CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual Michael W. Sparks said. “As a result, we would anticipate better grower returns for the late crop than what we experienced for the early crop.”
A cold spell hit Florida citrus on Jan. 22 and Feb. 5. The USDA said on Tuesday that a freeze survey showed little or no damage at that time.
The USDA makes initial citrus production forecastin October and then revises it monthly until the end of the season in July. In 2007-2008, Florida harvested 170.2 million boxes of oranges.
The USDA maintained its prediction that 23 million boxes of grapefruit will be produced in ’08-’09. The early and midseason crop is now projected at 83 million boxes, down from 84 million boxes.
The Valencias projection is now at 75 million boxes this season.
The Florida citrus industry
creates a $9.3 billion annual economic impact. It employs nearly 76,000 people and covers more than 576,000 acres.
Florida Citrus Mutual was founded in 1948. It currently represents nearly 8,000 grower members and is the state’s largest citrus grower organization.
Related Articles:
FSC Horticulture Science
Order Citrus Trees and Related Items Online
USDA Plant Health
Local Citrus Candy Factory
Find out more about California, Texas, and Arizona Citrus
Related Video:
Interested in a Grove Tour? Experience a Florida orange grove yourself!
Experience Home of the Orange
The USDA attributed the decline to smaller sizes and increased fruit drop. USDA said it would continue to assess the impact of the freezes. The crop is now expected to total 158 million boxes.
“The USDA has taken off several million boxes since their original orange estimate in October and with the field reports we’re getting regarding fruit damage and juice yield loss from the late January and early February freezes we would expect less juice production than we were just a month ago,” Executive VP/CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual Michael W. Sparks said. “As a result, we would anticipate better grower returns for the late crop than what we experienced for the early crop.”
A cold spell hit Florida citrus on Jan. 22 and Feb. 5. The USDA said on Tuesday that a freeze survey showed little or no damage at that time.
The USDA makes initial citrus production forecastin October and then revises it monthly until the end of the season in July. In 2007-2008, Florida harvested 170.2 million boxes of oranges.
The USDA maintained its prediction that 23 million boxes of grapefruit will be produced in ’08-’09. The early and midseason crop is now projected at 83 million boxes, down from 84 million boxes.
The Valencias projection is now at 75 million boxes this season.
The Florida citrus industry
creates a $9.3 billion annual economic impact. It employs nearly 76,000 people and covers more than 576,000 acres.
Florida Citrus Mutual was founded in 1948. It currently represents nearly 8,000 grower members and is the state’s largest citrus grower organization.
Related Articles:
FSC Horticulture Science
Order Citrus Trees and Related Items Online
USDA Plant Health
Local Citrus Candy Factory
Find out more about California, Texas, and Arizona Citrus
Related Video:
Interested in a Grove Tour? Experience a Florida orange grove yourself!
Experience Home of the Orange
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
"Thou shall Link to outside sites"
Linking to other sites is a great change for online journalism. Users benefit because they can read more about a particular topic. For example, if a user, who has not followed closely the Caylee Anthony case, reads an article about Caylee Anthony's funeral on the Tampa Tribune and then the user becomes interested in more information about this case, he or she can click on links to other news sites. Let say the Tampa Tribune posts a link to the Orlando Sentinel, well, then the user can find out information dated back to when the case started, like the first 911 call where the mother reports Caylee as missing. With this example, I am trying to show that linking to other journalistic sites can definitely help users be more informed on interested topics, and it also encourages the user to explore further on his or her own.
However, for mainstream news media who have not started their "linking journalism", the idea may seem a little weird - really, who wants to send traffic to a competitors site? But fortunately, just as users benefit from linking - so do these online news outlets. Linking offers mainstream news media the opportunity to build a media outlet community where users become familiar with all the sites and the type of media outlets they are.
I think linking will give other sites web traffic and credibility. If users noticed that the information that they are reading from the linked sites is reliable, than users will want to read articles posted in that site. But I do not think that linking will minimize traffic from the first site because users will also see it is reliable - considering that the site is linking to other reliable sites. This idea is true because linking will bring people back even after they have been sent away.
I think that the AP and other wire services will continue to exist - even as more site starts linking. However, I think that maybe in the future, wire services may change the way they do business to accommodate the growing trend in linking.
However, for mainstream news media who have not started their "linking journalism", the idea may seem a little weird - really, who wants to send traffic to a competitors site? But fortunately, just as users benefit from linking - so do these online news outlets. Linking offers mainstream news media the opportunity to build a media outlet community where users become familiar with all the sites and the type of media outlets they are.
I think linking will give other sites web traffic and credibility. If users noticed that the information that they are reading from the linked sites is reliable, than users will want to read articles posted in that site. But I do not think that linking will minimize traffic from the first site because users will also see it is reliable - considering that the site is linking to other reliable sites. This idea is true because linking will bring people back even after they have been sent away.
I think that the AP and other wire services will continue to exist - even as more site starts linking. However, I think that maybe in the future, wire services may change the way they do business to accommodate the growing trend in linking.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Feature Writing: Mrs. Kelly's Monster
The journalist did a excellent job providing details of the operation. I felt like I was witnessing the operation myself because of all the vivid details the journalist included in the article. I think this article shows that the journalist is professional the journalist because the journalist stayed focus by observing what was happening before, during, and after the operation.
When I first read the article, I thought it would be another happy ending after the character overcame struggles/challenges, but I was surprised to see that that was not the conclusion to this article. Death won in this case, however, I feel like Mrs. Kelly was prepared either way.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
A Call to Action: Preventing Steroid Abuse on College Campuses
I would approach this story by focusing on the different measures that college campuses are taking to prevent steroid abuse on college campuses. Firstly, I would conduct a basic search using the search engines from google and yahoo. This step will help me begin to gather information on this topic by clicking on different links that I feel are relevant. By doing this, I will also be able to look at which web sites I feel have more credible information. For instance, after the google/yahoo results appear, I would check to see if the web site link ends in .edu or .org.
After looking at various web sites from this first step, I would then research the scholar option powered buy Google. Searching for articles using this option will help me search for scholarly literature from different sources for free. Using the internet has given me a good start. For example, http://www.drugabuse.gov/ and http://www.steroidabuse.gov/ has information on several initiatives to prevent steroid abuse, why it is harmful for young college athletes, and statistical information of steroid abuse. I will also use The National Collegiate Athletic Association web site to conduct research. It has a lot of information on the nation's college's and universities athletic programs and issues regarding college atheles.
Then, I would use the FSC databases to search for more information. I would search on Lexis-Nexis to find recent medical news regarding steroid abuse and prevention on college campuses. I would also use EBSCOhost to find full text journals and statistical information of college students abusing steroids. Lastly, I would also search the FindArticles to find articles covered by major publications.
I would then go onto different college web sites and check out their wellness programs. I would interview staff from the college's wellness center, such as the Wellness Director and/or Assistant Dean of Wellness. The wellness staff may be able to provide statistical information of students dependant of steroids on their campus. Then I would ask the wellness staff what are the various programs available on campus to educate students on this drug and has these initiatives decreased the number of students abusing this drug. For example, FSC has the Healthy Campus Coalition program to promote wellness by sharing useful information on campus. I would conduct an interview with the director of this program to find out how do they try to reach out to steroid abusers on campus and do they run into a lot of them frequently.
I would use powerreporting.com to find a coach or professinal educator who has successfully help a college student stop harming their body with this drug.
List of sources and web sites:
1. www.google.com/scholar
2. FSC online databases: Lexis-Nexis/Findarticles/EBSCOhost
3. Online search engines: Google/Yahoo
-www.drugabuse.gov
-www.steroidabuse.gov
-www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov
-www.usdoj.gov
4. http://www.ncaa.org/
5. FSC Wellness Center web site
6. powerreporting.com
After looking at various web sites from this first step, I would then research the scholar option powered buy Google. Searching for articles using this option will help me search for scholarly literature from different sources for free. Using the internet has given me a good start. For example, http://www.drugabuse.gov/ and http://www.steroidabuse.gov/ has information on several initiatives to prevent steroid abuse, why it is harmful for young college athletes, and statistical information of steroid abuse. I will also use The National Collegiate Athletic Association web site to conduct research. It has a lot of information on the nation's college's and universities athletic programs and issues regarding college atheles.
Then, I would use the FSC databases to search for more information. I would search on Lexis-Nexis to find recent medical news regarding steroid abuse and prevention on college campuses. I would also use EBSCOhost to find full text journals and statistical information of college students abusing steroids. Lastly, I would also search the FindArticles to find articles covered by major publications.
I would then go onto different college web sites and check out their wellness programs. I would interview staff from the college's wellness center, such as the Wellness Director and/or Assistant Dean of Wellness. The wellness staff may be able to provide statistical information of students dependant of steroids on their campus. Then I would ask the wellness staff what are the various programs available on campus to educate students on this drug and has these initiatives decreased the number of students abusing this drug. For example, FSC has the Healthy Campus Coalition program to promote wellness by sharing useful information on campus. I would conduct an interview with the director of this program to find out how do they try to reach out to steroid abusers on campus and do they run into a lot of them frequently.
I would use powerreporting.com to find a coach or professinal educator who has successfully help a college student stop harming their body with this drug.
List of sources and web sites:
1. www.google.com/scholar
2. FSC online databases: Lexis-Nexis/Findarticles/EBSCOhost
3. Online search engines: Google/Yahoo
-www.drugabuse.gov
-www.steroidabuse.gov
-www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov
-www.usdoj.gov
4. http://www.ncaa.org/
5. FSC Wellness Center web site
6. powerreporting.com
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Is Twitter a source for journalism? -- NO
I do not find Twitter a reliable news source for helping me stay connected with current events in this country or around the world.
First of all, twitter has grown into a real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices. Short messaging? Yes, only 140 characters can be typed into the posting. I understand that Twitter's goal with short messaging is to allow people to share "bite size updates with family, friends, and co-workers", however, I do not see how this can help with posting news. People may post some news related message onto Twitter, but that does not guarantee that all the important information is being shared, and this can even mislead some people, especially those who do not care to look elsewhere for more credible facts -- like CNN or ABC. Posting a short message, such as "We can keep track of each other now" can send the message across to the other person, however posting news on Twitter will be difficult because a person can not include a lot of details in the brief message.
I do not find short messaging effective in getting news reporting breaking news to society. When I read news, I like to know the following: Who, What, When, Where, and How. Twitter may spark my interest to find out more about breaking news by going to other news sources online, but it will not be my first choice for news source online. Anyone can simply post a message on Twitter.
Another problem I see with Twitter providing news is that some people may not be following the most relevant, reliable sources on Twitter capable of providing breaking news. One scenario can be when people are not following or are not being followed by sufficient, reliable sources who are knowledgeable in news reporting that have accounts on Twitter. Some people may simply be twittering their family and friends, and do not have connections with a professional reporter who has a twitter account. And even though word-of-mouth may work at times, it does not a guarantee that people will receive the most accurate information at the right time.
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