Last post!

Today our group is giving our presentation of our journalism dossier. Our group came together in the end and put together an impressive project. At first we were not sure if all the group members were going to be in the class for the duration, but that was not the case. Everyone contributed to the end product without any problems.

What I found interesting about the group project was that the individual pieces that each of us were assigned were secondary to the collaborative teamwork required to make it all work. We met last night at Starbucks and all similarly came to that conclusion. So is that the intent of the journalism dossier? I think is secretly was, we each did get exposure to the writing process but only to a few articles, but everyone got a piece of the group work. Editing, revisions, layout and most importantly deadlines. Communication was key throughout the hole process and without effectively doing this we would not have been able to complete the project.

Great job team!

Tom Sumner Guest Speaker

Tom Sumner came in to class last week to explain the details of book publishing. I can say is that I knew very little about book publishing, but now know a lot more. What I found the most interesting was the technology aspect of publishing and the questions it proposes about the future of the book industry.

I really thought about how almost anyone at this point can pay out of pocket and get a book published. With advances in technology this has become affordable, and granted market access to all writers with some cash. I believe that we are at the forfront of a very disruptive technology change based on this accessablity. When you combine the low entry cost and digital format I suspect that the book industry will experience something similar to the Napster revolution. It will be interesting to see how the publishing industry stays profitale as people seek cheap, alternative and illegal sources of books.

Persuaders

This was an excellent documentary. I like the style and the message, very compelling.

Where The Persuaders hit home for me was in the films ability to quantify the amount of advertising we are fed every day and every minute of our lives. We forget how every single logo, scent, texture or anything for that matter is tied to some slogan or company. From a business point of view what I found specifically useful was the emphasis of figuring out how to reach your customers, and deciding what money is actually working for you. Being in that mind set regarding business could be priceless.

The conversation following the film was equally interesting. As the questions began to roll out from different students I realized I had know idea what they were talking about. References to shows, fashion, characters and anything multimedia based went right over my head. I realized that this happened because I have been without cable television for all my life. The last six months specifically I haven't even owned a television. Also, with in these last six I have been without Internet. I suddenly realized what the medium of exchange for advertising is and how important it is. TV and Internet. Your like duh that's obvious, but think about the others like me that don't prescribe to these mainstream outlets. Probably the minority but in relative comparison to the whole we may represent a large number. Interesting, that's all i am saying.