Twittertastic

As far as first thoughts go on the articles, I just kept saying "yes! yes!" when I read through each of them. I follow Cindy on Twitter, so I was able to check these out over the weekend. But now to more in-depth analysis...

Staying with the topic of Twitter, I guess you could say I was an early adopter. I started an account in early 2007, but abandoned it because I never felt I was using it effectively. I created another account @mairalg while interning at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and I'm pretty happy with it so far. It's an excellent tool for newspapers and Web sites to get short bits of information out the public quickly. While the Star-Telegram had a Twitterfeed (@dfwtwits), some of the reporters had accounts as well which had a better following because actual people were updating those as the Newspapers that Twitter post found in most cases as well. And in case you guys haven't checked it out, Rick Sanchez of CNN has a show at 2 p.m. where he Twitters throughout with viewers about whatever news topics he's covering. You can follow him @ricksanchezcnn. It really is one of the first television shows to use this technology live and I think he does a good job.

From practicum to higher education, I would agree that there is a major gap as the NAA article so wonderfully explained. I liked this article in particular because it emphasized a few points I believe are critical to students and journalism schools.

First, I like that it had a positive attitude toward social networking. It is an important communciation tool and not just something where I go to post pictures of my dogs and see who is dating who. That's why I like Cindy's classes so much because she gets it. She knows how important it is for the media to know it is just another useful item for the reporting toolbox. Thankfully she is one of many out there that also get it.

I had the privilege to meet Alberto Ibargüen, the president and chief executive officer of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, when MTV brought the entire Choose or Lose Street Team to New York in January. The Knight Foundation is sponsoring the Choose or Lose project with a hefty grant in order to do our groundbreaking coverage of the 2008 elections. This organization is helping lead the charge into new media adaption and I love that he said some schools "are as proud as they can be that they are traditional journalism schools, devoted and dedicated to doing the journalism of the 1960s and 1970s." Those are the ones that will suffer in the coming years if they don't get on course and teach students what they need to know to get a job in the industry, which isn't easy right now.

The MediaShift entry really summarizes it all from the perspective of a student. While I do believe Alana Taylor could have been a little more tactful in her entry, she is an example of what some students think about the industry and how they are acting on their own to gain multimedia skills. It's a little brutal, but honest, and I think that's what the industry needs right now. I don't see anything wrong with working for traditional media and making your way up through that because I believe it gives you insight into what works for them and, of course, what doesn't. But on that same note, there are blogs out there that should get the credit they deserve for being reliable and correct and others that just sour the whole concept. Nevertheless, this is where we are headed and not much can stop it, whether newspapers, j-schools or anyone else wants it to.

A little bit about me

I hope everyone had a lovely Labor Day. I'm Maira Garcia. I've been in a couple of Cindy's classes now and loved every second of them. It is my second semester as a grad student. I'll probably be around for about another year, but I'm working on getting out sooner :)

While I am not in class, I'm a GA for Kym Fox, so I teach two of her Intro to Mass Media Writing labs. In between that, I do coverage on the elections for MTV's Choose or Lose street team. You can see some of videos and blog posts here. This week I'm going to either Austin or San Antonio to cover McCain acceptance speech watch parties for them. If you can't tell already, I LOVE politics. My Twitter feed is dedicated to that (with the occasional blurb about myself) and I'm trying to develop a following. Feel free to add me if you haven't already while tracking Gustav. Somewhere in between that I sleep, take care of my two new miniature dachshund puppies and a fiancee.

When I grow up, I want to be a new media journalist. My background is in print, but I love this new era we are in and want to be a part of merging new technologies with solid journalism. Once my post with Choose or Lose is up after the elections, I want to start a political news blog aimed at college-aged people. I know what I learn in this class will help me immensely with that endeavor. One thing at a time though...

Coming to terms with the fact that, yes, I am falling for new media

Hi everyone. I'm Maira Garcia. I graduated from Texas State this past December with a BA in print journalism and political science. Currently, I am the editor in chief of The University Star, which explains why I post stuff at 3 a.m. I also work with MTV's Choose or Lose campaign creating multimedia on youth and the 2008 elections for think.mtv.com, which is very exciting. Check out my Think profile and see my latest video. It just got featured on the front page.

Anyway, I felt I didn't have enough real-world experience to jump into a career after graduation, so I decided graduate school would be a good thing to pursue because I am interested in research, learning more about mass communication and honing my skills overall so I can be competitive in the job market. Considering all these things, I realized how important it is for mass communicators to understand new media, especially those in the print field. Until recently, I thought print journalism was the avenue I wanted to pursue, but I know the industry is changing and not know what new media and how to use it could hurt my chances of being a successful journalist.

So finally, my definition of new media is simply written media as we know it, digitized and "glammed up" for faster processing and reception. I felt Dennis Baron's examination of writing techonology explained it best. Writing techonologies and attitudes toward them change over time, with each new techonology becoming more acceptable and desired than the previous. The pencil is to the telegraph as the telephone is to the television and the television to the computer. We are trying to accomplish the same purpose with each technology, receiving information. It's just one does it faster and perhaps better than the one before it.

What's most fascinating about new media to me is, as Manovich states, is the variability. Variability also indicates it can be customized to a person's taste, which is what Web 2.0 has afforded us. Not only are we able to receive information when we want it, but how we want it as well.