Friday, November 16, 2007
Flash Animation & Scriptwriting workshops 11/8 and 11/9
I don't really have any information from these workshops to blog about, but I do have some handouts from the classes which are now in my desk drawer. These were pretty cool because they not only applied to what I'm doing at the TV station, but the Flash workshop also applies directly to my ART232 class this semester. It's really sweet when school and work stuff tie so nicely together, which is the point I wanted to make with this post. Real world application of things you do in school is really a nice experience, because it makes the long educational process seem worthwhile.
11/9 Keynote Luncheon and Public Policy Update Seminar
Gloria Tristani was the keynote speaker for our lunch and the conference in general. She was very knowledgeable although not very warm and social. However, I don't really think she was there to make friends so that's alright I guess. She used to be a commissioner at the FCC and has made a lot of speeches about the FCC, violence in media and other related topics. These are the highlights of what she spoke about in her luncheon speech and the public policy workshop.
1. The FCC is less involved in net neutrality issues than in video franchising issues (I know I've defined the franchising thing in here before). However, net neutrality laws and rules actually need to be in place a lot more than they currently are to protect user rights- this is kind of the principle of consumer rights, but currently the FCC is reluctant to address the issue of net neutrality and instead focuses more on video franchising which directly affects public access media.
2. The FCC has scheudled a public vote in December to further deregulate the video franchising industry, which pretty much means that they're encouraging a monopoly of communications between a few large corporations (the big 6). Essentially, this will effect the ownership of tv/radio/newspapers and the rest of media ownership rules so that one owner can have multiple venues of communication within the same geographic areas hence creating a disturbing monopoly of information distribution. Apparently this bill is to be decided by the FCC by December 18th and does not even attempt to address the issue of minority ownership.
3. Polls suggest that the public prefers local news, which is threatened by multinational conglomerates. The meeting to address this issue by the FCC is to be in Seattle, and has been said that it "smells like mean spirit" by the public access people. This is a nice twist of Nirvana lyrics (smells like teen spirit) appropriate for Seattle as the home of grunge music. Just a cool little aside there that I picked up on right away when it was quoted from the page Ms. Tristani was reading.
4. Another issue that the FCC is not addressing but should be is the issue that broadcasters should provide material that actually serves the community it is being distributed to, and that there should be more broadcaster accountability. Currently, there really isn't any, which is a big issue because it means that all this one-sided fake news can be distributed with absolutely no reason why the broadcasters should stick to more truthful stories.
5. Ms. Tristani also says that the upcoming presidential election "change may bode well for people" because if we get someone in office who cares more about the public then the FCC may be more concerned with doing right instead of just doing for money and big business.
6. PEG broadcasting (public, educational & government) provides for the people diversity, coverage of local information, and it fills the void of public interest. However, we really need to make an improvement to keep PEG surviving and also strengthening because at the current rate there's a concern that it will end up disappearing all together.
Public Policy:
"There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to... The Outer Limits." — Opening narration – The Control Voice – 1960s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outer_Limits
7. This Outer Limits quote was read at the beginning of the meeting and it's surprisingly scary how much of it has turned to reality with the media these days. With the big six controlling the media ( http://www.commondreams.org/views/042700-104.htm) the public really has no say anymore in what's included as news, or any other anything that has to do with media. As the ACM sees it, we need to get these issues out of the boardroom and into the public eye. This is both in the sense of the big six boardrooms and also the FCC boardroom. One suggested way to call attention back to the public eye: outside protests. Outside of the FCC meetings. Anywhere really that the public is being oppressed by the media. It's kind of ironic watching all these media people protest the media, but I'm intrigued and want to learn more.
8. A lot of the issue discussed here was about content battles- the internet, programs, papers, who's controlling the information and who should be able to control the information.
9. Back to the net neutrality issue: if we want to broadcast public access on the internet, that'd be cool. Except that a lot of IP providers are blocking types of filesharing, and if we can't network then we can't go nationwide with our programs. Kind of a big issue here.
10. In order to change the issues that are going on, we have to change the politicians who are supporting it. The two things that move politics: people and money. Since we don't have a lot of money, we're going to have to go the route of people. Gather up email lists and and mailing lists, and have those people all contact their local politicians.
11. Politicians that were named as possible people to contact: Dorgan, Olympia Snow, Obama.
12. Random fact: FCC COMMISIONERS ARE SUBJECT TO IMPEACHMENT. That's rather interesting.
The future:
2/17/2007 the TV stations will cease to use analog signal and will only be using digital technology. Without digital technology, the old television sets will only see black. The issue here:
21 MILLION AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS USE RABBIT EARS ONLY (NO DIGITAL).
Talk about the digital divide. When the analog signal goes out, the divide will darken even more than it is currently. And while there will be converter boxes for sale that will switch old tv's to digital technology, millions of Americans will not be able to afford to buy the converters. What to do about this? The state and national governments talk about giving away coupons that will assist in the purchase of the converter boxes. The issue here:
THE COUPONS WILL BE GIVEN OUT IN JANUARY AND HAVE AN EXPIRATION DATE THAT EXPIRES BEFORE THE BOXES ARE MADE AVAILABLE, or will only apply to one brand that will be in low supply
-or-
THE COUPONS WILL BE GIVEN NOT TO THOSE WHO FINANCIALLY NEED THEM THE MOST, BUT ON A FIRST-COME FIRST-SERVE BASIS, which means that the people who most need the coupons may never get one and will be totally in the dark.
The future is kind of a gloomy picture.
1. The FCC is less involved in net neutrality issues than in video franchising issues (I know I've defined the franchising thing in here before). However, net neutrality laws and rules actually need to be in place a lot more than they currently are to protect user rights- this is kind of the principle of consumer rights, but currently the FCC is reluctant to address the issue of net neutrality and instead focuses more on video franchising which directly affects public access media.
2. The FCC has scheudled a public vote in December to further deregulate the video franchising industry, which pretty much means that they're encouraging a monopoly of communications between a few large corporations (the big 6). Essentially, this will effect the ownership of tv/radio/newspapers and the rest of media ownership rules so that one owner can have multiple venues of communication within the same geographic areas hence creating a disturbing monopoly of information distribution. Apparently this bill is to be decided by the FCC by December 18th and does not even attempt to address the issue of minority ownership.
3. Polls suggest that the public prefers local news, which is threatened by multinational conglomerates. The meeting to address this issue by the FCC is to be in Seattle, and has been said that it "smells like mean spirit" by the public access people. This is a nice twist of Nirvana lyrics (smells like teen spirit) appropriate for Seattle as the home of grunge music. Just a cool little aside there that I picked up on right away when it was quoted from the page Ms. Tristani was reading.
4. Another issue that the FCC is not addressing but should be is the issue that broadcasters should provide material that actually serves the community it is being distributed to, and that there should be more broadcaster accountability. Currently, there really isn't any, which is a big issue because it means that all this one-sided fake news can be distributed with absolutely no reason why the broadcasters should stick to more truthful stories.
5. Ms. Tristani also says that the upcoming presidential election "change may bode well for people" because if we get someone in office who cares more about the public then the FCC may be more concerned with doing right instead of just doing for money and big business.
6. PEG broadcasting (public, educational & government) provides for the people diversity, coverage of local information, and it fills the void of public interest. However, we really need to make an improvement to keep PEG surviving and also strengthening because at the current rate there's a concern that it will end up disappearing all together.
Public Policy:
"There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to... The Outer Limits." — Opening narration – The Control Voice – 1960s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outer_Limits
7. This Outer Limits quote was read at the beginning of the meeting and it's surprisingly scary how much of it has turned to reality with the media these days. With the big six controlling the media ( http://www.commondreams.org/views/042700-104.htm) the public really has no say anymore in what's included as news, or any other anything that has to do with media. As the ACM sees it, we need to get these issues out of the boardroom and into the public eye. This is both in the sense of the big six boardrooms and also the FCC boardroom. One suggested way to call attention back to the public eye: outside protests. Outside of the FCC meetings. Anywhere really that the public is being oppressed by the media. It's kind of ironic watching all these media people protest the media, but I'm intrigued and want to learn more.
8. A lot of the issue discussed here was about content battles- the internet, programs, papers, who's controlling the information and who should be able to control the information.
9. Back to the net neutrality issue: if we want to broadcast public access on the internet, that'd be cool. Except that a lot of IP providers are blocking types of filesharing, and if we can't network then we can't go nationwide with our programs. Kind of a big issue here.
10. In order to change the issues that are going on, we have to change the politicians who are supporting it. The two things that move politics: people and money. Since we don't have a lot of money, we're going to have to go the route of people. Gather up email lists and and mailing lists, and have those people all contact their local politicians.
11. Politicians that were named as possible people to contact: Dorgan, Olympia Snow, Obama.
12. Random fact: FCC COMMISIONERS ARE SUBJECT TO IMPEACHMENT. That's rather interesting.
The future:
2/17/2007 the TV stations will cease to use analog signal and will only be using digital technology. Without digital technology, the old television sets will only see black. The issue here:
21 MILLION AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS USE RABBIT EARS ONLY (NO DIGITAL).
Talk about the digital divide. When the analog signal goes out, the divide will darken even more than it is currently. And while there will be converter boxes for sale that will switch old tv's to digital technology, millions of Americans will not be able to afford to buy the converters. What to do about this? The state and national governments talk about giving away coupons that will assist in the purchase of the converter boxes. The issue here:
THE COUPONS WILL BE GIVEN OUT IN JANUARY AND HAVE AN EXPIRATION DATE THAT EXPIRES BEFORE THE BOXES ARE MADE AVAILABLE, or will only apply to one brand that will be in low supply
-or-
THE COUPONS WILL BE GIVEN NOT TO THOSE WHO FINANCIALLY NEED THEM THE MOST, BUT ON A FIRST-COME FIRST-SERVE BASIS, which means that the people who most need the coupons may never get one and will be totally in the dark.
The future is kind of a gloomy picture.
Wednesday, 11/7
I have business cards for the TV station! With my own email: candi@mac3tv.com However, I'm not sure yet how to access it, so if I'm getting any emails there I'm totally clueless. But I have business cards like a real employee! And Jan said that not only can I stay next semester, but if I want to keep working here through grad school (if I go to CMU) we'll work out a permanent position. How cool is that?!?!
Friday, November 9, 2007
Changes in the Public Sphere, 11/8
Thursday, 11/8 (8 hours): This was the first session of the regional conference that we attended, and I ended up taking 4 pages of notes because it was really interesting. Most of this is directly from my notes/the forum conversation but some of it is what I've added as my own personal view/interpretation on the subject as well. Here's a related link that relates to the conversation and also provides more information on the topic:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/habermas/
What is the "Public Sphere"?
1. Historically, information and content was controlled by either the government (king, dictator, etc) or the church and there really was no sense of "public" in the fact that the public had no real influence on anything that was happening. However, in the 17th/18th century, somewhat of a revolution started to change the way the "public" was thought of, as the common people started getting more access to money and money is power. Suddenly, even though the printing press had been around for years, the people started printing newspapers and making information more readily available. One of the longest running papers: The Spectator, London.
2. The "Public Sphere" really started with the newspapers, the coffee shops and the salons where people sat around and talked about issues that were affecting them or present in society. The public sphere evolved from this PUBLIC DISCUSSION and actually involved more of the public and less of the government/church. However, today the public sphere arena is domnated more by corporate interests- much like before but replacing the church/state. Thus, hte public isn't actually controlling the sphere.
3. People used to actuall sit down and discuss ideas- a public dialogue- but now it's all a monologue where people are screaming their ideas AT he public instead of sharing and discussing ideas. They TELL us what's important versus asking what's important- there's a real lack of actual discussion/communication in general as communication is a two-way street and needs input, output and feedback to be successful.
4. We're not creating citizens in our country anymore, we're creating consumers- we're being lazy and accepting what's being thrown at us instead of trying to change and improve things. Even though we complain a lot, we don't actually do anything about the issues. Overall, as a society we aren't hungry enough to make the change.
5. The true meaning of public sphere seems to be citizenry- not the church, state or corporations (corportate interests/media) but the people.
Improving Public Access Media
6. As public access media, we currently have an opn door policy but really we should be moving in the direction of not only an open door policy, but also an active effort in going out and getting people to come in and get involved. To get people to actually communicate their ideas we will have to first teach people how to have effective communication. Sure, we provide the equipment and the technological requirements, much like the education system these days, but we aren't teaching people HOW TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES- how to get their ideas across and get the message to reflect what they actually mean to say.
7. Our society needs to be more focused on education based in media literacy instead of just the technology-use education. As in: How can we express what we really mean by using this technology? What is the message behind what we're watching/reading/hearing etc.
8. Instead of us just showing the town hall meetings on our channels, we should also have shows that reflect the commentary of viewers in regard to the material that we're seeing. If we can get people to actually respond to what they're seeing and get them involved in such a way that we have shows going back and forth in a sort of discussion format, THEN we'll have more of what we see as the public sphere. The people would be again voicing their opinions instead of just accepting the opinions they're shown.
9. Can public access tv somehow join together and consolidate like the FCC is doing to laarge-scale media efforts? If we are able to unite on more of a national level we would have more unity, support and overall strength. We currently have a national chapter of the Alliance for Community Media, but it's really a very small group of people and therefore not as effective as it could/should be.
10. One of the downfalls though is that the ACM is looked at like a bunch of "old fogeys" as said in the meeting, because of the platform we're using. Instead of doing the internet thing we're still on TV, which some groups are looking down on. However, radio has been around even longer and it's still going strong.
11. The game plan: where is the next public sphere going to emerge? Internet videos? Blogs? Can we get in on the underground/what the kids are doing these days and integrate ourselves in there so the kids think that this is just the way things are and accept us? Kind of a sneaky plan, but it might work.
12. THE LARGER ISSUE AT HAND: has nothing to do with technology or the platform we're using. How do we get more people involved in the conversation, to participate and help revive the public sphere?
13. many local newspapers and large scale newspapers say things like "come to us with your opinions and information and we'll be the center of the community" but then they take control of the material and skew the message which is bad fo rthe public sphere.
14. However, when you think about it we really are corporate media in our own way because even though our intentions are good, by telling the public what they should put on air (non commercial, preferable personal opinion dialogue) we ARE THE MAN and are controlling what they're able to say. Just like back in the day when Swift and DeFoe and whoever else were talking and creating the public sphere it still wasn't open to everyone, it was expanding but not open to everyone. As in, not everyone was able to sit around and think these big thoughts.
15. We can't just go out and yell at students to say "you're being duped by the media" because then we come off as the next group sharpening the axe- our education tactics need to change or else the kinds are being trained to come off as the next "monolith yelling" because they don't know how to express their ideas without screaming them at the audience.
16. Within public access employees, people need to think of this as a calling, not just their job. It was compared to Paul Revere making a conduit available to the people, one day it'll be the only way for people to get their voice/ideas out.
17. Random fact about consumers vs. citizens- the Cope hearing referenced the American public as consumers 62 times and citizens 4 times. Kind of a big issue huh?
18. The biggest thing we need to work on teaching is "what do you want to say?" before teaching "how do you say it (medium)? We need to focus on the message and how we can improve communications. Thus, we need more education in terms of HOW, not theory and not technology but how do you actually express the messagge? MEDIA LITERACY PROGRAM both here at the station, and spanning the educational system from preschool to college.
19. Essentially, public access media is serving as a bridge to the digital divide and we need to make sure we're living up to that responsibility.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/habermas/
What is the "Public Sphere"?
1. Historically, information and content was controlled by either the government (king, dictator, etc) or the church and there really was no sense of "public" in the fact that the public had no real influence on anything that was happening. However, in the 17th/18th century, somewhat of a revolution started to change the way the "public" was thought of, as the common people started getting more access to money and money is power. Suddenly, even though the printing press had been around for years, the people started printing newspapers and making information more readily available. One of the longest running papers: The Spectator, London.
2. The "Public Sphere" really started with the newspapers, the coffee shops and the salons where people sat around and talked about issues that were affecting them or present in society. The public sphere evolved from this PUBLIC DISCUSSION and actually involved more of the public and less of the government/church. However, today the public sphere arena is domnated more by corporate interests- much like before but replacing the church/state. Thus, hte public isn't actually controlling the sphere.
3. People used to actuall sit down and discuss ideas- a public dialogue- but now it's all a monologue where people are screaming their ideas AT he public instead of sharing and discussing ideas. They TELL us what's important versus asking what's important- there's a real lack of actual discussion/communication in general as communication is a two-way street and needs input, output and feedback to be successful.
4. We're not creating citizens in our country anymore, we're creating consumers- we're being lazy and accepting what's being thrown at us instead of trying to change and improve things. Even though we complain a lot, we don't actually do anything about the issues. Overall, as a society we aren't hungry enough to make the change.
5. The true meaning of public sphere seems to be citizenry- not the church, state or corporations (corportate interests/media) but the people.
Improving Public Access Media
6. As public access media, we currently have an opn door policy but really we should be moving in the direction of not only an open door policy, but also an active effort in going out and getting people to come in and get involved. To get people to actually communicate their ideas we will have to first teach people how to have effective communication. Sure, we provide the equipment and the technological requirements, much like the education system these days, but we aren't teaching people HOW TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES- how to get their ideas across and get the message to reflect what they actually mean to say.
7. Our society needs to be more focused on education based in media literacy instead of just the technology-use education. As in: How can we express what we really mean by using this technology? What is the message behind what we're watching/reading/hearing etc.
8. Instead of us just showing the town hall meetings on our channels, we should also have shows that reflect the commentary of viewers in regard to the material that we're seeing. If we can get people to actually respond to what they're seeing and get them involved in such a way that we have shows going back and forth in a sort of discussion format, THEN we'll have more of what we see as the public sphere. The people would be again voicing their opinions instead of just accepting the opinions they're shown.
9. Can public access tv somehow join together and consolidate like the FCC is doing to laarge-scale media efforts? If we are able to unite on more of a national level we would have more unity, support and overall strength. We currently have a national chapter of the Alliance for Community Media, but it's really a very small group of people and therefore not as effective as it could/should be.
10. One of the downfalls though is that the ACM is looked at like a bunch of "old fogeys" as said in the meeting, because of the platform we're using. Instead of doing the internet thing we're still on TV, which some groups are looking down on. However, radio has been around even longer and it's still going strong.
11. The game plan: where is the next public sphere going to emerge? Internet videos? Blogs? Can we get in on the underground/what the kids are doing these days and integrate ourselves in there so the kids think that this is just the way things are and accept us? Kind of a sneaky plan, but it might work.
12. THE LARGER ISSUE AT HAND: has nothing to do with technology or the platform we're using. How do we get more people involved in the conversation, to participate and help revive the public sphere?
13. many local newspapers and large scale newspapers say things like "come to us with your opinions and information and we'll be the center of the community" but then they take control of the material and skew the message which is bad fo rthe public sphere.
14. However, when you think about it we really are corporate media in our own way because even though our intentions are good, by telling the public what they should put on air (non commercial, preferable personal opinion dialogue) we ARE THE MAN and are controlling what they're able to say. Just like back in the day when Swift and DeFoe and whoever else were talking and creating the public sphere it still wasn't open to everyone, it was expanding but not open to everyone. As in, not everyone was able to sit around and think these big thoughts.
15. We can't just go out and yell at students to say "you're being duped by the media" because then we come off as the next group sharpening the axe- our education tactics need to change or else the kinds are being trained to come off as the next "monolith yelling" because they don't know how to express their ideas without screaming them at the audience.
16. Within public access employees, people need to think of this as a calling, not just their job. It was compared to Paul Revere making a conduit available to the people, one day it'll be the only way for people to get their voice/ideas out.
17. Random fact about consumers vs. citizens- the Cope hearing referenced the American public as consumers 62 times and citizens 4 times. Kind of a big issue huh?
18. The biggest thing we need to work on teaching is "what do you want to say?" before teaching "how do you say it (medium)? We need to focus on the message and how we can improve communications. Thus, we need more education in terms of HOW, not theory and not technology but how do you actually express the messagge? MEDIA LITERACY PROGRAM both here at the station, and spanning the educational system from preschool to college.
19. Essentially, public access media is serving as a bridge to the digital divide and we need to make sure we're living up to that responsibility.
Friday, November 2, 2007
2 Fridays, and not much in between.
Friday, October 26 (6 hours): TJ and I went to the Alma studio today, because Jan had a meeting but John from one of the church groups had a program that he had wanted to edit, we had to take a DVD of an elementary school musical to an access user, and another woman had to drop off a program for us. John ended up staying the whole time because he always does, which is good because at least someone is using the Gratiot access center. As it turned out, we didn't have the right DVD for the woman, so we have to search through the archives to find the right one. However, this may prove to be a difficult task because a lot of tapes keep going missing from the Gratiot studio, and so if it was there in the first place it may not be there now, and that will be unfortunate.
Friday, November 2 (7 hours): Preparing for conference next week, things are getting really chaotic around the station. First, we have to make sure we've got everything set around here so that we can leave for a few days. This is kind of a big issue, because lately our Nexus (the big computer that pretty much runs everything that you see on TV- the slides, the shows, everything) has been randomly blacking out. This turns out to be an issue with producers leaving blank spots on the beginning of the dvd's, which the nexus picks up as having no content because it does this smart scan thing and if there's nothing at the beginning of the program it thinks there's an error and stops playing. However, sometimes it stops playing just for the time allotted for that program, and sometimes it's been stopping all night until we get in and fix it. Kind of a weird situation, so we must talk to the Leightronix (our electronic provider people) guy to see why it's doing it.
Second, we have an official list of things that I need to be working on, including 1) the brochure, 2) making an instructional sheet for the new Panasonic cameras, 3) I still need to make a show 4) we need to start calling the NPO's that we sent surveys to, as most have not responded to our mailing (not that it's really a surprise because mailings aren't that effective).
Third: today I did my first official camera check-out. As in, I gathered the equipment and filled out the check-out sheet for the user, and then he took the equipment for the weekend. This was pretty cool, because it shows that I'm becoming more familiar with the equipment and am able to actually function in the role of a "real" employee. Woo hoo!
Total of 102.5 hours so far.
Friday, November 2 (7 hours): Preparing for conference next week, things are getting really chaotic around the station. First, we have to make sure we've got everything set around here so that we can leave for a few days. This is kind of a big issue, because lately our Nexus (the big computer that pretty much runs everything that you see on TV- the slides, the shows, everything) has been randomly blacking out. This turns out to be an issue with producers leaving blank spots on the beginning of the dvd's, which the nexus picks up as having no content because it does this smart scan thing and if there's nothing at the beginning of the program it thinks there's an error and stops playing. However, sometimes it stops playing just for the time allotted for that program, and sometimes it's been stopping all night until we get in and fix it. Kind of a weird situation, so we must talk to the Leightronix (our electronic provider people) guy to see why it's doing it.
Second, we have an official list of things that I need to be working on, including 1) the brochure, 2) making an instructional sheet for the new Panasonic cameras, 3) I still need to make a show 4) we need to start calling the NPO's that we sent surveys to, as most have not responded to our mailing (not that it's really a surprise because mailings aren't that effective).
Third: today I did my first official camera check-out. As in, I gathered the equipment and filled out the check-out sheet for the user, and then he took the equipment for the weekend. This was pretty cool, because it shows that I'm becoming more familiar with the equipment and am able to actually function in the role of a "real" employee. Woo hoo!
Total of 102.5 hours so far.
Starting to think about the paper.
Monday, October 22 (2 hours)and Wednesday, October 24 (2 hours): A lot of the time here was spent discussing how the Friday shoot went, which we think was good. We've got 4 tapes worth of material, and so when it comes time to edit that we should have a lot going for us. We're now in the process of trying to make a date with Dr. Gilbert to do the editing, but fitting that in sometime when everyone is available is going to be quite tricky because we've got 2 weeks left until we leave for the conference and arrangements need to be made for that. I was also left in charge of calling Dr. Gilbert to make arrangements to get back the jacket that TJ had left in the theater on Friday night. It wasn't a bad task by any means, but it was a tad intimidating for me to just phone my professor at home and be like "so did you happen to find a jacket at the theater? Oh, you did... can we get that from you sometime?" It's not that I didn't want to talk to Dr. Gilbert, but I've never actually called a professor at home and so it seemed more like some kind of violation of the standard communication paths or something. But I survived, and we had a nice discussion about how things are coming along here. It kind of seems like even though I'm learning a lot of things, they're hard to put into a journal because about half of the things tend to be the real-life experiences that don't really seem impressive on their own until I reflect on the fact that I've grown as a person because of them.
On another note though, a few of the people who had originally scheduled to go with us to the conference have found out that they can't go, and so that's kind of a loss because the more the merrier, and if we have more people we could potentially gather more information because there will be multiple sessions going on at the same time at this conference. I'm going to take a notebook and just scribble furiously in hopes of catching the important stuff. I've been thinking about the paper that I have to write at the end of the year- not a lot, but a little bit at least, and I have been keeping up on the "outside readings" that are part of the internship requirement... actually I think I'm a bit ahead of the requirement because I've got more than 1 per week, but I've been trying to learn as much as I can about public access TV and the related fields. I guess I should make a list of these; a lot of them are scholarly journals and books on the media use (photoshop, dreamweaver, iMovie, etc). I'm not totally sure how I'm going to tie these in together, unless I do something like an overview of my internship from the broad to the narrow- explaining public access television and all of the drama/excitement surrounding it, and narrowing down to the actual creation of material for P.A. TV. I'll need to work on the idea, but I do have some materials.
On another note though, a few of the people who had originally scheduled to go with us to the conference have found out that they can't go, and so that's kind of a loss because the more the merrier, and if we have more people we could potentially gather more information because there will be multiple sessions going on at the same time at this conference. I'm going to take a notebook and just scribble furiously in hopes of catching the important stuff. I've been thinking about the paper that I have to write at the end of the year- not a lot, but a little bit at least, and I have been keeping up on the "outside readings" that are part of the internship requirement... actually I think I'm a bit ahead of the requirement because I've got more than 1 per week, but I've been trying to learn as much as I can about public access TV and the related fields. I guess I should make a list of these; a lot of them are scholarly journals and books on the media use (photoshop, dreamweaver, iMovie, etc). I'm not totally sure how I'm going to tie these in together, unless I do something like an overview of my internship from the broad to the narrow- explaining public access television and all of the drama/excitement surrounding it, and narrowing down to the actual creation of material for P.A. TV. I'll need to work on the idea, but I do have some materials.
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