Verification & Data Visualization (Notes)

·      Story Verification

o   Objectivity involves verifying facts.

o   Techniques of Verification

•  Edit with skepticism (aka Prosecutorial Editing).

•  Adjudicating (act as a judge) a story line by line.

•  When Editing, Ask Questions

·      How do we know this?

·      Why would a reader believe this?

·      What is the assertion behind the sentence?

•  Tip: Editor and reporter sit side by side to edit the story.

o   Keep an Accuracy Check List

•  Ask More Questions

·      Is the lead of the story sufficiently supported?

·      Is the context of the story complete?

·      Are all stakeholders in the story identified?

·      Have other sides of this issue been contacted?

·      Does the story pick sides or make subtle value judgements?

•  REMEMBER: When a journalist has an agenda going into an interview the story them becomes propaganda.

o   Final Questions To Ask

•  Have you attributed (given credit to) all of these facts in the story?

•  Do the facts back you up your story?

•  Did you double check the quotes and make sure they are in proper context?

·      Data Visualization / Information Graphics

o   Information graphic is a set of information organized in a visual manner.

Information design makes complex information understandable to more people than traditional text.

Dave Jennett: The Real Mr. Fix It (Group)

Dave Jennett has lived an accomplished and fulfilling life, including a taste of stardom as the television personality Mr. Fix It.
He appeared hundreds of times on morning shows such as “Alive and Well” with host Joanne Carson and has even been a guest on the “Late Show” with Dave Letterman. In thirty years working for celebrities, Don Rickles, Raquel Welch and Linda Evans, to name a few, he has remained a humble, honest and joyful man.

Born in 1926 he grew up in Newark, New Jersey. As a shy child he excelled in mechanics and attended a boy’s technical high school in place of a traditional institution. His mother instilled in him the importance of honesty and respect.

Jokingly Dave exclaims, “My mother gave me a curse (honesty and truthfulness), because of that it took me an extra ten years to become financially successful.”

He has sixty-five years of experience repairing machines of all kinds. When he would walk in to a hardware store Dave would always hear other repairmen talking about their court dates for that week. Staying true to his ethics has served him well and he has never been taken to small claims court.

Dave and his wife moved to Los Angeles in 1969, a few years later he was offered a two hour spot on KABC radio helping callers with their repair inquiries. He has a true drive to help and teach others what he knows, the calls flooded in. After his radio show ended for the day he would sit in a back office and advise callers about their fixes. Dave felt it was his responsibility to maintain his ethical stance even more so because he was beginning to receive clients via his radio show.

Later in his career he was invited as a guest on many morning shows including “Alive and Well” with Joanne Carson. He recalls guiding Joanne through a faucet repair live on television and her excitement in repairing it, showing women can repair anything successfully. Dave enjoyed teaching others his trade.

He received his Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) teaching credentials in three weeks and began teaching at technical high schools, like the one he attended. Dave taught many variations of repair, mainly air conditioning and refrigeration. Substituting a class he remembers a student timidly looking over his shoulder while he repaired a furnace. Dave invited him to squeeze up inside the furnace with him to show the student how the repair was done.

His radio and television personality, Mr. Fix It, is reserved only for those venues. Now age eighty-five Dave lives in Beverly Wood, CA with his wife. He is still a kid at heart, playing music with his friends and riding his Harley Davidson. He believes through strong ethics, desire to help others and a hard working attitude came his success. He maintains he is just a good repairman.

He explains, “You have to know your true abilities and if they satisfy you truthfully then make use of them.”

New Career Path's To Consider

As a future grad from Ai-California-Hollywood, I thought of two things, looking for either a web or print job. Although my major was Interactive Media as well, it never crossed my mind of what other type of career paths I can take till now.


During a class assignment that required me to research for online writer listings, I was able to see how far job opportunities have come about do to the internet. As people now require information on the spot instead of waiting for it to go to print for you to know what was going on. News is now given in real time while the situation is happening.

Which brings me to the job ad I was able to find. First off, I went to Journalismjobs.com where I was able to search for different types of jobs that are available for writers. Then in the search box I wrote "online writers", which populated a few results for me. It is here where I read one of the most interesting job ads for which they where hiring for. The position was titled as "Looking for Mobile Technology Writers". The first two words that stud out to me where "Technology Writers", but the word I found more interesting was "Mobile"? This left me curious to want to read on and see what type of job this might be, so I read on.

 Seems the company was looking to hire a few people that where willing to cover different types of tech events around their area as to be able to cover any new technology that might be coming out soon that we, the public, will be interested in knowing. This position gave various opportunities. They where looking for U.S. editors, European Editors, weekend editors, and even feature contributors.

So if you are a full-time working person that loves to go to conventions as to keep up to date of what new mobile technology is coming out, this would be for you. You can now get paid to go to conventions and see what is coming out and give your opinion of the product.

If you would like to know more detailed information of the job or see the posting, feel free to click here.

Here are a few other reference links you might be interested in checking out as well:


journalism.berkeley.edu/jobs/othersites/
career.sdsu.edu/MAJORS/links/journalism.htm
iwantmedia.com/jobs/
newslink.org/newjoblinkquicksearch.html

Hope this gives you guys a little more inspiration of the types of jobs that are now available for us.

Interview with Roberta Morris

I really enjoyed having the opportunity to talk with Roberta. I previously had the opportunity to have Roberta as an instructor for another class that at this moment I do not remember the correct title for it. However, I never knew there was so much more to her. Roberta was gracious enough to attend my New Journalism Media class which she broke it down on what ethics really should be in journalism and specially in media journalism.. She read a short play to us, that really hit home. How things can be shown and the way it can effect us.

I would have really liked to have had more time to ask more questions in her views of how people now take journalism and how it was before.

As a young boy, I always was very trust worthy in excepting what the media will show or tell us what is going on in the world at that moment. Now, I question every corner of the news. It is my personal opinion and belief, that it is not so much the writers or journalist fault as to how they spin a story, but ours. We pay attention to drama. We have given the corporate news casting companies the belief that this is what we expect as consumers.

We must take a step back and try to remember what really is important to us. We must remember, we are citizens, not consumers.

Learning Image Gallery with JQuery

Here is a sample link that I have found useful in creating a unique style gallery..

Click Here

Hope this helps others as it has helped me..

Jason.

Notes: Review on "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" Book

A book by Edward R. Tufte

In the chapter titled "Graphic Integrity", in the book "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" written by Edward R. Tufte, he goes on to explain and breaks down the way people can use graphs, graphic design, and information design to make a person feel or believe something is happening in a certain manner. It is to each is own to judge yourself and your ethics. Would it be fair to use a certain style graph to explain your motives if you know that it will be better understood? or would it be a way of getting what you want? This can surely be a hard decision to make for someone trying to get their point across and battling with their ethical believes. 

It is for this reason that some people have labeled graphs as the visual or graphical "lie". It is hard to know the motives of the person trying to explain themselves by using graphs. However, there are ways to educate yourself and try to figure out when someone is trying to manipulate you. By taking the graph you are being ask to view and breaking it down to numbers, it can help you determine what are the intentions of the graph developer. If they where to place two images side-by-side and tell you they are the same. In turn, if you break down the images by numbers you can distinguish the differences. You might be able to realize that image A size is 3.5', while image B is only 2.75'. This difference can be that the graph developer is trying to show you something, more to his point of view, in image A then there is to image B.
Overall it is always going to be about the information and what you feel you get out of it. Try to make sure you pay attention and don't ignore the signs that might be right in-front of you.


Jason Lopez
In Class Book Notes

Starting A Business With Little or No Experience

Ever thought what you would need to do so you can start your own company? What you would need to do or get before you start? This article will layout a foundation of what you can do to get started. Although there are other articles that show more traditional steps you should take, this article will break it down in a way that the average man can understand what is needed and how to make sure they can successfully find it.

Step One: The Idea

Think of the type of business you would like to do. What type of business interests you? This will allow you to get a better since of what direction you plan to go.

Think of the name you would like for your business as well.

Step Two: The Break Down

Some would consider this as the development part of your business plan. Although business plans are good to have you can still do without one. Just write down a list for yourself of the types of services you will offer. Then explain how you plan to offer them and the outcome of what the consumer will receive. This will give you a better understanding if this is what you really want to do or if you even want to offer such a service.

Step Three: Capital

This is the part that really stumps most people. See what you actually have to invest in the business. Not what you think you have, but what really is available. You have to consider it “lost money” just in case the business goes up.

Whenever looking for money, you can turn to relatives, friends, bank loans, investors, and even partners. Any of these would be a good idea, but we can do this transition step-by-step.

Step Four: Business Structure

Decide what type of business you would like to have. If it would be a DBA, LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp, Partnership, etc.. Once you decide what style you want you will know what it will cost to get it. However, you can always start with something more economical and then re-register your business to the type you want.

Step Five: Registering Your Business

 Now a days you don’t really need a lawyer and the money that goes along with hiring one to get your business registered. You now can go to places like legalzoom.com or dba4less.com and they can help you with the process way cheaper then you would originally have to pay. You can also do it yourself by just going to City Hall and picking up the right forms. However, if you are like me and want it easier, these types of companies can do all the footwork for you and it can be as cheap as $40 and as high as $900.

Tips: You can also go to the irs.gov website and get your own tax id, EIN number for free.. Saves you some cash already!

Step Six: Location

            Some might put this above step five or even step four. However, I put it at step six. Most office locations will not let you get the contract without you having the proper business licenses or permits, not even a P.O, Box. Once you register your business you can take your business license number or tax id and this will allow you to get the office under a business name. If you are starting a business with little capital, a P.O Box or Mail Box might be more convenient for you. As your business grows you can get a real office location.

These are the steps you would need to take to make your business happen. Follow the steps and see how it goes. If you find you need anymore help feel free to email and I will try and direct you to the proper source of help.