Challenge 3: (Sorta Video) Podcasting

It's May Day. Get to the streets, then return for my rousing FINAL EXAM!

It will be a review of a new article, my blog, and new media technology. For flow reasons, it is best to let the video load the whole way before watching.

Below, I will be on Cover It Live at 9:15 am. I will be watching and listening to my podcast, commenting, providing new news, views and information. Please join me.

Since the event is over, one can just read along as it goes, which is hella easy. I usually post something after I hear myself say it on the video, so it is easy to follow along. I post continuously, so don't worry about being bored - unless you're lame. Thank you for your time this semester.

Reflection Post
4/1/09

I chose four technologies in particular to work with. The first was podcasting, something that I've been wishing to try, but never able to do. The next was video podcasting, which, because I don't have a video camera, I had to rely on photos to tell the story. Third, Twitter. I opened my Twitter up for my Final Exam. Fourth, I decided to use "Cover It Live," which was very enjoyable. I was able to poke fun at my video, make corrections, etc. that I wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

I had created too many blog posts for this class, so one that I was working on for another blog, as I mentioned before Latin American Musings, was one called "Swine Flu: It's Not Race, It's Capital." Instead of just posting a new post onto this site, I set the a personal goal of telling this tale in a new way. So I set up a podcast, pulled official sources like the New York Times into the post, played music and hosted a "live" report from ODU on student reactions. Students are being taught in journalism classes and schools all over the world that their industry is dying, to survive, the skills I tried to display here today are necessary to set one apart in the future. The ability to create an interesting blog, edit video, take photos, and use networking tools add to the already inate ability to write.

I'm on my sister's Mac. I did not know how to use iMovie, or iPhoto. I learned, for sure, but it was a work in progress. I think the video is well done, although looking back, I wish I did video. I had plans for an introduction via the internal webcam, but I could not figure out how to make the podcast begin after my intro, so I scrapped it. I think CoverItLive was what sowed everything together. It adds a new level for any listener who comes to my blog. I tried to provide new info, pictures and links that I did not mention in my original podcast. I also would have cooled it on the music, maybe just during the "Swine Flu" part, instead of cutting in and out. Otherwise, the music was lively, people probably haven't heard any of it before, and it does provide a great interlude between segments. I thought the length might also be a problem, but I don't know how I would have gone shorter, especially for a final project.

This has added to the content of my existing work this semester in many ways. This podcast highlights all my posts and their role in a journey that I took over the semester. If the listener had missed a segment, I mention them all in my podcast. My opinions of what journalism is, or should be about, may also cause a listener to look back on prior work knowing my philosophy. The technology also shows that I am in touch with new media, which my body of work and blog showcased. It also provides a stepping stone from this blog to my new blog. My first post looks so sedate compared to the maps and Flickr images and podcasts of the last three posts before my final. I will take these tools with me into the future.

The future always adds something new the work of the past.

Overall Reflection Post

I accomplished much for the first real blog I had ever done (I have since become hooked, and have started a blog, Latin American Musings, a few weeks after we began which averages 3,000 hits a month). So, in terms of original writing, ideas for posts, guidance in class and from peers, this project was successful. However, there is not much of Latin American community at ODU, so my project was a bust but I made the best of it.

I don't think I would have wanted to change my topic, I enjoy some of my pieces. However, I think I would expanded, narrowed - something - in order to make this more successful with better content that I just could not get.

I would have added more voices from people at ODU, but that was hard to find. I would have added maps to more of my posts because I dealt with areas away from ODU and it would have been nice for the reader to see those things (I did this on my post "The Dirty Side of Ecotourism"). I also would have taken more original pictures for my Flickr account, which I did get into a one time. I hope to correct that problem as I continue blogging.

Overall, I had a positive experience and hope to use a lot more tools in my future of blogging. I hope to use podcasting for the final project due next week. I may use the live call-in technology that Lauren showcased. This blog opened my eyes to possibilities and now I am running with it.

An Overhaul of Immigration Policy

There may be nothing that touches people's nerves more than immigration, and the loaded context in which the word is used and the images it draws up to certain people. It is also true that when one thinks of "immigration," one thinks of Latin Americans.

Old Dominion is one of four of Virginia's 15 universities who will enroll undocumented immigrants, according to the Virginian-Pilot. One only needs to scroll past the usual arguments for and against immigration reform to find the nerves for which I spoke of above. Just one look, even glance, at the hatred displayed in the comments shows the nature of how immigration, and immigrants, are received in this country. Law and order are often used as a guise for blatant racism.

It is often refreshing to move beyond the Eurocentric fallacies and it is in the human element where immigration takes it true form. According to a great article on the blog Immigration, Education and Globalization, "Dead-Ends and Deportation for America's Youth 2 Million Reasons to Find a Solution," Dr. Angela Valenzuela uses two examples of immigration in the US where losing these undocumented workers could be detrimental to America.

* Santiago Cordero graduated from Postville High School in Iowa on May 25, 2008. In addition to starting the school's first soccer team, his participation in varsity football and volunteer programs was applauded by the Superintendent. Despite an immigration raid that tore his mother from their family, Cordero graduated in the top ten of his class. But because Santiago is undocumented, he faces an uncertain future ("Raid mars future for 3 graduating today from Postville," Des Moines Register, May 25, 2008).

* Laura just graduated from high school in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a 4.0 grade point average and dreams of becoming an engineer. But then she learned that Central Piedmont Community College, which she planned to attend for two years before switching to a four-year college, is no longer admitting undocumented students such as herself. Now Laura's plans for college and a career are in limbo ("Yearning to learn, but rule says no," Charlotte Observer, June 17, 2008).

As lawmakers keep trying to "deport their way out" of a dysfunctional immigration system that has fueled a growing undocumented population, they would do well to consider the cases of ... Santiago, Laura, and approximately 1.8 million others, whose deportation would be traumatic not only for the students themselves, but for the American workforce as a whole.

Of course, according to Valenzuela, America will lose potential that these kids bring to our society; lost tax dollars from children who want to be educated in America; and lost workers who, if they cannot go to school, cannot work for our companies for fear of deportation. Thus, it is the human side of immigration that only hardliners or callous individuals defend.

ODU joins world-class universities like Virginia Tech in accepting students regardless of "status" and instead accepts based up merits. Said Larry Hincker of Virginia Tech, determining their legal status is the responsibility of the U.S. government. "It’s not like these people are coming in from Chihuahua. They’re graduating from good Virginia schools. They have good grades. … You don’t get into Virginia Tech unless you’re a good student.” The same, thankfully, applies for Old Dominion.