Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Career Student
At the end of this of this last semester I realized I still have 14 more credits to go and the first that went was...
NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Make no doubt about it I will 30 and I'm still going to college to for a Bachelors in Journalism. I should have graduated about 2 years ago along with friends who studying elsewhere. When I left the Marines I had friends who were studying full time. I was going to work full time and studying part time. I did this for the first two years after I left, until I realized it just wasn't going to work this way. I managed to finally get an Associates in Art (woohoo) and then attend NIU. This college isn't the best out there and it has that stigma that it's "close to home." This University isn't all crap and it has certain features that bring students.
I thought I was out of college out, and was pretty good timing. My GI Bill exhausted and my Illinois Veterans Grant getting dangerously low I could join the real world. That isn't the case though it seems now. I have to plow through some more credit hours and hang oout in Dekalb. The town that should be eternaly grateful that it has the University there. Let's face it barbed wire can only take you so far.
Despite this setback towards entering real life, I find myself optimistic. I can use this summer to get an internship which will help me in my career. I can get two minors out it, now one in Communications. I know a few people that have been laid off thanks to recession we're in and it makes a little glad to still be in college. If I had graduated two years earlier as was obsessing about before, I would be a victim of it. I would probably be getting laid off considering how bad things are in the news industry right now. Things should be on the rebound by the time I graduate in December and more places will hiring. At the very least offering internships that pay.
The very irony of it all is that I have a friend I made fun of for getting a Communications degree. He was going to grad school anyway for Public Administration, but it still means he won't let up on that. The other point of irony is how another friend of mine was complaining about how we have to meet a certain number of credit hours before we can graduate. He just wanted to learn his major and minor, then leave. I told him,"It would be irresponsible for a college to educate you one thing and not give you a well rounded sense the world."
Now that this is happening to me I say, "Screw the well rounded crap and let get out of here!"
Let's face it Univeristies want the same as any place that uses it. They may not be able to find there place in the future but that remains to be seen. That's a whole other ball wax but i think about from time to time.
Right it's all about making the most out this opportunity and making sure I can still learn something from my classes. Then once I graduate I can finally start reading the books I want to read.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Make no doubt about it I will 30 and I'm still going to college to for a Bachelors in Journalism. I should have graduated about 2 years ago along with friends who studying elsewhere. When I left the Marines I had friends who were studying full time. I was going to work full time and studying part time. I did this for the first two years after I left, until I realized it just wasn't going to work this way. I managed to finally get an Associates in Art (woohoo) and then attend NIU. This college isn't the best out there and it has that stigma that it's "close to home." This University isn't all crap and it has certain features that bring students.
I thought I was out of college out, and was pretty good timing. My GI Bill exhausted and my Illinois Veterans Grant getting dangerously low I could join the real world. That isn't the case though it seems now. I have to plow through some more credit hours and hang oout in Dekalb. The town that should be eternaly grateful that it has the University there. Let's face it barbed wire can only take you so far.
Despite this setback towards entering real life, I find myself optimistic. I can use this summer to get an internship which will help me in my career. I can get two minors out it, now one in Communications. I know a few people that have been laid off thanks to recession we're in and it makes a little glad to still be in college. If I had graduated two years earlier as was obsessing about before, I would be a victim of it. I would probably be getting laid off considering how bad things are in the news industry right now. Things should be on the rebound by the time I graduate in December and more places will hiring. At the very least offering internships that pay.
The very irony of it all is that I have a friend I made fun of for getting a Communications degree. He was going to grad school anyway for Public Administration, but it still means he won't let up on that. The other point of irony is how another friend of mine was complaining about how we have to meet a certain number of credit hours before we can graduate. He just wanted to learn his major and minor, then leave. I told him,"It would be irresponsible for a college to educate you one thing and not give you a well rounded sense the world."
Now that this is happening to me I say, "Screw the well rounded crap and let get out of here!"
Let's face it Univeristies want the same as any place that uses it. They may not be able to find there place in the future but that remains to be seen. That's a whole other ball wax but i think about from time to time.
Right it's all about making the most out this opportunity and making sure I can still learn something from my classes. Then once I graduate I can finally start reading the books I want to read.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Web 2.0 Meeting
I went up to Algonquin, loaded up on waaaaaay too much caffeine, and had a pretty good time. I was meeting other people at the Web 2.0 meet up group. Everyone there had some sort of job, or experience with Internet. There was even a woman there who was giving a presentation about social media.
A couple came all the way from Beloit, Wisconsin which I couldn't believe. I found it to be something of a breath of fresh air being able to talk to people about the Internet face to face. The man who started it all was a great guy who really wants to help people understand, and implement social media for their needs. He plans to make a meeting every month for people in the northwest suburbs. I plan to be there with a lot less caffeine in my system.
This was everything they should be teaching at college. I go to Northern Illinois University and right now the classes I've had are good but they don't really go into the progress the internet is making. There was one class which covered a lot but when you only have one class it still leaves a lot out. The rest of the classes have the internet in some way but I can't help but feel like the learning experience needs to do more students there.
Social media should be a required class for aspiring journalists, because this is where we are headed, make no mistake about it. I brought up the news a lot during the meeting, because it shares the same problem Youtube and Twitter have, profit. Figuring out the problem of one will more than likely help the problems with the other.
It seems that what the news industry needs to do is embrace what is happening and help develop new technologies. The captains of the news industry need to help bring the change of their own companies to the internet. They can't just blow it the way they have been doing it right now. Is it too late for newspapers? Maybe, maybe not, but if want to hang in there they not get help from social media. I like to be the optimist along with a few others and say they will still be around.
A couple came all the way from Beloit, Wisconsin which I couldn't believe. I found it to be something of a breath of fresh air being able to talk to people about the Internet face to face. The man who started it all was a great guy who really wants to help people understand, and implement social media for their needs. He plans to make a meeting every month for people in the northwest suburbs. I plan to be there with a lot less caffeine in my system.
This was everything they should be teaching at college. I go to Northern Illinois University and right now the classes I've had are good but they don't really go into the progress the internet is making. There was one class which covered a lot but when you only have one class it still leaves a lot out. The rest of the classes have the internet in some way but I can't help but feel like the learning experience needs to do more students there.
Social media should be a required class for aspiring journalists, because this is where we are headed, make no mistake about it. I brought up the news a lot during the meeting, because it shares the same problem Youtube and Twitter have, profit. Figuring out the problem of one will more than likely help the problems with the other.
It seems that what the news industry needs to do is embrace what is happening and help develop new technologies. The captains of the news industry need to help bring the change of their own companies to the internet. They can't just blow it the way they have been doing it right now. Is it too late for newspapers? Maybe, maybe not, but if want to hang in there they not get help from social media. I like to be the optimist along with a few others and say they will still be around.
