Just A Humble Journalism Student

A plugged-in launch experience

This morning, I witnessed space shuttle Endeavor blast-off from Cape Canaveral. It was my first time out on the coast for a launch so I was pretty excited.

When I wasn’t marveling at the sunrise, swatting at love bugs or trying to sleep (I got to Space View Park at 10 last night), I considered how far come technology has come since the space program started.  While I don’t know much about rockets and space ships, I do know mass media.

My mom was 8 when man landed on the moon. She watched the historic event on her aunt’s television. Radio, newspapers and magazines were the only other ways her family could know about the progress of the space program.

Fast-forward 42 years to my mom, my sister and I sitting on the Indian River across from the launch pad. I borrowed my dad’s transistor radio, thinking we could listen to reports while we waited. But as it turns out, our smartphones made the radio obsolete. My sister received text updates and I checked Twitter for tweets from NASA and news agencies.  As I ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich this morning, I read about what the astronauts had for breakfast (lobster?!).

All the cards I packed went untouched as we played games on our phones, checked our social media accounts and talked to our friends. I gave my DSLR a little break as I took pictures on my phone and uploaded them to Twitter and Facebook. When I prepared for the trip, I didn’t even bother to print out directions or bring a map for the trip because we have a Garmin.

It’s just so crazy to think about technology has evolved and taken our lives with it. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of technology and media I will be using 40 years from now.

New Tech Toys

I’m starting the new year and new semester off with new gadgets!

All my electronics seemed to fail me at once: My camera died right before Thanksgiving (which made completing my year in photos blog a challenge) and my cellphone died right before Christmas.

But thanks to the technological meltdown, I now have the latest and greatest equipment. My new Canon Rebel T1i with video capability will be helpful for my capstone, applied multimedia journalism. It’s been almost a year since I used a DSLR camera so I’m having to readjust to things like metering. 

Even though I had a phone with Internet and a Qwerty keyboard, I never felt like a smartphone user. Now I feel like a genius with my touchscreen Samsung Captivate. I decided that an iPhone was too much money, so I took a chance with an Android smartphone. I’ve been happy so far, except that I use up my battery too fast.

One of the features I’m loving is the camera. Because my Rebel is not always convient to cart around (plus it’s not allowed at basketball games) and I don’t have the money for a second camera, it’s a suitable substitute for now.

The only problem is I have had problems sending photos (like this one) out via both Twitter and Hootsuite. I also haven’t figured out how to upload them to my computer. Time to download the manual, I guess,

But another plus for the camera: applications. I’m extremely excited to finally able to use apps, especially because I’ve had to write multiple stories about them without ever using one myself. So far I’ve downloaded resources like a French verb conjugator and the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, as well as reading material like the New York Times and France’s Le Monde.

I’d love suggestions for great apps or journalistic uses of a smartphone.