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24
Sep 12

The happy headlines

This shot is from standing just off the quad on the Samford campus, which is probably humming with people throwing frisbees whenever you read this. It doesn’t really matter when you read this. Frisbees are being thrown.

Anyway, I’m lucky enough to go in this building to work every day:

UniversityCenter

My office is on the third floor, and off the left side of the photograph.

Or, if you’re reading it at night, there is a small chance that some of the students are trying their luck wading through one of the fountains without getting caught. There are differing opinions on the challenge involved with that.

Samford is a great place, a happy place. I think I’ve met one person there who was not smiling. This is my fifth year on campus. That’s a pretty good ratio.

Oh, I’m sure some students have less than happy moments. Most people don’t like tests, or last minute projects.

Which is why I’m working long and hard on tomorrow’s lecture topic: Headlines. Everybody loves them, until they have to write them.

Occasionally I take a break from writing this stuff and pulling examples, surfing some of the best newspaper design across the country that landed on doorsteps this morning. (It is difficult to provide a good example on question marks in headlines, for example.) When I do push back from this PowerPoint there are two or three other tasks demanding attention.

Emails to write, letters to compose, numbers to crunch.

Living the Monday dream, friends.

Sad to learn of Paul Davis’ death. He was one of those strong regional voices of journalism. He helped launch a lot of careers. And those careers served communities and inspired others.

He knew the value and he taught a lot of us about it too.

It is too bad we only really contemplate that connectedness at the end. In the end that connectedness is what we hold on to.

The second most important headline of the day: AP promises members it won’t break news on social media. Everyone else will.

There are different audiences here, of course. AP sells news to media companies who sell the news to the general public. But the public, of course, have ways of seeking out the information they want. They’re often using Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter for their own wires.

And, sometimes, with poorly written, unhappy headlines.


22
Sep 12

LSU at Auburn

Second-ranked LSU visited Auburn. The good Tigers were three touchdown underdogs. We always win the pregame:

Nova

Auburn played LSU extremely tough. The defense moved faster and forced a few key turnovers. Our Tigers were leading at the half, despite a still-struggling offense:

Frazier

Some odd play calling and an offense that can’t move the ball means LSU wins, every time, despite an Auburn defense that refused to give in. LSU won 12-10, but it felt a lot like Auburn should be able to take the victory, so the gratification of not watching them get beaten up was replaced by the frustration of what should have been.

At least we got to enjoy the Golden Band from Tigerland.

LSU

Up next for Auburn is a bye week, and then Arkansas, who lost at home to Rutgers tonight. Elsewhere, Alabama defeated the mighty Florida Atlantic 40-7. UAB almost ruined Ohio State’s season. Looking at the stats, it is hard to see how the Buckeyes managed to win, but they held off UAB 29-15. Samford, meanwhile, came from behind on the road to beat Western Carolina 25-21, giving them a 4-0 start for the first time since 1995.


20
Sep 12

The evolving journalism pedagogy

“The ‘fundamentals’ of anything are challenging simply because so much else rests on their shoulders,” wrote professor Chris Arnold. It works nicely with the popular line “I don’t teach software, I teach skills.” Professor Mindy McAdams went a step further this week in a Nieman Lab essay, imploring readers to train young journalists to be lifelong learners:

Most of them chose journalism because they like to write. Anything that involves HTML, CSS, code, or programming makes many of them almost shut down, shrink away, move toward the door. We have all kinds of challenges in journalism education, but this one is front and center, right now. It’s not just students’ avoidance of things perceived to be somehow math-related. It’s also:

Reluctance to spend time exploring something that doesn’t have an explicit or immediate payoff

Skepticism or negative attitude toward any task that’s not spelled out in detail

The tendency to give up and say “I can’t” or “I don’t know how”

Preoccupation with a process, such as writing, instead of with stories

This applies to storytelling as much as to technology. Any time a student says “You didn’t tell us we had to do that” in a conversation about a poor grade on a story, you’re hearing evidence of this challenge. The more students insist on explicit instructions, the further they are from independence.

You could do something by rote requirement of a class, but there’s no critical thinking there.

Students can thrive from learning how to evaluate which skills are best for any given story. (I’ve yet to have a sophomore intuitively understand how they might leverage the huge strength of their Facebook account for their journalism, for example.) They need to be encouraged to experiment with new tools. They must learn to overcome the fear of ruining sites or databases or equipment. (You aren’t inclined to tinker if tech intimidates you.) They have to learn how to discern which medium, methods and tools are the best for their particular story. When they do, you get independent thought and critical thinking.

None of these things involve just showing them what is useful here or there. Far better to help students realize those things themselves because a successful career requires a healthy curiosity to stay in the curve. The newsrooms from which they retire in 40 years won’t be anything like the first ones they’ll enter today, after all.

McAdams also mentions Ira Glass, who has some points worth digesting:

I try to encourage enthusiasm among students because it can carry over into their studies and work. Real education comes from understanding the joy of learning.

That’s pretty fundamental.

In other news I’m fighting muscle spasms around my shoulder again. I’ll be fully recovered in another month. And the pain will go away by Christmas, he said. I should have thought to ask the surgeon how long the spasms will last.

If you spend enough time on a heating pad you don’t have much to write about here. Go figure.

So this, a helpful cross section of the people representing us at the presidential conventions.

Clearly video and poking fun at them is the proper way to tell this story. Have a lovely evening.


17
Sep 12

Know what today is?

SamfordSun

We’re getting that autumn light. Bested only by the great relief of spring light — Winter is leaving! — that soft, golden orange of a fall evening is like receiving an invitation for an event you’ve never quite been able to attend. You’ve always wanted to go, but it has always been out of reach, or you’ve always been unavailable.

He said, ruining a perfectly fledgling analogy.

You can’t go to the sun because you’d burn up. So, really, you’ve now received this invitation but realized That’s lovely, though, I remember what happened to Daedalus’ son. I’ll keep my wings undamaged, thanks.

Another Monday, another day of nothing exciting to report. All of my Mondays feel the same: email, reading, making class notes and looking forward to Tuesday. And the sun, always the sun.

A few things elsewhere, then: Florida journalism professor Mindy McAdams: Don’t just teach skills, train young journalists to be lifelong learners:

The ability to learn on your own and teach yourself new skills depends on your willingness to play, experiment, make mistakes, and stick with things that take much longer than you had expected.

This will actually come up in my class tomorrow, the joy of learning.

The 150th anniversary of the bloodiest day in U.S. history, Antietam. And there’s also a series of then-and-now photographs, using the same photographic techniques.

Finally, today is Constitution Day. Celebrate with a First Amendment quiz. If you make it all the way through and ace every answer you can call yourself a real party animal. And you will have also passed the bar in Maryland.


15
Sep 12

ULM at Auburn

Coates

Redshirt freshman Sammie Coates propels his 6-2 frame into the air for a catch that might help reshape the season.

It took 10 full quarters, two-and-a-half games into the season, but Auburn finally found a moment where they could take control of a game. Sophomore quarterback Kiehl Frazier was flushed from the pocket, spun out to his left and heaved a hope to the back of the end zone.

After losing the opener in Atlanta to Clemson, and losing badly in their conference opener to Mississippi State in Starkville, Auburn finally had some momentum.

This being the 2012 Tigers, and their opponent being a gamey Louisiana-Monroe, it wouldn’t end there. A turnover late and solid play in the second half found Auburn and ULM going to overtime at 28-28. But a bit of natural balance returned after that. Frazier started to look like a game manager, his coordinator finally seemed to realize what he has at quarterback and what he longs for. Frazier might have finally found a third receiver in Coates. Maybe and perhaps. Or maybe he is the third receiver; Frazier caught a touchdown pass early in the game a receiver throwback. The running game showed up.

Sure, there were some spotty calls coming from the booth, but the Tigers managed to find a way.

Coates

Auburn won 31-28 after one overtime. It did, as I said to my wife at the beginning of the game, come down to a special teams victory. Two ULM field goal attempts were blocked.

Sunburns should mean more than this.

And now on comes LSU.

Elsewhere, Alabama toiled in their task of heading to the sea, surrounding and drowning Arkansas 52-0. UAB could not facilitate my eighth-ranked curse. They fell 49-6 to number eight South Carolina, the first number eight to win this year. Samford remains a perfect 3-0 after upending Gardener-Webb 44-23.

Much more tomorrow.