Forever Ready to Learn

Now that multimedia writing is coming to an end, I am beginning to become more grateful for the skills I have developed. The stress is drifting away and the fears of trying something completely new and foreign are gone. I can now look back on what I have learned.

Week one’s blogging and tweeting seemed so difficult and annoying. Now, blogging is a piece of cake and a great place for sharing those ideas your roommate won’t listen to. It will also be a great tool to use once I am hired at that future company or firm or where ever my career may take me. Twitter is no longer the enemy, but an ally. It challenges me everyday to try to find the newest or most relevant story to share with the world.

Linking has turned out to be a pretty amazing tool. It saves me lines and lines of explaining because I can just link you to it. Linking has also made attribution that much easier.

Creating my own video and slideshow turned out to be one of the most rewarding accomplishments that I have ever been apart of. The excitement of photographing the event and interviewing the people opened me up to a new passion that I didn’t know I had. Editing, however, closed me off. The editing part was a bit more tricky. I am glad I learned how to do it and parts of it were fun. The trouble with our computers and the programs just reinforced my hesitation with technology. Saving, importing and exporting still don’t work the way they should. The plus side of the spectrum is the fact that I now have the ability to use iMovie and YouTube.

Hands on work is definitely the way to go when it comes to a classroom situation. I have always been a fan of jumping in head first and learning as you go. Learning from your mistakes gives you more experience in my opinion.

After taking multimedia writing, I am willing to be open to new technology because it is inevitable. Technology is still brand new and has years of growing to do. My lifetime is still going to see hundreds of new developments from technology and that means I just need to be patient and prepared to learn.

I have learned an enormous amount and developed lifelong skills. I have taken in more useful information in these past 4 weeks than I have in a handful of my other classes over the past 3 years. I will forever have these skills saved in the back corner of my brain as a secret weapon available at an given second.

Knowledge of Ethical Issues

As an aspiring public relations professional, it is important to know the rules and regulations that come along with online writing. Chances are I will be blogging, linking and everything that comes along with online writing. Now that I know how to blog, I think it would be very useful for a PR professional.  Knowing the ethical issues that come along with blogging is extremely helpful.

Since many people using the internet believe blogs to be factual and sources of news in some cases, it is important to use standards when writing a blog. For example, a blogger should only publish things they believe to be true and use proper links to material online. After reading the guidelines bloggers should follow by blog expert Rebecca Blood, I have started to take blogging more seriously. It isn’t only a place for people to rant and rave about their daily lives.

Another ethical issue that touched home was about image and sound editing. All week I have been working on my slideshow and video that I recently posted. The book “Online Journalism: Principles and Practices of News for the Web” by James C. Foust discusses how it is important not to overuse the  special effects on our editing programs. This can dramatically alter original work and give misleading information. Although it is alright to edit out some sound material and use transitions in slideshows and such, there are some editing options that are not acceptable.

These ethical issues are very important to understand and have knowledge of. After editing my projects this week, I now understand why it is neccessary to have guidelines and rules. With all the special features and manipulations that can be done, a whole project could be completely recreated from its original form.

Knowledge is power!

Buster’s Classics

If unique and classic cars rev your engine, then Buster’s car show is the place for you.

Classic cars are a hobby and enjoyed by people of all ages.

Numerous people build their own car to fit their personality. People spend months and even years working on them. Often times it turns into a family project and even a tradition.

Buster’s car show participant said, “I had my son drive my car back with me from North Dakota after I bought it, and I painted it myself. Car shows get me out of the house since my wife passed away 2 months ago.”

When the summer roles around, car shows are a great opportunity to enjoy the weather and show of months of hard work.

A great way to find a car enthusiast is at Buster’s Bar and Grill in Mankato, Minnesota. Every Thursday evening from May 6-Sept. 30 Busters puts on a unique and classic car show.

Jeff Kuchenbecker, Buster’s manager, said, “You name it, it’s out here.”

Buster’s Unique and Classic Car Show is back in season.

MANKATO, MINN.— Buster’s Bar and Grill hosts an annual summer car show every Thursday evening from May 6 until Sep. 30.  People travel from all over to show off their vintage, unique and collector cars.

Buster’s owner, Matt Little, said, “The main reason why we do this is because it brings people together. You see people swapping and buying each others cars.”

Busters took over unique and classic car show night when Ruttles Restaurant, the previous car show host, closed.  Busters wanted to keep classic cars in Mankato.

Buster’s car show currently has 17 sponsors, 4 of which are radio sponsors. The 4 radio sponsors handle announcements and prize giveaways every week.

Snell Motors sign up car show participants and Unique Specialty and Classic Cars display a new model car in the corner of the parking lot each week.

Buster’s manager, Jeff Kuchenbecker, said, “Buster’s Car Show is an absolute blast.  We get 150 up to 300 cars every week.”

Learn to be a Quick Learner

Week three of multimedia writing turned out to be another learning experience. This week I had to quickly become an expert photographer, master of the flip video and an intriguing interviewer. We jumped head first into our projects.

My partner and I decided we would do our video report and soundslide on an ever popular summer event. We chose classic and unique car show night at Busters, a local bar and grill. Classic car shows can be found at many different locations throughout the summer. We had a blast taking photos and shooting video. Practice is definitely the key in learning how to use technology. 

The next step in creating our video and soundslide was to learn how to import the pictures and footage. Also, we had to learn how to use the programs for editing our projects. Since we only have two weeks left of class, we have to try to catch on as quickly as possible. The convenient part is that there are so many tutorials on how to use all these programs and devices. Some of the programs and devices we have learned to use are the zoom, the flip and iMovie ’09.

My hope is to get my video and soundslide up on my blog for everyone to see. I still have alot to learn about these programs and the every expanding world of technology.