Before starting this class, I had no experience in editing audio or creating podcast content. It was nerve-racking for me to record myself speaking and format it into a podcast.
When I began writing my notecard story, I wrote like a always do. I write how I think my voice sounds. After my first attempt to record my story I realized I was completely wrong. My written words may sound good in my head but it is nothing like how I speak to other people.
After some peer revision and rewriting, I tried to record my story. Listening to it for the first time, I realized there was a lot of background noise and that I sounded like a robot. Then I talked to my classmates and my teacher to get more advice on how to sound more natural. While I don’t think I’m a professional podcaster, I think my voice and tone significantly improved.
When doing my final recording, I spoke to myself in the mirror. Yes, I felt like a crazy person. But then I listened to the differences between my first and second recording. My voice was much more relaxed and conversational, and I took more pauses like I would in a normal conversation.
I think this is an area I can still greatly improve in, but I am glad to see how far my abilities have come.
Think back to when you were a kid, maybe seven or eight, waking up on Christmas morning. You pop out of bed and run down the stairs to find Santa had come that night and left you presents and gifts. Your family sits with you and you take turns opening gifts, excited about what you will receive.
This is what big little reveal feels like for the sisters of Gamma Phi Beta at Oakland University. Each new member is paired up with a big sister to serve as their mentor in their first semester of their membership.
Waiting to find out who their big sister is, new members are excited and nervous to finally have their reveal. Each new member comes into the room individually and the whole chapter participates in a countdown until the curtain is dropped and the big sister shows herself – but it does not always happen this way. Often the big sister tries to trick the little sister by hiding in the crowd and doesn’t actually stand behind the curtain.
“I was so confused who my big was,” new member Gianna S. said. “Marg was hiding and when the curtain fell and no one was there.” Gianna ran to her new big sister, Margret B., when she finally revealed herself and the whole chapter clapped and laughed along with the women.
After all the bigs and littles are united, Christmas morning activities continue because the big sister gifts the little sister with food, clothing and other items. Groups of sisters will go out eat and continue the celebrations further.
On my way to work or school I often listen to the radio, trying to find new music or something interesting to keep me alert. For the past few weeks, instead of turning on the radio, I plugged my phone into the aux and tuned into my new favorite podcast – “The Way I Heard It” with Mike Rowe.
Each episode is formatted in a similar way and draws listeners in, wondering who or what each episode is about. Rowe uses his story telling abilities to give a seven or ten minute story about a well know person. Not until the last 30 seconds do listeners learn of who the story is about, giving them an “aha moment.”
Screenshot taken from Spotify web player.
The length and familiar structure of the stories in each podcast are comfortable for listeners. For those who may not be familiar with Rowe, he gained his reputation from hosting a popular show called “Dirty Jobs.” From this he also began to narrate many television shows and documentaries. His voice is recognized by many and he was once named one of the most trusted celebrities by Forbes magazine.
With is experience in storytelling, I knew I would not be wasting my time by listening to his podcast. Even though my assignment was to follow a podcast for a few weeks and listen to it, I found myself putting the episodes on shuffle and listening to many of the stories. I found myself even sharing particular content with my family members and boyfriend.
Since I began to listen, I started following Rowe on social media to get updates of new podcast information and found that he also records some of his episodes on YouTube for viewers. Check out his latest episode, and follow along with me!
Spending her whole life with her family, Oakland University student Ariel Whitely loves to travel and spend time with them. I was able to sit down with her to discuss her memorable experiences and her life at the Whitely house.
Quickly approaching graduation in April 2018, Jessica Provo reflects on her time at Oakland University and her experience in the communication and journalism program.
“Journalism has helped me become a better writer and I am constantly on the learning important newsworthy information,” said Provo. Going through the communication and journalism program at OU has helped her step out of her comfort zone and realize what her dream job is.
Oakland University senior, Jessica Provo, walks to Vandenberg dining hall to grab a snack on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018. She often has classes in this building because the Journalism program is housed on the first floor.
“I want to work in social media, writing and marketing for a big brand,” said Provo. With her graduation date set for April, she knows that the skills she has learned from OU will set her apart from the crowd. OU offers a unique experience to their students because the campus community and classes are so small. The difference between a lecture hall of 100 or more students and a small class of 20 or less is immense.
“I like that OU is a big commuter campus that offers various programs and gives you the option to live on campus too,” said Provo. Living in Macomb, Provo drives about 40 minutes to campus each day for school. She currently lives with her family to save money and works at Habitat for Humanity in Macomb.
“I am so excited to graduate, but I do love the campus and community at OU,” said Provo.
Walking towards their 10:00a.m. class, Jordyn Dimaso (left) and Jessica Provo (right) chat about their upcoming assignments on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018. Both are currently taking multimedia journalism to learn more about the many ways to tell a story.
Over the past seven days, I have been following news organizations and journalists on Twitter to engage in current events and trends. I chose to do this on Twitter because it is the fastest form of social media. Microblogging has become a way for people so share quick thoughts our updates about issues. Twitter is very popular among scholars and citizens alike.
For this assignment, I was asked to chose a social media platform that is new to me, but I am familiar with them all. I decided to pick my Twitter account because I like to engage the most on that platform. My profile details are unique to me and showcase my interests.
In the past week, I have retweeted and tweeted about current events. These tweets ranged from trending hashtags to news about Brett Kavanaugh. I also tweeted fun videos and quotes that I came across in my feed. I found that I had higher interaction with funny or cute tweets then I did with my tweets about news or current events.
I learned that many journalists will use their Twitter to both tweet the news and engage with users. Journalist Debra Gil tweeted about #NationalTacoDay to gain interaction with her followers and to show her more fun side. When I commented on this tweet I also got a Like back from Gil.
Debra Gil tweeted about #NationalTacoDay to gain more followers and to keep up with current trending hashtags.
I think this practice is something to note for businesses and media professionals. Interaction with followers and commenting on trending hashtags will draw attention to your profile and gain you more followers.
In today’s social media society, a user friendly website is a necessity to creating clear communication for a local community or city. To research more about this, I looked into my own city’s website and their tools for user communication.
Immediately when clicking on “Welcome to Village of Armada”, users view a photo of the Armada’s downtown strip. As a very small town, this is only a few buildings. This photo attempts to cut out all the vehicles parked near the buildings and seems to be taken in the middle of the day. It is sunny and there is a banner in the upper left corner reading “Armada Pride.” There are no people in the photo and no action in the image.
Screenshot taken from the Village or Armada homepage.
When users continue to scroll down, they can read a short overview of the village of Armada, scroll through “latest events”, view a map and see both the address and phone number of the village office. Clicking through website tabs and links, readers can view different departments, area business links, and a tab for visitors to view history and photos. Of all the photos on the website, there are none of people. There is an FAQ section for residents and a search bar at the top of the website for users.
Overall this website isn’t terrible, but it definitely needs an update. I would recommend a cleaner theme or design to make the website more pleasing to the eye. While there are social media icons on the left-hand side of the website, they do not link to Armada’s pages. These should be linked to Armada’s social media pages so users can view events, photos or more current content.
I would also recommend posting photos of city officials along with their professional contact information so residents can contact them about local issues. There should also be a “Contact Us” button to send general email questions or concerns. Instead of having a “latest events” area on the homepage, the website should like to a Facebook list of events. More and more Facebook users like to view events and click “attend” on Facebook events and it has become a great way to spread information and interest. In my searching, I found two different Facebook pages that could be run by the local government but they are both fairly unused and outdated. I would also recommend a clear Facebook page for Armada with regular updates at least twice a week.
Somewhere on the site, I would recommend posting a photo of the village office. This will let viewers know where to find the office if they ever have questions or need to visit the location.
The Village of Armada office is located at, 74274 Burk St, Armada, MI 48005.
Lastly, I would recommend a sliding photo banner as the homepage photo. Each photo could showcase a popular place in the town with people enjoying their surroundings or general activity in the photo. There should also be an accurate representation of the people in the area based on gender, age and race. Below I have attached some stock photos from Google images that I would use as a reference to the kind of photos that will make viewers more interested in the website.
On Tuesday September 25, we asked Oakland University students questions about commuting. We wanted to know the opinion of students, and the reason behind why they commute to school. We asked a range of 7 questions:
What’s your name and major?
What’s your class standing?
Do you live on or off the campus?
Do you live at home or rent locally?
Where do you commute from (city)?
How long is your commute?
Why did you decide to live off campus?
The amount of students who answered the questions were 67 in total, it was one freshman, nine sophomores, 14 juniors, 32 seniors, and 10 senior +. Majors ranged from communication, business, nursing, engineering and more, which gave us a better pool of students. We were able to get a large spectrum of commuters. We had some students on campus, but many lived off campus. The closest off campus were Rochester, Auburn Hills, and Pontiac which is 10-15 minutes away. The farthest were Romeo, Armada, and Heartland which range from 40-60 minutes away.
“It was much cheaper, and I wanted more privacy than the dorms,” Senior Liz Starnes said. “I would have lived in the on campus apartments but the age cut off is so early I wouldn’t have been able to live there until my senior year. Also the food options were very difficult for me as someone who was trying to get healthy.”
The majority of students live at home because it’s cheaper, and some students have jobs near home. It’s simply more convenient for most. Others pay rent since it’s more feasible, and one student just wanted to live on their own rather than living with parents. Below we have a map that shows each students location, and it gives you a visual of where and how far OU students commute.
To see a map of where our respondents came from and how long their commute takes, click here.
Produced by The New York Times, “Ivy League Trailblazers” outlines life as a first generation ivy league college student. Often times stories are shared about students attending college for the first time, but this story features students who are unique to their prestigious university. The video tells the stories of three first generation students and the struggles they face in school.
I found the video interesting because each student talked about how they felt they had to hide their identity as a first generation student. Their classmates had parents who attended or money to get them to school. One student even lied about where she was from because she didn’t want her professors and classmates to think of her differently. She told people she was from New Jersey because, “anyone can be from New Jersey.”
In the film, one student talked about how he was saving money to buy a plane ticket for his mom to visit him. She had never been able to visit him so he wanted to make sure someone from his family can see him graduate. This moment stood out to me and made me reflect on my own college experience. I assumed that all students at ivy league schools used their parents money to pay for school, when in reality some students work at the mess hall or bookstore to pay for expenses.
Reflecting on my own reality, I am thankful that my parents were able to help me pay for some tuition. I am grateful for my opportunity to work and go to school at the same time so I can afford gas for my car and rent for my apartment. I may feel like I am struggling, but I should consider the lives of my classmates because there are some struggles that I will never have to deal with.
JRN4100 