Drugs at Reed College

This article completely took me by surprise. Apparently Reed College is the place to be if students are interested in experimenting with very serious drugs. I can’t see how or why any intelligent or sane student for that matter would even consider attending this college if they want to make it out alive. The fact that drugs are condoned at Reed is completely breaking the law.

It almost seems like some of the responses from the students were a joke. For example, one student was quoted as saying that he thought it was great that students could experiment with drugs, without the worry of being sent to jail for a long period of time. Well I think this is a huge problem. If the average student experiments with drugs throughout their degree then they are at the risk of developing an addiction, which could be very difficult to overcome. What happens when these students enter the real world and suddenly realize that drug taking is illegal? This is not my only concern. It is clear that whilst they may be having a great time, they obviously have no idea what these drugs are doing to their bodies. Ten years down the track it is likely that most of them will be faced with serious mental health problems.

It was described that it’s fine until something bad happens to someone. Well, a student died and yet it doesn’t appear that anyone was really affected by it or has even considered that it could happen to them. I can’t really imagine what the parents of the students must think but I guess they must not be thinking at all. This article is disturbing because it reinforces how many teenagers and young adults are experimenting with drugs and it is likely therefore that generation y will be dealing with many more health problems in the future.

Overall analysis of new technology and multimedia

The amazing thing about multimedia today is that no matter where you are in the world, you can use your phone or the Internet to access information. I think that it’s incredible to be able to read about your home country while you may be away on business across the other side of the world. Since I have been away from home, I feel that I haven’t missed a thing as I can read about Australian news online throughout the day. With this in mind, there really should be no excuse for people to say that they haven’t had the time to read the news because every time you log on to your homepage, breaking news stories of the day are right in front of you.

As I have considered both the positives and negatives of new technology over the past eight weeks, I feel that I have reached the conclusion that technology has and will continue to provide us with endless access to information and sources that are vital to us. This is very important as we can now communicate instantly to one another through a variety of different platforms as well as receive information almost instantly. I think that whilst my generation may seem overwhelmed and so consumed by technology, this indulgence will fade and we will begin to use it to our advantage. It is possible that we are simply getting used to all of these changes and that we will in fact learn how to balance our lives when we are forced to face the real world of careers and responsibilities. A number of college students, lead very sheltered lives and simply do and act as they please without considering the repercussions. I think this is because so many of us have not been faced with the hardships that our parents had to deal with at our age. I do however believe that generation y has the privilege of a great education and that we will be the ones to implement multimedia in ways that are unheard of in society today.

So, rather than being critical of technology and the many changes we are facing, I think that it is important for all of us to think positively about the future. Whilst the media is battling with the changing roles of journalists and the idea of citizen journalism, I think we should all be thinking like John Carroll and the valid points he made in his speech at the University of Kentucky. Therefore, perhaps we can mix the old in with the new to achieve the best results. We should value our ability nowadays to be able express our opinions freely and consider how this serves to enrich the national conversation. It is hard to predict what the future holds but I think we should make the most of multimedia and consider how beneficial technology can be to the world of communication and the media professional.

Going Green

I was told that Steve Cook could be a good person to speak to about our possible ‘how to’ piece and so I e-mailed him to see if he would be interested in answering some questions for us.  Hopefully he will respond in the next day or so because we only have 2 weeks left before the project is due.  I think some information from a person who is interested in this topic would be really useful and would make the project all the more credible. 

Saul Friedman: How the truth may be told by the MSM

Saul Friedman provided a very different perspective on the current situation of journalists, which was interesting to read and think about. I think that his argument was valid and he made some very good points about the power of a journalist to write the truth, however their failure to do so.

Friedman focused on the coverage of the Bush administration and the entry of America into the Iraq war. He described how journalists are always so conscious of having to remain objective and thus must provide both sides of the situation or argument. This, he believes is the reason why the Bush administration got away with so many lies prior to the outbreak of war. Friedman suggests that journalists should be able to write narratives, similar to the style of an actual novel or magazine in order to get closer to the truth. I can understand Friedman’s argument and I think he raises some really interesting questions, however I believe his thinking is unrealistic. Newspaper reporters and most journalists in general have always aimed to write from an objective point of view and I think this is the way it should stay. Blogs are a great way for people to express their thoughts and opinions, however I think that journalists should aim to provide us with both sides of the story, allowing us to draw our own conclusions and make our own judgements.

Going Green

I found some really interesting information on global warming on the OSU website. It is a podcast of a speech made by Warren Washington last year. This could provide us with some useful background information on the topic or we could use it on our blog, either as a link or featuring the podcast so that people have the choice to hear about further information on the issue. 

Maybe new technology isn’t so bad

I feel that the majority of my beat journals so far have been focusing on the negative qualities of new technology and how it is likely to destroy us in the future. This week however, I am going to focus on the positives because I am beginning to realize that there are many.

Firstly, as an international student who has been living away from home over the past six months, I have begun to realize just how amazing technology can be as a form of communication. I remember before I left Australia that my dad was talking to me about what it was like for him to travel around the world when he was my age- it was very different. The only way he kept in touch with his family and friends was by writing letters and postcards. Speaking over the phone wasn’t even an option due to the expenses and e-mail was not yet heard of. When I think about my time away, I am aware that I hardly even feel like I’m missing a single thing at home. My friends are constantly texting and keeping me updated with news and gossip and I can call home, which only costs about 2 cents per minute. What’s even more impressive is that I can speak to everyone on Facebook on a daily basis. I can post photos of my travels and my friends can show me photos of anything I may have missed. I have even been able to track down old friends who are also travelling and have made plans to meet up with them. This certainly would not have been possible without e-mail or social networking sites. News travels very quickly, even internationally with the technology that is available to us nowadays.

Another great new discovery is Skype. This program works through the computer, allowing you to call someone else (who has also downloaded Skype) either domestically or internationally and it’s free. So now I can speak to my parents and friends for 30 minutes and it doesn’t cost a cent! With all of this in mind, sending a postcard nowadays or writing letters is almost a waste of time because I can simply communicate all of my news in a variety of ways within seconds, so no news is old news. So whilst I still hold the opinion that my generation’s obsession with video games, phones, computers is not doing any of us any good, I have to say that it is great to be able to communicate in a variety of different ways. I think my time away from home has been all the more successful simply because I have had the luxury of being able to keep in touch with friends and family in multiple ways, on a daily basis.

Digital College Magazine

I was curious to find out about the link that said ‘this may be our future’ so I clicked on it and found a digital college magazine. This was amazing because I have seen highlighted sections of magazines online, but I have never seen an actual magazine, including the front cover online. I can’t really imagine reading an entire magazine on the Internet, as I like to be able to fold the pages over and stare at pictures close up or cut images out and stick them on my wall. I do think that the concept of a digital magazine however is a great idea for people who are away from campus so they can keep up to date with college news and events. It would also be a great way to promote a university by encouraging possible future students to read the college newspaper/magazine to find out more about campus life and related issues. Obviously people could argue that an online paper is better for the environment, which is true as I often see copies of the Barometer strewn across campus. However, I guess I may have a more traditional outlook and feel that I like to be able to read things in the “flesh” so to speak and in my own time. The thought of reading long articles from a computer screen doesn’t seem that enticing but I am aware that it could be the way of the future and is perhaps a phenomenon that we should prepare for.

 

A Vision of Students Today (YouTube)

I really enjoyed this short video because I could relate to the majority of issues that were raised by the students. I felt that it was a very powerful, honest and truthful way of demonstrating how students feel in the 21^st century in accordance with the rapid growth of technology. The effective nature of the written/typed messages and the pensive music in the background enabled me to really think about what each of the students were communicating. A lot of emphasis was placed on technology and how students have embraced it as a new form of communication. Facebook and e-mail were represented as the most common form of communication, however, ironically these programs also seem to be the reason for the lack of communication between students and their lecturers. A number of students revealed the amount of hours they spend online, rather than studying or listening during a lecture.

Whilst this video ended with the statement: “technology can save us”, this video made me think that perhaps it is technology that is causing students to be distracted from their studying and is also preventing students and lecturers from interacting and communicating on a more personal level. Students then lose motivation, are bored in class because they have lost touch with what is being taught and begin to miss classes as a result.

Going Green

So far I think we have plenty of things that we can blog about, which iss a positive. The solar vehicle team seem to be enthusiastic about paricipating in our research, so they will probably be the focus of our project.  I am currently looking for lecturers that I can speak to, who can provide us with a “how to” recycle.  It’s is going a lot slower than I expected as it takes time for people to respond to e-mails but once we have finished interviewing it should all come together reasonably quickly.