Introduction to Digital Publishing
Do you think that a lot of other journalists will pick up on people’s desire to read longform type articles in the near future? Or will it be just a few?
Why do you think people began to gravitate towards shorter, less narrated type of articles in the first place if storytelling is integral in human interaction?
How hard was it for you to begin to talk about AI in a narrative sense at first?
The experiment we did with virtual reality, or VR, was an engaging, awe-inspiring experience. I did not watch any video through the NYT VR app because when I tried to download it, a message said the app was incompatible with my phone. So instead I used the YouTube app, which has VR videos that have no problem with incompatibility.
I believe that VR will benefit Digital Publishing greatly because it will help readers become more interactive. I frequently use the NYT app through an account provided by the university and watch the 360 videos. While they only do one video a day, and more concerned about taking readers places, they are still one of my favorite things about having a NYT account.
I absolutely think VR can invoke empathy. That video from TED talk, even without actually experiencing it, evoked almost as much empathy as I would expect. The NYT did a 360 video in a refugee camp which was somewhere in Europe I believe and it was one of the most emotional videos they did.
In 1980 Congress passed The Refugee Act— legislation which codified the U.S. commitment to protecting refugees, asylum seekers, and other vulnerable immigrants. Over the last 30 years, new U.S. laws, policies, and practices have undermined the ability of asylum-seekers to obtain asylum protection. Asylee Women Enterprise (AWE), helps women seeking asylum to rebuild their lives and spirits by providing transitional housing, companionship, and community. Though our aim is to grow the asylees, we grow together.
“A person is a person through other people.”
From the asylees to our staff, everyone at AWE is a part of this community. We are all interconnected and we all learn from one another through this shared experience. Ubuntu is centralized around the idea that the successes and hardships of individuals within a community are shared. Collective interests within the community precede the interests of the individual in such a way that everyone is equal. Your experience is our experience.
The seeds of AWE began in January 2011. It started as a collaboration between Catholic Sisters working together to provide housing and community to women seeking asylum. AWE is now a secular organization open to all asylum seekers and donors. We encourage you to become involved as an active participant in our community. A special thanks to the Sisters from the following communities who have been instrumental in developing AWE:
Whether you would like to donate goods, time, money, encouragement, or effort, we welcome you to become a part of our growing community. To find our more, visit our (donate link) page.
Offices: 4500 Frankford Ave., Baltimore MD 21206
Phone: 443-850-0627
Email: info@asyleewomen.org
Media Inquiries Email: tnelms@asyleewomen.org
Don’t forget to add us on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr!
Heifer International. Retrieved from the Heifer International site, https://www.heifer.org/. Accessed 28 March 2017.
The author of this website is the Heifer International organization. This organization, founded in 1944, focuses on providing families in need with agricultural training, animals and what they need to remain self-sufficient. The main claims of this website are to work with communities to end world hunger and poverty across the globe. The intended audience for this site are potential donors and volunteers, as well as people looking for ways to help end world hunger.
There is some bias on this website. This website is in favor of ending world hunger, which is obvious in their mission statement. There are a lot of strengths when it comes to this website. The bright yellow and blue colors make the website stand out. The light background across the top with the dark font makes the site appealing to the eye.
Save the Children. (2015, October). Retrieved from Save the Children Web site, http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.8D6E/Official_Site.htm, Accessed 28 March 2017.
The author of this website is the Save the Children Foundation. This Foundation, founded in 1919, was established to improve the lives of children through education, healthcare, and economic opportunities, as well as provide emergency services when needed. The main claims of this website are to protect children from harm and provide them with the opportunity to learn and give them a healthy start. The intended audience for this site are people looking for ways to help children in need and possible donors or volunteers.
There is some bias from the author on this website. There are links on the bottom of the homepage linking to a petition asking Trump to make early education part of his first 100 days in office. There is also a link urging people to sign a petition to oppose the refugee ban. This site has many strengths. Right away, the eye is drawn to the article links that are on the main page. The pictures and bright colors make sure that it is the first thing someone sees. One weakness of this page is the length of the main page. There is a lot of scrolling that has to happen before reaching the information on the bottom. This website offered several good ideas for planning the volunteer page for the Asylee Women Enterprises website.
U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. (2017). Retrieved from the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants site, http://refugees.org/. Accessed 28 March 2017.
The author of this site is The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. This committee, founded in 1911, is focused on the needs and rights of refugees and immigrants. The authors main claims are to provide leadership and services to communities and refugees who have been uprooted from their homes. The author’s intended audience would be potential donors and volunteers, as well as anyone looking to get involved with an organization like this one.
There is bias on this website. This website is clearly in favor of protecting refugees and providing them with the resources necessary for them to rebuild their lives. This website uses colors and videos to keep the audience interested and keeps them going further into the site. These strengths keep the audience interested in the site. This website provided me with serval ideas for the volunteer page I am trying to create.
Barry, Frank. “15 Techniques Used by Top Nonprofits to Boost Donor Acquisition and Online Fundraising Results.” NpENGAGE, npengage.com/nonprofit-fundraising/boost-donor-acquisition- online-fundraising/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2017.
The author of this article is Frank Barry. Frank Barry is a director of digital marketing at Blackbaud and a blogger for the non profit site npENGAGE. He helps nonprofits use the internet for digital communication, social media, and fundraising. He has worked with organizations including LIVESTRONG, United Methodist Church, American Heart Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters, ChildFund Int’l, InTouch Ministries, Heifer International, University of Notre Dame and University of Richmond. The author claims that there are fifteen donor acquisition and online fundraising techniques that nonprofits can use to get the most amounts of donations.
The intended audience would be people who are trying to actually get more donations for their non-profit, or somebody who is helping a non-profit design their website to be more effective. The people who come to this article would most likely want to try and get information that will help a website attract people to donate, and keep traffic coming to their website. There is a slight slant of the article; it wants people to think that these techniques are the greatest techniques for getting donations, possibly neglecting other techniques that could work just as well.
One strength of this article is that it provides hyperlinks to other websites when it is making certain claims; this allows the reader to check out the why the author said what he said, and draw conclusions themselves about the validity of the claim. Another strength is that the article provides examples of non profits who have used some of these techniques so readers can see the techniques being mentioned in action. Not only does it provide examples, but it also provides snapshots of these examples as well. One of the weaknesses of this article is that it doesn’t really give the reader ways to actually implement these techniques on their site. This information definitely supports the thesis of my research. It is relevant to my research because I suggested that those who come across a donation website will want to see how their money is being spent, and giving a detailed account of an asylum seeker’s day will help show them how they will be helping.
Bray, J.D. Ilona. “Which Countries Do Most People Granted Asylum in the U.S. Come From?” Nolo, www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/which- countries-do-most-people-granted-asylum-the-us-come-from.html. Accessed 28 Mar. 2017.
Ilona Bray, J.D. is an award-winning author and legal editor at Nolo, specializing in real estate, immigration law, workplace wellness and nonprofit fundraising. Bray’s working background includes solo practice, nonprofit, and corporate stints, as well as long periods of volunteering, including an internship at Amnesty International’s main legal office in London. The thesis of her article is saying from which countries do most people granted asylum in the United States come from. Her thesis, based on empirical research from the Executive Office of Immigration Review Statistical Year Book, concluded that the countries who have the most amounts of immigration is as follows: China, Guatemala, Honduras, India, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Nepal, Mexico, Soviet Union, Somalia, Egypt, Eritrea, Syria, Russia, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Albania, Nigeria, Haiti, Colombia, Gambia ,Pakistan, Iraq ,Burkina Faso and Sri Lanka. The author’s intended audience could be anyone who is interested in where asylum seekers coming to America are coming from, whether they want to help them or simply know more about the subject.
There is a bias in the article, but that bias is recognized by the article itself. It says “keep in mind that while these statistics may include applications originally filed affirmatively with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that were denied and referred to the immigration court, it does not include those asylum applications that were originally approved by USCIS.” This is saying that it should be recognized that about 16000 people who were originally approved for asylum status were not counted in this study. One of the strengths of this article is that it is based off of empirical evidence; statistics taken by a rather neutral source should be acknowledged as a good thing. The information supports my research because I learned that the US is indeed taking asylum seekers from a variety of places. This is relevant to my research because I need to know exactly where the largest amount of asylum seekers are coming from in order to properly document their experiences. Since I am doing a “Day in the Life”, depicting them correctly is a necessity.
“Mission Trip Itineraries.” Food for the Poor Saving Lives, www.foodforthepoor.org/participate/mission-trips/sample- itinerary/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2017.
The author of this article is the organization FoodForThePoor. They are a nonprofit organization that works to get food, housing, and emergency relief to poor people in the Caribbean and Latin America. They also help provide care for orphaned and abandoned children. The author is claiming that the organization is going to provide a relatively set schedule for volunteers who choose to go to various countries. They have each country they send volunteers outlined with an itinerary that volunteers can expect to follow. The organization is claiming that volunteers will help poor people through performing activities such helping to paint homes and harvesting of fish for families. The intended audience would be anybody who is interested in volunteering for this organization. There is a bias; it highlights all of the good things about what people will be helping with solely instead of also shedding light on the toll it can take on the volunteers. The organization wants volunteers, so they are going to highlight the good parts.
A strength of this article is that it really gives a good breakdown of what a volunteer can expect if they decide to volunteer for this organization. Giving a realistic schedule can be the deciding factor of if a person decides to volunteer for a certain place or not, so I can see this being extremely helpful. Another strength is that it gives people the option to contact the organization through email if they have questions regarding anything they read that interests them on the itinerary page. One more strength is that the site offers itineraries for various countries instead of one generic itinerary for people to try and use to get a better feel; they took the time to develop schedules based on the needs of each country. The weakness of this itinerary is that it could do a better job of giving insight to how the volunteers will be interacting with recipients of these services. It largely focuses on what the volunteers will do with one another and leaves out that interaction with recipients. The information supports my research. It is relevant to the material I have researched because I want to recreate this type of article, except focusing on the recipients instead of the volunteers.
On Saturday February 25, I saw The Nether, a show that the Studio Theater put on. I saw it alone as I did not know anyone that took an interest in seeing it. While there are things that I would change, I found the play enticing and very alluring with its dark, creepy atmosphere and its crafty storytelling.
The Nether is a virtual wonderland that provides total sensory immersion. Users simply log in, choose an identity and entertain themselves in any way possible. It seems like a flawless entertainment system, however, when a young detective uncovers a disturbing brand inside the Nether, she triggers an interrogation that sets off deep revelations.
For a student play, they did a fine job creating the atmosphere, showing that the play is not all cheerful as it the play makes it out to be. Director Linda Chambers made the play very elusive, which was the right move as there is no other way they could a story about sex crimes in a virtual world. They keep the viewer interested, albeit the scenes are rather short and very straightforward.
The cast embodied their characters well so that the audience believes them. The performances that the actors give exemplify the theme of secrecy, or how we have secrets that we don’t want others to know. Matthew Van Nostrand-Young embodied his character so that you could feel his secret that he was a young girl in the Nether. He clearly conveyed that fear in his character that told the audience that he didn’t want even the interrogator, Detective Morris, didn’t want to know even if it meant bringing a sexual offender to justice. His performance did not miss the mark on anything.
Now as I said earlier, there are one or two things that I would have changed as the director. For one thing, the soundtrack that they used to transition between scenes was too recognizable and did not sync that well with the play’s tone and the dark moody theme.
One thing major disappointment in Chambers’ direction is the hesitance to use the interrogation mirror. She could have directed the cast so that their reflections are always within the mirror to demonstrate the fragmentation of the characters. If the director does not plan to use a decoration of the set, then there was little to no point for the presence of the mirror. Chambers could have just filled that will mirror with gray bricks to further demonstrate the grim atmosphere of the interrogations.
In short, while there are a few elements that could be changed in the Studio Theater’s production of The Nether, it was alluring and captivating enough to warrant a must-see. Hopefully, this play has en
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