Kris Hoyt E-portfolio 2

I would like to talk about the search I had for the twitter accounts of the Edmonton City Council.

It starts out with me trying to find the various websites of the city councillors. To do this, I go onto the city's official website. After a small bit of navigation, I get to the list of city councillors. I click on eack name and I find a profile. Unfortunately, none of the profiles have any links to official websites. So I do a Google search of every single name. Just as an aside, that is not pleasant. It is even less pleasant when I can only find 9 out of 12 sites.

Only one of these sites, Don Iveson, includes a link to his Twitter, in the form of a twitter feed. I now had two options: find other twitter accounts through the 300 Don iveson follows, or ask the city's twitter account.

I chose the second one, and I found out that Don Iveson, Kim Krushell, Ben Henderson, and Jane Batty are the only ones with a twitter accounts, but Don is the only one to actually upgrade frequently.

Lady Antebellum Performs for Edmonton by: Aden Cruz

Lady Antebellum greets their fans and signs autographs after their performance at West Edmonton Mall's Ice Palace on Friday, March 26, 2010. Photo by Aden Cruz

The chart-topping country band Lady Antebellum gave a thrilling performance for their fans and spectators at West Edmonton Mall’s Ice Palace on March 26.

Lady Antebellum’s latest album, Need You Now, is topping the music charts not only in the U.S. but here in Canada as well. Fans came to show their enthusiasm for the group and their music.

Sandia Abraham, one of the fans in attendance that day said she really enjoyed the band’s interaction with the crowd.

“I thought it was awesome. They’re really good live,” she said. “I like all off their music, I’ve been listening to them for a while and yah they’re a really talented band."

Abraham also said that she likes the overall good quality of music of the band.

“I like how they have good vocals and good lyrics, and my favorite song right now is love don’t live here anymore.”

The Event

Presented by CISN Country, The Edmonton Sun, and Whiskey Jacks, the performance drew in thousands of fans and spectators. To accommodate the event, the Ice Palace’s surface was covered up and a stage was built for the band’s performance.

Tough the free show started at 5 p.m., according to the event staff, fans started arriving in the morning to ensure that they’ll get a chance to meet the band and get their autographs.

The Band

The trio, comprised of Charles Kelley (lead and background vocals), Hillary Scott (lead and background vocals), and Dave Haywood (background vocals, guitar, piano, mandolin) received numerous awards and nominations:

• Top New Group award during the Academy of Country Music Awards (2009)
• Single of the Year award by Country Music Association for “Run to You” (2009)
• Vocal Group of the Year award by Country Music Association (2009)
• New Artist of the Year award by Country Music Association (2008)
• two nominations at the 51st Grammy Awards
• two nominations at the 52nd Grammy Awards
• Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by Duo or Group for their single “I Run to You”.

This American country music group first got together in Nashville, Tennessee back in 2006, and have found success ever since. The group made its debut in 2007 with the single “Never Alone”, then after releasing “Love Don’t Live Here” after joining Capitol Records. Their first album went on to be certified platinum in the US.

Their most recent album, “Need You Now”, was released in the middle of 2009, taking them to their second number one single.

Family Connections

The band’s family connections played a part in their journey to success as two of the three group members have family members that were already in the industry.

Hillary Scott is the daughter of country music singer Linda Davis and Charles Kelley is the brother of pop artist Josh Kelly.

An official after party was also held at Whiskey Jacks after the event where three pairs of tickets were won for the Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum Concert happening the next day.


Related Links:
Lady Antebellum blog: ladyantebellum.blogspot.com
Official Website: ladyantebellum.com
West Edmonton Mall: wem.com

Note
Photo by: Aden Cruz

Word Count: 502

FINAL EXAM, "Fast food banned in B.C.," Ricki Cundliffe

Fast food banned in B.C.
Premier closes nearly 2,000 fast food restaurants in British Columbia
By: Ricki Cundliffe (PLEASE NOTE: Story is fictitious.)

The province of British Columbia watched with disbelief Tuesday as Premier John Smith made a national television announcement that fast food would be banned across the entirety of B.C.

The announcement first appeared on the C.B.C. news station around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 13, followed by several other television station premiers shortly after.

“I am placing a ban on all fast food, as well as closing the fast food facilities, and the consumption of any and all fast food within the borders of this province will be prohibited from now on,” said Smith. “I believe this will save our health, our children’s health, and our wallets.”

Wendy's, McDonald's, and A & W restaurants across the province closed their doors just one day after the Premier's announcement. Additionally, an estimated 2,000 fast food chains had their licenses revoked on Wednesday, April 14.

PRIOR WARNING
Jane Doe, a member of Smith’s Liberal party, publicly made the statement several weeks before the ban was in place that Smith meant business.

“Our Premier has only our best interests at heart,” said Doe, “and if he feels that banning all fast food across this wonderful province will help us, then it’s bound to happen. It will happen.”

DISBELIEF
Conversely, many members of the province took Doe’s statement all but seriously.

“I was watching the news, and heard what [Doe] was saying about the ban, and just laughed and laughed,” said one British Columbian who wished to remain anonymous. “I thought it was a joke. I honestly thought they were trying to yank our chains!”

As humorous as the ban may have seemed to members of the province, Smith said he is taking this new fast food ban very seriously.

“There is nothing I would not do for this province, and members of this province. My only regret is that this ban was not in place sooner,” said Smith. "After all, it's not called 'Beautiful British Columbia' for nothing!"

NEWS CONFERENCE
A news conference will be held at Victoria’s Community Hall on Friday, April 16, at 2 p.m. to discuss all of the rules and regulations involved with British Columbia's fast food ban. Members of the public are strongly encouraged to attend, as well as voice any questions or concerns regarding the topic.

Photo Caption: This "Fast Food Kills" sign was seen plastered on the side of a number of buildings in Victoria on Tuesday, April 13, 2010, in support of Premier John Smith's recent fast food ban across the province.
WORD COUNT: 401
NOTE: IMAGE FROM: www.wordpress.com

Final Exam

Today (Tuesday the 20th of April) is the final exam for PROW 135.

We'll be meeting in our usual room, 212.

You will have three hours to complete the exam: 1:00 - 4:00


Good luck everyone!





Note: Image from Stanford EdTech on flickr.

E-Portfolio Editing Detective: Headlines, Megan Perras

Headlines are precarious things to write because they require instantaneous attention-grabbing to draw readers into the story. The line between appropriate and professional headline writing and wit as compared to inappropriate humour can be crossed occasionally, creating headlines that are hilariously distasteful.

An example of this kind of headline is seen here:

http://gblsharing.app.aol.com/pop-up/

I feel as if sometimes humour wins over taste in the battle to capture the attention of readers.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/700336/

As a copy editor, or an editor of your own work, you must be careful to respect the boundaries that the general public is willing to let you cross concerning humour and headlines. Or wit in your writing.

You must also give due attention to how something reads and is percieved.

Image from: http://thepirata.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/funny_newspaper_headlines02.jpg

E-portfolio: Final Blog Post, Max Rausch

I didn't have high expectations for this class. The moniker of Proofreading and Copyediting suggested a grammar-heavy structure, reading and re-reading pieces of work to bring them as close to perfection as possible. Not the kind of heart-pounding blood-pumping, vigor-inducing work comprises so much of the appeal of journalism. Still, I resolved that it was a necessary hardship that I would surmount on my way to becoming a journalist, knowing such skills would eventually prove invaluable. In future, it would be nice to have.

Now at the conclusion of the term, I have yet to surmount any such hardships. The incorporation of blogging into the class seemed like a fresh approach at first (albeit with no direct relation to proofreading or copyediting), but blogging ultimately took on an unduly pivotal role in the class, especially considering the presence of our more in-depth Online Reporting class. Indeed, most of the material we covered faintly echoed principles covered in full-fledged reporting classes. Bias, weasel words, ethics, and Internet skills were covered in superior detail elsewhere; even the fleeting instances of grammar in P & C were overshadowed by what I learned in the Foundations of Composition class last term. There was nothing on the outline that dictated more focus, but it would have been nice.

I'm curious as to why the exclusive content of the class was downplayed. Proofreading and Copyediting necessarily involves group work, which was admittedly integrated fairly frequently, but not in regards to editing. Discussing topics with classmates and posting shared ideas on a blog isn't necessarily a bad idea, but again, the topics seemed out of place. There's no law stating we should have edited each other's work more seriously with more frequency, but it would have been nice.

Fortunately, editing is something that comes largely with practice: besides a set of universal copyediting symbols that should be mastered for clarity, it can't be taught in any way but through experience. In fairness, no one promised that this class would facilitate that. But it would have been nice.

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Image taken form here.

E-Portfolio Sexist Language, Megan Perras

As a budding female/lady journalist I have been thinking a lot about the question of male versus female word usages in writing. When I am speaking of a general person/per-daughter, what consequences are attached to using a his verses a her pronoun, or a she verses a he? As a wo-man/wo-person/wo-per-daughter of the present times, do I have a problem with the word wo-man, or the generalization that is “mankind?” Should the chairman of the company be referred to as the chairperson? Or better yet, the chair-per-daughter?

Personally, I don`t really find any of these words offensive, maybe just a little outdated, as we are in a time where either a man or a woman can lead a company to success.

Is this word nitpicking turning us into proverbial slaves to detail? Is it creating a gap between the his-tory/ her-story of our very language?

Maybe these sexist words provide us with a reminder to see just how far wo-men, girl-people, whatever, have come as far as equality rights go. That is not such a bad thing- just seeing how much of a stink people are making about “sexist words” gives you an idea of how equal women/wo-people are now, in comparison to when we had to fight to be heard in the job market, or had to fight to get paid the same as a male person/per-daughter doing the same job.

In closing, I think that no one should be too upset with those who choose to use predominantly male pronouns, or the word women or person, etc. It is part of the HIStory of our language, not a personal attack at woMEN.

Sexist words and some alternatives if you so choose: http://www.putlearningfirst.com/language/23sexism/sexist.html

Image From: http://www.sexistlanguage.com/images/sexistLanguageHeader.jpg