5 Best Tips for Journalists' use of multimedia

In this ever changing world of digital journalism the average person can utilize current technology and becoming a digital journalist. Digital journalism is in an ever growing grassroots movement of a free-flow of exchanging ideas. If you own a current aged smart-phone or camera, you can start broadcasting across the world and sharing your information globally.

As a digital journalist, you should have a strong digital imprint on the internet. Having a face with your name and other published work will help separate you from the rest of the rift-raft. The main sources of social networking also help as well. Facebook, Twitter and other assorted social media sites are great candidates for this as well. You would also need to have a few blogs operating as well. Any journalist must create viewership and showcase your work. But also in this age, you must be careful of online predators. Make sure that any site you join is a legit and professional organization. Always use the proper safety when using these sites. Here are a few helpful hints about security on Facebook.

Podcast’s are amazing ways to captivate your online audience. Using such sites as podomatic or podbean.com can help you enhance your viewership significantly. This is important because, not every person who is interested in your material might want to read a few thousand words in your blog postings. Simply hearing an audio recording of your media might help enhance a greater audience on the web. Here are some helpful hints that certainly helped me about the understanding of podcasts.

As most individuals do – they own cell phones. Well with these phones you also have the advantage of not needing to purchase individual cameras anymore. Most standard cell phones have built in state-of-the-art cameras and some even with flashes. These will be extremely helpful when you see something out of the ordinary and want to capture the moment with your video or picture cameras. If you’re lacking in this area, plenty of companies are willing to take your money for a dismal product. I would suggest Sprint – Telecommunications Company. They have extremely affordable phones with spectacular data packages that most companies cannot compete with.

Or perhaps you want to go above and beyond the status quo and obtain a real camera. Now nothing against the cellular companies, but sometimes when you want to take photography seriously, you might want to purchase a real camera and lens. This can elevate your work to the next level with amazing results. Obviously, this is going to be a much bigger investment, but worth it in the long run. A good camera will run around a $1000, and a decent lens will cost about the same. But, what you can capture will be unlimited epic photographs. A decent place to start should be canon.com

Want to seize the perfect opportunity to grab a career in digital journalism? Then start up some blogs. There are a plethora of sites that can give anyone the opportunity to have a free-web based culture that you can show case your best work. So with this new camera you looking at (in the above paragraph) you can upload your prize-winning photography to a blog website. Try going for the free sites, they are very popular and have a great feedback and ratings. If interested, try blogger.com for all your blogging needs.  

                                                           Source: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cameras-photography/digital/digital-photography.htm

Finishing Strong

When it comes down to crunch-time, many students feel the pressure of completing, yet another semester or term at college. This can be a very stressful time, and requires a lot of self-discipline and dedication on the student’s behalf. Many students also develop senioritis, no its not a medical condition – it’s a state of laziness from the student who is tired of the routine scheduled lifestyle for the past 3-4 months.

You can always combat this by keep refreshing yourself with positive and uplifting people who can help direct you to your goal of a successful semester. As a student, lot’s of distractions are enviable during the school year, but the dedicated and most driven students will surpass this with ease, by just digging out the term.

You must always keep yourself in check about what your stress-triggers might be. If there are certain episodes that might trigger yourself to shut down, you must always keep your motivations in line. Remember; stay positive and up-beat. Whenever people start thinking negatively your work will suffer as well. It’s one of the single handily most important courses of thought to keep focused on.

If you find yourself in an educational rut, try resorting to exercise and healthy eating habits to inspire yourself to make better decesions regarding your health and fitness. De-stressing yourself can be the difference between an A and B grades.

Here are some helpful hints to help you out.

http://youngadults.about.com/od/healthandsafety/tp/Destressingtips.htm

Digital Photography - The Best Software's

Adobe Light room 3 and Photoshop are some of the most amazing computer programs for any digital photographer. The amount of added tools for each user to use is nearly endless. In Light room 3, you can store catalogs of thousands of photos, and change the exposure, darkness, sharpens and a plethora of other added bonuses.  

The editing in which a digital photographer needs is important. A digital photographer can take thousands of photos and only come out with a few hundred that are worth publishing. Thus doing so, you will need a quick and efficient way of editing your photos.

Ponder no more, Adobe Lightroom has the capacity to store and develop your catalogs and be a timely efficient way of designing your pictures. You can also take your photos to photoshop and completely add different effects and features to them by just tinkering around with different techniques of the software. Both software’s are expensive, and should only be purchased if the person taking the photos needs this software. Because of the nature of the arts, a skilled photographer will use different programs, computers, camera’s and lenses to capture his or hers best image.

So if you interested in capturing a great shot then making some money with it, prepare yourself for purchasing these two programs – and you will not be disappointed.

http://www.adobe.com/

The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership

Lots of people in today’s world are confused when talking about Leadership and Management. Leadership is vastly different then management, in several different ways. But the premise of this blog article is not to talk much about the difference between the two, but to illustrate what leadership and the proper practices can do for you (the reader).

By the genius writers of The Leadership Challenge (Kouzes & Posner) they had broken down a simple way to look at the 5 practices of explanatory leadership.

First section: Model the Way

-          Clarify your values by finding your voice and affirming shared ideals.

-          Set the example by aligning actions with shared values

The Second section: Inspire a Shared Vision

-          Envision the future by imaging exciting and ennobling possibilities.

-          Enlist others in a common vision by appealing to shared aspirations.

The Third: Challenge the Process

-          Search for opportunities by seizing the initiative and by looking outward for innovative ways to improve.

-          Experiment and take risks by constantly generating small wins and learning from experience.

The Fourth: Enable Others to Act

-          Foster collaboration by building trust and facilitating relationships.

-          Strengthen others by increasing self-determination and developing competence.

The Fifth: Encourage the Heart

                - Recognize contributions by showing appreciation for individual excellence.

                - Celebrate the values and victories by creating a spirit of community.

Think this sounds easy? Well it is, but putting it to a practical use will be the challenging part. Remember, stay positive and always think on your feet. One big component of success in this world is always being positive and pushes the negative individuals out of your life. Positive thinking gives positive rewards.

http://www.leadershipchallenge.com/WileyCDA/

Goals and accomplishments (Exercise & Health pt. 2)

A lot of individuals in today’s society have been reluctant to acknowledge proper health and exercise during the busy parts of a person’s life. When a person is in college, the amounts of stress are off the charts. From cramming for a big exam, to social situations and breaking away from one’s cultural norm can be extremely stressful.

 All of these attributes from a typical college setting can bring a person into incredible amounts of stress and unfortunately, some people gain weight. The American culture in the mid-west has been on a downward fall in recent decades with the introduction of a digital age and manufactured processed foods. The shear laziness and high caloric diets of the vast population is starting to become a staggering statistic.

There have been lots of studies in the past 30 years regarding proper health and nutrition. The one area that is on the progressive up-climb is the ability to run long distances. Running long distances enables individuals to have a cardiovascular workout and along with that amazing challenge; having a mental workout too.

Running long distances have been proven to reduce strokes and cardiovascular disease that blocks your arteries in your heart. Lots of studies also are concurrent with cardiovascular exercise helps fight most types of cancer in your body. Once you have started down this positive path, your body will have a stable weight control, then throughout the course of a year or so the weight will fall off.

With incorporating a daily routine of exercise your body can maintain your ideal body weight, and hormones. While cardiovascular exercise can reduce some mild forms of depression, running can be the magic to the western medicine cure of prescription medication. Pushing your body and mind to another physical level will challenge you in every way. From the breaths you take, to controlling your arms and hands when jogging, to not colliding with the person next to you, it’s a journey on every level. The health benefits include solid bone structure, proper circulation body wide and lowering your cholesterol; LDL, while building better oxygenated blood for circulation.

Kansas City is an especially lucky city in this geographic area; partially, because of the net population and surrounding communities are filled with young, vibrant and skilled athletes. The city is filled with gorgeous parks and trails for people to explore and embrace this amazing city. Nearly every weekend, in a surrounding community or in the Kansas City downtown area’s a 5k, 10k, Half-Marathon or a Marathon is being hosted by either a non-profit organization or a professional race series. Thousands of racers come out to show support each other and dominate their own personal goal. The energy and positive atmosphere is enough for anyone to get addicted immediately. 

The training programs involved are relatively easy, as long as you want to become a disciplined athlete and take each race seriously. Your diet is essential for success; eating fast food and processed foods will lower your energy levels and not allow you to pick up certain gains. The foods that should be taken in need to be fresh lean meats, vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lots of water to achieve homeostasis. Proper hydration will also be an important factor; if you are not properly hydrated your body and muscles will have a hard time trying to function and move.

Now not to say, everyone should go run out and try a half-marathon or marathon. Start slow, try to master the 5k runs and get amazing times. Then, when your confidence starts to be inclining, run the grueling 10k runs. After a solid year of training, dieting, stretching, and preparing for long distances runs you might start to try the half marathon, or if you dare the ultimate experience face the full marathon.  

Maybe you don’t want to be a serious runner, but love the idea of donating to causes to help our community. Then try the 5k fun runs and walks, these typically are more of a social events and provide a nice, safe, fun environment for participates to meet and make new friends, while donating for an awesome cause. So if helping your community is your forte then this could be your destiny.

 However, if you are still reluctant to jog, how about trying bike riding, dance classes, swimming, tennis, and basketball and just about anything that can keep your body moving for more than 30 minutes a day?

If you are interested in getting involved with exercise and races you can always check out www.Active.com and start browsing the communities around you. See you there!

Upcoming Events:

·       The Helping Heroes Challenge – Oct 29

http://www.helpingheroeschallenge.com

·       2011 Parkville Turkey Trail Trot 5K Run and 2 Mile Walk – Nov 24

http://www.parkvilleturkeytrot.org

Exercise and Health

Whether you’re a Communications major or a Computer Science Mathematics major or anything in the between you have experienced up’s and downs in your academic lifestyle. Incorporating exercise can not only help your body physically, but mentally too. With mountains of information coming in from all over the web and world, the signal is clear. Individuals whom exercise at least 1 hour a day are more likely to have higher grades and have more successful relationships than those who do not.

Exercise can clear your mind of the endless amounts of stress that can occur within the college experience. Pop quizzes, random exams and assignments are the college student’s state of normalcy. With developing relationships and new one’s comes the unintentional stress factor that can either be a positive driving force for college students, or a negative one. The balance and the trick is to find out a safe and productive way to manage and eliminate unnecessary stress.

Picking up a aerobic sport such as jogging, or walking can be an easy solution to drop that “freshman 15” or just bring you back to homeostasis. Finding a life sport should be a priory for many individuals. A lot of us were not blessed to represent a college or university for our athletic abilities. But, if you want and still have the ambition to be an athlete and healthy, the option is yours. Find a sport, many can individual or a team setting and start building positive, healthy relationships within these common guidelines. Eliminating your unnecessary stress and building positive thoughts while exercising, might be one of the best things you can do while battling the stresses of college.

Students have been getting better grades when your schedule is filled with important and positive activities. From sun up to sundown having a set schedule, in my opinion can be the difference between a 2.0 student and a 3.0 and upwards.

Look at it like this, if you spend an hour in your car everyday commuting to and from school and work, you probably have a lot of built up ammonsity and stress along with these. If you could take 30minutes to an hour a day and critically think while exercising about your goals, beliefs, future a head, and other important details in your life. You will have a more successful college experience. Becoming busy, is becoming successful too.

Here are some scholary articles regarding this study:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10544425

What can a Comm Arts degree get you?

As most of you know that studying communications is college degree that varies between several different collegiate areas. The study of communications can land each individual into different occupations and career paths. A lot of student’s don’t have a career in mind, when applying to a specific colleges and degree programs.

Here is a quick guide to help students realize what’s an undergraduate degree is kind of worth in today’s market.
One job you could obtain is a Public Relations assistant or specialist. Becoming a PR assistant would mean you have a strong desire to communicate with clients and co-workers with a strong ability to write and have great organizational skills within the work-place.
Another job might be an Advertising Copywriter. You must have a creative mind and be suave with words; you can be in a type of marketing that occupies every level and company today. You must have strong communication skills, and a great vocabulary and an ability to function and be creative.
Third, a Marketing Assistant is another job that can translate into a career. This position would get individuals into a career that can platform and elevate into a successful career. The position would include maintaining contact with clients to sending out marketing emails and assisting in the conception and organization of marketing campaigns, a marketing assistant has a variety of duties.

Forth, Depending on the type of communications degree you choose to pursue, certain journalism jobs may be perfect for you. For example, some schools offer concentrations in areas like broadcast communications, a major that will prepare you for journalism careers in television and radio.

Given the growing importance of online media, a concentration in online or internet communications is a great choice to maximize the value of a communications degree.

http://www.firstclasseducation.org/online-degrees/online-communication-arts-degree.html