Creative Commons / Jessamyn

My two previous posts addressed the problem of keeping up with the news from a traditional perspective.  I described what to look for in the news and how to get the news to come to you.

If you only do what I describe in my first two posts, you’re engaging with the news in a way that is fundamentally similar to the way people have consumed news for centuries — you’re literally and figuratively sitting back and receiving information.

But this is the digital era and the Internet allows people to lean forward and participate. As citizens, we can now be active in analyzing, distributing and reporting the news.

This doesn’t mean starting a blog if you don’t want one.  And it doesn’t mean always aspiring for the standards of professional journalism if you decide to produce stories.

Instead, it’s important that we overcome the belief that there is a theatrical fourth wall separating producers and consumers of news.  This means participating in news decimation and creation as you consume it.

Recommend while you read  

The newspaper industry used to be based on bundling together content.  Newspaper front pages organized the day’s stories and all the paper’s content was held together by a rubber band.

Today, one of the many reasons the newspaper industry’s financial model is falling apart is the news has been unbundled.  Stories are viewed haphazardly online and there is no easy way to sell all of a newspaper’s content as one product.

This graph shows Facebook's emerging power as a news distributor. From Pew Research

As social networking sites continue to play a larger role in directing content around the web, citizens are gaining more power in directing friends to news content.  Already, 8% of the New York Times‘s traffic comes from Facebook (this number may seem small, but one must also factor in that internal links and google searches count against this percentage).

As the power of social media grows, we as citizens will increasingly have the power to take the place of front pages.  We can do this by sharing stories with those around us.

The web offers many ways to share content.  You can email, share on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ or share on discovery engines like StumbeUpon and Reddit.

Blogging

If you’re particularly interested in a topic, blogging can be a great way contribute to the news.  It can also be a good way to draw attention to yourself professionally.

Here’s the rundown on three of the best blogging platforms:

• WordPress, the platform we use to run Midd-Blog, is what I’d recommend for most uses.  The system is intuitive and gives you the option of a lot plug-ins that allow you to customize your blog. There are both free and paid versions of the system.

• Blogger is a lot like WordPress, but it’s less sophisticated and perhaps easier to use.  Google owns the site and has let it wilt until a recent burst of innovation.

• Tumblr is more oriented toward posting images and has some features of a social networking site, but if you only want basic functionality and a sleek design, this is a good option.

Join the Twitter conversation

Creative Commons / Matt Hamm

In my previous post, I discussed how to assemble a good mix of accounts to follow on Twitter.  The next step is to join in on the Twitter conversation.

Twitter works well for interacting with people you know and for finding and recommending articles, but Twitter can also be a tool for reporting the news and engaging with influential people.

Here’s a quick primer of terms that can get you started on joining the Twitter conversation:

• Retweeting: Retweeting is how Twitter users repost twitter posts from other users. If a user named “joemiddlebury” tweets “Happy Liebowitz Day!”  You repost this post by tweeting: RT @joemiddlebury: Happy Liebowitz Day!  There is now also a “retweet” button on the web version of Twitter that will rebroadcast tweets directly to your followers.

• “MT:” Use this as you would “RT” if you want to slightly modify a Tweet (usually to make it shorter) before retweeting it.

• @ replies: To reply to a Tweet, click on the “Reply” button under that tweet.  This will create a Tweet with that begins @ “user to which you’re replying.”  Type you’re reply.  Most users receive email notifications when their username with when someone types their name with an  ”@” before it.

Storify 

One of the best new tools for citizen journalism is storify.  This tool allows you to assemble Tweets, blog posts, text, images and videos into a single story.  The product looks great and it’s easy to use.  Here’s an excellent example of a storify recounting of Vermont’s reaction to the SOPA blackout day.

Other resources:

• If you want to learn more about taking ownership of the news, I highly recommend the prominent media scholar Dan Gillmor’s project on consuming and producing the news, mediactive.

• There are also opportunities to volunteer and collaborate with established news sites.  For example, the nonprofit news organization ProPublica has a network of citizen reporters.

• If you’re interested in using photos or videos to report news, here’s a quick introduction.

Creative Commons / Jessamyn

In my previous post on being an active consumer of the news, I discussed how to assemble the sources one needs for a media mix that will keep you informed.  In this post, I’ll  provide advice for keeping up with these sources.

Make Twitter work for you

There are a lot of reasons people stay away from Twitter.  People see it as being too turbo, too nerdy, too much of an obligation for their careers or too superficial.  Twitter may not be for everyone, but I believe most people can find a way to make Twitter work for them.  The key is to assemble a list of followers you find compelling and to think of Twitter as a tool for keeping up with your interests and for sharing.  Twitter can easily become a natural extension of one’s interests and one’s desire to share.

Creative Commons / Matt Hamm

If you’re new to Twitter, create an account and find users to follow.  When looking for feeds, I recommend keeping in mind the Media Mix I suggested: you want a cross-section of news sources ranging from the hyperlocal to the international.  Also, one of the great things about Twitter is that you can follow people and organizations that you’re interested in without getting information through a filter.  If you want the latest on Tebow, go straight to the source.

As you choose whom to follow, it’s important that you assemble a feed you’ll find compelling going forward.  Especially if you’re just starting out, be wary of accounts that are too prolific and don’t double up on accounts that essentially do the same thing.  This means not following too many sources for breaking news, for example.  To keep your feed organized, make lists that create new streams with a combination of accounts you chose, including accounts you don’t follow.  You can also subscribe to other users’ lists.

Many users like to download applications that run Twitter on their computers and mobile devices.  There are many options out there, but the applications made by Twitter itself work quite well.

Finally, Twitter is also about leaning forward and interacting with other users (more on this in my post next week). This friendly introduction to Twitter includes a glossary and will help you get started.

Creative Commons / AndersP

Take advantage of libraries: 

Libraries are the way to go if you want to read a magazine in print but don’t want to fork up the subscription fee.

If you’re still at Middlebury, become acquainted with the library’s periodicals section. It’s on the bottom floor of the library and it receives most every mainstream magazine you could want across a few languages.  The periodicals section also has a good assortment of newspapers.

If you’re out in the big bad world, don’t forget that most public libraries also have a fabulous collection of periodicals and also a good selection of books on current affairs .

Use RSS feeds and do so with care:

In the old days of the Internet, if you wanted to keep up with a website, you would go visit it.  RSS reverses this and brings the content of a website to you.  RSS stand for Real Simple Syndication and, as the name suggests, it functions by having you subscribe to content from frequently updated sources like blogs and news headlines.

In order to use RSS, you’ll need an RSS reader — a website or application that compiles a feed of your subscriptions.  Highly regarded web-based RSS readers include Google Reader, NetNewsWire and Bloglines.  Reeder is a good RSS application, and most browsers have built in rudimentary RSS readers.

The RSS Symbol

I recommend starting with Google Reader: it’s intuitive, visually well-designed and  since it’s online it can be accessed from anywhere.  Once you’ve set up a Google reader account, copy the URL  of the website and paste it into Google Reader’s “add subscription” form.  Google Reader will automatically find the correct feed to follow if you provide a website’s URl but other RSS readers may need  a specific RSS feed.  If you’re interested in learning more about setting up RSS feeds, I recommend this website.

As with managing your Twitter feeds, it’s important that you use RSS feeds with care. Make sure to create a mix of feeds you’ll actually want to read.  Be wary of subscribing to sites that will flood your feed with posts and sites that doesn’t actually interest you.

I recommend using folders within your RSS reader to keep your feeds compelling. Keep in mind that one subscription can be in any number of folders.  This means that you can create one folder for all the sites that are most important to you so that you can read that folder if you’re in a hurry.

Take advantage of social networks:

In one of its latest moves to force out a competitor (in this case Google+), Facebook now allows you to “subscribe” to prominent users and receive status updates and links from them even if you aren’t friends. This and  the ability to “like” pages enables you to add newsworthy items to your Facebook news feed.

On the  subject of Google+, this social network is a ghost town among users — due to Google’s broad reach, a lot of people have signed up but no one is… doing anything on it.  Nevertheless, a lot of journalists and public figures post regularly to Google+ and interact with their followers on the site so it can be worthwhile to check it out.

Use Email Notifcations

If you’re like most millennials, you check your email a lot.  Probably too much.  This can be a problem, but it can also make your inbox a great place to receive the news.  Many news organizations offer regular email newsletters and breaking news updates.  One of the best is Ezra Klein’s Wonkbook, which will provide you with excellent analysis of economic and political news every morning.

If you’re heavily caffeinated, Google Alerts 

Google alerts allow you to sign up for email notifications every time a given word or phrase is used on the Internet.  If you’re closely following a specific topic, Google Alerts can be a great way to keep up with it.  For example, if one were planning a Liebowitz day (does that date me?) one would create a “Ron Liebowitz” Google alert.  People also like to create a Google alert for their name in order to keep up on their online identities.

Check back next week for my final post on being a good news consumer, in which I switch things up and describe how to lean forward and be a news producer as well. 

This post is by George Altshuler ’11. George, a former lead editor of MiddBlog, just finished an internship with Tikkun magazine in Berkeley, Ca. He’s now living in San Francisco and teaching English at San Quentin State Prison.

Creative Commons / B.K. Dewey

The cliché you hear the most about our demographic’s news consumption is that we get all our news from The Daily Show.  Just to clear up any potential inter-generational confusion: this cliché is most often employed as a genial criticism by people who think we should get serious every morning with our coffee and a New York Times dead-tree edition.

Contrary to the criticism in this cliché, however, most people in our demographic care about the news and do follow it.  But we also understand that we live in an era in which the Daily Show is a good source for news and the paper New York Times is increasingly obsolete (unless you can wrestle one way in Proctor).  In this era, the news doesn’t literally arrive on one’s doorstep, and it’s important to be proactive about finding ways to follow the news.

One starting point for following the news in this digital age is to understand how this era of turbulence for journalism actually makes this a great time to be a consumer of news.  The decline of traditional media (newspapers have lost half their revenue in the past five years) and the advent of new technologies have opened the door to a myriad new news sources and tools for distributing the news.  And, for now at least, traditional journalism still exists. The key to being a good news consumer is learning to take advantage of all that is being offered to us.

In this first of three posts on keeping up with the news, I’ll provide suggestions for assembling your Media Mix — the different types of sources you’l need to successfully follow the news:

•  It’s good to have at least one source that works like the front page of a major newspaper by assigning importance to stories and exposing you to important stories you may not have otherwise found. Traditional news websites like The New York Times, Reuters, and The Washington Post work well in this role.  Aggregators like Google News and Memeorandum that use algorithms to find and feature the internet’s most popular stories are another option.

Check back next week for another “Life Skills” post by George on how to use technology to keep up with all these news sources.  

Click on this image for a short preview of the segment

ESPN’s show E:60 will run a segment on the 50th anniversary of the tradition of bringing Butch Varno, a local man with cerebral palsy, to basketball and football games. Basketball players give him a ride to football games and football players perform the opposite favor.

Middlebury’s best sports fan has also earned recognition in various other media outlets, including Sports Illustrated (during that magazine’s best days, if I may say so myself).

Tune in to ESPN at 7 p.m. Tuesday night to watch the segment.

Update: You can watch the segment in its entirety here, and let me say these 12 minutes are absolutely worth your time.

The idea for Midd Out Day is to have everyone participate communally in an event that allows each individual to assert that they are comfortable with their own unique identity. Though the phrase “Coming out” is often referred to within the narrative of sexual orientation, our hope is that we can broaden the context in which this statement can be used. By being ‘OUT’ on Oct 27 individuals have the opportunity to recognize that they have many unique identities.

… With this in mind we encourage everyone who wants to join the movement to wear a T-shirt with “OUT” on the chest on Wednesday Oct 27. We are going to be making the shirts on Proctor terrace from Sunday Oct 24 to Wednesday Oct 27, and would love it if you would come and join us! We will provide the T-shirts, the spray paint, and the music to inspire you- all you need to do is come and you can create your own OUT T-shirt. You may also feel free to bring a shirt you already own and would like to spray paint.

MOQA members have told me that they’re happily running out of shirts, but thanks to sponsorship from all five commons and the Dean of the college, they’ll have some more available tomorrow between 12 and 2 on Proctor terrace.

So stop by and paint either your own shirt or they’ll provide one for you.  And don’t forget to wear your shirt Wednesday.

Finally, I’m proud to say that this blog is now read by an audience outside of the immediate Middlebury College community.  I think this idea of everyone being “out” for a day can and should spread.

I believe everyone should be “out” as someone who respects themself and others regardless of their physical body or their “gender” (the way they assign meaning to their bodies).  As long as people are respecting themselves and others, people have the prerogative to interpret their bodies any way they want.

I also believe everyone should be “out” as a respectful person regardless of where they come from or what they look like.  I think it would be amazing if the t-shirts people at Middlebury will wear Wednesday spring up elsewhere.

Say what you want about “queer theory,” but we are all human beings, and we should all be “out” as tolerant people to ourselves and others.

The one qualification I would offer in this is that being “out” should not belittle how hard it can be to “come out” as a homosexual or whatever else.  If you need support, I hope you can take solace in how very often, it gets better.

Migrant Farmworker José Obeth Santiz Cruz was killed in a farming accident in December 2009 in Vermont. The VT Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project sent a delegation to Mexico to return his remains and document his family and community coming to terms with his death and sharing stories about the causes, effects, and their experiences of migration. Their stories draw attention to the conditions and economic policies that force migrants from their homes in Mexico and suggest a need for a new dialogue about the root causes of migration.

The screening will take place Thursday, October 28th at 7pm in Twilight Auditorium. More information about the film and the organization behind the film can be found here.

Today, the Huffington Post published a piece by Mori arguing against the Israeli Cabinet’s recent vote to require new Israeli citizens to pledge allegiance to Isreal as a Jewish and democratic state. Mori’s piece also addresses the more general issue of Zionism at American colleges including Middlebury:

I, like many in the American Jewish community, am a Zionist: I am committed to an Israel that is and will continue to be the democratic homeland of the Jewish people.

My Zionism, however, is not independent of my Jewish commitments to justice and equality. I was taught that central to the Jewish tradition is the obligation to stand to with those who suffer persecution, those on the margins.

…I see the effect of [a split between a pro-Israel camp and a progressive camp] on my campus and at universities throughout the country. Within the pro-Israel tent students who draw attention to the troubling character of a bill like the loyalty oath are accused of giving ammunition to those that would de-legitimize the very idea of a Jewish democracy. Meanwhile progressive campus groups committed to the environment, queer rights, anti-racism and other causes are full of Jews who see their politics and Judaism as inextricably linked yet stay away from any discussion of Israel. This landscape should trouble those unequivocally supportive of Israel, those concerned by its policies, as well as those invested in a progressive Jewish political tradition.

On [Oct. 30], Post Office staff will be at the bridge from 12 noon to 4 p.m., selling envelopes and postcards which, upon request, will be stamped with the pictorial representation of the bridge.

Postmaster Alan Caton says customers can also request the special postmark by mail for 30 days after the opening. To do so, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope containing the letter or envelope to Postmaster, 10 Main Street, Middlebury, Vt., 05753-9998.

I’m pumped.

SAT guides abound

Dean of Admissions Bob Clagett’s post today on the New York Times‘ “The Choice” blog adds some useful perspective to our discussion last week of SAT scores and educational evaluation.  From the blog:

Too many prospective applicants obsess far too much about the role of their SAT or ACT scores in the admissions process. In fact, those scores are seldom a deal maker or breaker.

…Test scores fundamentally provide colleges with the roughest possible measure of your potential for academic success in college, and their predictive value usually declines over time. But they don’t tell us much about your intellectual “fire in the belly,” and that’s what our faculties want in their classrooms. That’s why your high school grades, and the rigor of the academic program in which they are achieved, are a much better long-term predictor of your potential for academic success.

As I’ve said before, I’m very happy to have chosen a college that has an admissions process guided by this approach.  Feel free to comment if you disagree or have more information to contribute to this discussion.

Liu Xiaobo

Chinese peace activist Liu Xiabo just won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.  As this New York Times article explains, Liu is serving an 11-year jail sentence for using nonviolent means to advocate for human rights and civil freedom in China.

Lu has been politically active for years, but his signature two years ago of Charter 08, a pragmatic manifesto in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, seems to be the immediate cause for his recent imprisonment.  The wikipedia article on Charter 08 is worth a skim on a Friday afternoon, and Chinese and English versions are of the manifesto are also available online.

I’d love to hear if anyone has a perspective on the manifesto and the Nobel Prize announcement either from the perspective of political theory or contemporary China.  Granted the Chinese government has a pretty incredible spin machine, but isn’t this beyond what can be spun?  Or does the Nobel Prize not mean much in China?  Will this mean the Chinese government will become even more repressive?

If you want to comment but have a stake in not pissing off the Chinese government, feel free to use a pseudonym.  It may seem a little over the top to have to say this, but let’s remember, Lui has 10 more years of Chinese prison ahead of him.

Professor Dry back in the day

An all-campus email this morning announced the Political Philosophy and the Constitution Conference, which will take place on Oct 22nd and 23rd in honor of one of the stalwarts of Middlebury College, Professor Murray Dry.  Professor Dry has been at Middlebury College for 43 years. Over the course of his career, he has published, testified in Congress as a constitutional expert and, as his students and alumni can tell you, he’s motivated his students to do the best they can.  He’s also sincerely committed to teaching and helping students pursue their interests. Professor Dry’s name commands respect on this campus (and in the world of academia) for good reason.

In addition to the this conference, five of Professor Dry’s former students who have gone into academia are raising money to create a Professorship in his honor. From a recent email to alumni:

Establishing a Professorship in Political Philosophy at Middlebury in Murray’s honor—to be named for him at a later date when he retires—will create a permanent legacy for him here.  An endowment of $2.5 million is necessary to underwrite a professorship at Middlebury, and while we have already received roughly $900,000 in gifts and pledges, we have $1.6 million to go.

If you’re out in the real world and you feel so inclined, donate to the professorship here.  If you’re still a student at Middlebury College, take a class with Professor Dry. It’ll be worth it.

Hat tip: @b_fung

In economic terms we [college graduates] will be in the same predicament as the house owners. We will have spent an enormous amount of money on something which has a market value far less than what we paid for it. It would be a sad commencement to life after college if we resent the education needed to make us free. This is a problem exaggerated by the less than robust nature of the American economy and the enormous debt which America has accrued. Thus, to make America a land of opportunity both in theory and practice we must all save more so that we can make it possible for not only ourselves but for our children to be a part of the history of opportunity. And colleges must be aware that since a liberal arts education is a human good, freedom of the mind should not be priced so that it forces those seeking it to place themselves in bondage.

To be clear, I think her argument for American exceptionalism in the first part of her column is quite simplistic. Also, from a purely economic point of view, I’m not sure that Middlebury isn’t worth the money: I would guess that eventually, most Middlebury alumni earn back their tuition and then some.

But her overall point, that we shouldn’t let rising tuition and the terrible economy destroy learning for learning’s sake, is really important to consider.  Yes, we should think about jobs, the practical real world and helping others. But we’re also here to liberate ourselves.

Jack Kramer. Photo from Athletics Dept.

Brattleboro’s Jack Kramer is backing up one of the nation’s top Division III quarterbacks. He knows he might never get a meaningful snap this fall. Then again, he knows he had better be ready if it does happen.

Kramer is the understudy to senior classmate Donnie McKillop. McKillop is the 2009 Offensive Player of the Year in both the New England Small College Athletic Conference and the ECAC. He owns 13 of Middlebury’s 14 passing records. That only one he doesn’t have is the five touchdowns in a game by Mount St. Joseph’s Mike Keenan.

Note: I think it’s necessary to point out that Jack’s also a solid 10.5 feb.

Allow me to explain what I mean by “substantive.” As I have said in the past, last year’s SGA is viewed by many as being the most impressive in recent memory.  They funded OINK (freshman orientation), saved midnight breakfast, etc.

Last year’s SGA did go beyond the low bar set by past SGAs, but please, let’s have some sense of perspective. If the administration gave pretty much any group of 15 or so students a massive budget, I’m pretty sure they could find a praiseworthy way of spending the money on school programming.

I mean to suggest that the SGA should do more than spend the money given to it by the administration. If they claim to be the elected voice of the student body on campus, they should address some real issues(see footnote). If they’re interested in spending the administration’s money, they should call themselves what they are, a finance committee.  I think it does a disservice to this community for the SGA to say that they’re our elected leaders if they don’t lead.

To be fair, the general apathy of the student body plays a huge role in this. I think it’s fair to say that most people on campus don’t care or know much about the SGA. But the SGA doesn’t give most people on campus reasons to know or care about what they do (beyond midnight breakfast).

Plenty of USA Todays and Boston Globes, but no New York Times to be found at 10 a.m. in Proctor.

To its credit, the SGA pays for the newspapers in the dining halls (with money given to them by the administration).  Middlebury students love this.  You always see them reading the New York Times at lunch or breakfast.  One thing, though.  I rarely see people reading the USA Today. (I do read the USA Today occasionally for the sports page. I like their graphic stats and nice, simple sports articles).

For some reason, the SGA still buys about the same number of copies of the New York Times, USA Today and Boston Globe.  My guess is that some ambitious member of the SGA put this contract into place a few years ago … and no one has had the motivation to take a second look at it.

So next time you get frustrated that there aren’t any copies of the New York Times for you in Ross, I suggest you close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and send the SGA some positive creativity vibes.

Or you could run for SGA and actually do something.

footnote: The response I’ve heard in the past is that people don’t know what “substantive issues” there are on campus.  A few off the top of my head:

• I’ve heard that this year’s Freshman class is the wealthiest in recent memory. What does this mean?  Is it just a bi-product of the recession? Is there anything that can be done to prevent this trend?
• I think it’s a little unfair that you don’t get an extra credit for intensive science lab classes courses…. I think most people agree on this and the SGA needs to actually do something about this…
• We could pretty easily improve upon the questions on the Professor evaluation sheets.

But really, my point is that the SGA shouldn’t just address obvious issues (like the ones I mentioned above).  If you don’t have creative ideas, you shouldn’t run for SGA. If you’re on the SGA and you don’t think your role is to do innovative things, call yourself the administration’s budget committee for discretionary student spending.

Also: Last year, there was a Middlebury Campus editorial arguing something similar to what I argued above. Full disclosure: I was on the editorial board of the Campus at the time.

Late update: One last thing: if you’re on the SGA and your excuse is that the administration won’t listen to your good ideas, get loud and angry. My personal opinion is that this school’s administration is generally pretty reasonable so I think they would listen if you really had a good idea.

Later update: I got a fact wrong in writing this, but I think if anything, correcting my mistake strengthens my argument.  The administration does not give the SGA its money. The SGA money comes through the student activity fee, so in the purest sense, the administration does not give money to the SGA.  But really, the administration endorses the activity fee at times implicitly and at others explicitly (as I understand it).  I don’t fault the SGA for having money. I fault the SGA for not doing more than spending money.

In fact, most of the student activities fee is spent by the finance committee, which as far as I can tell, doesn’t really interact much with the SGA. So really, the SGA doesn’t even deserve much credit for spending money in my book (ahem, USA Todays anyone?).

(note: I made these three updates before anyone commented on this post. I’ll try to do a better of thinking things over before I go live in the future. Generally, though, I don’t think the confusing details of SGA/administrative bureaucracy should scare people away from this issue.)

Alex Jopek '11 racing the Dual Slalom. Via flicker

More importantly, the team’s pretty legit.  They’re officially part of the Midd Cycling club and they compete in the ECCC (The Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference).  Last weekend, they competed at the University of New Hampshire. Finishes included two wins by Syd Smith in Dual Slalom and Short Track, a Second place for Macky Franklin in Short Track A, a Second Place for Alex Jopek in Short Cross B (pictured above), and a Third Place for Alex Jopek in Cross Country B.  This weekend, they’ll compete at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

The team currently has seven members. For more info check out their facebook group or email mfranklin [at] [midd]. More photos here.