Thoughts on the articles

I checked out the 'Quad News' and clearly, it was just like reading any other college newspaper. I found it unfair the University threatened to take away something their students are passionate about. Yes, the University does have to uphold an image, but as long as no one gets hurt, or false information is published, let the students write. It's not like 'Quad News' was a huge publication that thousands of people read. Quinnipiac is known for there journalism program, obviously these students are smart, and should have a good sense of judgement. The students should have been given credit for going out and starting their own paper, not punished. In the journalism profession, there are going to be some touchy issues, and I wish that the school administrators could relate & understand.

The article on the Christian Science paper didn't shock me too much, as technology is huge now, and it is becoming more convenient for some people to read the newspapers online. It is a business, and at times changes need to be made to get the most effective product. It seems to make more work for the reporter, having them update a story several times a day. That's how it is with news though, you get a lead and then you get the followup information afterwards. I figured the reasoning behind the move would mostly be cost related, but when they broke it down, it threw my argument out the window.

Online newspapers are helping companies, as was shown in the Circ Breakdown. I don't think all of these articles are really scary, but just represent the trend of the increase of popularity with technology. I think it's more practicle for people now, especially those who are ranging in there 20-30's. Personally, my parents bought the Boston Herald everyday, so I read the paper online now. It's much easier opposed to going to the store and buying a hard copy. For the job aspect of it, jobs will still be available, they just may be a little different than the "tradional" journalism job.

Better late than never

HERE is my audio...it opens up in windows movie maker, but it's better than nothing. After class today, I realized I can cut down this clip even more. I don't need the beginning part of Renee describing her day, since she doesn't work directly with the athlete I am covering. I can also cut out the middle section about the student athletic trainers, as it is not relevant to the subject matter. I have some good ideas going about this project, and I am meeting officially with Denise tomorrow, so I will post more later. just wanted to get my audio up. Happy Weeekend :)

Wow

So, I finally had success uploading last week's audio assignment to my computer, a big confidence booster. I am currently working on editing my nine minute audio interview to around five. It really reminds me of my radio station interning days I had while in high school, and I like it. Granted it was a different program, it's the familiarity that I like. Right now, I'm just editing out my questions I asked, then from there I will re-piece the audio to hopefully put together a storyline. I'm feeling fairly confident right now, which is great.

I got an okay from Coach Cole and Denise about taking Denise on as my project to the semester. I'm having a sit down informal interview with her on Friday to get to know her and explain what exactly I'm doing. Thursday's class should be good so I can give Denise a better idea of what to expect.

Tom's presentation to class was one I really liked, and got a lot out of. I figured, if he came up with 'Dr. Katz' on the old technology/computers they use to have, I can conquer this multimedia stuff. I got some laughs, and am now a movie-maker semi pro which is a step in the right direction. Back to editing my sound...

The Second Half of the Assignment

OOPS..I forgot to talk about the frustrations with technology...Last week's class actually worked out for me...I had all of my pictures, and sound loaded into soundslides. The only problem I did have was I couldn't figure out how to edit the sound down...While things worked for me, I can see how things would be frustrating, as I can't get this week's assignment on my computer..A lot of this is trail and error I feel like. I don't know if it has changed my opinion on the profession, if anything this is good practice for our future careers. I know you aren't demanding perfection, but it would just be nice to have things work smoothly, so we can at least have some things to work on. Oh well, better luck on the next assignment, and I will try to figure out why this won't upload for me.

Go figure..

Of course, my computer won't upload my audio interview I did for this week's assignment..my guess is maybe the audio file is big so my computer or camera software is having a hard time processing it...

For this week's assignment, I talked to Renee Klezczynski, assistant Athletic Trainer at the University of New Hampshire. Renee primarily works with the UNH Men's socer team, and the UNH Women's hockey team. Even though I am not working directly with either of those teams, she gave me some good insight on the athletic training program. When student athletes first enter the university, they are constantly pounded with information about there diets, injury prevention, and the effects drinking has on there personal performance. As juniors and seniors, they start to live on there own, and the responsibility they carry increases. Along with injury prevention, diet, and drinking, strength conditioning is also thrown into the mix. Again, freshman and sophomore year they work closely with the Strength & Conditioning staff to develop a routine, and then as they become upper classman, they can tweek there own workout routines to fit there personal goals.

One big thing Renee emphasized is the difference between a "hurt" athlete, and an "injured" athlete. Being hurt is experiencing pain, and being injured is not being able to function that part of the body. Obviously, those aren't here exact words and I wish my camera was working, because obviously this is Renee's speciality and she explained it far better than I can.

All of the treatments athletes receives vary on the athlete. If an athlete is injured, they can be in the training room 2-3 times a day. The trainers keep records of the athletes process in rehabilitation stage. Those records are updated each time the athlete leaves the training room. For "hurt" athletes, they normally come into the training room before and after practice.

One point Renee wanted to emphasize was that people often overlook the trainers other duties; including dealing with insurance and medical forms, and being the middle person between the athlete and the coach. People often have the assumption trainers just deal with athletes, but there job description is more than that.

Another component to the athletic training program is the student athletic trainers. After there freshmen year, the students immediatley get involved with the program, first observing a team and obtaining as much information as possible. After that, a "draft" is set up where students pick the top three teams they want to work with, and then they get assigned. Some of the rules are they need to spend a specific amount of time with a sports team of a different sex, and a certain amount of time with a full contact sport. Outside of UNH athletics, student athletic trainers also work with local sports teams in the seacoast.

My interview with Renee was informative, and I really enjoyed talking to her. Now, since I have an overview of the program I am working with, it's time to move onto the athlete. More to come...

I know our deadline is 5:00..but I JUST got back from interning/work..I will post later.

This & That

So, I really liked Don's presentation. He had some really good stuff, and I found it to be very helpful. You could tell that he really enjoys what he does. The links he provided I feel will be helpful for this semester, and probably even the future.

This week's assignment took me a little while to come up with an idea. I originally was going to do "How to make a media guide" through my internship with Athletic Media Relations, but ruled it out in the end figuring I wouldn't get much sound other than typing and clicking and explanation, and the picture quality may not be that great because a lot of the pictures would be taken off a computer monitor...so I came up with the idea when my roommate started baking. Not only was it convenient, but it fit the description perfectly. Some of the pictures had bad lighting, but I edited it best I could, but overall am happy with my results.

My semester project is coming along slowly. I finally got the okay from Jon Dana, head athletic trainer, so now it's waiting on the Coach's consent, and the athletes. I feel like things will work out and I can finally get rolling with this. I believe basketball starts in November, so by the home opener I really want to get the ball rolling on my project.

No Progress

For the past three hours I have been trying to figure out this video aspect..and I've gotten nowhere. My problem is this: I have a .mov file that I need to convert into a .wmv file. How I do that is beyond me. I tried to download a few software converters but those didn't help. I'm a little frustrated, but I want to talk to you (Sandy) about any other possible movie making programs, or if you can offer me any advice. I had some good footage about the day in the life of the Assistant Ticket Manager for Athletics, and am bummed I can't use it. I didn't get stills this week,just video. I ditched the idea of just talking to the associate dean of WSBE, because frankly, I figured it would be very boring.

Another rut: My semester project. The head athletic trainer is weary about volunteering an athlete to be my topic for the semester. I'm going to talk to him tomorrow, and hopefully make some progress. If not I want to call the Durham Rehab & Sports Therapy center and see if I can work with them. I don't have all that much information on them, I found the number through the Wentworth Douglas Hospital website, so maybe I can make some progress with them.

Shooting video...Watching my clips, they weren't bad for a point and shoot. Obviously there were some lighting issues, and fast movement of the camera, and background noise, but nobody's perfect. Luckily, I was filming on someone I was comfortable with. There wasn't much of her on film, a lot of objects, so that made it easier as well. I'm looking forward to this project...I just wish I could have started off on the right foot with the first video. I like the aspects of guest speakers. Fred offered some tips, but just seeing his work and the potential of what multimedia reporting can be, was very cool. It seems as if Don has a lot of experience, and will offer advice about video that will come in helpful this semester.

I don't get it..

So I am trying to do this week's assignment, and have uploaded my videos onto my computer, but for some reason Windows Movie Maker keeps showing me this message when I try to import videos:
The file C:\Documents and Settings\HP Owner\My Documents\My Pictures\summah 07\10-1-2008\100_0039.mov is not a supported file type, and it cannot be imported into Windows Movie Maker.

So, I am going to search online for another type of movie maker and see what I can come up. Keeping my fingers crossed

Just thinking..

My initial idea about this week's assignment seemed like a good one at the time, but now the moreI think about it, the more I have my doubts. I'm doing a brief piece on WSBE and how they have to keep getting accredited from AACSB (Association to advance Collegiate schools of Business). All seniors are required to take the Major Field Test in business, something they described to be similar to the SAT's. I thought out the video portion of the assignment, but the pictures...we will see.

I wish I could have incorporated my real project with this one, but the head Athletic Trainer is still deciding how he can allow me to do this project, without volunteering an athlete and making them uncomfortable. At this point, I'm thinkin about making friends with an injured athlete. I'm going to start thinking of different topics but I really like this idea so I'm going to do some research to see if there are other rehab facilities nearby in the seacoast area.

Thats all for now.