Review of the module

photo taken from innovationfactory

So this is the last day of my Online Project. Funnily, I sit in my bed with my laptop, ill again, and edit all my posts. Jim is either e-mailing me what to do or I just read some hints for improvement of my blog on his blog. This is the studying at a university in the 21st century.

I can't say it enough: I really enjoyed this module. It was definitely the best one I have taken at this university. It was a lot of work, but it did not really feel like work. It was just so much fun. In the last two weeks I ended up posting every day. I was so busy but I made a lot of progress as well.

I have learnt so much about the internet, blogging, social networking sites and I also got to know more research tools that will probably be useful all my life.

At the beginning of this module I was most scared about the group blog. I am not good working in teams. I always say to myself: If you want something to work, do it on your own. However, I was really impressed with the result. The blog wandersee is so different from what I planned to do. It gave me more confidence and improved my English.

The group blog and feature task were the highlights of this module. Analysing a song each day was hard work but a lot of fun as well. It took me up to four hours to do my research, develop an opinion, interpret and write everything down - each day. But I didn't mind.

I really want to continue one of the two. Either I try to find some people to continue the wandersee-project or I just start a new blog and continue my feature. I won't have time to post each day, but maybe once a week is realistic.

First, I need some holidays - and another essay to write. But when I come back for the next semester, I hope I will still be motivated to continue one of the two blogs. But we all know how it is like: We all want to do so many things, but we never do it. I wanted to improve my guitar skills, learn how to play the keyboard better, I wanted to read more books, write more songs, learn French and now I want to write regularly. But I think this time, I am really going to do it.

Online Journalism as a future career? Not so sure. I have always seen myself in the print media. In online journalism you have to be so fast, edit your story every couple of minutes...I have seen so many typing mistakes in online articles, because journalists were in such a hurry. That is ridiculous.

However, Online Journalism has got a new dimension. It also gives you the opportunity to write more creative. When I think about it - that is actually how I started to consider becoming a journalist. I always loved to express myself but never thought I'd be good enough to write novels and earn a living with that. So I thought, I'd try to be a journalist. Now it is actually possible to write in a more arty way in a commercial blog. I could imagine doing that later - as a sidejob.

Angel by Sarah McLachlan

photo taken from 121musicblog

It would just be wrong finishing this series of features without mentioning Sarah McLachlan. Even though she is Canadian, she is a reasonable competitor to Paula Cole, Jewel, Tori Amos and Aimee Mann. That is why she should definitely be mentioned here.

Sarah McLachlan sounds like walking alone through the dark night. She sounds like a peaceful day out on a cemetery. She sounds like drinking wine out of a bottle. She sounds . . . like an angel.

Michelle Goldberg wrote in her feature on McLachlan's music: "It's like the best friend who hides out with you when you're at your lowest, the friend who makes you tea, puts you to bed and takes care of everything while you sob into a pillow."

She hit the nail on the head. Especially Sarah's song "Angel" is often used in emotional scenes in films such as "City of Angels" and TV- series such as "Dawson's Creek" and "Alias".

Sarah performed the song at Live 8 in Philadelphia in 2005 and on "Concert for Linda", a concert in memory of Linda McCartney.

I have mentioned the song in my post about "wander" in my group blog wandersee, but I want to go into more detail this time.

The song is musically very simplistic. Broken up piano chords and her voice singing a thought out melody with many variations is all the song consists of. It is fascinating that it does not get boring. It never does. Not after listening the song thousands of times. The singer just puts so much emotion in word and melody that you can't help but get goose bumps.

There is no official music video for this song, but the most watched is a life version of her singing the song. The video is as simple as the music, but by seeing her emotions in her face and her eyes, this video can't get boring.



The lyrics are one of the saddest in the world - but cheer you up at the same time. They tell you that even when your life is at its worst, you can still escape in "the arms of an angel".

How this angel looks like varies from person to person. On the internet platform SongMeanings, people share their feelings and memories of past ones that they think of when they listen to "Angel". They imagine that they will be taken by their dead loved ones when they feel bad and spend some time with them as a comfort.

Even the day dream of such a thing happening can be the angel, Sarah Mchlachlan is talking about. For me, the angel is a day dream - a dream world where you go in your imagination when you can't handle reality anymore.

Sarah McLachlan herself explained that the song was about Jonathan Melvoin, the Smashing Pumpkins' touring keyboarder, who died in 1996 due to an overdose on heroin. What Sarah meant by the angel was obviously heroin - another way from escaping from the real world.

As so often this week, here I conclude again that a song can mean so many different things to different people - which are the beauty of well-written lyrics as they seem to be written just for you.

photo taken from Neverlend

Wise Up by Aimee Mann

photo published in The Independent

We all have bad habits. People smoke too much, drink too much, get too moody all the time or don't want to let go of people, even though they are long gone. Most of us are aware of our bad habits, but it is so hard to stop them. Often it is a vicious circle and suddenly all your life is related to this one problem you have got. It determines who you are. Aimee Mann gives a solution to that problem, singing: "It's not going to stop, so just . . . give up."

"Wise Up" by Aimee Mann is best known through the American drama film "Magnolia". The film connects stories of nine different people that all have a problem, either a drug addiction, guilt or the inability to forgive.

The song plays an essential role in this movie, as the characters start to sing it, when they realize that their problems are not going to stop - until they wise up.



To be honest, I am not into Aimee Mann's music at all. I do not like her broken lines, she sings as if she is about to fall asleep, the lyrics are too straightforward and her voice annoys me. "Wise Up" still sounds like Aimee is speaking in a clipped manner, the text is as simplistic as "Knocking on heaven's door" and song consists of one piano pattern. However, the piano is a musical device, Aimee Mann does not use in other songs. Most of her songs are dominated by a guitar. But in "Wise Up" Aimee Mann is just accompanied by a piano, which I prefer to her guitar sound, because it is more emotional.

The reason why I like this song is because I love the lyrics. They might be straightforward, but so true. Since I am suffering from depression for more than six years now, I know how hard it is to give up.

Being depressed becomes something you get used to. It's like lying in bed and not wanting to get up and start the day. I feel more comfortable with my self-pity.

The second verse goes like this:

You think
One drink
Will shrink you 'til you're underground
and living down
but it's not going to stop
'til you wise up

This is an allusion to Alice in Wonderland. She was on this adventure, discovering a new world. What she found out was that grass is not greener on the other side. I felt like Alice in Wonderland when I came to England. But, of course, it did not take me long to realize that I can't run away from my problems. So I had to wise up, give up running away, give up my self-pity and change the way I think and the way I was.

Giving up, letting go, forgiving - no one says that this is easy. You don't do it once. No, you have to do it over and over again. Aimee Mann's "Wise Up" gives me the power to give up every day. Because she is right.

Taxi Ride by Tori Amos

photo taken from Amazon

People listening to Tori Amos are not really listening to the music, but to the lyrics. Even though this singer-songwriter is a great pianist, who can play on two pianos at the same time, the songs are all about the lyrics. Tori Amos' poetry is not straightforward, but twisted. They are puzzles and riddles.

The beauty of her songs lies in the mysteriousness. They seem to be like a crossword puzzle, impossible to solve. It sometimes takes years to understand the lyrics. It only dawns on you how deep a song goes if you are in a certain situation that is described in a Tori Amos song.

On the internet platform SongMeanings, Fans discuss the meaning of songs very enthusiastically. By following up some of the comments, it soon becomes clear that the lyrics are so open that it can mean different things to different people.

"Taxi Ride" from the Album "Scarlet's Walk" is my personal favourite. That is maybe because it can applies to feelings I often have, especially after parties. For me this song is about loneliness.

I do not have many friends, which does not mean that I do not go out. In today's society you have to be sociable. You often have parties with people that you don't really care about, or they don't care about you. It is all fine when you get drunk and have fun with them, but when you sit in the taxi on your way home, you have got time to reflect on your night and it is then, when you realize that you are lonely.

A fan commented on the lyrics, that you can get the feeling of the song easier when you sit in a taxi in New York. She then said: "Tori songs are more feelings than real words."

Some people assume that the song is about Tori's gay friend, the make-up artist Kevyn Aucoin, who died in May 2002 due to brain cancer, as she sings: "just another dead fag to you, that's all". One interpretation is that Tori settles up with Kevyn's mother, who couldn't care less about her son. Others say it is just Tori's way to deal with the funeral and the aftermath of his death in general.

At the end of the day that does not matter. Tori's songs are written so that they fit into everyone's life. She seems to do that on purpose, which is probably an art in itself.

Tori Amos never produced a music video for this song. However, she let other people make one for her within the context of a contest called "Taxi Vision". The winner video seemed to have disappeared from the internet, but there are a lot of other films out there that did not win but are still great.

My favourite "Taxi Ride"-video is featuring an old woman in an old people's home. She seems to be really lonely and in her rocking chair - in her mind on that Taxi Ride, she realizes that she has got no one after all these years she attend this party called life. The nurse notices the old woman's sadness and takes care of her.

This is my interpretation. The video got very good comments, but people also said that it was not related to the song. I think it is. People were also mentioning that it was more an allusion to other Tori Amos videos.



Here again, it is up to the audience to decide. I have to admit that I do not even like the voice of Tori Amos and most of her songs are far too slow. But still, she is one of my favourite musicians, because she has got the ability to write magical songs. It is always so much fun to interpret so many different things in her songs.

Down So Long by Jewel

single cover taken from Mattcdsingles

A cute, young voice is singing poems to simple guitar rhythms. That is exactly how Jewel sounds like. Her name puts it into context: Very simple - but brilliant. When you hear the first guitar motif of "down so long" with a "budubiduda"-fill in, you just know that it is a Jewel-song.

In the song Jewel describes her depressive state of mind and how bad she is feeling. She has literally been down too long and is fed up with it. In the chorus she thinks much more positive, hoping that her misery will soon be over, when she sings: "I have been down so long, that the end must be drawing near."

The lyrics of the song are very straight forward, but poetic at the same time. Jewel uses many comparisons such as "my pocketbook and my heart both just got stolen, and the sun acts like she don't even care," or "it feels like someone's face is stuck to the bottom of my shoe".

The cheery guitar rhythm that makes you whistle to the song and wiggle your hips seem to be a contradiction to the content of the song. In the music video you can even see Jewel dancing to the lines "I have been down so long".

But rhythm and melody play a central part in the interpretation of the song. "Down so long" is not another depressing song that we listen to when we are lovesick and cry our eyes out. The song should give hope and send out the message that there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

In the second verse Jewel sings: "I looked to everybody but me to answer my prayers, 'til I saw an angel in a bathroom who said she saw no one worth saving anywhere." These lines, together with the mood of the song, tells the listener to take destiny in his own hands.

We can either lay down in bed and feel miserable, or do something about it, get up and be happy about the amazing time that is coming, because: There is always light at the end of the tunnel.

The music video is quite dull as it just shows her sitting, lying or playing with the band. Like other Jewel-music videos it just about her singing in front of the camera. But that doesn't matter that much, because the music as well as the lyrics are great.

I Don't Want To Wait by Paula Cole

photo taken from Amazon

It was because of the teenage series Dawson's Creek that I found out about my role model Paula Cole. "I don't want to wait" did not only become the hymn of my favourite series, but soon also my obsession. I was covering that song and it was part of many gigs I have been doing in my early music "career". Still today, people call me up, saying: "Hey, I just listened to 'I don't want to wait' by Paula Cole on the radio and I could not help but think of you. So how are you doing?"

The song is best known as the opening theme of the teenage series Dawsons’s Creek. Thanks to this the second release of the Album This Fire became a #11 pop hit single in 1997.

The text is a homage to carpe diem. The message is to live in the present and not in the past. You should not look back as life is too short to live in the past and think about every step you take.

"I don't want to wait" starts with the singer’s appeal to “open up your morning light and say a little prayer” for her. The use of piano chords makes the beginning very gentle.

The mood of the song then changes, when the drums start to play a forward pushing rhythm. Paula Cole paints a picture of a woman in 1944, waiting for her husband to come home from the front. She is using a monotonous melody to keep the verse in a story-telling style.

This then leads to the chorus that has a carpe diem theme: “I don’t want to wait, for our lives to be over.” To emphasize the change, the singer uses her head-voice, which shows more emotions than the verse.

The second verse is coming back to the illustration, telling the listener what happens when people wait: The man has returned from war – as a grandfather- , but the war still lives inside him, which makes it so hard “to be gentle and warm”. The chorus starts off again, telling you that you are better off not waiting.

Suddenly the mood changes completely and the use of blue notes portrays anger. That is typical of Paula Cole, as she is not afraid to sing “badly” to show her emotions. Paula Cole’s music is sometimes not nice and gentle, but hard and ugly, because her music always goes with the lyrics.

Her music is often not easy to listen to. Especially her newest album is more jazzy and a bit twisted. This makes her work really arty, which is probably why that artist is only known as the woman who wrote the Dawson's creek theme.

"I don't want to wait" is an exception. Apart from the few blue notes and the anger in the middle of the song, the melody is simple and it is easy to listen to. The art here lies more in the lyrics and the structure of the song. It might be one of Paula's easiest songs, but the structure is brilliantly thought-out.

The music video is sophisticated as well. It features Paula Cole as the story-teller in the beginning and then continues showing her in different times with different men. All men die. Pictured as an immortal creature, the protagonist has enough authority to give the advise to seize the day to their listeners as she has lost so many loved ones. She experienced that everthing has to come to an end and knows about the importance to live a life, instead of thinking about it.

Introduction to my Feature

photo taken from Lauren's blog

In the next five days I am going to publish a post each. Every feature will deal with Noth-American female singer-songwriters such as Paula Cole and Tori Amos. I did not want to end up writing a biography each. I also thought it would be too risky to review an album of each of these musicians, because I did not want to end up describing every single song - which would be boring.

That is why I decided to pick a song of each of these women for each day and analyse the lyrics, the music, the video and why this is a typical song of the musician.

I will also provide a youtube video and picture each as well as discussion boards or other blogs if available.

A day, a song has a similar concept. The blogger, even though he got stuck in 2008, was posting quite regularly in 2007 - a post each day. Each post was about a song and why the blogger likes it.

Big Brother is watching you

Today I finally got the proof that linking to other sites does have an effect on my viewing number of my blog. Yesterday I linked to Silobreaker. - No I did not forget to link to Silobreaker now, I deliberately did not link to the site and that has a reason:

Yesterday I was writing that I find it quite hard to get used to Silobreaker. I linked to it, of course. Today I received an e-mail BY Silobreaker, asking me why I find it so hard. Now they are waiting for my reply and suggestions what to do better.

That was a shocking experience. They actually went on my blog and read my post. OK, I'm never going to say anything bad about anyone or anything anymore. They might read it and send me e-mails. That is scary.

photo published in Zeit

To deal with death on networking sites

While writing my last post about networking sites and new reseach tools I thought about how amazing it is how you can connect to everything and how much stuff has developed in the last couple of years.

That reminded me of my thoughts about profiles on networking sites and how they are used. What happens when a member of a networking site dies? The profile will stay forever. Everytime when I log into the German punk networking site Abgefuckt liebt dich, it tells me that my friend Micha has not logged in since March the 14th.

That is because he died shortly after the last time he logged into this website. The scary thing is that I found out by going on his profile, reading messages that people left in his guestbook. As it was in the middle of the term, I was stuck in London. The only way I could deal with it was to read those messages. There were hundreds of them and still today, nine months after Micha's accident, people still leave messages saying that he is dearly missed by everyone.

This networking site really helped me to deal with the death of my friend Micha. I don't know if that is a good thing or just a scary aspect of how the internet has changed our lives.

Review of Session

photo taken from room214

Last Friday, Kathryn Corrick, a digital strategist at McCann Erickson, came to our class to talk about social media and more research tools for journalists. I thought this is going to be another repetition of the stuff we talked about in class, such as delicious, twitter and so on.

However, I was very impressed with those dozens of new sites and possibilities she showed us. First of all, she said journalists with Iphones were quite behind. I swore to myself not to buy one of these things ever. I guess I have to, now.

I think the search tool addictomatic is brilliant. It gives you the most recent news on a certain subject on twitter, blogs, youtube and so on. I haven't signed in for Brightkite yet, but what I heard intruiged me. It is a location-based network where you can check out what friends in your area are up to.

What? Another social networking site? At the moment I am a member of four networking sites, including Facebook and Myspace - and it takes half an hour in the morning to go through all of them. Now, Friendfeed should solve that problem by showing me all updates on networking sites at one site. However, your friends have to use friendfeed as well in order for you to get updates.

Twitscoop is showing you what the most used words at the moment are. This could be quite useful when writing news stories for Debell Publishing as I always have to be as up-to-date as possible.

Some sites she mentioned were very hard to get into. I did not manage to use sites such as Marumushi or silobreaker in the way Kathryn Corrick showed us.

But all in all, I enjoyed her talk and I was proud that she liked our group blog wandersee.

Evaluation of the Group Blog

photo taken from Clipartof

The week is over and it has not been long since I pressed the "publish" button to put my last post on the group blog wandersee. I'm really sad that it's over, because I enjoyed being part of that group so much.

The blog was all about collaboration. Each day the bloggers commented on what a word means to them. The interesting thing is that every individual was so completely different. The only thing that each post had in common was that it was a statement of the same idea or concept. I think the idea is brilliant, because it allows people to share their memories, ideas and feelings. The bloggers could show their personalities by expressing their thoughts in different ways. Sophie for example often used poems and photographs, Jade always linked words to broad things such as drugs and the Middle East conflict, Metthew always managed to mention alcohol in every post and I used a lot of music, lyrics and play on words.

Having said this, I have to say that it was quite challenging for me to write my posts as I am not a native speaker and it was all about language. However, that kind of writing is what I love most. Some might argue that it is not journalism, but I say it is. It is some arty way of dealing with words, puns, words twisting around - and I enjoyed it so much. It might have been hard, but I did not only improve my English a little bit, but I also gained more confidence that I can write in a creative way, even in English.

Wandersee is a blog that is using multimedia. It's all in there: the written word, literature, audio, photographs and videos. That is something arty print magazines cannot offer. Additionally there is an option for people to choose the next word that is going to be discussed - so the blog also offers interactivity. Moreover the posts are more informal and therefore closer to the readers. Reading a post of wandersee is like reading an e-mail from a friend.

It was quite a challenge to publish posts every day. That is maybe something that did not quite work. Some bloggers did not manage to publish their posts in time. But before judging someone, it has to be said that this project started two weeks before the term finishes, which is the time when all essays have to be handed in. It was a busy week. But in principle, I think the blog idea would work if people had time for it. They'd have time to take own pictures, write own poems, go out and ask people on the streets what a certain word means to them or make documentaries.

It was quite hard to get along with the wordpress template. In my opinion, it does not look very nice, the sidebar does not allow much flexibility and the categories are not shown clearly. With a better template, the blog would look so much nicer.

I am also not sure about the name of the blog. Wandersee? I had to ask Sophie what it means. It is very hard to figure out what the meaning is - or I am just a bit stupid or slow. I think there are better solutions. But, I was lying in bed with fever when the decision was made, so I did not contribute to it at all. Therefore it is not my place to criticize it.

I am quite satisfied with my posts. I really like my post on "boobs" as it was quite linguistic and I tried to use puns. I am also happy that I managed to find documentaries on the topic "home". Maybe it should have been my job to go out and interview people about what "home" means to them, but because of lack of time and camera I could not. However, I succeeded to find videos of people who already did my job. So this was the most journalistic post I guess.

I always tried to use photographs and paintings that illustrate what a certain words mean to me. I also put some music videos of songs on the blog that expressed my thoughts about that word.

I had the chance to have the experience to post on a daily basis - which was quite a lot of work, but a wonderful experience as well. Every morning I woke up with the thought that I have to pay attention to a certain concept. As I mentioned above I improved my English a little bit and most important of all, gained more confidence in my writing skills.

I think the blog idea of wandersee is brilliant. There are some things that have to be improved, but we only had five days to work on it - with other deadlines looming. I would love to continue blogging posts in that way and I think it has a potential to become larger and maybe successful as well.

Whereas the target audience now consists of young people from 18 to 30, students and people interested in art, photography, music and literature, it could possibly target all kinds of people who enjoy reading some deep thoughts of ordinary people. I also think readers could build up a relationship with the bloggers and get to know them only by reading their posts regularly.

Review of Sessions

Last weekend I wrote a very angry post about the Online Project. Some things have changed. Unfortunately not the feedback problem. I still have not got any feedback, so I have no idea how I am doing in this module.

But apart from that, Jim was very helpful and emailed me on a Sunday (WOW!) to give me some information on how to catch up with the others after my illness.

I am feeling much better now and so I am more than happy that I can still participate in the group blog task. Originally, I fancied a international news blog - because I'm that kind of a serious person. However, I decided to be part of Sophie's blog, called Wandersee. For this project, every team blogger has the task to express what certain words, that were picked in advance, mean to them. Topics of the day are for example wander, boobs and home. I really enjoy that task.

It gives me the opportunity to be more creative. Writing news articles is horribly stiff. But for this blog I can philosophize, express myself in many different ways and use puns. I love to play with the language and that blog is all about language really. It sounds simple, but it is challenging me as well. I go deep into words, do research on similar words or expressions used in the english language and I guess this can't do any harm considering my language skills.

I try to use different media, such as the written word, pictures and paintings but also videos and music. This makes this blog very arty, which is something I'd never guessed I would end up doing. I am very surprised and even impressed with myself.

One night I could not fall asleep as I was thinking about what to write about the word "boobs". Oh god, I really need to get a life.

Today's Society is Suicide

photo from Jac Jac's World

During the three days I spent in bed due to fever, a horrible headache and tonsilitis, I was more worried about not being able to do my group blog assignment for university, screwing a presentation next Tuesday and not getting done with an essay a week before the deadline than thinking about my health. I couldn't help but wonder: Why are we always busy thinking about success, when, at the end of the day, staying alive is the real success.

I only went to the doctor to get a paper for uni that says that I am ill. I'm glad I went as the doctor said I need antibiotics. Tonsilitis without a treatment with antibiotics can be dangerous for the heart. And I only thought about the stupid paper for uni.

I told my friend Lea I could not come in to uni because of tonsilitis. She laughed at me saying, I clearly could come to uni with tonsilitis as her brother went to school for his GCSE exam with bronchitus. But, what's a GCSE worth when you are dead?

So many people go to work ill...or half dead. They work for twelve hours, get bullied and feel worse the next morning. Then they take a pill and go to work again. Seriously, we HAVE to treat our bodies better.

I might sound like a hypocrit to some people. Here in England people call me the "beer lady" as I loved to drink two or three beers every day. I smoked for seven years and my eating behaviour was not that of a role model either. Did you notice the tense?

I had to go through a lot to learn how horrible I am treating my body. At the beginning of this year, I had circulation problems on a daily basis, a mysterious stomach pain that no one could explain and on top of that I could not leave the house on my own anymore. I was just a mess. I went to doctors nearly every day, but all they did was doing tests. Just when I started considering to take a year off from university, I had an encounter with a man who is into chinese medicine.

This chinese non-medical practitioner was able to cure me from my stomach pain and my circulation problems. I stopped drinking (at least on a daily basis) and I quit smoking. I changed my whole eating behaviour, which is not easy here in England where the food is just bad and people do not even know what spelt is. (I have to get all my health food and my tea from Germany, which is just ridiculous).

Moreover, most of my problems are the result of my ongoing worries about being perfect. I always want to be the best, want to get the highest marks and feel depressed when I make mistakes. I did not realized how much I damage my body with that.

Friends of mine sometimes do not eat for one day. They smoke, they drink, they take all kinds of drugs. They go out partying even though they are ill. They work all night, all weekends, because they want to earn as much money as possible and get the highest marks. One of my friends died three years ago, because he did not bother to take his antibiotics properly. He did not take his illness seriously and that was his worst mistake in his life.

Unfortunately, society is like that. It is hard to relax and just listen to your body. You will be left behind by competitive society. Your rivals never rest.

When I was lying in bed on Thursday morning with fever, I thought I had made a mistake not going to university and pitching my idea for the group blog. Now I am convinced that I made the right decision. The body we have is something precious. It is the shell of our mind and we'd better not mess up with it as life can be over just like that.

A Review of Google Reader

photo taken from The Wardman Wire

I have used Google Reader for a week now. No, that was a lie. I had a look at it four times maybe, but you cannot say that I really used it. I am very fond of Google News, but Google Reader is just a bit too much.

I can appreciate the idea. I quite like to have MY news on one page. My first impression was: WOW. This semester I read much more online news than newspapers. But I really do not like going on different websites and find my way through that information jungle. There is just too much news and I can't really find my way through it.

With Google Reader, at least, I have everything at one glance. I now have a list of World News from the BBC, bits and pieces from The Guardian, anti-racist coverage from indymedia and blogs that I subscribed to. So, there is a way into the jungle.

But it is still not a European forest. It is just too much information. When you think you finally scrolled down to the end of the page, there is more news to come and more and more and more and then you just give up. It only shows you the news stories that have been updated at last, but that doesn't mean that they are the most important.

A review of Google News

When Jim mentioned Google News in one of our sessions, I was the only one who used it before. I was quite surprised. I was even surprised that Jim seemed not be that amazed about Google News than me.

I think this Google tool is just awesome. It made my life so much easier. I am using it for a couple of months now and since then at least four times a week. I need it for my job as a writer and editor for Debell Publishing, a company that offers current affairs to hotel guests all over the world. What I have to do is to rewrite news on the internet and put it in a layout. This will be sent to the hotels in many different countries at 1am. It has to be up-to-date, so I am only working at night. Obviously I cannot start writing so early, which is why I have to do it under time pressure. That is where Google News comes in.

Google News gives you a general idea what happened around the world. It is offering Top stories, as well as world, technology, entertainment, Health, Sports and Business news. But you can also personalize your Google News page and get other news as well. This tool allows me to work really fast. Even though I have to write only 800 words overall, I have to research into at least ten different stories in current affairs, sports and entertainment.

Google News tells you how many news websites have covered one story. This is a good hint if this story is a top story or not. Moreover you have an overview of different websites that have covered the story plus the matching headlines. This makes it very easy to compare different angles.

I am often using the German Google News page and it taught me a lot about German media and how different media cover stories differently.

Session's Review

Here I am, on another Friday night - the night I normally spend with writing loads of posts for my uni blog. But today, there is not much to be said about the module today. Nothing good though.

I am lying in bed with my tonsilitis - not being able to reach the kitchen without having the feeling of fainting. And then I was looking at the first group blog that my class was starting this week. It made me so upset, because I missed it. I was so looking forward to it and now I just can't do anything but to lie in bed and worry about all the work that has to be done.

I am scared because I don't know what is going to happen. The teacher is not answering my e-mails which is worrying me even more. In fact, I am a bit disappointed now.

In the first week he all asked us to post an article on our blog. He then promised to leave comments over the weekend. He did not. Two weeks later he promised to leave a comment for our first assignment - and he did not. But that does not surprise me. It is just how uni works. I never get my work back and I cannot learn if I do not get any comments back.

Buskers: The Breakfast for the dog-eat-dog society

photo by Daily Mail

Tom Jones attracted hundreds of people while busking on London's South Bank for charity last Wednesday. His performance, consisting of a medley of his own songs as well as some covers, thrilled a huge crowd that was trying to make the best pictures of the 68-year-old singer. One man even climbed on a tree to get a better look at him, AFP revealed. Some members of the crowd supported him with backing vocals. Why isn’t it always like that? Why do you have to be a Tom Jones to attract such a huge and impressed crowd when busking?

Society is looking down on buskers. The stereotype is that they are unemployed, beggars or homeless. Some people refuse to give them money as they think the buskers will spend it on drugs. Other people heckle them or steal their money.

The Independent’s journalist Robert Hanks put it this way: “Traditionally, busking has been the province of toothless old men with penny-whistles and annoying students trying to sound like Bob Dylan and succeeding all too well.”

Other people complain about the noise, saying it is distracting them from their work in the office. Authorities are mad at buskers because they think the music will be even heard in nearby houses and churches. I am occasionally busking in my home town Cottbus in Germany and I have to face all these prejudices. Some people even go one step further saying that I should not beg for money since my mother is driving a BMW and my father a Mercedes.

But I dont busk for money. I don’t think many people do. I don’t even keep the money. Everything that I am earning from playing cover songs on the street is given to charity. But that doesn’t mean I don’t get anything out of it. It makes me happy to hear passers-by saying “she’s got a wonderful voice” when I am singing “Everybody hurts” by R.E.M. The best gift I can get from a kid that I have not seen before is a smile when I play the first chords of “Animal Instinct” by The Cranberries. I am amazed by those businessmen, who have been rushing to get back to the office but stopped to hear me sing and play “Kiss me” by Sixpence Non The Richer. These workaholics, who try to forget their loneliness by spending their life in the office, touch me when they take a break to listen to a song that reminds them of their ex-wives. It makes me laugh when bicyclists nearly drive into lampposts because they get distracted by me.

Buskers put passers-by in the good mood and encourage them to forget about their busy and miserable lives for a few minutes. What they might get back is much more valuable than money. They get back feedback, a smile and the knowledge that they made someone feel good for a short while. I feel sorry for those people who have prejudices against busking and complain about the noise. They obviously lack the ability to switch off their grumpiness. They are just miserable.

People in England seem to appreciate the art of busking much more. A BBC audio shows people’s views on busking. Passers-by say busking would “brighten up the place”, “work for tourists” and “get a nice atmosphere”, as long as it is not “too much in-your-face”.

In England buskers have to go to an audition to be allowed to busk on the underground or on the street. The quality of busking music is therefore much better than the one you can hear in Germany as everyone is allowed to busk everywhere for up to 30 minutes. That is probably why Britons appreciate this art more.

Even though the public opinion about buskers is slightly more positive in England, it doesn’t mean buskers have more importance in their lives. Tim Rutherford Johnson said in his post "Busking Bell" his blog "Rambler":

“Whenever I’m on the Underground, it’s usually because I have to be somewhere, by a certain time. That’s what I’m doing: buskers are great, and I often enjoy them, but it would take a hell of a lot more than Joshua Bell playing Bach to make me break my appointment and stop and listen for any length of time.”

But why is that so? People in England as well as Germany live in a dog-eat-dog society where everyone just minds their own business. They are staying in the office for more than twelve hours, have shorter breaks and much more work to do. Everything is getting more expensive and people just have too much to worry about: They want to please everyone, keep their jobs and own expensive cars. But what is the point in having an expensive car when you do not have time to travel? What is the point in losing yourself by trying to keep your job? What is the point pleasing everyone but yourself?

We all have to be nicer with each other. A simple smile can enhance the whole day. One minute of relaxation can improve your life. One nice word to someone else can not only make them but also you feel better.

The reason why Tom Jones attracted such a huge crowd is that those people wanted to show off by telling people they had listened to a celebrity. If he had played the same songs without being famous, they clearly wouldn’t have bothered.

A review of this week's sessions

photo by Antelope View

In this week's sessions I learned so many amazing things that make my life so much easier and maybe even more interesting.

On Thursday we had a look at Google News and Google Reader. Well, I am using Google News since a couple of months now and I just love it. What I did not know was that I can personalize my page. Jim showed me a tool that will be incredibly helpful for me in the future as I am using Google News at least four times a week for my small writing and editing job.

The website I did not know was Google Reader. But this again makes my life so much easier. No more random search for various topics I want to read about. Now I have everything on one website. Reviews about Google Reader and Google News will come soon after I will have worked with them for a while.

But also the research tools such as Technorati , journalism.co.uk and Blog Search are fantastic. I did not know that there is so much out there. This will not only improve my knowledge for this module, but help me to do all my other assigments in all theory and practical classes. It will also be useful later when I have to do research for my articles.

Furthermore I realized how amazing blogs are when we had a look at some of them. First I thought, blogs are either online diaries for people who obviously don't have any friends or media and informatic geeks. But there are really professional blogs out there, such as Green Daily, a blog that found a niche market and is now covering green consumerism. Not only the commercial blogs fascinate me, but also some private ones, for example Random Acts of Reality, a blog about a guy's job at the London Ambulance Service.

I enjoy this module so much that I was actually quite sad that I got the afternoon free. What about writing reviews online? Looking at YouTube? Writing comments? Networking? I do not want to miss out information on this one. And no, I do not think that I will get a better mark by only saying the whole module is great. But the only negative thing I have to say about it, is that we do not get taught everything that is listed on the schedule.

This is my third post today and after pressing the "Publish Post" button, I will start writing my opinion piece on busking. This is the first module where we are encouraged to write and write and write. In the other practical modules we wrote not more than five articles - within twelve weeks. I think this is post number ten after three weeks of doing the module. And there are much more to come. I am looking forward to it.

Random Acts of Reality: Blog Review

photo taken from clipartof

It was the picture of the ambulance with the headline "Trying to kill as few people as possible" that kept me stay on the blog "Random Acts of Reality" a little bit longer in the first place.
This blog is not written by a professional journalist, but by a guy called Reynolds who works for the London Ambulance service.

The first post I was reading was about suicide. Now, that's interesting. Normally that is a topic that you would maybe not talk about that openly. The blogger talks about people who try to commit suicide but paradoxically call the ambulance the minute they swallow their pills.

I guess that is his way of coping with his job. He probably sees a lot of awful things and might not be able to rescue everyone. Or maybe he has to make the decision of who to rescue first, which immediately becomes a decision of who to let live and who to let die.

His blog, which he updates at least three times a week, seems to be well read. People leave many comments talking about their problems with health issues and it seems to me that this is even a small therapy for them as they can finally talk about it - anonymously and openly. And they are sure they will be understood.

Is this journalism, I wonder. In a way, it is not really. His blog is more a diary of his job. However, when you keep reading it, you start to build up a relationship to this guy and his posts enable you to get an inside-view of what it is like to work for the London Ambulance Service. In that way, it is journalism.

Bad eggs

photo by Welt

A German egg producer sold millions of his eggs coming from caging chicken as free range chicken eggs, the animal conservationist PETA revealed last Wednesday.

Edmund Haferbeck from PETA said that the producer in Brandenburg, a region in east Germany, sold at least 300 million eggs a year with a fake labelling to several super market chains all over Germany.

The animals were not kept in ways appropriate to their species. Nevertheless, the eggs were sold as free range chicken eggs. PETA assumes that the producer made a higher profit of seven million Pounds (ten million Euro) because of the higher price of free range chicken eggs.

How awful is that? I always buy the better eggs. Better eggs? I know the free range chicken eggs are smaller and just don’t look that nice but I know that it comes from a happy chicken.

I don’t understand how you can earn your living from keeping thousands of hens in cages that are obviously far too small. Do the people working in such a place actually think about what they are doing? Everyone thinks with horror of the Holocaust. Why is it then ok to keep animals like that? In my point of view it is a crime as well.

I know I am not the only one thinking like that. Some people, who do not have much money, relinquish their chocolate or cigarettes to be able to buy eggs from happy chickens rather than products of animal cruelty. Now it is shocking to find out that these people, probably including me, were actually eating those eggs. You can’t say: It is the thought that counts.

With every egg you bought, you supported animal cruelty. And people were not even aware of it. This producer has hurt the dignity of many Germans and I hope he will be punished accordingly.

Leaving the Lie - Do i smell Cupcakes

The Wall Street Journal's Blogger hunt

photo by Sophie Borazanian

Neil McIntosh is to start hiring bloggers and business journalists for the Wall Street Journal Europe edition in the next year, he revealed at a talk with students of the University of Westminster last Thursday.

The outgoing editorial director of the Guardian online becomes the editor of the European edition of WSJ.com, the Wall Street Journal’s website.

“There are only a few jobs left for digital journalism,” Neil McIntosh said. He sees his new job as a “good opportunity to try out new things”.

He dismissed criticism of Rupert Murdoch buying the Wall Street Journal. “I heard nothing but good things,” McIntosh said. He is certain that the Journal’s journalism will not change through the new ownership.

The Journal managing editor, Marcus Brauchli, stepped down due to a shift in the focus of articles, The Wall Street Journal revealed in April. Critical voices claimed that there has been more emphasis on shorter news stories and more general news since Rupert Murdoch owns the paper.

“It is very hard to leave the Guardian,” admitted McIntosh. In his blog, he said it was a privilege to work there, building up blogs and launching the audio and video services.

He worked for the Guardian for more than nine years. It was Neil McIntosh, who started building blogs, one of the most successful parts of the Guardian website. He revealed that the website had half a million page views a month before "comment is free" was launched. More than two years later the page views have increased to ten million.

Silver Surfers - Research Exercise

photo taken from Hantsweb

Guardian- podcast of technology correspondent on new networking site for old people

Older People and the internet- statistics on older people using the internet in australia

BBC- article about old people missing out when they do not use the internet

Baby Boomers join the Information Age- by Emma Aldridge, web site manager for Age Concern - good contact

Herald Tribune- Social networking sites take notice of seniors

Some thoughts about Neil McIntosh and blogging

Today, Neil McIntosh, the editorial director of the Guardian Unlimited, came to our class to play "press conference" with the students. I was very excited about it, as he is working for my favourite news outlet. Actually, he will be leaving that paper in the near future but I will write more on that very soon. To be honest, I cannot believe he is leaving the Guardian. It is my favourite newspaper and I love its editorial standpoint. My biggest dream is to work for the Guardian some day. Mr. McIntosh, if you don't want your job anymore, I would be more than happy to take it.

In his talk Neil McIntosh pointed out the importance of journalist students having a blog. He was saying an regularly updated blog teaches students those tools that they need later in online journalism. Additionally he said, it would be a great way to show what you can do and how motivated you are.

The reason why I started my blog "It's the thought that counts" is because I know that it looks good on my CV. In his blog, Neil McIntosh wrote: "As long as we publish digitally, we will be discussed. Our work will always be social, unless what we produce is so narrow or lacking in interest nobody gives a damn."

No one is discussing my work, Mr. McIntosh. Not even my friends are reading it. I don't think that is because they don't give a damn, to put it in your words. I even posted my articles that were published in magazines. At least the editor gave a damn about them then.

One of my friends recently started a blog and she is telling her readers all about her life regularly. That might include information about what she just watched on the television, whom she kissed last weekend or why she ended up playing strip poker with strangers the other night. People do seem to read her blog and now she is preparing for a podcast because people are so interested in her life. Do I have to talk about my sex life to get people reading my blog?

My first Online Project Workshop: A review

I cannot tell how much I enjoy the practical workshops of my second year at the University of Westminster. Last year I was rather disappointed ending up with five theory modules, which equals ten essays, which equals 20,000 words, which equals just too many books to read. Don't get my wrong. I love reading books. But I would prefer writing articles while doing a journalism degree. Instead, I ended up spending four hours a week in the newsroom writing articles. That is not fair.

However, that all changed in the second year. Some students were horrified when they found out that they have to spend half the thursday and the full friday in the newsroom as they got used to being at university twice a week. For me, it is heaven. I don't mind being in the newsroom from 10 to 5 every day, writing articles. That is going to be my job - so why not stick to the reality and skip all that theoretical stuff?

Okay, okay - a bit theory is surely a must, at least when doing an academical degree, but you have to find the right proportions. Today's workshop was something between a practical lesson where we started our own blogs and compared newspapers to their online versions. We also had a lecture on the development of the internet and web journalism. That is what I thought university is like.

The rest of the module promises to be as interesting, useful, practical and fun as the first week. Pitching ideas, developing a group blog and a Q&A with Neil McIntosh, the editorial director of The Guardian Unlimited. I am very much looking forward to that.

Review of the Guardian Unlimited

The Guardian’s website Guardian Unlimited is a perfect example of how a newspaper can use new technology to improve their services to the readers. The written articles are not only published on the website “for free”, but there is often an option to listen to an audio that might be a cutting of an interview or the writer’s thoughts on the topic presented. What is more, The Guardian provides short videos, often taken from News Agencies such as Reuters and Press Association, to establish a multimedia coverage of stories. Podcasts are also available.

Through quiz, polls and comments the reader can interact and have a say.

Since the newspaper is written at night and cannot be updated until the night after, the online version of this paper offers more immediacy. The articles are up-dated constantly and much faster than the news on the internet, which has obviously much to be said for it.

Not without reason the website is called the Guardian Unlimited. It offers a wide range of news, features and comments – even a lot of web-only material. The articles itself are pretty much the same as in the paper, but they are up-dated and sometimes a backstory is included that could not be published in the print version.

Anarchy in school

photo taken from indymedia

Thousands of German school students skipped their lessons and went on the streets of the country's big cities to protest against the school system, BBC revealed this Wednesday. In Berlin 5000 students were striking, in Hamburg even 6000 this Wednesday alone. Pupils from the age of 10 onwards voiced their anger with overcrowded classrooms, the lack of teachers and huge exam pressures in Germany.

Well, they have a point there. In Germany's Eastern part you have an unemployment rate of up to 20 per cent. Even people with an Abitur (similar to A-level) have difficulties to find a job or even to get into university. Moreover, students are even attending lectures at university for years and years, but when they finish - they just cannot find a job. This is really depressing.
People who do not even get into the Gymnasium (grammar school) have little or no chance to make a living. If you miss the chance to get good marks in the first years of your school career, you will be stuck in lower educational schools, called Gesamtschule or in the worst case, the Hauptschule, a school, where teachers are scared of their students and struggle to teach them anything at all.

Once stuck in such a school, it is very hard to catch up. Because of the three different education systems you cannot swap to different schools easily, even if you turn out be more intelligent than you proved to be in the first couple of years while attending school.

Therefore it is understandable that students make a big fuss and go on strike.
What is out of proportion is that they run into universities and devastate and smash up everything that is on their way.

The German magazine Der Spiegel reported on students rioting in Berlin's Humboldt-University. They burnt toilet paper, torn fire extinguishers from walls and even destroyed a Holocaust exhibitionin in the university's foyer.

Now, that's a thing you just can't do. Voicing your anger in public is all right when necessary. But anarchy is not the answer. Even the Nazis discovered that you don't get any respect by beating up people and smashing things.

When I heard about people striking against the current education system, I thought: Yay, finally someone is actually doing something against it. But with violent action the whole story just loses its serious angle. Concerned students became bad revolutionists who vandalise in public institutions. Guys, seriously, your message won't be heard through vandalism. Calm down and most of all, grow up.