Welcome back to reality! (week 1 lecture)

So the first two weeks of uni I spent rushing around trying to keep up with myself. Have you ever tried running down a hill, and your legs are moving faster than the rest of your body and you think you might face plant? Yep, this is what it has felt like. I knew that after taking a gap year it would be a little bit difficult to get back into study, but I had no idea it would be this hard.

One lesson learnt the hard way  - check blackboard. Because when your Jour1111 lecture has moved rooms it is important to research where that room is before you have to be at your lecture. And it also helps if you know it has moved an hour earlier. This would have also meant that you would have avoided running into your ex on the bus, and the anxiety attack that followed.

I learnt a lot about journalism this week, and one thing that has really made me think is the idea that the purpose of journalism is to spread the word, not just to word vomit all over the internet (guilty). Once I heard Bruce talk about that in my first lecture, I really started to notice it more on social media. First example is the Stop Kony 2012 Youtube video that went viral, accompanied by the #stopkony twitter trend, shared by famous names such as P Diddy, Kim Kardashian etc. And then there was the inevitable criticism against the charity, some of it warranted, some not. The most naive reply I have seen to this was a Facebook post ending in "stop posting this Kony 2012 carry on because clicking 'share' is not causing any difference". Well, yes it is, because did you know about what was happening before you watched the Youtube video? No? And you do now? Well it has served its purpose then. And if you choose to sell your house and give all that money to the Invisible Children charity, and if you choose to do nothing after watching it, then that is your choice. But the point is that you are now aware of the issue.I also saw on Facebook this week a photo that was posted by a girl's mum within an hour of her going missing on the Gold Coast. By lunch time the photo had been shared hundreds of times and the girl was located.

Another wake up call this week was from one of our readings, Convergent Journalism  by Steven Quinn and Vincent Filak. It made a point in there, that to become a good writer and produce good quality stories, the information you have is never enough. If you have the opportunity to obtain more information, take it! This really hit home, as I know I often do the bare minimum and I don't always push myself to do that extra study.

I also love that blogging is part of our assessment, anyone else share my excitement? I already have my own personal blog, where mostly I take photos of myself (I know, Bruce, don't get caught in the ego trap).