Let's Give 'Em Something to Talk About

The days keep flying by it seems, I continually have less and less time to do things. But, don't fret, the journalism lords hath no fury over me.

So far, my investigative piece on Job Corps problems is coming along smoothly. I've already gotten three good informal interviews out of the way. Two of the interviews were from Job Corps students and the other was from a couple parents of a Job Corp student. I've got to say that through just these few interviews and my research thus far, I'm learning about a whole other dimension to Job Corps, one that probably a lot of people don't know about either. I have to keep telling myself that even though there are bad aspects to Job Corps, there is still a lot of good about it too, I'm just not writing about that part.

Anyways, now that I've gotten a few informal sources, I really need to get the ball rolling with setting up my expert interviews with people. I probably should have already started at least emailing these experts to see if they are even interested in being interviewed, but what can I say, I'm a busy college student!

So, here's to a week with success and procrastination, maybe even an expert interview!

Broadening My Horizons

The wheels have started turning - my story is under way! I've been doing some research now for a couple weeks and I've learned a couple things in the process.

1) There are so many more ways to search something on the Internet instead of simply using Google or Yahoo!. Before this class started, I didn't use much of anything besides Yahoo! for searching things. My professor would call this type of searching, 'surfing the web.' Since then though, I've learned to 'dive into the web.' By using library databases, advanced searches, blogs, Twitter, etc., I've been able to do some really awesome research for my story that I probably wouldn't be able to do beforehand.

2) After a while of searching the same search terms in any website, you a lot of times get the same results. I guess I could thank the wonderful Internet for this, because it's made me be a lot more creative about what I'm trying to search and find. It has also helped me make my story topic a lot more specific. At the beginning of this class, I wanted to write simply about Job Corps in general. After my hardcore research thus far, I've learned that there is so much information on the problems with Job Corps, specifically with crime-related problems, which is my topic now.

At times all this researching can be a nuisance, but I'm enjoying the process thus far!

Here's to more (hopefully) happy posts.

Let's Get It Started!

Oh, the adventures.

I guess I should start out by telling you who I am and why exactly I'm here. First things first - my name is Kate Harness and I'm currently a junior at Kansas State University persuing a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Media. In one of my classes this semester, MC 316 Computer Assisted Reporting,  I've been assigned to write a story about a topic that is "out of my norms," if you will. More technically, a story written about an issue of a multicultural perspective. I know you must be dying to hear what I chose to write about, so I'll make you wait no longer!

As part of a service project for one of my spanish classes this semester, I'm working with a group of students from Job Corps. During our time together, the Job Corps students and I talk about life, family and their futures. Still wondering what my topic is? Well, I thought I'd be nifty and 'kill two birds with one stone' I'm writing about problems with Job Corps, more specifically the crime-related problems.

Now that I have my topic selected, I can start the lengthy research portion of this assignment. Oy vey.....

P.S. Come back again. Please.