Kelly Caviness

Media for us

2007-12-04T11:27:00.000-05:00

I definitely think the media is changing how they present the news to a younger audience. Some of them are getting my attention and some are not.

Fox News is on website that is not getting my attention. I want more video ad flashy media. Fox News does not give me this. I also think they should report on more intresting topics. I think the presidential election is an important topic but I don't think they should commit 2 hours of air-time to it. Also, they should get more interactive on their site. CNN doesn't excite me either.

MSNBC is one site that is doing a great job at getting my attention. The home page is colorful and flashy, there are a lot of videos and I loved reading the stories. I love the use of a lot of pictures. I will defintely be getting my news from MSNBC.

All the sites should poll audiences what stories intrest them most. Give them a choice of three and change their stories accordingly.

Web 2.0

2007-11-29T11:40:00.000-05:00

What is the internet? How do you even begin to define the internet. My internet is completely different from your internet...

My internet is astrology updates sent straight to my phone, celebrity gossip blogs, three different social networking sites and mobil downloads of my favorite pictures, but your internet might be fantasy football and Facebook mobile.

The internet can not be described as one entity. It is everywhere.

This is Web 2.0. A world where we no longer search for something, we "google" it. A world where we text our pizza order straight to the store. A world where the majority of our downtime is spent online instead of outside.

I can barely remember life without the internet and honestly I don't really want to. What did I do before the internet? I guess I had to write with a pencil and talk to people in person. (Man was that a scary time! lol)

Web 1.0 were the days of AOL instant messenger and chat rooms. These days are long gone. AOL instant messenger has been replaced with video chat programs like Sykpe and MSN messenger, and chat rooms have turned into massive social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook.

The media uses Web 2.0 to give us mobile updates on breaking news and video blogs from our favorite celebrities. Web 2.0 is here and I can not wait to see what 3.0 has in store.

Peggy vision!

2007-11-29T11:27:00.000-05:00

I'm happy to say that I was the only student who got a video conference with Ms. Peggy Collins, which in my opinion, represents our online journalism class to a T! I can honestly say I have learned more in this class than any other class at UT! Like I told Peg, learning how to use programs like IMovie is one of the best skills a class on online journalism could have given me!

I loved having Peggy teach the class. I have done a lot of video chatting with people over seas and I think it's great! It was also great to have more than one perspective on our work. She gave me great advice on how to improve my writing and many ways to get ahead in the job hunt!

I don't think I would change a thing about this class. Online journalism is the way of the future and whether students like to admit it or not the only way to improve is to work hard. I have also really enjoyed creating our own personal blogs and video movies.

Marilyn Monroe found dead in her Los Angeles home

2007-11-20T12:45:00.000-05:00

36-year-old actress, Marilyn Monroe, was found dead in her bed early Sunday morning.

Monroe's body was discovered by two doctors who were called to her home by concerned housekeeper, Eunice Murray.

The doctors were forced to break into her bedroom after being unable to open the door. She was found lying naked in her bed with an empty bottle of sleeping pills by her side.

An autopsy late Monday night revealed that Monroe died from a lethal combination of Nembutal sleeping pills and alcohol. The coroner who did the autopsy said Monroe's death may be a possible suicide.

Multimedia

Video interview with Eunice Murray
Picture's of the room after Monroe was removed
Picture's of Monroe's Brentwood home
Reporter standing in front of the home reporting
Time line of Monroe's life

Additional Information

Talk to any relative's of Monroe's
Interview the coroner
Interview the doctor's
Information on the drug Nembutal

Smokey's Howl 2007

2007-11-15T15:26:00.000-05:00

Smokey's Howl is the oldest tradition in homecoming history. Dating back to 1000 A.D., cheerleading was of course the first sport and Pi Phi was at the for fronts of it.

Farmhouse and Pi Phi teamed up this year for the event and made it all the way to the finals. At the finals the team came in third and was extremely excited!

Anna Myint, a senior in Pi Beta Phi, described her Howl experience as the best part of Homecoming!

Below is Pi Phi and Farmhouse's preliminary video.

Celebrity blog's for Elle.com

2007-11-15T12:04:00.000-05:00

Elle.com is in despirate need of celebrity endorsement. Our audience hits Perezhilton.com more times in a week than we have in a month.

To solve this problem I have come up with a great solution, monthly celebrity blogs.

Every month we will pick one celebrity to blog soley on Elle.com and allow them free reign for that month. Each celebrity can choose their own background, whether or not they want to include pictures / videos, and can write whatever they desire. Elle.com has already incorporated the html for the site so each celebrity would merely have to upload a picture or video, and not have to worry about coding. If the material a particular celebrity adds is offensive we simply add an underage disclaimer and filter out such material for our younger readers.

There is also going to be a section for our readers to comment on the posts made by our celebrities, and ask questions they want answered. Our celebrity can pick and choose which comments and questions they choose to respond to and can also delete any material they find offensive.

Our first celebrity will be the infamous, Angelina Jolie.

I have already talked with Angie's publisitist and she says Ms. Jolie is, "extremely excited," to be our first blogger. Ms. Jolie is going to be uploading pictures of her exclusive trips to Rwanda and even some never before seen family photos of her and the kids.

Ms. Jolie will be a perfect launching tool for our celebrity blogs and will help bring a larger audience to Elle.com. Get excited people because this is only the beginning!

Social Networking Sites

2007-11-13T12:24:00.000-05:00

My mom used to say I would never talk to any of my high school friends when I got to college, boy was she wrong. With the invention of sites such as Myspace, Facebook and Twitter communication with old friends has never been easier. Social networking sites are revolutionizing communication throughout the world.

I'm sure you have all heard Milgrim's theory, "six degrees of separation," well with the advent of electronic social networking that six degrees is fastly becoming four. People can see each other and in touch all over the globe from right in their own home.

The best thing about social networking sites is they just keep evolving.

I was one of the first 2,000,000 people on Myspace and have watched it grow from a simple "advanced e-mail device" to an electronic social world sperate from the real world. I have also been a Facebook user from the beginning and see it's relevance in the social networking world. Facebook's simplicity and uniformity allow people to feel like part of a community and gives a sense of equality because not everyone knows html.

The next step in the social networking phenomenon is networking holodecks much like the one seen here in Star Trek.

People will be able to go into a special room which will show all the other people in the room as holograms. It will be like they are right there next to you. You will be able to choose what the room looks like and what you are doing. It'll be like virtual reality to an extreme. After we invent these places, it will eventually be integrated into every home and will be as common as a television or computer.

Social networking sites will do nothing but get better. I can't wait to see what they come up with next!

Mindfreak is a Minddick

2007-11-03T00:24:00.000-04:00

For those of you who have been watching Phenomenon on NBC you know about the drama Criss Angel caused on Halloween. For the rest of you...what have you been living under a rock?

Watch the video...

Angel freaks out on Phenomenon

Criss Angel is proud to be an illusionist: he doesn't pretend that he's doing magic tricks, and he's not a believer in the paranormal. Jim Callahan does. Callahan claims he can communicate with the dead and does so on live television. After going into a trance for a few minutes, Callahan writes what is in a sealed box and then awakes claiming his dead friend told him.

After correctly guessing what is in the box, Angel criticizes Callahan and offers him one million dollars to guess what is written in an envelope he has provided.

Callahan can not guess and a fight breaks out. Angel arises from his seat and gets in the entertainers face.

NBC cuts to a commercial and when the show returns Angel is booed for his actions.

Criss Angel is a douche bag and a hypocrite.

Transformers transforms us

2007-10-23T13:34:00.000-04:00

"I am Optimus Prime."

I can't tell you how many times I've heard these famous words in the last few months. With the # 1 DVD release this week to the top selling toys, Transformers are everywhere.

From the great review in the ars technica to the fantasic review from Monsters and Critics, Transformers can do no wrong.

In the movie an alien race of robots known as The Autobots, the good guys, and the Decepticons, the bad guys, are in search of the Allspark, their life source. Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, needs the Allspark to restore their home planet Cybertron, while Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, needs it to take over earth and wipe out the human race. The one person that can help locate the Allspark is Sam Witwicky.

In my opinion this movie is amazing. The special effects alone are worth seeing. The plot may be a bit cut and dry but that's not why I saw the movie. The amazing transformation from a robot to a jet plane in less than a second is out of this world.

I recommend seeing this movie over and over again.

The Knox News Sentinel

2007-10-23T13:30:00.000-04:00

When I walked into the Knoxville News Sentinel I didn't really know what to expect. I had never been to a publications office and I thought there might be some old time newspapers in the lobby or something. However to my surprise the building was very modern and equip with the latest technology.

I figured that most of the people in the newsroom would be running around like a chicken with their head cut off too but this was also not true. Everyone was quietly sitting at their computer doing their own thing.

The people we talked to were extremely knowledgeable about their fields. They talked mostly about the website which also surprised me. I would have thought that a newspaper wouldn't know much about running a website but they did.

The Knoxnews website is highly advanced and creative.

The amount of video the website uses is amazing. One particular video stood out to me. The Restoring a Treasure was very cool. I love watching restoration shows on television and to see one in Knoxville is very cool.

The only downside to the website is the amount of pictures, or lack there of. I did not see many pictures at all and that is one of my favorite parts of stories.

I learned a lot on my trip to the Knox News Sentinel and plan to apply for an internship next semester.

Contribute away

2007-10-18T09:33:00.000-04:00

With the increase in the number of people with digital camera's, camera phone's and video camera's everyone is contributing their take on the changing media world. News will never be the same.

The internet has made it possible for virtually anyone and everyone to become famous and "give something back" to the digital news room. On April 16, 2007, 33 people were shot and killed in the Virginia Tech shootings in Blacksburg, Virginia. As the story was unfolding, one student sent reporters a video he took while on campus. The video, taken with the student's camera phone, shows VT's campus and sounds the loud bangs of the gunman's fire.

Without this video no one would have known the true horror of that day. Reporters can only capture so much. Once they hear about a developing story they rush to the scene sometimes to find it is already over.

Today's technology allows us to feel the heat of the story by eye-witness reports and in-the-heat reporting by people actually involved in it.

Although some people criticise the changing media world by saying everyone and no one are reporters, I think it is a good thing we are contributing our content. People can be part of the news like never before, and we are beginning to shape the news the way we want. I say contribute on people, and create the news you want to hear.

I have never personally contributed to a news story, but I encourage people to do so. News IS a conversation so talk back as much as you like.

Links are alright with me

2007-09-27T11:21:00.000-04:00

With the internets ever-increasing content, finding an article you want to read is increasingly difficult. Without search engines like Google and social linking sites like del.icio.us how is anyone expected to dig up something relevant to what they are looking for.

After reading the Poynter Online blog post, I believe that the Orlando Sentinal made an extremely intelligent choice when they joined the social networking website Facebook to link their story in related groups. Their website traffic increased and they were hitting their target audience without the audience even having to try. There is no doubt that the Sentinal's story would not have gotten read by the angry teens had it not been for their link in the Facebook group.

Any author who does not want sites such as Digg and del.icio.us to link their stories does not want to get read. Site such as these do nothing but help stories get read. Digg also helps authors because when you sign up for the site their is an option which allows members to receive e-mail alerts when an article of their relevance is posted. This is obviously good for authors. For more information regarding Digg and it's filtering options check out The NY Times Story, News Site Digg Adds Filtering Option.

I encourage linking websites to digg my stories!

Biography

2007-09-25T12:35:00.000-04:00

Media and technology go hand in hand. With every technological advance comes a new form of media and media consumption. In my lifetime alone media has changed from television and radio programs to internet weblogs and text message updates. In this fast paced and changing media world you must be highly equipped with the resources needed to hold your own, and keep up with the changing landscape.

I was born in San Francisco, California and since then have moved all over the United States over 15 times. Before choosing the University of Tennessee's school of Journalism and Electronic Media program, I considered several schools in the South East including Auburn, Ole Miss and the University of Florida. I was also accepted into UCLA and the University of Utah but neither of these schools had a very good program for what I wanted to do.

When I first began at UT I did not know what kind of career I wanted to pursue, but one thing I did know is it had to be in the school of journalism. No matter what I ended up doing after graduation I knew I had to involved with the growing world of media.

I am in my final year at the university and have had many opportunities to jump start a career in journalism and electronic media. After working with UT's journalism magazine, Scoop, for over six months I now currently work with the Journal Broadcast Group as a sales intern. The Group has opened a lot of doors for me in the world of media and has helped me get several promising interviews with employers around the country. My childhood dreams of working in the media are beginning to take flight.

My media and news consumption

2007-09-23T12:19:00.000-04:00

12:00 p.m. - Wake up and get on the computer. Go straight to Facebook, play on their for 20 minutes then go to the superficial and read every new blog post I have not seen yet.

3:00 p.m. - Check my Facebook again.

4:00 p.m. - Check Myspace and Facebook again before going to work. Check my astronomy blog.

11:00 p.m. - Watch the news on channel 9 (NBC) for a minute after Sex and the City

12:00 a.m. - Check Facebook.

My news habits and media consumption have changed a lot from when I was a kid. Up until college I rarely watched the news on tv and I don't really now either. I do, however, check online news from CNN.com once and a while. I also never checked any blogs until this year, mostly because blogs did not exist until recently.

I think as I get older my media consumption will change a lot. I will watch news channels a lot more and check news blogs too. Also, I think media will change so my media habits will change with it. News alerts will come to me via text and I will be able to pick and choose what media I want to read on my phone. Mini computers will become the norm and the tv, computer, phone and radio will all be one.

As I become older my choice in media will change too. I don't think I will be reading celebrity gossip blogs in a few years, but who knows?