Reading Feature Stories, This Time Focused on Place

Last week we read a feature story focused on a person, a paparazzo. This week we are going to turn to a feature focused on a place, published, appropriately, in National Geographic, by the award-winning writer Cynthia Gorney. It is about a place that is often in the news, a place that is not too far away from here: Mexico.

In case you are interested, here is another feature from Guernica magazine, also about a place that is often in the news, but probably one that we've never been to: Libya. Also in Guernica you will find that feature on Disneyworld that we mentioned in class.

Here is another great "place" feature that focuses on nearby Havasu Falls, in the Grand Canyon. It is both about the place (and its people) and a murder. We can't read them all in class, so if you're interested you'll need to do some reading on your own!

What makes a good review?

There were some strong opinions on the paparazzo feature story we read last week, and that's good, because we're turning now to reviews, which also rely on opinion and analysis. First we are going to read this one in class, about the film Contagion. Then, you are going to search the web for the good, the bad, and the snark. (What is snark? See this book about it).

In class activity instructions: Search online for a review of a film, book, album, or video game. For ideas, try sites like Amazon, RottenTomatoes, and Pitchfork, and then search for a web magazine or blog review (not user-generated). Alternatively, you could start your search at an online magazine or blog. Once you've found a review, determine whether it is good, bad, or too snarky, using the following criteria:

Summary: the review gives you a good description of the film/book/album/game.

Point of view: the reviewer has an opinion/thesis and supports it with examples. You can easily tell whether the reviewer likes or dislikes the film/book/album/game and why.

Balance: There's a good balance of summary v. point of view (about half and half).

Authority: the reviewer has a strong, knowledgeable voice that makes the point of view persuasive.

Tone: Is the strength of the point of view in the argument/thesis, or does the reviewer rely heavily on “snark,” which is snide, mean-spirited, and often lacking substance.

Homework: write a review of the review and post to your blog (linking of course!). You may or may not be familiar with the book/film/album/game that is being reviewed.

Upcoming Live-Blogging Assignment

I gave a heads up in class Thursday about your upcoming "Live blogging" assignment, which I'm moving up on the syllabus to be due Tuesday, October 18.

For this assignment, you are going to choose an event that lasts between 1 and 3 hours and "live blog" it. What this means is that instead of writing up a paragraph or two or three about the event after the fact (in which you wouldn't necessarily describe it in chronological order) you are going to write about the event as it is taking place. See this example from the blog Gothamist, about a protest last week in New York in which 700 people were arrested. See how the reporting is "timestamped" (3:50, 4:15, 4:35 etc.) and the event is described as it is happening.

How will you do this? What event will you cover? This is entirely up to you. I suggest getting a copy of the local paper (like the Tucson Weekly) or scanning TucsonSentinel to see what's happening around town. Maybe it's some sort of meeting or lecture or tour. Maybe it's a performance. Maybe it's a food or retail or sporting or political event. (No movies though--it's got to be a live event).

If you have a laptop and it's feasible, take it with you and type as the event is going on. If not, take notes, constantly noting the time. Later, you can recreate the live blog with timestamps. Make sure your live blog consists of at least 5 "updates," each timestamped. As always, link, use photos, video, any multimedia you can. And make sure you begin the live blog by telling us clearly where you are and when the event took place.

The reported web feature: it's time to read one. Homework: comment on this story in a blog post (of course reference writer's name, publication, and link). Make sure your post, written in paragraph form, answers the following:

• What is this story about?
• What is the central conflict?
• Who is the central character?
  
• What did you think of the story? Should your readers click on it? Why/why not?
  
• What are the larger human themes this story touches on?
• What questions or issues does this story make you think about?

Also for homework: Read the "Semester Project-Reported Web Feature" document saved in the Files section on your My Pima course page.

My Homework: Why Aren't Your Blogger Blogs Searchable on Google?

"Google sends out bots," explains Jeremy, a friendly customer service rep at GoDaddy*, which is the web hosting service I use for my own blog (which you will find via Google, but please don't look to it as a model. It isn't a true blog, but more of a promotional tool). Basically, the bots only report back the sites when they see the site info in the domain's main folders, and your blogger blogs do not have their own dedicated hosts. "Easy-to-set-up blogs on Blogspot, or the old Angelfire accounts, they're not going to show up on Google. It's the way they're coded. If the bot is sent into subfolders, subdomains, it doesn't recognize it as a site," says Jeremy.

Here's one way to understand it, I think: Google's bots are sort of snobby. When they go to a party (the Internet), they only pay attention to the people (sites/blogs) who make themselves the center of attention, who seem to be the ones making the introductions, who act like they own the place. If you're a friend of a friend (a "masked" domain, or a blogspot.com), snobby Google bot may wave a hello, but it's not going to ask for your number.

Jeremy then makes it clear to me why I pay for a domain name and hosting: "When you have what's called a shared hosting account, Google bots don't see your site as a subdomain. We make it look like you have your own little server."

*note: your instructor is reasonably satisfied with GoDaddy but this post should in no way be seen as promotion. There are many, many web hosting services out there if you someday want to upgrade. At the very least, you can probably find one that has a more user-friendly web site!

Homework: Explain How Bloggers Make Money

In a post no more than 400 words, explain how blogs make money. Include examples of profitable blogs, how they rose to that level, and what elements they share. You should do some web research to formulate your explanation, and make sure to quote, credit, and LINK to your sources. To get you started, here are a couple of good posts on this topic: Slate's Blogging for Dollars (though a little dated--from 2008) and this post from the blog WriteChangeGrow. Make sure you look beyond these posts. Due Thursday, October 6.

Blogging Advice from the Pros

What makes a blog great? You can turn to Slate and Problogger for advice.