The converting of a purist

I am a self-proclaimed purist, I love all things print, and occasionally I find myself rubbing pages between my fingers to appreciate the high quality of the paper. That is why it came as a bit of a surprise when I was given the title of interactive editor.

For those who know me, methods and the ever advancing of technology does not come naturally to me. I own a Toshiba and I believe Macs are an unnecessary expense. As far as social media goes, lets just say Facebook was a result of peer pressure.

When it came to online journalism I treated it with suspicion, like a child views their future stepmother, could online journalism be the end of my beloved newspapers?

Four weeks later and I am thriving in a world of print, online journalism and social media. The four weeks have opened my eyes and brought me the realization that online journalism does not mean the end of print, instead they compliment each other. Online news is quick and free of charge (bar The Times), print journalism is a lazy Sunday afternoon with a cup of tea.

Just as our lives are speeding up there are many forms of news to keep up with us however much time we chose to put aside.

Now after these four weeks that have tossed me in the deep end of the future of journalism would I still call myself a purist?

I’m too busy to tell you now, I’ll tweet it later. 

Couldn't spare a few dollars, to save a few rare tigers?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/20/ohio-wild-animals-police-hunt

With billions of dollars being spent on sending soldiers to the Middle East I am in a state of shock why they couldn't spend a bit of money on tranquilizing, not shooting, the released animals and shipping them to sanctuaries in Sri Lanka and India.

Technological error

The delay in home internet has led to a delay in my posting, yet I have ironically set myself the challenge of being interactive editor of  my university paper. In the space of a week I have set up a Twitter account and used the term tweeting twice!

Up until today my stubborness would not allow me to ask for help regarding anything to do with my shiny Mac that I am allowed to use (it even has my title on it). A lesson has been learned, after finally throwing in the towel I asked for help, and it turns out I was very fittingly given the role due to an earlier email regarding my want for an environmental section of the paper. As the paper is printed by News International, there is no space for an environmental section, not even a column (although I feel NI definitely have more printing time on their hands, what with a certain newspaper no longer in print), so no space meant I was given a few printed pages and an online page to do whatever the heck I want to do with...for the next 6 weeks that is. However this does mean that the students of UAL will be dragged kicking and screaming to the reality of the state of our planet and what we can do about it.

Now I don't want to get ahead of myself and scare everyone away, it is not an official environmental section...just yet.