It’s always nice to do something a little different and this week instead of normal class we took a trip to the Catalunya Radio station here in Barcelona. We spent about an hour touring the station, seeing all the different parts and departments of the radio. Our professor works on a program called Tot és molt confús and we had the chance to see where he works. Each different part of the building is essential to the success of the radio. There are the information areas and computer desks where everyone puts together the different parts of the program. We saw a short tutorial of an editing program where clips are made for each show. It was amazing to see the amount of sound clips and information that go into just one show. There are also the studios where the actual recording takes place as well as the behind the scenes room where the directors and producers run the show. Cataluyna Radio has many different programs throughout the day; general news, information, sports, and special programs. Each of these plays an important role in creating a great radio program throughout the day.
Back in the states I have one station that I listen to on a regular basis, KIIS FM. This radio station differs from Cataluyna Radio in that it is mainly focused on music and pop culture. The station is based in Los Angeles, California and reaches millions of listeners every day. The morning show is run by Ryan Seacrest, a popular host and producer in the states. It consists of all the recent celebrity news and pop culture, usually gossipy and sometimes a little over the top. Throughout the rest of the day the station plays music, usually the top 100, with some exceptions. I have to admit that the main reason I listen to the radio is for the music aspect. KIIS FM suits those needs very well and I do not really spend much time listening to the radio other than that.
My solo time entry this week is not quite solo time but this peer encounter has been such an important part of my time here in Barcelona that I wanted to share. This peer encounter that I am talking about is an assignment from one of my other classes. At the beginning of the term we were paired up with a native Catalan student from the Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona. Throughout the term we have written papers discussing the cultural differences we notice between our peer contact and ourselves. We have covered a variety of topics including, language, social identity, extra-curricular activities, pop culture, university life, religion, and politics. Each meeting I have a set of questions to use as guidelines for interviewing my peer contact. The great thing is that most times we start of with the questions for the general topics and then carry on into discussions of our own. We both love learning about the other’s culture. I am paired up with a girl my age so it is very interesting to see how much we have in common even though we are from two different cultures.
Two major topics we continually talked about were our identities as well as the university system here compared to that of the states. When talking about identity I learned a lot from my peer contact. Her and I are similar in some ways such as we are both very open-minded and aren’t strongly associated with one particular side of politics. However, I noticed some very prominent differences in the way in which we define our identities and how they were constructed. The ways we identify with social groups, how our identities were constructed by religion and how are nationalities affect our daily lives were all differences I noticed throughout our discussion. In terms of the university systems the three major differences I found were the issue of cost, student-professor relationships, and extra-curricular activities. The cost for university in Spain was extremely less than that in the United States. I also discovered that professors here do not seem to have as much available time or focus on their relationship with students whereas in the U.S. spending time with your professor is highly encouraged. What I was most shocked about is that extra-curricular activities are basically non-existent in Spanish universities and in the states you can’t walk more than ten feet on a college campus without seeing a sign or poster for some extra-curricular activity.
These experiences with my peer contact have been an amazing opportunity for me to get to know what life is like for students in Spain in a very direct way. It has become so much more than a class assignment, as I have been exposed to Spanish culture and formed a relationship with a great friend.
Politics 2.0 is a relatively new phenomenon and that is largely due to Barack Obama‘s presidential campaign in 2008. He completely revolutionized how campaigns should be run and forever changed Politics 2.0. A huge part of what he did was first realizing that every person is their own universe and that politics needed to be addressed to those individuals rather than a whole society. He formed a great group to work on all of his 2.0 campaigning and they were the ones who structured something great. One of the best tools he created was “MyBarackObama.com” which was his own sort of social network where people could come together to create their own groups and discuss a variety of topics and issues with their own opinions. He used many web tools throughout his campaign, some of the most important ones being Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. These were all ways to get his name out there and at a very low, if any, cost. It was great advertisement especially for people who couldn’t necessarily afford to go to all the big political gatherings and people who weren’t originally very involved in politics. It was easy for people to get involved or learn about what was going on without having to put in much effort. It was through politics 2.0 that he created at brand and this brand helped lead him to victory. Of course Politics 2.0 weren’t the sole reason he won, the traditional politics are still the main part but it was the extra people he was reaching with Politics 2.0 that made an important difference. After his election his advisors realized how important it was for him to keep up with Politics 2.0 and now as he gears up for his next campaign we will see what he has in store to enhance Politics 2.0 yet again.
Below is a video about Social Media and Politics 2.0 that shows the impact it has had for politics.
I couldn’t justify coming to Spain and not going to Madrid so this weekend I spent a few days in Spain’s capital. In an effort to help my bank account I took the overnight bus from Barcelona to Madrid and in hindsight would probably have paid the extra 40 euros to fly. There was a group of us from Barcelona who went for the weekend and we spent all day Friday seeing all the “touristy” parts of Madrid. We hit Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace, Cathedral de la Almudena, and the Prado Museum. It was quite the day and we enjoyed seeing all we could. After a short siesta we headed to find some food. A place called El Tigre was recommended to us and it ended up being the perfect place. It was packed when we walked in and it took a while but we finally elbowed our way to a space at the bar. With each drink you order a huge plate of tapas comes with it for free. So spending 6 euros on a mojito not only quenched my thirst but after the endless tapas I was stuffed. We spent the rest of the night enjoying the nightlife of Madrid, stopping in Dubliners for a while to watch some American sports.
The next morning was a little bit of a struggle to wake up but after a short trip to the Ventas bullfighting arena we decided to head to Retiro Park. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the park, just enjoying the day. I decided to go on a little solo walk and found myself loving the sense of fall. All the trees had orange, red, and yellow leaves and the crisp air made the season feel so real.
After a beautiful afternoon in the park, I decided to head back to the Royal Palace before dinner. I walked through the gardens behind the palace and remembered one of my mom’s favorite things. She loves to people watch, so I took a seat on a bench and just observed everyone walking through the gardens. It is amazing to me how much of the world I have not seen, each person that walked by was different. Of course there were a few Americans but there were also so many other cultures represented that it made for a great experience. Sometimes I would try to guess where a certain person or group was from but at some point I just stopped and enjoyed everything going on around me. This idea of solo time has really turned into something special for me. It is so easy to go take a few moments by yourself and my time alone has been some of the most rewarding time I have spent while abroad.
In my opinion, yes it is. But of course there are many arguments to the story and first we must look at the definition of citizen journalism. Citizen journalism is a type of journalism written by the people. It is citizens going out and doing the reporting. In most cases, citizen journalism is done for local papers since big national papers have professional journalists. Citizen journalists do it for free and they usually are completing information for professionals or acting as correspondents of the public. Dan Gillmor listed five basic principles when describing citizen journalism. One must be meticulousness, precise, impartial, transparent, and independent when being a citizen journalist. There are also several main things that a citizen journalist needs to do. A citizen journalist must have the desire to communicate and investigate. They also need a tool to record their investigations as well as a way to develop their information using different techniques. Most importantly they need to have material that is high quality information or else they will not be taken seriously.
Many professional journalists do not believe that citizen journalism is true journalism. They think that it is a professional disciple and cannot be used for everyone. In a way this may be true, that journalists must have certain credentials or be professionally trained. However I believe that if someone is reporting information to the general public in a way of journalism then they can be considered a citizen journalist. Think of all the times we get information from someone who is not a professional journalist. If we were to consider citizen journalism as not a true form of journalism then we would be discrediting much of the information we take in on a daily basis. Citizen journalists are not claiming to have the same credentials as real journalists, but they do provide essential information for the public and news wouldn’t be the same without them.
Part of our grade for this class is the production of a multimedia report. We spent a class talking about what a multimedia report is and looking into the details and importance of it. As I’ve stated before I am not one to know everything about computers so throughout class I took in everything I could about multimedia reports are and it made me really think about how important they are.
A multimedia report is a way to report a story, it’s a combination of many different ways to report information. Parts of the multimedia reports include videos, pictures, audio, text, and graphics. It is very important that each of these parts adds something to the story and doesn’t just repeat information. It is also important that the report has a non-linear format, that all the different parts are mixed together. It is key to know the difference between a multimedia report and a multimedia site. A multimedia site is a whole site that has all the different parts and reports stories, such as CNN or the Washington Post.
I feel that multimedia stories are very important, especially now that technology is such a huge part of our lives. A simple written article just isn’t going to cut it anymore and that’s where multimedia stories have such a big impact. These reports combine every different part of media to create stories that really stand out. The picture below is a great take on what a multimedia report can do to a simple written text.
This week I decided that I needed to go see more of Barcelona. I have been to Las Ramblas countless times and I have spent a lot of time walking around the downtown area of Barcelona, I wanted to do something different. Tibidabo was the perfect activity. It’s quite the journey to actually get to the top of the mountain, metro to ferrocarril to cable car to funicular…but the view alone at the top makes it all worth it, not to mention all the other excitement Tibidabo has to offer. This seems an unusual place for a person to go by themselves but I knew I wanted to see it and I do not have many free days in Barcelona. When I first got off the funicular I let all the little kids rush past me with their parents following close behind. I am usually a person that loves to be busy and going and going but I wanted to just enjoy a relaxed pace and take in the atmosphere.
I first just walked around the basic level of Tibidabo and looked out over all of Barcelona. I was so impressed with how big the city looked, I hadn’t ever seen all of Barcelona like that. The beautiful sweeping view of the city made me never want to leave that spot but I decided to venture up to the cathedral. When I got up there it was an even better view than before and I didn’t think that was possible. I spent some time trying to find the monuments I knew: Sagrada Familia, the twin towers by the beach, Montjuic and then just sat and looked over my beautiful city. I thought about going into the amusement park but when I realized it was 25 euros I decided against it, my student budget couldn’t quite handle that. Instead I opted for a coffee and found a nice little spot to sit and people watch.
One of the main things I noticed was the way parents handled their children. I was sitting in an area that was filled with kiddie rides so there were kids everywhere. I noticed that most of the parents were just sitting off to the side talking with one another. They would look up every once and a while but didn’t really seem to be overly controlling their children. This is very different from the States in that it seems like parents are always hovering over their children. I liked that the parents could enjoy themselves at the same time the kids were playing and everything was going smoothly the entire time. Maybe that’s a little something us Americans can take into consideration.
I truly enjoyed my time at Tibidabo and maybe I’ll be heading back there sometime again before I leave. As I left I got to look at this beautiful view and remember it for the rest of the day.
If you have never been to Dublin please do yourself a favor and go there at some point in your life. And in case you can’t already tell from the previous sentence, I spent the last few days in Dublin and LOVED it!! Three of my roommates and I planned a last-minute trip to Dublin and it turned out to be on the best decisions we have made here. Unfortunately we were only there for 48 hours but we sure made the best of it. We spent the first night exploring Temple Bar and ate at a great pub called O’Neils where we had a traditional Irish feast, yum! We stayed in an amazing hostel, Barnacles, right in the Temple Bar area. We weren’t out too late because are alarms were set to go off at 6am the next morning, and when they did we struggled to get out of bed but were up to meet our tour at 7am. We spent the day traveling across Ireland, seeing the beautiful countryside and made it to the west coast. We stopped in Limerick on the way and everything we saw seemed to fit exactly into what I imagined Ireland to look like. However, even my greatest imaginations couldn’t match the Cliffs of Moher. It was somewhat foggy and very cold when we got to the cliffs but we all stood in awe of the beauty for a while before walking around everywhere.
At some point my roommates decided to go inside the shop/cafe/museum area to get away from the cold but I decided to stay out for a little while longer. Although this was a short solo time, I will remember the moment forever. I was sitting on the edge of the wall in front of the cliff just looking out at the ocean. The last few days I had started to miss home, especially my sisters. That might have had something to do with the fact that I was back in an English speaking country with many reminders of home. There was something so comforting about being on a west coast again, and looking out at the Atlantic Ocean knowing that home was on the other side of it. This may seem ridiculous to some people, especially because my home is actually very far away from where I was sitting, but it was a special time for me. It made me truly appreciate everything I am experiencing here and someday I want to bring my family back to all these wonderful places I am seeing.
We spent the rest of the day visiting the Burren, Galway, and Ireland’s other beautiful areas. We ended the night with a pub crawl and then went to bed to sleep for a short while to begin yet another day at the crack of dawn. We did all the typical touristy things in Dublin, seeing all the main sights…the Cathedral, Trinity College, and Grafton Street. However, my favorite part of the day was our trip to the Guinness Storehouse. I had never really been to any sort of beer factory before and I actually left well-educated on the Guinness brand and beer making. One of our last moments in Dublin was spent at the Gravity Bar, Guinness in hand, looking out over beautiful Dublin. Again and again I am blown away at how blessed I am to be experiencing all these things.
This was quite a crazy weekend for me. Sensation White came to Barcelona this weekend and because of that four of my friends from home came from Florence, where they are studying abroad, to visit for the weekend. Throughout the weekend I tried to show them everything I could about Barcelona so they could fall in love with it the way I have. However, if you try to imagine four extra girls in a room made for two you might be able to understand why I was desperate for some solo time. Don’t get me wrong, I love that my friends came to visit and we had a GREAT weekend but it was nice to take two hours for myself one afternoon to just enjoy some solo time.
I didn’t do anything particularly exciting or different for my solo time, in fact I went to one of my favorite places to eat here in Barcelona and walked along a street I am very well acquainted with. First I went to Bó de B, a great little hole-in-the-wall sandwich place near the beach. I probably eat there once or twice a week, if you haven’t been there before stop reading this and GO NOW! I got my sandwich to go and took a leisurely walk up Via Laietana near the Juame I square and metro stop. I always enjoy this walk because there is so much going on no matter what time of day it is, there are always people out and about, I love the hustle and bustle feeling I get when I’m on this street. I spent the hour just thinking about the weekend and enjoying everything going on around me. It was a much needed break but ironically I was very eager to get back to my friends to take them on another adventure in Barcelona. They were a little reminder of home and I think that at first part of me didn’t want to be reminded of home. But in the end, I realized what a great time it was to have that comfort around me for the weekend. And now, I will definitely have to make a trip to Florence to visit them!
I know what you’re thinking…another social network? Well, according to a few articles I have read, Diaspora* is supposed to be quite the up and coming thing. I really didn’t know much about Diaspora*, I had just heard the name once or twice. We had a discussion about it in our class this week and I was interested to see what all the talk was about.
After some research there were a few things that stood out to me. One of these things was about the creators and how they were portrayed. In a New York Timesarticle the creators were described as four nerdy college students. The article painted the picture of these being the stereotypical guys you think of designing a computer program, guys holed up in a computer room living off fast food and sleeping under the desks. I think this says something about the program, it is made by average people who want to see a change. The following is a link to a video in which the creators describe some cool features of Diaspora*. Throughout the video you can kind of get a sense of the individuals who created this type of program, some being more talkative than others, etc. Although it was helpful to hear about some of the features, I was more interested in observing the creators.
Another thing that stood out to me were some of the features that were just described in that video. Particularly that all of a person’s information can be found in one central location. Each person creates their own pod and that can be connected to any other site that person uses. Users can then take their pods into the eco system of Diaspora* and connect with others. This leads into the privacy feature. By being in control of your own pod it ensures that no one else will have access to your information, not even the creators of Diaspora*. I think that is a very key feature because many people complain about the lack of privacy on Facebook, and Diaspora* is actually doing something about it. This seems to be a program that was made by the people for the people and I think it could potentially become something great.
However, the real question is: where is Diaspora*? The creators came out with the idea almost two years ago but we still have not seen the actual program. They seemed to fundraise quickly and make some good initial progress but Diaspora* is still not up and running fully. I think that this is seriously hurting its potential. People want to see results immediately and the fact that they havent seen anything from Diaspora* does not bode well for the future of the social network. Also, now that Google + is up and running Diaspora* will have more competition. At some point people will get tired of belonging to so many different social networks and will shift to using just one. If Diaspora* doesn’t get up and running quickly it may not have a chance of becoming anything at all.
It’s always nice to do something a little different and this week instead of normal class we took a trip to the Catalunya Radio station here in Barcelona. We spent about an hour touring the station, seeing all the different parts and departments of the radio. Our professor works on a program called Tot és molt confús and we had the chance to see where he works. Each different part of the building is essential to the success of the radio. There are the information areas and computer desks where everyone puts together the different parts of the program. We saw a short tutorial of an editing program where clips are made for each show. It was amazing to see the amount of sound clips and information that go into just one show. There are also the studios where the actual recording takes place as well as the behind the scenes room where the directors and producers run the show. Cataluyna Radio has many different programs throughout the day; general news, information, sports, and special programs. Each of these plays an important role in creating a great radio program throughout the day.
Solo Time 