Cell phone nation

It’s on the train, it’s at corner cafes, it’s at a wedding reception, and now it’s even on a 10 year-old’s birthday list.  It’s the small, portable device that is all the rage and landing in the hands of almost everybody: a cell phone.

In a rainbow of different colors and shaped to the personal tastes of the users, cell phones are used much more these days than just a 20-minute call to California- it’s like a floating device for consumers.  Serving as a security blanket, cell phones became the watch, the e-mails, the calendar, the phonebook and without it, users feel lost and disconnected.

“I have so many watches, but I just use my phone.  I can’t get myself to wear watches, it’s too much work.  Sometimes I use it for the calendar and the alarm, too,” says DePaul student Shaharbano Rizvi.

The cell phone a culture that leaves consumers helpless when it dies and it strips them of almost everything.

“One time, I got lost and my phone died and I was like ‘oh my God, I’m gonna die…’,” Sarah Ghazanfar shares.

Aside from the technological reliance, without these compact tools to fall back on, users fall into complete fear mode, and as if they don’t learn the first time, consumers find themselves in deja vu when their phones die again.  However, users like Caroline Fleege makes sure she won’t be in that situation again.  She says,

“I have broken my iPhone twice in the past year.  It was insured and backed up…there were no major problems.”

Like a nightmarish dream, once again the lack of a cell phone makes the world seem like a darker place.  Not only offering security benefits, cell phones continue to expand like an infectious disease as companies create more and more reasons for consumers to fall deeper into their obsession. 

What can’t a cell phone be used for these days?

With capabilities to play music, surf the web, and give directions, now the cell phone just makes the possibility of loving them more shattering to some.  Wide-eyed, Justin Berteaux says,

“My world would be gone!  I can’t do hours without my phone, let alone a day.”

Dramatic?  Not until it’s you.

Even though cell phones hold such importance to users, at the same time, these products are easily taken for granted.  Users hear of instances of cell phones being lost or broken, but they don’t even flinch.  As if consumed with cell phone arrogance, some don’t like to accept the possibility that it could happen.

However cell phone realists admit to their excessive technological, mental, and emotional dependence on these treasured devices.  As Sarah Ghazanfar shrugs, she says,

“It’s just a way of life and it’s not something I regret.”

Navy Pier: The Fear

It was a cold Sunday night. 

Once well lit and buzzing with little children, Navy Pier was stripped of its innocence as the time approached six: out came the hallow-eyed zombies and mutated clowns.  On opposite ends of the entrance, one hung from a lamppost and the other lurked back and forth, both luring in their next victims into Chicago’s haunted house: The Fear.

“You know you want to see what’s inside…” 

The shrill laughter that followed sent chills and then the sudden,

“Stand in a single file line and don’t look or talk to each other.  Face the rail!”

They shouted loudly, stomping their feet and standing unbelievably close that the warmth of their breath caused condensation.  The door swung open and the victims didn’t know what The Fear had in store for them next.

Inside was yet another line with more yelling, but this time chilling screams projected through the intercom to enhance the fear stirring up inside everyone’s stomach.  One by one, each group disappeared inside.  With pitch darkness ahead and a bloody lab technician urging hysterically behind, it was a catch-22: stay and endure the horror or escape wasting money.

Without another chance to think, the next group was swallowed into the darkness. 

Maneuvering through the black hole was difficult enough, and then came the constant stream of questions- what’s behind that, is it moving?  After overcoming several similar scare tactics, when does it end?  It didn’t.

There were severed arms, mutated legs, and a whirlwind of more gore at every corner.   The occasional piercing scream of the deranged characters was the cherry topping of it all. 

Ahead, the group approached a patch of light, real light and not the red glow from the “Exit” signs.  Heart rates began to stabilize.

Further ahead, the entrance of the monster’s mouth signaled that there was more to come.  Returning back into the dark, zombies crept and jumped out from every angle and at every turn as if it were the grand finale of all terror.

A sore throat and many new wrinkles later, it was the end. 

Pale-faced, but smiling 45-year-old Donna Koval exited through the back end of the monster as she laughed nervously, eyes wide.  Her wrist shaking, she said,

“Feel my pulse, then you’ll know.”

The anxiety still lingered behind Donna’s voice, even after it was over and her shoulders curled into her small stature. 

“They did an excellent job… The entire thing was scary,” Donna added.

The success of The Fear rose above and beyond several expectations as the “most feared creatures” came to life.  From beginning to end, The Fear crept up even at the most expected times and continuously left the crowd trembling in sheer horror.  

Q&A: RedEye's Curt Wagner

Curt Wagner, an editor at the RedEye and Show Patrol Blogger, experienced a big transition in his 20-year journalism career as it sculpted his way into the online world of journalism. After working various positions at the Chicago Tribune since 1993, Wagner branched out into the pop section of sibling paper RedEye and eventually endeavored into his own personal interest of television entertainment.  (Photograph Courtesy Chicago Tribune).

Q: How long has it been since you first entered the journalism field?

A: 1989.

Q: So it’s been a really long time, I mean that was back when you started off writing on typewriters and now with the technology changing, you own multiple Twitter accounts, you manage TV blog Show Patrol. How did you make this transition?

A: I mean that’s just where the business was going. It wasn’t until the last two years I think that I got really into the online thing once I started my TV blog and just this last year RedEye has really pushed the social media angle. But I mean newspapers are kind of going away so everybody’s turning to online now.

Q: Do you find it at all difficult at times to manage all of your social media Web sites?

A: Yea, I mean it would be easier because I’m doing this tool thing as the features editor and I have this TV blog and I’m writing stories for the paper, too, so you know, I have a lot of different things that I have to deal with, so it’s kind of hard. We try to post links on Facebook, Twitter, and on Digg. That’s just a whole other layer of going and posting all of the stuff everywhere, too, so that takes some time and sometimes I don’t get around to it.

Q: I wanted to talk to you about your TV blog that you’ve mentioned a few times, Show Patrol. How did this come about, how did it first start?

A: Well, I have an interest in TV and always have, so we were trying to figure out ways to get columnists in the paper and we had been using just wire stuff for TV stories and I was like well you know I should just start watching stuff and writing it and starting to do it and then when we started to put this in the paper then we thought let’s put it online and start a blog so we started doing some blogs.

Q: Is this something you developed yourself?

A: It pretty much was. I just decided to do it and then our web guy was like why don’t you write it as a blog and I said cool, I will! So that’s what we did. It was purely out of my own interest.

Q: I don’t want to take up too much more of your time, but I do have one last question for you. You made this transition into all of these social media Web sites and the online journalism field has seen a significant growth in the past years, would you suggest to current journalism students going into the field that being platform agnostic is a required ability to have?

A: I always think that you should know, even when we were doing newspapers, how to do everything. At that point, I thought you should be able to copy and edit, you should be able to write stories, you should be able edit stories, you should have all aspects, and be able to do everything. I think that’s useful.

They always used to say even for reporters, you should be able to report about different subjects. I think that’s true even in what you are capable of doing, like not just reporting, but in all of these different forms of media. I make video clips to go on my blog site and I know how to design pages for the newspaper and all of that kind of stuff.

Lincoln Park Muggings in Summer 2009

In the summer of 2009, there has been eight attacks in Lincoln Park. Several men have been victims in these muggings and were beat severely on the head. According to Chicago Police, five out of the eight muggings were linked and two others were related. Police did not release any more information on the eighth attack. As of mid-August, no arrests have been made. Below is a map of the attacks' locations that took place this summer in Lincoln Park. Be careful, Lincoln Park!

Mashups... What??

What exactly is the purpose of a “mashup”, you ask?  A mashup is a helpful and information-packed tool for journalists, offering a range of reporting necessities from national statistics to shows playing at the neighborhood theater.  The information available on these mashups aren’t necessarily solely for journalistic purposes, but rather just an interesting tool for everyday people to look up specific information. 

Mashups are readily available to the general public; however, it seems as though this tool is mainly used by journalists for researching a topic and incorporating it into a story.  Personally, I didn’t even know these databases existed if it weren’t for my Online Journalism course and I’m glad I came across these helpful creations. 

Mashups like Statemaster serves a strong journalistic purpose.  It provides national statistics and state comparisons and can be used as research for a story regarding specific state percentages of crime.  Politifact is an excellent tool for journalists researching the authenticity of certain political facts.  Politifact also offers a great “meter” detail that illustrates Obama’s fulfillment in keeping his promises. 

Everyblock.com and ThisWeKnow.org are great mashups to look up information within a specific location through an address, zip code, or city.  Everyblock.com is a site that I would visit regularly to search events and current news within my neighborhood.  ThisWeKnow.org offers more specific information within the political standpoint of a neighborhood.  For example, I can find that my neighborhood releases almost six million pounds of over one hundred pollutants within 15 miles.  I found this mashup as the most fascinating and thought provoking because it offers information that I wouldn’t regularly look up and certain facts are really intriguing. 

It seems like mashups are mainly created by journalism outlets because the topics are compiled of political views, statistics, and crime reports; however, Everyblock.com has an aspect similar to Craigslist as it offers real estate listings and even local deals ranging from hair salon discounts to oil change discounts.   Although Everyblock.com provides some journalistic attributes, it is comforting to know I can use this database simply to look up local shows and deals within the Lincoln Park area.

FLYPMedia.com: New Breed of Social Media

FLYPMedia.com takes one step ahead of printed magazines and forms an aesthetically appealing online medium with the quote "More than a Magazine". FLYPMedia.com would be labeled as "Plaform Agnostic", taking on the role of cross-platform storytelling. FLYPMedia.com values audience interactivity by stimulations of page turning and shares multiple similarities as print magazines even as the medium has changed.

This site reels in viewers, attracting them to the high-tech quality of the visual while simultaneously providing the audience with printed mediums as well as the television mediums. From tweets to clips on YouTube, FLYPMedia.com understands the vitality of submerging themselves and within the the social media.

CNN and the New York Times shares similar storytelling techniques as FLYPMedia.com. CNN also takes part in social media by making new attainable within the new trend, Twitter. The format of the NYTimes.com site and the format of FLYPMedia.com both use long-form narrative techniques. Using concise writing and the clean outlook of the site gives the audience the reassurance of a quality website with no busy distractions (advertisements) threaded within the site that can deviate the reader's attention.

From art and literature to science and politics, FLYPMedia.com provides the readers with an array of various topics to select from followed by interesting and entertaining stories. Stacked with multiple outlets for viewing videos and the option to click on embedded links, FLYPMedia.com, as advertised, is definitely "More than a Magazine".

Hello, my name is Tina and here is my link to my personal website:  http://students.depaul.edu/~tyeo1 .