November 5, 2009
Parker Wilson
http://www.studentprintz.com/treasure-hunts-not-just-for-pirates-1.793389
http://www.geocachingzone.com/searching-for-hidden-treasure-a-growing-hobby/
The second link contains a link to the full story, but the link doesn’t work. However, this does give evidence to the growing sport. Finding evidence on the growth of it would be the national aspect of the sport, as well as its origin. To localize it I would find specific examples of geocachers in the area to interview and possibly go on a geocaching adventure with. The “official” geocaching website is a branch of the company “Groundspeak” which offers contact information for press in their PR department. This is where I would find the information to prove that the sport is, indeed, growing. I see the story as being as informative of the sport as it is newsworthy.
November 5, 2009
There are all sorts of commercials on TV for Flirty Girl Fitness, which offers a strip routine for excercise, and Carmen Electra’s excercise videos, which are all strip based. These commercials indicate a national trend in pole dancing and striping as a method of excercise for women. In East Lansing, there is a learn-to-strip workout center called Pin-Up Pole Dancing. It is located on M.A.C. Street and I could interview the owner, Megan Dolby, and one of her clients. I could also take pictures of a demonstration or video.
November 5, 2009
Best Buy is planning a movie downloading service in a partnership with Sonic Solutions, who have a system already in place called Roxio CinemaNow. The new system will be built into devices sold at stores including television sets, portable media players, computers, mobile phones, and other devices from a variety of manufacturers. Sonic Solution’s stock went up 16% after the news was announced. Although Best Buy bought the digital music service Napster about a year ago in order to compete with Apple, iTunes has remained dominant. CinemaNow is an online movie pioneer according to Reuters and have provided similar services to Dell, and movie rental company Blockbuster Inc. Comcast, NetFlix, and other companies have similar digital distribution methods.
In the modern day online pirating is rampant among many, but especially college students who know where to get music, movies, video games, and television shows online for free. Although the new BestBuy service won’t be in stores by the time this year’s holidays comes around it will be interesting to see the impact of media sales will be affected. Aside from pirating in and of itself, digital distribution is picking up speed and the introduction of integrated distribution in media devices will certainly effect college students. Generally lacking spending money, it would be interesting to see if high school and college-aged students will invest in services like this or get it for free.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2008/05/awin-for-digital-distribution-as-netflix-set-top-box-debuts.ars
November 5, 2009
The Michigan High School Athletic Association state football playoffs are in full swing and playoff fever is in the air. Lapeer West, a high school from my home town, is in the playoffs and is playing at home Friday. I plan to go to the school Friday and attend the pep rally (if there is one, I will call the school Wednesday to find out) and talk to players, coaches, faculty and students to see what they think about the playoffs and the upcoming game before it takes place. I also will talk to the school’s athletic director and find out how much money the school makes off of the playoffs (if any), how the playoffs are beneficial to the school and any other important information. I would also talk to the head coach and find out what he thinks about the playoffs and if success makes more players want to come play for the team. I would obviously attend the game itself, and then after it talk to players, coaches. and fans again to get final thoughts based on whether the team wins or loses. I’m not sure whether or not I want to do this as my story plan or not.
November 5, 2009
Matt Briede
“Airline Security”
My idea is to localize an aspect of airline security measures, namely on what they confiscate. I can likely easily get national figures for how much of a certain item security confiscates, or just an overall number by using a government website or calling the Transportation Security Administration. The kinds of questions asked are pretty simple. What are the most recent guidelines on what you are not allowed to bring with you on a carry-on bag, how much of these items do they confiscate, and what do they do with it all?
To make it local, I can contact officials at the Lansing Capital City Airport to see what they do with the items they confiscate. If they send it to a warehouse somewhere does it get sold or recycled? If it’s sold, does the money go back to the Lansing airport specifically, or is it distributed to a general fund nationally? Also how often is the list misinterpreted and items that are specifically allowed confiscated anyway?
This story has proximity most importantly. It is something that is nationwide, but using the Lansing airport will give it focus to people in the area.
It also has a big impact. Many many people go through the airport system and know what it’s like to deal with security. Even those who have never flown know that airline security is extremely stringent and usually a hassle to go through. It is our culture’s connotation to it.
It’s also a bit unusual. Not many people would think about all the scissors or razors piling up in a warehouse somewhere or what they would do with it.
Link to NYTimes article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/business/15road.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=Airline%20security&st=cs
(WordPress is not letting my attach the above link in the text using the hyperlink button. I don’t know why.)
November 5, 2009
Localization Story
Idea: Impact of the switch to Windows 7 on students and faculty including technology departments.
Story link is here:
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/11/03/pc-sales-spike-with-windows-7-debut/?CNN=yes if the link does not work.
The background of the story in an national context is that Windows has reported PC sales have been increased through Windows 7. Windows 7 is a new version of Windows Vista.
The localization of the story on a campus level is the effects and transitions the technology departments and professors may be planning to deal with or have already dealt with in regards to this report. If the professors already have Macs for classroom use, what does this mean for them in terms of using Windows 7? Can Windows 7 be used on Macs yet? It also raises the question if students who use Macs will even want to use the new Windows 7 when they already have the older version on their computer. In addition, what about Angel with the new system? Overall the whole peg for the local version of the story is the effect and impact, if relevant, this rise of Windows 7 could have on professors and students.
The contacts for this story would be professors in the computer sciences departments, students with either Macs or PCs and people who work on Angel and related services and the computer center.
Additional questions for the story would be the following:
1. Technical differences between Windows 7 and Vista.
2. Approximate number of students with PCs versus Macs.
3. Classes most affected by the sales.
4. Best Buy and their sales numbers of Windows 7.
5. Additional statistics necessary.
November 5, 2009
An art festival held this fall in Grand Rapids that lasted September 23 thru October 10 was successful and provided a temporary boost to local businesses. The ArtPrize had 1,262 entries including paintings, sculptures and other forms of art. The organizers of the ArtPrize said that they will hold another contest next year, possibly making it an annual event.
Currently, the Board of Trustees at MSU has cut funding for the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs by 71 percent. The Kresge Art Museum typically holds several exhibits every year that includes art from various artists, but will be relying more MSU owned collections next year.
The article can focus on how art is growing throughout the nation with contests such as Grand Rapid’s ArtPrize while the Kresge Art Museum is currently going through budget cuts. How do students in the art department feel about their department being cut back upon? How is the Kresge Art Museum going to fare next year with the budget cuts?
November 5, 2009
The Goodrich High School football team is renewing their rivalry with Powers Catholic High School. The game is being played at Goodrich High School, and is a rematch of a game that Powers won already this season by 28 points. One of the stars of the Powers Catholic team is a transfer from Goodrich High School. The two schools are set to meet in a girls volleyball match in the week leading up to the game. The school is looking forward to the financial boost that a playoff level football game provides. The concession stand at the game is run by the band boosters and the cheerleading team runs raffle during the game as well. I wonder what the effect of adding one more home game to the season especially with a high profile local team with a very competitive track record is. Also what is the cost of mainting the field, running all of the lights and pieces one additional week? Also how does it affect the students that are playing one additional week? Do the schools do things like take more time off for pep rallies and interrupt their learning? Does the extra week of football take away from the attention that other sports get? How many tickets does the school expect to sell for the game?
November 5, 2009
According to CNN Money, the state of Michigan could make up to 32.4 million dollars in tax revenue if it were taxed in the state. Michigan would rank 6th among all the states, behind California, New York, Florida, Texas and Ohio, respectively. The only place in the country that currently taxes medical marijuana is Oakland, Calif. I want to localize this story to Michigan, more specifically, East Lansing.
I want to talk to students around campus and also other people around campus to get a reaction from them about the projected money that the state could make from taxing medical marijuana and if it would be a good idea. Considering the way our economy has been lately and the debt our state budget has been in, I am wondering if people would be accepting of this new tax because it could bring so much money to the state.
This story contains lots of elements of a news story like timeliness, because of the economy, impact, because medical marijuana has been legalized here, and controversy, because taxation of marijuana is something that a lot of people might be against.
November 5, 2009
The New York Times published an article on Oct. 27th titled ‘Gas Prices Up for 2 Straight Weeks’. The article details how consumers across the nation have found themselves paying more for gas than they did over last year due to rapidly increasing prices of crude oil and the conversion of crude oil. I would localize this peice of news by taking an east vs. west approach on gas stations located on either side of campus.
For the west side of campus, I’d pick BP and call a manager or district manager and ask them questions about their prices, trends they’ve seen.
For the east, Admiral, because it’s slightly smaller and it would be interesting how it fares against a larger station. I would still ask them the same questions.
In addition, i’d monitor each stations prices over a week and them compare them to national averages during the week to see how this area is affected by the price hikes in oil.
- John Dinger
