1.  Campus Live Video Chat

Campus Live introduced a video chat option on their website on March 21. This service will give students the opportunity to chat with other college students who are at UMass or all the way across the country.

Why is this interesting – With all the talk about the recent invention of Chat Roulette ( an online video chat service that allows users to talk with people all over the world), I am curious to see if the Campus Live video chat will be better. One of the major problems that Chat Roulette faces is the fact that users tend to act very inappropriately on their end of the camera (nudity, consumption of illegal substances, inappropriate talk etc..) The difference between Chat Roulette and the campus Live video chat is that you are required to have an account on Campus Live, where as on the other you simply just go to the website and start chatting. I am interested to hear if there will be any reported negative behavior on the student video chat as well as what the employees at Campus Live plan to do/ have done to make their video chat a safe place for students to meet other students.

Why Now – This video chat option just became available this past week so it is still new news. I feel that there will be a lot of feedback concerning the new service, and that people would be interested in knowing how it is in terms of safety.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/03/01/chatroulette-chock-legal-questions-attorneys-say/

2. Facebook Owning Posted Photos

When a person uploads a photo album on Facebook, they are officially handing over all their pictures to the Facebook Corporation. Sure you can delete pictures, untag yourself from them, or even delete your account, but in the end, Facebook will always have those pictures.

Why is this interesting – This is interesting to me because nowadays employers have the ability to search for future employees on the Internet, and if a certain picture of that person appears in a google search, that individual may be out of a job. Though a college student can erase all their inappropriate photos from their page, Facebook still owns them and can literally do whatever they want with them.

Why Now – Lots of college students are out looking for jobs and internships, and the fact that potentially controversial pictures of students are in the hands of someone other than themselves could possibly be detrimental to their future. I think it would be interesting to talk to employers and find out if they have ever seen photos of someone they are considering hiring and reconsidered their hire because of them. Even if the Facebook settings are set to where the photos can’t be seen by any viewers on the site, I think it would be fascinating to know if employers obtained photos from Facebook.

http://www.mybackgroundcheck.com/blog/post/2009/08/Nearly-Half-of-Employers-View-Social-Networking-Sites-During-Background-Checks.aspx

A group of college students from universities across the state gathered on the Amherst Common to camp out on Saturday February 20.

In efforts to raise awareness about climate change, the students showed their resistance to staying in homes powered by burning coal and natural gas by camping out in tents in the frigid 20 degree weather.

Though sleeping outside in freezing temperatures is borderline crazy and hits the top of my ” things I would never do list”, I do think the students were acting for a reasonable cause and give them a lot of credit.

The event was organized by the Leadership Campaign, a student run organization whose goal is to repower the state of Massachusetts with 100 percent clean electricity by 2020.  This spring the organization is working towards passing “An Act to Create a Repower Massachusetts Emergency Task Force” by Earth Day.

Along with the camp out in Amherst, students have previously camped out on the Boston Common, and plan to sleep out on the Cambridge Common and Boston Common in the coming months.

I am hoping that all this hard work pays off for the Leadership Campaign and that they prove to everyone that camping out in mid-winter is not as absurd as it seems!

Who is your audience, and why will that audience find this story interesting? I think the audience for this story could be prospective UMass students, as well as current students. Since incoming freshman will be getting their acceptance letters to colleges they applied to very soon, they will be making some major decisions between now and May. I think if the potential students could get an idea of what Amherst is like before they come here, they may just choose to come to UMass! I also think this would be interesting to current students because it would be something to make them proud to be students of a university located in the best college town in the U.S

Who are your sources? Write at least three full names, and tell me why they would be good to interview for this story.

I think it would be good to interview students from UMass and Amherst College and ask them to give specific reasons why they think Amherst is the greatest college town in America.

Katherine Cohen – Katherine is the founder and CEO of IvyWise and ApplyWise which are college admissions counseling companies. She ranked Amherst the #1 college town, so I think it would be good to have an interview with her to find out why she picked Amherst over all the other college towns in the country.

Lisa Perlbinder – Lisa is the Executive Director of Strategic Planning and Analysis for University Relations. She does a lot of marketing for the University, but is also an Amherst resident herself. I feel that she will have a lot to offer with knowledge of the town from a non-student perspective, as well as share some good information about UMass.

What is your story’s news hook? (That’s another way of saying Why now?) Amherst Creperie, will be opening on North Pleasant Street in the near future. It is owned by a UMass student.

Who is your audience, and why will that audience find this story interesting? The audience will be students, and people who live / pass through amherst on a hunt for something tasty to eat!I think it is always interesting when a new establishment is opened in town and people always love when there is a new place to go. Another thing that makes this story interesting is that the owner is still a student at the university.

Who are your sources? Write at least three full names, and tell me why they would be good to interview for this story.

Greg Varypatakis – UMass senior and owner of the business. I would like to know about the process of getting the business up and running, if it was difficult for him to do because he is still in school, his plans for success, etc.

Nick Seamon- owner of the Black Sheep, another small restaurant in the center of Amherst, serving similar foods. I think that it might be interesting to talk to another business owner to see how if their business is affected by the new one.

Students and other customers that go to Amherst Creperie – I would like to get customer reviews – do they like the food? is it a cool place to hang out /study/ go on a date, etc..

The Hampshire Daily Gazette reported in November that two sex parlors were raided and shut down in the town after James Goggin, a Saugus man visiting the area ,stopped into Hadley Massage Therapy and was touched inappropriately by the masseuse.

In a state of rage, Goggin wrote a letter of complaint to the Division of Professional Licensure in Boston, MA, demanding that something be done. After some investigations, police found that the so called “massage parlors” found in Hadley, Chicopee, Longmeadow East Longmeadow, Springfield, and West Springfield were actually connected to Chinese organized crime entities and human trafficking rooted in Flushing, New York.

By the beginning of November, police stated they had all the information they needed to shut down the two massage parlors. Between Hadley Massage Therapy, located on 215 Russell Street, and Jane’s Spa, located on 206 Russell Street, $8,433 in cash was confiscated, along with condoms, ledgers, laptops, unknown pills, camcorders, lotions, tissues,  and client information.

Xiumei Zheng ,43 of Jane’s Spa and Zen Shu, 47 of Hadley Massage Therapy, were both charged with engaging in sexual conduct for a fee. Both were seen in court on November 5, and bailed out by a man from a borough of Queens, New York.

Both women are expected to appear back in court on March 24.

Though it may seem odd and quite disturbing that brothels are making their way through Massachusetts, not everyone is shocked.  According to the Gazette, David Shafer, assistant special agent in charge of the organized crime division of the FBI in New York City, says that “massage parlors” are turning up in places like Hadley because “sex sells.”

Since the January 19th election for the vacant Massachusetts senate seat, there has been constant talk of Republican winner Scott Brown. Brown, the first Republican senator to be elected in Massachusetts in 37 years has strong feelings in regards to lowering taxes, and makes it clear that he is not in favor of the current health care legislation that is under construction in Congress.

His primary goal as Senator is to get the U.S. economy out of shambles with hopes of making the country financially stronger and independent. “I am Scott Brown Republican,” he said in a recent interview with Barbara Walters on January 31 2010. “That means I am going to go down there and be accountable, accessible, open, and honest and I’m going to bring good government and fairness back in the equation.”

However, it seems that recently he has other priorities. In the same interview, Walters mentions Brown’s daughter Ayla and her appearance on the ever popular television show American Idol. Ayla Brown was only 17 years old when she tried out for season six of  Idol. She was one of the top 16 contestants, but was eliminated before she had a chance to make it to the top 12. Since her experience on the show, she has been putting herself out there, and gaining as much singing experience as she can, including performing with The Boston Pops and opening for singer Natasha Bedingfield.

While discussing Ayla’s Idol experience, Brown recalls that Simon Cowell (infamous American Idol Judge) described her performance as “robotic and empty.” When Walters asked Brown if he would like to say anything to Cowell he replied ” I’d love to have him have her on the show again because she’s grown as well. She was 17 and she had never even put on makeup until she walked in the American Idol studios.”

Though Senator Brown is sure that if Ayla gets on American Idol again it will be great for the show, other people beg to differ. Amiranda Kemp, 87, a religious Idol viewer does not think it is right for Brown to be discussing his daughters singing career. ” I love the show, and really appreciate the talent I see on it, but to be completely honest I don’t remember Ayla Brown even being on the show.” she said. ” I believe that if she had the talent to advance in the rounds she would have… her father shouldn’t be using his attention from the win as a motive to promote his daughter.”

Lauren Mina, a student at Westfield State College, has a different opinion of Brown’s actions to “sell” his daughter to Idol.”I honestly don’t think it matters whether or not he uses his position to get his daughter on the show…She wouldn’t be taken seriously if she is accepted.” she said.

” For being such a ‘conservative’ man, it does not seem like Scott Brown is taking his new position that seriously,” said Kemp. ” He has plenty of other issues to be dealing with, and Ayla’s presence in the spotlight should not be one of them.”

Whether it is right or wrong for Brown to be using his victory has a stepping stone for Ayla, it is clear that it is working. Ayla’s new album “Circles” was scheduled to be released in April 2010, but as a result of her fathers win, it was released and put on Itunes three months in advance. With all the attention from the media she is getting, it definitely seems like a wise choice on the record labels part.

The main reason I am attracted to Gross’s blog is because I love to travel, and find that he writes incredibly useful information that could truly come in handy to any travel lover. The blogs are not very short, but I do not mind reading them because I am interested in the subject. He really goes into detail in each blog that he posts and I think that is very important, especially in this day and age when people are doing whatever they can to save money here and there in the current economical crisis.

Another reason I like the blog is because of the tone that Gross uses. He really seems to want to connect with the readers, which makes it that much more easy to read. His vocabulary isn’t too “advanced” per se, as opposed to some other blogs where authors try to use big words that make reading the article absolutely dreadful and nearly impossible. The audience that he targets is really to the general public. I feel that anyone could read this blog – (the average Joe or the big time business man) and walk away with the same level of understanding.

Another great thing that can be found in every blog post, is links. Gross provides links to almost every place, hotel, store, website,person, etc… that he mentions. I think that in every blog links are so so important. Not only can the reader read and learn about what is being spoken of,  but they can directly access the information in another window to find out even more.

Gross also seems to do a lot of true research and reporting, which is very appealing to me. I like that I can be assured that the facts I am reading are legitimate and up to date. The information is not recycled from other journalists either- it is all original and recent. Though it does not regard current events and recent news that one would see on the television or other news blogs, you can tell that the information is current because of the context of the blog itself.

The spelling and grammar is also used correctly. With correct spelling and grammar it shows that the article was not written in a hasty manner, and that the writer takes his piece seriously.

This is a blog post called “Access in the City? Wi-Fi in New York .

I think it is a good post because it provides plenty of links ( to the hotels and other places where Gross suggests finding Wi-Fi, as well as links that provide a list of establishments in the city that have free Wi-Fi services).

This is a blog post titled “Going Deep for the Cheap in New York”

I liked this post for the same reason I like the rest of them. This post is highly informative and provides information for all sorts of things including places to stay, where to buy cheap bus tickets, restaurants to eat at for a good price, and fashion. There are helpful links and even a few small photos to go along with each little segment of the post.

This blog is written on a weekly basis, with a new post being published every Wednesday. I think I would like it more if there were more frequent posts, but since Gross is not reporting on “hard news” I think a weekly post suits the blog just fine. All in all, I think it is a great blog, and I learned a lot about traveling, and having some fun on a budget.

In some of his blog posts he also has videos, which I think are a great addition to any blog. However, I think a lot of his posts would be better if they had more video clips in them.

Sophomore Jamie Ortiz (#22) and freshman Rashann Perez (#88), celebrate the Southbridge High School Pioneer's win over the Bartlett Indian's , after their 89th annual Thanksgiving Day game on November 26,2009. The Pioneers took the win in double overtime with a final victory of 22-16. "This win and a huge dinner later... the day can't get any better," said Perez.

Quinnipiac guard James Feldeine (#14), UMass forward Terrell Vinson (#2), and Quinnipiac forward Justin Rutty (#12), jump for a rebound on December 2, 2009. Umass (3-4) took the win with a final score of 62-58.

^ I just think this one is cool.

here is the take   http://s958.photobucket.com/albums/ae66/jmkemp95/sports/

Laura Costa, a UMass junior from Verona, New Jersey leaves to go to the new Recreation Center on Tuesday, November 17. Costa, a communications major, lives in the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority house on campus. " I chose to come to UMass because I needed a change of scene from back home and I knew this was an excellent university," said Costa. "Massachusetts is great, but I'm a Jersey girl, therefore a Yankees fan." she said. "Even though I'm in Red Sox territory, I still showcase love for my team."

The photo story spans over three days spent with the Wilson’s,  a family who has been homeless since they moved to Texas from Minnesota after they both lost their jobs.

One thing i did not like in this photo story was the fact that the photos were presented very quickly. Before i could really take the time to look at a particular photo, it was already on to the next one. I feel that if they were presented at a slower pace it would be much more effective because the viewers could actually see everything that needs to be seen in the photo.

Another thing that i dont really like is the fact that most of the audio does not match up well with the photos (some does, but for the most part it doesn’t). There are some pictures in the slideshow that i am unsure of what’s going on or where the family is.

I like that there are a multitude of pictures though. Instead of having only a few pictures, there are probably over 25. Viewers get a better sense of a true day in the life of this family.

One image that i think is successful is an image of the children getting ready to sleep. One child is on the couch, and two other children are sleeping on the floor. This image really shows that the family is struggling. They cannot afford bed, so they make the most out of the resources that they have. One child on the floor also looks so sad, which for me makes me feel even more for the family.

Another strong image is one of the son saying a prayer before he eats his dinner. One will notice that there is not that much food on the plate, and that the little boy is sitting on the floor as opposed to at a table. Again, this shows how the family is struggling just to provide food for one another. I think the fact that the little boy is praying shows a lot of him, and his family in general. Though they dont have much, they are still thankful, and pray for better days.

Another image that i find striking comes towards the end of the story, when the whole family is holding hands in an empty room of their new apartment praying. I like the fact that the photographer caught this moment, because it really is a sacred moment. The room is completely empty, but the whole family is in it, saying thanks for the chance for them to start a new life. The photo is a little over exposed, but besides that i think its a good one.

For the most part i think the photographer did a good job of showing viewers what is going on in this photo story. I would like to see more photos of the family actually struggling though. The photographer only spent three days with the family, and caught them at the beginning of their new life. I think if the photographer had the opportunity to photograph the family a few weeks prior, he could have captured a lot more moments of struggle. ( How it is living in a hotel,how hard it is to find a job, etc…)

Overall the photographer had good access. I think he was there in a lot of intimate moments, and got some good images. He was there at home with the family, while the father was at work, he captured the children in their home environment , and got some good interaction photos between the family members.

http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/2009/07/11/the-wilsons-climbing-out-of-unemployment-and-homelessness/

Northampton Mayor, Clare Higgins views her "congratulations!" text messages upon arriving at Paradise City Bar and Grill on Tuesday, Nov.3. Moments before, Higgins was officially reelected mayor of Northampton for her sixth term in office. Higgins beat her opposing mayoral candidate Michael Bardsley by 344 votes. "I don't want to toot my own horn, but congratulations and thank you all so much," said Higgins. "We could not have accomplished this without all of your hard work and efforts."

Full take :

http://s958.photobucket.com/albums/ae66/jmkemp95/interaction%20and%20emotion/