Wilson shares photography and stories with aspiring journalists

                                                                               

     Rebecca Webb Wilson, a Vanderbilt University alumna and mother to a University of Alabama student, came to the UA Art Gallery to discuss her most recent book of photography,  Well Seasoned, which chronicles the seasons of her life in stunning natural images. Wilson has traveled across the globe, visited 71 countries and multiple continents, and has documented breathtaking scenery, exotic animals, and natives from all over the world.

     Wilson described her journey to become a nature photography. She said, “I realized that travel was in my DNA.” Wilson attended Vanderbilt University where she studied Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Russian. After graduating, she became a stewardess for Pan-Am Airlines where she ignited her passion for exploring and documenting the world’s wonders. These explorations include climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in the span of nine days, getting shoved over by a silverback gorilla in Rwanda, and photographing bengal tigers in India.

     Well Seasoned is organized into the four seasons of life. Wilson defined summer as the ages between birth and early twenties, autumn as twenties to age forty, winter as ages forty to sixty, and spring as sixty to death. Each season holds new experiences and feelings and for Wilson, her photography from her travels depicts what she felt at these stages in her life. “We become fearful of the things we don’t understand,” said Wilson about the winter stage in one’s life. Despite this statement, Wilson did not seem to be afraid of anything that she had photographed. She exuded a confidence in her work and life that would make anyone believe that she lives in an eternal spring.

PhD candidate educates class on social media

   

    It is impossible to find anything about the future of journalism that does not mention the massive importance of social media in the age of fast paced technology and fast paced news. Mark Coddington gave a talk to Jessie Jones’ Journalism 101 course on utilizing social media effectively for journalists.

Coddington is a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas School of Journalism who is studying journalism’s new landscape and the shaping effect it is having on the world. Coddington educated the class with his advice through his presentation titled, “Getting it Right on Social Media-In a Hurry.”

Coddington used the recent protests in Ferguson, Missouri, as an example throughout the presentation to ask the class how they would handle the situation as a journalist. Coddington engaged the students by asking them to quickly compose a tweet that would update the public in a crisis but would not accidentally spread false information. When a story is breaking and there is a lot of information flying around, Coddington said,”It’s good to be first, but it’s a lot better to be right.”

He concluded his presentation with these thoughts:

     – Only publish what you know.

     – Treat social media like a police scanner.

     – Confirm the source, date, and location on content coming from social media.

     – Use two guiding questions: How do I know? How does this source know?

Though journalism is rapidly changing with the influx of new forms of social media, the basic truth still remains, publishing the facts is a journalist’s responsibility.

Date of event: November 7, 2014

Photo from markcoddington.com

Students Captivate at Tide Talks VIII

College students are changing the world, or at least the students who spoke at Tide Talks VIII are. On a Friday night, Sept. 26, seven students; four speakers and three performers; brought their passions to the stage. Aaron Brazleton, Dabney Powell, Bryan Anderson, and Koushik Kasanagottu spoke for ten minutes each on a revolutionary idea about which they are passionate. In between each speaker there was a performance act. Kristina Cruz, Mary Ann Cooper, and Max Dolenskey performed their individual talents which included singing, dancing, and electronic music.

The speakers were charismatic, engaging, and appeared extremely knowledgable in their subject. Brazelton’s talk on equal opportunity education was the most captivating to me. His stage presence exuded charm and command of his topic. His talk was well researched and enlightening in regards to the injustices facing young students in poverty who seek an education. Though Brazelton seemed the most sure of himself on stage, all of the speakers and performers impressed me with their talents but more importantly their willingness to speak in front of a crowd of their peers.

Anybody who can get on stage and unabashedly show their passion to their peers are destined to become incredibly effective communicators. The speakers were able to inform the audience about their ideas, persuade us to want to accomplish their goals, and still entertain us for their allotted time. They clearly know how to captivate an audience, even on a Friday night.

Cutbacks Inspire Collaboration

Candace Higginbotham discussing her involvement with Southern Living magazine.

Students from Journalism 101 with Higginbotham.

Anybody who knows anything about media can recognize that print has been fighting an uphill battle recently. However, after sitting down and listening to the managing editor of Southern Living magazine, Candace Higginbotham, it appears that all of the downsizing could be bringing more creativity and partnership to the publication.

Higginbotham visited Jamie Cole’s Advanced Journalism Design Class on Sept. 18 to share her experiences with the magazine, the details of production, and the rapidly evolving digital component of Southern Living. Higginbotham outlined the five content pillars of the publication, described the demographics of their readership, discussed the detailed planning that goes into every issue, and guided the class through the step by step production of the magazine. Throughout all of these topics, the emphasis on the importance of integrating digital media into their magazine was evident.

Higginbotham told the students that successfully maintaining a print publication is time-consuming, difficult, and often times expensive. Collaboration has become increasingly important due to cutbacks in resources and staff. “At one time, Southern Living had 15 copy editors and now we have three,” said Higginbotham. She did not appear to be discouraged by this downsize in staff, however. Higginbotham said that collaboration is beneficial for creativity and saving both time and money. The reduction in in resources has led to every staff member gaining more digital responsibilities. Every staff writer works to insure the success of the magazine by playing the part of an editor and designing their individual pages for the tablet version of the magazine.

All of the cutbacks and downsizes can feel disheartening to both students hoping to break into the magazine industry and writers who fear being downsized themselves. Nevertheless, Higginbotham never once revealed any sadness for the shrinking print industry. After leaving the session with Higginbotham, I did not feel cynical about the future of media, but rather inspired to learn more about digital publishing and the frightening but exciting path it is paving.