Second Attempt - Relating Capstone to Core

Alright. I still don't really know what I'm doing, but I'm going to try this again.

For this assignment, it seems that we are supposed to relate our Capstone project to ALL of the core classes we've ever taken? This is what I have gathered from reading my peers' blogs. So, I will attempt to do that now.

In my first year of core, I took Rhetoric and Concepts of Self and Community. These classes should provide the foundation for my work. The skills I learned in Rhetoric, which I would describe as similar to an english or literature class, provided practice for writing essays and exploring topics through in-depth analysis. The Concepts of Self and Community classes forced me to explore not only my own needs, but the needs of a community. In order to progress, community's must be willing to constantly reassess the needs of it's citizens. I see a need for a better, more structured news paper at Champlain College. As the Editor-in-Chief for the 2010 Spring Semester of The Champlain Current, I have already started working on this effort by starting a Style Sheet and attempting to create a more organized system for submissions which included making deadlines clear to writers and editors. I am also trying really hard to create an open dialogue between the paper and the Champlain College community.

My hope is that with my Capstone Project, I may be able to expand this effort into online publication as well. Publication is moving toward online and I feel it would be beneficial for me to try to study this movement as well as strive to bring it to the Champlain College newspaper. I know there are a lot of administrative channels I go through for this to be possible, but I hope it is something that could be possible by the end of next year.

My second year of core required the classes: Aesthetic Expressions, Scientific Revolutions, Capitalism and Democracy, and Secular and Sacred. In essence, these courses educated me on the history of humanity. I think this information will prove to be useful as it is important to understand the history of humanity in order to understand why things are the way they are today. I will have to study the evolution of publishing most likely to fully understand the current online movement. This will relate well to my Scientific Revolutions class. The aesthetics of something is also important when trying to understand what attracts people. I don't know a great deal about the aesthetics of online publication, but I realize that it is a part of the appeal. In terms of Capitalism and Democracy, my work will have to explore at some point the costs of online publication in comparison to the costs of print publication. Cost, I currently feel, is one of the main driving forces to the online movement. How a publisher can gain profit for online publications remains something many struggle with. I want to explore the options that exist. Finally, Secular and Sacred focused on understanding the differences and connections between what is considered secular and sacred. I'm not entirely sure how I will relate this course to my Capstone Project, but hopefully I will be able to find a connection.

This year in core, I took courses which focused on the Middle East: Cinema of Iran and Israel, and War and Identity. These classes focused on the history, current events, and culture of the Middle East. I specifically learned about Iran, Israel (Focusing heavily on the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict.) Again, I'm not really sure how to relate these classes to my project.

For this spring semester, core offers students a Human Rights class and a Technology and Development class. Technology and Development explores advances in technology and how those advances relate to the development of the world both on a small and global scale. The class constantly discusses how things connect globally. My Human Rights class focuses on the concept of Universal Human Rights. Both of these courses will provide interesting questions for me as I try to navigate the various issues that are related to online publication. I think that includes how the technology allows for a global reach and what that technology means for the development of publication. Also, how human rights are affected if at all.

I hope I'm getting closer....

Errr - Reverse That

Okay everyone, surprise! I was confused about the assignment. I really am still VERY confused about this whole Capstone Project thing. Oy.

Alright, so to follow up on myself, after reading through a few of my peers blogs and seeing what we actually have to do (in addition to reading the email that I just received about the assignment) it has become very clear that I need to do some emailing myself to get some clarification on things. So, I will continue to read through my peers blogs and get to that email and be back with a more developed proposal. Thanks for staying tuned.

<3

Making Connections

I really think I want to pursue my idea of revamping the Current. More specifically, I think after much thought that I would like to really study the transition publication is going through from print to online.

I really aim to include my experience in my Online Journalism class versus my Print Journalism class and my work with The Current. The project ties nicely with our (the staff's) hope to include an online edition of The Current - something I really want to be part of.

I think it will be a really interesting experience. In core we learned about community in our second year of college. By participating in this project, I am hoping to serve the Champlain College community by bringing them a better newspaper.

Getting Closer?

I really am still not very sure what I want to do. But, a very interesting conversation with friend and PR major Marissa Bentivoglio started me thinking. She had this idea for a whole new PR Plan for LEAD at Champlain College. She's currently a tour guide at Admissions and I work in the Student Accounts Office so the two of us both talk to and see a lot of new and prospective students, in addition to both being peer advisors for LEAD for the past two years. This experience, plus her education in PR (she's graduating this May) and my education (I'm attempting to earn a Professional Writing degree next May)will serve us well as we work on the plan.

My second possibility is to move forward with the structuring of The Current. I've already started by adding even more to the Style Sheet. I think the newspaper is improving every semester and I'd love the chance to work on it.