textualdeviance (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
textualdeviance) wrote2006-09-25 01:35 am
textualdeviance) wrote2006-09-25 01:35 am
Entry tags:
ARGH
I have decided that people in B'ham are somehow genetically incapable of keeping up-to-date websites. The number of 404 links I'm finding is utterly unacceptable.
I suspect that, in the case of the university, part of the problem is that each department does its own site, instead of having a campus-wide webmastering staff. So the CS dept. gets a great site, while the DSS dept. has a shitty one.
But the local transit folks? Have no excuse. It's one of the ugliest, least user-friendly professional sites I've ever seen. Whoever's maintaining it needs to be bitchslapped.
Unfortunately, most of the people I've talked to about this just shrug and act as if it's unimportant. All the fucking hippies around probably would be happiest with laptops made of bark and twigs. The concept that someone might actually rely on online information is alien to them. Gee, why doncha just hop on your refurbished bike and head down to the local sustainably-grown coffee shop and ask the owner what you need to know?
My frustration with this is compounded, of course, by finding out today that the stupid rule about no online sources, evar, is not only still around, but has been expanded.
The reason? "It's lazy."
No, it's not lazy, you fucking Luddite. It's efficient. Do you drive all the way to the other end of town to do your grocery shopping just because going to the store on the corner doesn't take as much effort? Say I want to find out the median age in Washington. Am I going to go through the phone book and spend all day calling different agencies that might have that info? No, I'm going to go hit the official Census site and find the data in about 30 seconds, all without pestering another human being.
(Actually, I just gave that a go. It did literally take me only about 30 seconds.)
Given my internship experience this summer, I can virtually guarantee that this program is turning out graduates who have no concept of how to survive in a real newsroom that's going to expect them to know how to conduct e-mail interviews and find reliable online information. Of course the basics of doing in-person interviews and digging through libraries are important, but in this age of convergence, neglecting to teach these kids the online side of reporting is inexcusable. The last thing we need is yet another generation of journalists who think the Net is just a place to play and who therefore utterly ignore the fact that dead tree editions of newspapers are drying up in favor of online media. Way to make your students obsolete in 5 years, folks.
I suspect that, in the case of the university, part of the problem is that each department does its own site, instead of having a campus-wide webmastering staff. So the CS dept. gets a great site, while the DSS dept. has a shitty one.
But the local transit folks? Have no excuse. It's one of the ugliest, least user-friendly professional sites I've ever seen. Whoever's maintaining it needs to be bitchslapped.
Unfortunately, most of the people I've talked to about this just shrug and act as if it's unimportant. All the fucking hippies around probably would be happiest with laptops made of bark and twigs. The concept that someone might actually rely on online information is alien to them. Gee, why doncha just hop on your refurbished bike and head down to the local sustainably-grown coffee shop and ask the owner what you need to know?
My frustration with this is compounded, of course, by finding out today that the stupid rule about no online sources, evar, is not only still around, but has been expanded.
The reason? "It's lazy."
No, it's not lazy, you fucking Luddite. It's efficient. Do you drive all the way to the other end of town to do your grocery shopping just because going to the store on the corner doesn't take as much effort? Say I want to find out the median age in Washington. Am I going to go through the phone book and spend all day calling different agencies that might have that info? No, I'm going to go hit the official Census site and find the data in about 30 seconds, all without pestering another human being.
(Actually, I just gave that a go. It did literally take me only about 30 seconds.)
Given my internship experience this summer, I can virtually guarantee that this program is turning out graduates who have no concept of how to survive in a real newsroom that's going to expect them to know how to conduct e-mail interviews and find reliable online information. Of course the basics of doing in-person interviews and digging through libraries are important, but in this age of convergence, neglecting to teach these kids the online side of reporting is inexcusable. The last thing we need is yet another generation of journalists who think the Net is just a place to play and who therefore utterly ignore the fact that dead tree editions of newspapers are drying up in favor of online media. Way to make your students obsolete in 5 years, folks.
no subject
This confirms my opinion that some instructors' main purpose in teaching is to impose a kind of "hazing" on their students, like the pointlessly miserable hours medical interns are forced to work. "I had to suffer through it, so you do, too." Pfui.
no subject
That's nuts. Email interviews are the way of the future. More convenient for everyone and they mean that candor just doesn't happen.
no subject
I know you're outraged, and you have my full support, but...this is the funniest line about hippies I've read in a long time!