A new Ego writer
Actually that isn’t really true – Up Your Ego hasn’t instantly become a blog network – its just that there is now a second blog hosted here.
The first is the one you’re reading – mine – the one written by Ryan Morrison – the second is my wifes.
When I first started Up Your Ego the goal was to create a blog all about life in the 21st Century – a guide to getting through the day to day in an overly technical and digitally social society.
From at least one perspective I think I’ve managed to achieve that – when I’ve got time I regularly write about the world of new media, media and society – but UYE does lack something of a female perspective.
Well now I’ve managed to convince my wife to write the odd post for the site – it will be under the Sammy Speaks section and usually come forth in the form of parenting tips, recipe ideas and rants about the world as a whole.
Also – it will help me keep up with at least every other day postings – something I’ve been struggling with lately – especially since discovering the world of alternative history fiction.
If anyone else feels like contributing the odd blog post feel free to send me an e-mail (ryan@upyourego.com).
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What’s happening to me?
When I was a teenager at school I was (and there really is no other way of saying this) a little git.
I was cheeky, I talked back to the teachers and would refuse to do things I didn’t like the idea of. I was suspended from lessons (but never school) several times – usually for refusing to go to those “pointless” detentions.
The main problem I had with school was that I just didn’t see the point in it. I was constantly being asked to do things I didn’t really see the point in and it didn’t help that the teachers got annoyed with me when I asked them to justify their reasons for asking me to do it.
- Image by Old Shoe Woman via Flickr
I’ve always had something of a problem with authority and authority figures – especially being asked to do things I’m not convinced are of any real benefit to me.
I’m still a little bit like that but as I get older and (painfully) rapidly closer to the big 3 0 I can’t help but see things from the teachers point of view.
I now have two children in school – one in reception (foundation stage) and the other in year three (key stage two).
When my children were young, before they started school I was adamant I wouldn’t make them do homework – that, if they ever got a lot I would stand up for them and tell the teacher I disagree with homework and demand they don’t give my children any.
But age, maturity – whatever you want to call it has mellowed me and actually I can see the point of homework – it also helps that my daughter (son is too young for homework at the moment) actually really enjoys it.
In fact some of the homework my daughter gets can be a lot of fun – I oft times enjoy making boats, creating simple animations, teaching her how to write articles and stories etc…
In fact – getting involved in parents evenings, school events and activities as well as helping my daughter with her homework and reading through some of her school work at the end of time has really made me wish I worked harder while I was at school.
I’ve decided that blogging for me is the chance to do those – home time – reports (remember I write for a living) that I never bothered with while I was in full time education.
Photo credit: Classroom Chairs (seen on homepage) by James Sarmiento – Creative Commons via Flickr.
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What happened to childhood?
My seven and a half year old daughter is in the final stages of year two in Primary School. She’s just reached the point where they give her homework and I’m shocked.
Journalism GCSE?
OK there isn’t actually going to be a journalism GCSE, or at least I don’t think there is – but I think Journalism, or at the very least standard journalism techniques should be taught all through school.
One of the key skills you need as a journalist is being able to sift through huge amounts of information to find the story. It’s about being able to take a 300 page report and find the one line that was hidden, the line that will make the top story in the next bulletin or the front page of the paper.
It isn’t an easy skill, it’s certainly a lot harder to perfect than I made it sound above. In journalism being able to interpret and sort large amounts of information is a considerable amount more important than being able to spell – that’s what spell-check, dictionaries and copy editors are for.
I finished school with a few pretty awful GCSEs and a GNVQ – I wasn’t a great student – but have more than made up for it since entering the working world.
Since starting on this path of journalism I’ve been on dozens of courses to improve my journalism instinct, improve writing skills and learning when to spot a duff story (among others).
Key to all of these though is the ability to spot an idea, to find a story and most importantly to cut the chaff.
Google is part of the chaff – but it can also be the wheat. Where on one side Google is a brilliant source of information, a great way to enhance a story with facts and figures – it’s also an evil source of mis-information, a great way to enhance a story with WRONG facts and figures (if your lazy).
Before I go on – I know the information isn’t actually on/in Google itself, I understand it’s a search engine.
When I was at school and was told to write a report on a subject I had no idea how to start. I didn’t know which books to look in or how to assemble the information into something meaningful.
If I was at school now that would be a breeze.
A professor at the University of Brighton has described Google as ‘white bread for the mind’ basically saying that it’s filling enough but it doesn’t really have the nutrients.
Tara Brabazon explained that “We need to teach our students the interpretative skills first before we teach them the technological skills. Students must be trained to be dynamic and critical thinkers rather than drifting to the first site returned through Google.”
This is a basic journalism skill – so if school newspapers were encouraged, if students were trained in journalism skills – if they were encouraged to think critically and objectively – they would be able to make better use of services like Google and Wikipedia and not just take the first site as fact.
It would also encourage more debate, more political interest and hopefully in turn lead to a more fulfilling society.