PR assignment - Winnipeg bloggers should come together

Since I started the Creative Communications program I have been encouraged – more like obligated – to post once a week on the topic of my choice, in my case, music. I am glad that I was encouraged to do this because it has opened my eyes to think of blogging in a completely different light.

The early years of communications

In the early days people would get their news from a printer paper, they would communicate through Morse Code, and would send letters via snail-mail. A lot has changed since then, and it is not about to stop.

Print media

Print media is in deep trouble right now; largely because people are getting their news online. The cost of delivering the newspaper is so immense that the Winnipeg Free Press has even decided to stop delivering the paper on Sundays so that they can save millions of dollars. Yes, they will save millions in just one day (based on an interview with Free Press spokespersons on CBC Radio).

Watch the Free Press publisher explain to the public why they have chosen to not deliver the paper on Sundays, and not give their readers a discount on their membership.



Will blogging change journalism?

I believe that there is a better place for blogging. I think that it may even change the way we think of a reporter, and maybe even journalism. The basic idea is that if you have freelance reporters updating a blog – for which they would get paid for – we could then use their content to fill part of a “blog-newspaper”. One blogger could cover City Council, the other could cover entertainment, sports, and so on. This, of course, would all be available on one handy-dandy website. As well, these bloggers would remain objective at all times. Or in the case of a column, they would not.

What is a reader?

If the blog-newspaper idea is still unclear, you can watch the video below for an explanation on RSS.



What are you doing about it?

After evaluating the blogging-newspaper idea, I started to think about my own blog and realized that my blog should not only entertain, but it should also do some kind of a public service. Maybe I could focus more on local artist who prefer to eat rather than spend hundreds of dollars promoting their band - who knows. I will have to continue pondering on it.

Isn't there something like that already?

I have yet to come across a revolutionary RSS reader, and I am unaware of any type of website like I have just described. It might be because newsreaders still need a lot of work, but once perfected, it will make it extremely easy to put together something like this. Why visit only one blog at a time when you could select which journalist you think is more trustworthy, reliable, and have it displayed on your customized blogger-newspaper? Or even better, offer a specific package of journalists on the website: bloggers/journalist that have been peer-reviewed.

Get on it and build this website then

I would put this website together myself, but unfortunately I do not have the know-how. So, if anybody reading this blog agrees with me, we can put our heads together and come up with a solution. I can build the website, and you can help me with the RSS component. Oh, and maybe even some of the content for the website. Oh, and then there is the whole advertising component that would have to get figured out too.
Yes, I can not do it all myself. Come on Winnipeg bloggers! Let's come together.

This is fun.

Before I get into explaining what I’m posting about, and most importantly before you hit play – or did you already hit play? – I’d like to ask you to listen to the song in its entirety. Personally, I find that the song only gets better with every minute that passes. It’s not a boring, flat, no hooks kind of piece; it's a hooks everywhere kind of piece.

The band is fun..Yes, their name is spelled fun. including the period after their name. Try to google their name, and you’ll get a lot of fun things come up. Type in fun band, an you’ll get some really fun bands, but not fun.. So if you do end up liking their song, make sure you search for the correct name.

So here’s the song. Remember to play it in its entirety. As well, I found that the more I listened to the song, the more I liked it.



That was the song Be Calm. All their music is available on eMusic and iTunes and has been rated as a four star album by over 213 subscribers. If you would like to sample more of their music, you can do so at their MySpace. I believe most, if not all, of the album is available on there. Oh, and I think they even include their iTunes extras on there.

My Portable Device EP19

New Built to Spill!



Built To spill- Aisle 13
Editors - Bricks and Mortar
Islands - Drums (CAN)
Karen O- Worried Shoes
Kid CuDi - Simple as
Dragonette - Fixin to thrill
Paper Cranes - Ice-Burgs (CAN)
Raveonettes - Gone Forever
Righteous Ike - 3 songs (CAN)
Vampire weekend - White Sky
Dodos - Horny Hippies
Planet Smasher - No Self Control (CAN)
Devlins - Waiting

My Portable Device EP18

Oct 5 show. Catching up.


Rheostatics - Headless One (CAN)
Said the whale- Camilo (CAN)
Or, the whale - No love blues
A Girl Called Eddie - It's you
A Northern Chorus - Red Carpet Blues (CAN)
Andrew Neville - Gal Back Home (CAN>WPG)
The Elected – Waves
Wintersleep - Dead Letters and the Infinite Yes (CAN)
Pavement - Perfume V
Elliot Smith - Christian Brothers
Brendan Canning - Church Under the Stairs (CAN)
Kevin Drew - Safety Bricks (CAN)
Immaculate machine - Primary Colours (CAN)
+/- Steal the blueprints

My Portable Device EP17

Sep 28 show. I know! I'm behind on posting these.


The Big Pink – Dominoes
The Black Seeds – Take Your Chances
Stars – My Radio AM mix (CAN)
Winter Gloves – Factories - alt. ver. (CAN)
Winter Gloves – All Red (CAN)
Portugal the Man – People Say
Matisyahu – On Nature
Brendan Benson – Poised and Ready
Subcity – Soft Hands (CAN>WPG)
Olfolks Home – Power of the Sun (CAN>WPG)
Chad VanGaalen – Cries of the Dead (CAN)
Danny Michel – Black Tornadoes (CAN)
Monsters of Folk – Say Please
Bon Iver - Brackett, WI
You Say Party We Say Die – Within My Heart (CAN)

Do you Google Wave?

Since my blog is not always about music; I've decided to do other kinds of reviews.

This is more about a review I would like to do. I'm talking about Google Wave. Here is the video before I continue talking about it.



As the video says, you need an invite to use Google Wave Beta. So if anyone is using Google Wave; I would love to get an invite. If not, lets all try to find some one who does.

Cheers!

Buyer Beware - How prepared are post-secondary institutions?

As a creative communications student, I have certain obligations. One of those would be to post some of my assignments on my blog. Therefore, from time-to-time you will find that I will be posting something not related to my blog topic. This first one is related to H1N1 the virus; not H1N1 the band.


For our Buyer Beware assignment, our team decided to merge PR and Advertisement into one project. We were curious to know how post-secondary institutions in Manitoba are preparing for a possible H1N1 outbreak. Post-secondary students are rarely addressed in reports regarding the H1N1 flu virus, so our team set out to close the gap.

We wanted to examine the H1N1 pandemic policies for each the five major post-secondary institutions in Manitoba, namely, the University of Manitoba (U of M), The University of Winnipeg (UWinnipeg), Red River College (RRC), Brandon University (BU), and College universitaire de Saint-Boniface (CUSB). But throughout our research, we quickly discovered that we were only seeing the tip of the iceberg. We learned that each institution has a much larger crisis communication plan in place than what is made publicly available.

Since we did not see our “product” it made it extremely difficult for us to compare and contrast these policies. Our next step was to come up with an idea on how to make our research still valuable. Therefore, we asked ourselves the following questions:

What are we dealing with?

The first step to preparedness is to find out what you are up against. A clear definition of what the H1N1 influenza is, what its symptoms are, and how to prevent and manage it, is vital.

We found that all of the five institutions had, at the very least, a basic backgrounder on H1N1.


What’s going to happen?

In order to prepare for a pandemic, it’s important to anticipate how it could affect those who are involved. Employees and students should know what to expect.

Only U of M, UWinnipeg and RRC have information about the impact of employee and student absenteeism. Out of the five, only U of M and RRC touched on the possibility of a supply shortage and the possibility of facility closures. U of M is the only institution that mentioned an anticipation of financial setbacks.

Who is doing what?

A clear outline of the roles and responsibilities of people involved will help manage an H1N1 pandemic. For any plan to succeed, it’s important that everyone is informed of what is expected of him or her, and for everyone to have a sense of accountability.

All of the institutions, except for BU, had information available on the roles and responsibilities of students. All, except BU and CUSB, mentioned the roles and responsibilities of employees. Only U of M and RRC talked about the existence of a Pandemic Planning Committee and an Emergency Operations Centre. Lastly, only U of M detailed the roles and responsibilities of their institution’s president, vice-chancellor, deans, directors and department heads.

What are we going to do?

Problems will arise and information about how to deal with each specific problem would be helpful in case of a pandemic.

We found that all institutions, except BU, have guidelines available for students on how to cope with missed schoolwork due to closures and absences. Most institutions, except U of M and BU acknowledged the special needs of international students who might want to travel and might not have health care insurance. In terms of communicating and staying in touch, most institutions, except UWinnipeg and BU, have specified guidelines. Only U of M and RRC mentioned guidelines on how to manage human resources, facilities, and information technology infrastructures. Only U of M provided information about what should be done for students living in student residences. They are also the only one who talked about making provisions for public safety, financial services, food services, and issues on legalities.

How do we move past this?

Wrapping up, cleaning up and touching up after a crisis is needed for an institution to get back on its feet.

We found that only U of M and RRC have any information available on its plans for recovery in case of a pandemic. They focused on making psychological support available for students and staff, replacing possible staff lost to the pandemic, and ultimately resuming operations. U of M even mentioned a plan in place for writing up post-pandemic reports.

Overall, the public, i.e. students, know very little in terms of their institutions’ crisis plan; and that is a good thing. Crisis plans extend much farther than the H1N1 virus and other select illnesses, as a good plan prepares for any crisis situation. For example a bomb threat, or technical difficulties.

Another type of research we did was to contact Melanie Lee Lockhart and Therese Mickelson, two public relations experts on crisis communication, to seek their opinion on what makes a good crisis plan.

A good crisis plan, according to our experts, should aim to:

• Prepare for any situation.
• Be short and simple in the event that a non-crisis committee member can read and act out the plan.
• Be flexible for changing situations.
• Be so well thought out that the institution can respond to the crisis immediately through every media outlet possible.
• Anticipate its audience’s needs.
• Be prepared to help its team and audience deal with the emotional and physical aspects of a crisis.
• Make everyone on the team’s role clear.
• Be portable so that each crisis team member can carry the plan with them at all times. For example, using a flash drive.



Why you don’t know your institutions full plan:

•Each plan is unique to the institution. Your institution has the first, and next level of the plan ready to be released. If an institution were to release all levels of the plan at once they would risk causing people to panic, and students would be anticipating the next level to unravel.
•An institution might risk losing most of their students to minor symptoms.

What you can take away from this is:

• Students and staff should continue with their daily activities as normal.
• Students and staff should stay up-to-date with the stages of progress regarding H1N1 in their institution.
• Students are encouraged to visit their school’s website and ask questions if they have any concerns.
• Students and staff should practice the preventative measures given to them.

And finally, probably the most important point of our research:

• If your institution does not make it public that some kind of plan is in place, do not be afraid questions its existence.


Below is the interview with Melanie Lee Lockhart and Therese Mickelson. The volume is a little low on the interview portion so crank it up.

Casledoor Pt. 1

Castledoor is an independent band from the sunny state of California. They released a new album earlier this year and I finally got to listen to it in its entirety this week. The problem with real independent bands is that it's incredibly hard to find their stuff. iTunes has it for sale, but I thought UMFM could help me out in this case. So I'd like to thank Michael E. for getting the new Castledoor CD Shouting at Mountains for our library. Thanks! I'll be doing a review of it very soon, but for now I'll talk about an old track.

I wanted to talk about Burn the Maps, one my favorite songs of all time. It has some amazing lyrics, and its musically genius(I hope you think so too). I must have listened to this song over fifty times in the past years.

I started to love the band from the first time I heard Burn the Maps a couple of years ago. It moved me, and I've been a big fan of the band ever since.

I'd like you to listen to the song and read along below. So let's do that.



We've got a dream and since it started
They all did their best to stamp it out
Now, we're not certain, we're not certain
Who is on our side, who's on our side

Older generations made their decisions
But we don't want to follow their formula
With all due respect, with all respect, man
We don't want to end up where you're at

Burn the maps
Burn the maps

We won't stay behind that fence and
We're not walking on your footprints

We're breaking branches in the forest
So we don't forget where we came from
Start from scratch, man, start from scratch now
There's no better time to be reborn

Glide across the path like no one's watching
And if you hit traffic, honey, that's okay
Cause you're the best at being you now
Speed up, slow down, choose your pace

Burn the maps
Burn the maps

We won't stay behind that fence and
We're not walking on your footprints (x2)

Cause all we need is love
You're giving us a deadline
You're waiting for the punch-line
We're waiting for our moment to arrive

So give a little trust
Receive us with an open mind
You're busy reading archives
We're busy making future headlines
Future headlines

Burn the maps (x4)

We won't stay behind that fence
We're not walking on your footprints
In the middle of a big black trench
We're not walking on your footprints (x3)

This song is a poem. It speaks to me and to future generations. It speaks to a generation of change and progress. Breaking branches in the forest so that we don't forget the past while striving for a better future. Burning the maps laid out by past generations, so we can come up with a new plan. Like the song says, they are giving us a deadline. So do we have a better plan?

Maybe it's idealistic of me to think this map-burning could ever happen. Especially since major social changes have only taken place after a revolution.
Revolutions are messy, painful, and violent; but maybe they don’t have to be. There has to be a better way for social change that does not involve people sacrificing their lives. It's up to us to think about what that is.