Curation – Online Reporting, Research & Writing

Data story links

My data story was about the rise of cryptocurrency and its impact on the graphics card market. In short its because you can make money off of cryptocurrencies using graphics cards leading to a shortage.

The first of my sources that I used to explain this was a John Oliver video where he explains cryptocurrencies using comedy and simple comparisons so people can understand what they are.

I also used an article by Polygon, a journalism site specializing in video games and tech, that explained where the GPU shortage comes from and what retailers are doing about it.

One of my final resources was an article by Forbes that advises GPU owners on how to turn a profit using their graphics cards. It does a good job of explaining how people can make money off of cryptocurrencies to those who are unfamiliar with the process.

Inside Z’s world of social media frenzy

I’ve had social media for a very long time. I started out with MySpace. Unfortunately I do not recall my username or password so a screenshot or link would not be useful at this time.

My main social media platform would be Instagram . I use Instagram primarily for photos and to alert the world via hashtags (and those that are following can see as well ) of newly posted blogs. If you were to look at my Instagram today, you would see a lot of makeup photos such as the one below.

Another platform I use is Snapchat, when I want to do a quick review on products or just to show a little personality, I’ll do so on Snapchat.

Also Snapchat has the world stories which is new to Instagram. With this feature you’re able to reach a lot of people.

My Twitter is fairly new for me to use, originally I used so I could see the products being shipped in my Ipsy bag prior to receiving them. Now I’ve opened it up publicly. I’ll likely use it the same as I use my Instagram account.

Lastly and most important to me is my Blog. Which is one of the main reasons I took a journalism class. I like to have my own platform where I can voice my own opinions, promote my book and of course do product reviews. On my blog, I’ll have my personal poetry, reviews and affiliate discounts with links. After taking this class I’ll be redoing my whole blog to give it a more professional look rather than the I started in my garage vibe it has currently.

A curation example

On Bridgemi I was able to find an example of curation written by Chastity Pratt Dawsey and Mike Wilkinson. This particular article compared the various school stats in Michigan as opposed to other states. The two reporters highlighted an important fact; “Michigan is not getting the school it deserves.”

I feel that after reading Ron French’s story, which is also on Bridgemi, this was a poor example or perhaps a short article. Although the article had well over 18 paragraphs and only three contextualized links. As the flow of the paragraphs increased to the end of the article the three links were the only sources that were used.

The article also had related links in the middle of certain paragraphs, that could cause some confusion as you are reading. That could be an added value for citizens in the school districts that want to see similar articles on the topic or as mentioned before cause a sense of confusion to the readers.

I do like the way the few links are attributed, it is the same as what we are currently learning and prior to clicking the link you know what you’re going to potentially be seeing. Thus, it is not click bait. Although this is blog post is not about the content of the writing, I think the authors had too much opinion in the writing. This is something that we should limit as much as possible so that our biases and personal beliefs do not run interference with the facts.

Curated story on Betsy DeVos

bt 4

When reading Ron French’s curated story about Betsy DeVos, he presented facts that backed up what he was saying. For example, when answering how Michigan schools are really doing, he linked an article to the following statement, Michigan is “dead last among states in improvement in math and reading.” When looking on the article, we can see that Michigan, as well as West Virginia, South Carolina, and Alaska are struggling with maintaining the average growth.

French contextually linked articles and websites throughout his story. When reading, I didn’t know what the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) was, until he linked the website. It is a detailed data base of national and state assessments.

I liked that his story can be easily readable. It wasn’t overly complicated with statistics or bunched up with his own opinions. He presented the story as it is, with facts that backed up his word.

A good example of a curated story

In Ron French’s curated story, he first presented and quoted the topic that Betsy DeVos discussed in the 60 Minute interview. French did not include his opinion in the story; rather, he curated multiple sources that explain how Michigan education is getting worse each year.

As a reader of French’s story, I was convinced by the data provided that the education in Michigan never been worst. French didn’t make any claims in the story; rather, he provided evidences of data, research, and facts that stated to the reader that Michigan education system is only going downward.

French used multiple resources in his story. Two of the resources that French presented in the story are Michigan spent $80 million to improve early reading and NAEP Data Explorer. The first source is Michigan spent $80 million to improve early reading which is one of French’s publications in Bridgemi.com. Second source is NAEP Data Explorer which is retrieved from the nces.ed.gov.

French used different resources in the story to state the facts that indicate that the education system in Michigan is only getting worse each year. The NAEP data showed the academic achievement level across the state of Michigan.

French introduced “contextually links” to make sure the reader knows some information about the source mentioned in the story, also he provided links to the actual source. For instance, Brian Jacob was one of the sources in French’s story. French provided a link to Brian Jacob’s page that has more information about him “…according to the analysis by Brian Jacob, a University of Michigan professor of economics and education.” (French, 2018).