Field Trip

Spent class at the Democrat Herald in Albany today. Pictures and video are up on Google plus https://plus.google.com/u/0/109398421611492546729/posts/MtfMgJEr8Vo

Profile of an Occupier

http://www.interzoneorganic.com/

We have all seen them on the nightly news, on youtube, twitter, and of course facebook. The amorphous but vocal Occupy movement that started back in 2011 in Zuccotti Park. The movement is still active globally, and Occupiers of all colors and nationalities can be found everywhere from Spain to right here in Corvallis. But who exactly are these occupiers, what do they want, and why are they here?

I sat down with one such occupier, Eric Coker, at the local Interzone campus coffee shop to see exactly what it was that motivated him to join the Occupation over other social justice movements or political movements. He arrived on time and dressed like a normal adult college students in cargo shorts and a t-shirt.

An educated and articulate man Eric isn’t the picture of the Occupation most of us are use to seeing on our screens. Absent are the Guy Fawkes masks, dreadlocks,protest language, and gauged earrings while the passion for social justice, social equality, and pragmatism remains.

When asked about almost any social or economic issue Eric had a ready and articulate answer. When asked about how some have pointed out that many of the occupiers are from a privileged class and that protesting economic inequality from one’s IPAD was inherently hypocritical, Eric strongly disagreed. "We are all part of the privileged class and being a part of the privleged class does not prevent one from commenting on social inequalities", he said.

He felt that the Occupy movement recognized the privilege of race, gender, and economic status by virtue of birth, and that other groups by not recognizing these things could never solve the problems that are besetting our nation.

He also stressed that being part of the privileged class does not preclude one from pointing out the inherent social injustice of the society in which one lives. If anything he felt that it was the civic responsibility of the privileged classes to come to the aid of those who were either less fortunate by virtue of their birth or by virtue of the baked in inequality of our current consumption based economic system.

Unlike what has been primarily distributed over the web Eric was quick to emphasize the need for cooperation and bridge building between faith groups, political groups, and social justice groups versus the need for more protesting. "While it might get me in trouble i do recognize that there is certain amount of overlap between the Tea party and Occupy." Eric pointed out however that the Occupy chapter in Salem had tried to have a group meeting with the Tea Party but that it had broken down because of the wide differences of opinion on basic terms and on social wedge issues.

Wedge issues and social rights issues were the primary reason that Eric became involved with the Occupy movement. While both of the movements are populist in rhetoric, they differ very widely on the social issues from women's rights and homosexuality, to the death penalty and other social rights issues. The one thing Eric was vehement about was that Occupy and he were not bound to any one party or ideology, "I support whatever works, it is not about ideology it is about practicality" he said.  

While he and the greater Occupy movement do see political protest as a viable means of civic engagement, it clearly isn’t the only methodology they are following.





At the recent city council meeting where they gave a presentation on why the city of corvallis should be moving their money. Instead of playing the Code Pink obstruction game of distraction and disturbance the occupiers, almost ironically, waited their turn, gave articulate speeches when called upon, and only during a natural lull in the meeting did they quickly chant, “Move Our Money” and link arms with “duct tape” chains.

Aside from actions against the banking industry Occupy and occupiers like Eric are interested in social justice and social equality. 


One of the main drivers of Eric and Occupy is a passion for social justice, and this is something that is not just rhetorical. Occupy Corvallis is actively working to try and improve the living conditions of the homeless by helping to bridge communication gaps between City hall and main street and by networking with existing social justice groups. One such action is going to be a meeting with the chief of police and the mayor where suggestions will be made to try and discourage police from abusing and profiling the homeless while also offering solutions to help in transferring homeless individuals back into productive society..



At a glance

Eric Coker contact info  escoker@gmail.com
Occupy Covallis http://www.facebook.com/owscorvallis
http://business.time.com/2012/05/18/was-nick-hanauers-ted-talk-on-income-inequality-too-rich-for-rich-people/

City Council meeting 4/7/2012

This week’s council meeting was particularly exciting for two reasons, the Corvallis chapter of Occupy Wall Street was there to encourage the city of Corvallis to move their money out of Wells Fargo and the council approved the Open Spaces Amendment in regards to the Seavey Meadows easement.

The Occupiers central message was that the City of Corvallis current deposits city revenue at Wells Fargo, a multinational corporation with the highest share of housing mortgages in the United States and at the heart of the current economic crisis.


A media organizer for Corvallis Occupy, Eric Coker, told the counselors that Corvallis needs to move our money to smaller and more local and ethical financial institutions is a means to stimulate and strengthen local economic ties within the community, and that will ultimately improve the local economy and foster community cohesion. 


While the Mayor and councilors were cordial to the Occupiers, ultimately the realities of modern economics and regulations prevent cities like Corvallis from moving their money because of existing federal and state regulations. At the end of the public comment, a "mic check" was called for, the Occupiers loudly chanted, with their hands "linked" together by duct-tape, about how we are enslaved to corporations and wall street.


The truly exciting event however was Patricia Muir's final victory, after 20 years, in getting the open space amendment passed for the seavey meadows. This amendment will save thirty acres of wetlands and will ensure that it remains open for public use. 


Given that the city of corvallis is short of open land, per its state goals, this amendment benefits not just the local ecology but will also ensure that Corvallis maintains compliance with its stated development goals. The land in question is owned by the city of corvallis, and has been since the property developer went bankrupt and ceded the property back to the city. Mrs. Muir, and her daughters, have been fighting to keep this land public, open, and to curtail urban sprawl for the last twenty years.
 
Laura King was also there and testified about how her and her daughters had been enjoying the open space and beautiful wetlands for the last fifteen years. She mentioned how much she enjoyed hearing the frogs and crickets in the evening. Mrs. King is no flower child, she is a hydrological engineer and understand the need for wetlands better than most, especially in regards to waste water management. 


No counselors spoke in opposition to the amendment and it passed unanimously. Sometimes the road is long but the goal is worthy.


At a glance
http://bpp.oregonstate.edu/muir - Patricia Muir’s official Oregon state page
http://archive.ci.corvallis.or.us/docview.aspx?id=330811 - Notice for Seavey Meadows Open space amendment
http://www.owscorvallis.com/mainstreet/ - Corvallis Occupy official page

Contact for persons interested in being active with the local Occupy movement:

Eric Coker (Organizer & Media), Occupy Corvallis, escoker@gmail.com, (206)-235-2859

Stephanie Hampton (Media), Occupy Corvallis occupystephanie@yahoo.com

Can you see me now?

You can’t measure what you can’t see best sums up the government's view on community college graduation rates and is at the core of the report and action plan released two weeks ago.

According to the report, about 37 percent of full-time, first-time students receive a degree or certificate within four years of beginning their studies. “Not all students take a linear path in their pursuit of higher education,” said Education Secretary Arne Duncan. “Many students work full-time and are balancing family obligations while also attending school. These new outcome measures will accurately demonstrate how postsecondary schools are preparing students for success in different ways.”

These changes to reporting may increase the bureaucratic requirements of institutions like Linn Benton Community College, but they may also open up additional avenues for funding and will give accrediting and ratings agencies a better idea of how well a given institution is performing.


LBCC is already collecting some of this information for in house policy analysis, the Department of Institutional Research has information on gainful employment, follow ups with recent graduates, and studies on debt to employment ratios, up to this point the Department of Education(DOE) only required information on first time, full time students. 


According to Bruce Clemetsen, the Vice President of Student services here at LBCC, roughly 50% of the students at LBCC are full time, but many of those students are here because of the relationship with OSU and are not counted for Linn Benton’s official graduation statistics.

Under the old rules almost half of LBCC students were not counted, regardless of whether or not they graduated. In fact students who start at Linn Benton community college but then transfered to a 4 year institution or another community college were not counted in the statistics for LBCC. All of this leads to a very fragmented and incomplete picture being sent back to the DOE. 
These changes in rerpoting will enable LBCC and other community colleges to show off their community programs, that are invaluable to locals, but have up to this point not counted in the official statistics.

One such program here at LBCC is the Waste Water treatment program, after speaking with industry LBCC learned, according to Bruce Clemetsen, that water treatment plants tend to be public utilities and that industry needed more workers who have education in not just water treatment, but also public works. 
As a consequence, next year the Waste Water treatment program will be rolled into an entry level Public Works degree with Waste Water treatment as a certification within the overall degree plan. This adds flexibility to the degree program while meeting an industry and community need.  

Through LBCC connections with local industry, this program has morphed into a much more successful and adaptive degree. This program, and others like it, represent the kinds of innovations that community colleges can bring to the educational market place. By listening to not just the students, but to industry, colleges can provide a better service for students and also for the larger community. But if the DOE isn’t looking, it won’t know it, which is what makes these rules changes so important. By looking at non-traditional students, non-full time students, and students who didn’t start at the “beginning of the year”, the DOE, will be able to see the value that community colleges are bringing not just to their communities, but to the nation as a whole by providing the skills and training necessary to fulfill the demands of an ever changing marketplace.

These changes to rules may also have the unintended beneficial consequence of facilitating additional relationships like the one that LBCC has with Chemeketa community college and will help to prevent overlap and redundancy in the educational market. Due to budget cuts certain programs have had to either be curtailed or cut back, in order to ensure that the community’s needs were met. LBCC reached out to Chemeketa community college and convinced them to offer EMT training in this area, in return LBCC sold them their existing equipment and made the arrangements to have Chemeketa teach the programs here as well. This way resources are freed up for LBCC to teach other valuable programs while also ensuring that the communities need were still met. 

Like with all things there is a tension between spending money on committees and research groups to parse the schools data and the need to spend that money on actual education. 

Hopefully, these changes in reporting will strike a balance that benefits all parties involved while fostering an environment that will facilitate the education of tomorrow's leaders and community organizers.

At a Glance

Department of Education Final Report on changes to guidlines and reporting - http://www2.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/cmss-committee-report-final.pdf

Department of education Press release on the Action plan -

http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/education-department-releases-action-plan-improve-measures-postsecondary-success

The Action plan - http://www.ed.gov/edblogs/ous/files/2012/03/Action-Plan-for-Improving-Measures-of-Postsecondary-Student-Success-FINAL2.pdf

LBCC Department of Institutional Research - http://www.linnbenton.edu/go/ir

What's with the WiFi on campus?

In the internet age nothing can be more frustrating than sitting next to someone online and being unable to get online yourself despite having the requisite technology to do so. In classrooms and hallways across LBCC campus WiFi deadzones abound, and many a wary student has fallen into one while attempting to retrieve their homework online while walking down a hallway or trying to look up a source for a paper in class.


Sitting between two Mac uses, one student on a Macbook Pro and another on an IPAD 3. One begins to wonder why some devices have no issue connecting to LBCC wireless portal and others couldn’t connect if their life depended on it. Zipping along on a Samsung Galaxy tab, thank you LB bookstore, my neighbor , asks “Are you online, because I can’t seem to connect and it is really frustrating”.

While the Galaxy tab had no problem at all connecting to LBCC’s web-portal both of the Mac users were able to see the wireless connection but were unable to connect to LB’s webportal. The two students looked like kids standing outside of a candy shop with no money to spend on the delicious morsels just a glass panel away. Chad said that he was especially frustrated because he finds that without the ability to look at his notes and homework while the professor is lecturing, which is only available online, he doesn’t do as well.

Russ Rinker, LBCC Assistant Director of Information services, said that he was sorry to hear that the wireless was not living up to student expectations, but that the WiFi coverage is a work in progress, constantly being expanded and enhanced to provide better coverage and more access points. As many students have found, often to their disappointment, LBCC’s wireless is quite far from pervasive, but considering that it is provided as a free service, one has to ask if beggars are trying to be choosers?

One student felt that the wireless coverage was most sparse in the Madrone hall and the White Oak Hall, especially on the second floor, but was excellent in the Atrium. It was in the Madrone Hall, room 208, that the issue of WiFi coverage became a real issue for this because he was sitting right next to someone that had no issue at all with connecting to the web. It made him feel, “very frustrated and blown away that there wasn’t 100% pervasive coverage at LB.” He said that coming from Oregon University he was used to pervasive WiFi, even at his car, and that he was shocked when he came to LB last trimester and was unable to access his notes online despite being in class.

       Mr. Rinker said that  there were no major problems for student in terms of connection issues and that the WiFi network is comprised of very standard 802.11g wireless access points. Of course, every computer, tablet, and smartphone is different, and we only give general help to solve these kinds of problems. Students are encouraged to speak with the IT department, they are eager to hear from you about where dead zones are and aren’t.

Many students don’t know that the LBCC IT department wants to hear from the students, if you have any suggestions or know of any dead zones please make sure to contact the IT department either via the help desk or via their website.  Students may also not be aware, but LBCC provides WiFi services at no charge, Jason said that he would be willing to pay 15 or 20 dollars a trimester. If that meant that the IT department would have the funds to ensure pervasive WiFi for all of LBCC campuses you would be in favor of the extra fee? If so make sure to let the school know, or the IT department.

At a Glance:

Russell Rinker the Assistant Director, Information Services can be reached at (541) 917-4363

The LBCC Computer and Networking Systems Staff is a great place to start if you are looking to get 
into contact with the people who work to ensure LBCC has a first class IT support structure.

if you have any Suggestions please contact the

Linn Benton IT department website

Newspapers aren't dead, but they do need to innovate

The drop in newspaper monthly circulations is no industry secret. For the last several years the industry has been unable to adapt its business model to changing circumstances, namely the Internet. One has to ask themselves though, why is this, why is it that one of the most popular reading materials has suddenly fallen so out of favor with its constituents. The only thing comparable is the drop from some 70% of the population going out to the movies in the 50s to 25% in 2010. Is News just not as valuable in the age of social media, blogs, and twitter? Given that we still love narratives, and that it is generally accepted that the failure of the theater industry stems from a failure to adapt to technology. I think that rather than News itself not being valuable, it is the industry that has simply failed to adapt and innovate.

The real reason we get the Sunday edition

For this discussion I picked up a copy of a local news paper, The Oregonian, which I felt would serve as a good case study. The Oregonian newspaper is a typical local newspaper that caters to a very diverse set of interests within the State. Like most state news papers it has been effected by the Times/Wapo effect,its "GUI" is more or less the same as any other physical news paper, headline over photo followed by a block of text that is either wider than it is tall or taller than it is wide. Most of the weaknesses of print media are either former strengths or failures to adapt. The format of news papers was decided long before most of the people writing were alive and as a consequence is fairly standardized, this was a strength before because of the limited space of physical newspaper, but in digital age it just can't compete with the scrolling window and hyperlink format.

     

Because of the success of this particular design and the National effect on State newspapers(thank god Newspaper industry lawyers aren't as smart as Apple lawyers) almost all newspapers look more or less identical. They tend to differentiate via brand recognition, quality of photography and tightness of prose within the publication itself. That being said its quite clear that this is a State newspaper, although one that isn't doing too badly. The photos are large and full color but they definitely pale in comparison to larger national newspapers. One the Oregonian's biggest strengths in comparison to the Times can be seen in the photo to the left. The Oregonian, unlike most newspapers, has teamed up with Politifact to let their readers know that the story have been vetted for accuracy, and not by some partisan hack group but by a generally accepted neutral third party. If you click on the photo you can clearly seen Politifact's logo and their truthiness meter. 

It is also clearly not a small town newspaper as the language used is fairly standard and grammatical errors were not found in abundance. Where the Oregonian stands out from other small state newspapers is its App available in both the Itunes and Android Market place, something that is generally left for the big boys. Its easily accessible, free, and at present it has a modicum of customization. What they should be doing, especially since they are offering it for free, is asking for slightly more personal information and allowing users to "login" to their website something that at present is not possible. They have the beginnings of a voting system to do like what Jeff Jarvis spoke about in "What Would Google Do" , in terms of covering what the "reader" actually wants to read. You will notice that the most commented story as of this evening, when I took the screenshot, is this mornings leading headline from the Front page. 

                                                         

This is actually part of the reason I think that newspapers still exist, they function as a mechanism for bringing people together to discuss what is "important". Up to this point the discussion was had in small groups disconnected and except for via letters to the editor(which were only selectively republished) the newspaper as an entity was really only communicating directly with our wallets. Newspapers like the Oregonian who have followed the Reddit model of ranking stories based on votes, I think, are going to be the ones that survive because they will add value to their print media that other newspapers simply can't.

 By keeping the conversation going on their website they are not only facilitating a public good they have a personal information goldmine at their fingertips, and most importantly the stories that get the most comments are the stories that will drive circulation which means a feedback loop can be created where by the stories that are reported on and investigated are connected to previous stories that were most commented on or controversial(while this model does have issues with link bait its vastly better than the current model).Where the Oregonian really shine is its online component, all of their writers and editors have twitter and facebook profiles that are easy to find, allowing for connectivity between the readers and the paper.

 Sadly however, there is no way to make a profile on the Oregonian, which is where a lot of the value is, and given that they give away the whole paper via their App, seems like a huge loss of potential revenue. Two years ago I would understand this as newspapers didn't have the money to hire tech guys just to maintain their databases, but in an age of universal login and permissions it makes literally no sense to not piggy back off of other networks.  

Quite possibly the biggest strength of newspapers right now, and conversely their biggest potential weakness, is their use and dependence of/on coupons and continued dependence on direct advertisement. Right on the front page is where this photo comes from, letting the reader know, hey you are saving money by buying this newspaper. This is a big reason why the Sunday edition is not only more expensive, but is the profitable paper for the week. More people read it which means advertisers pay more etc etc. What the newspaper industry needs to do is take this coupon model and digitize it(for tracking purposes), attach it to a paid for app, and ditch the weekday print editions all together. 

This Nature made app should scare newspapers silly, right now nature made will pay them to host their coupons, but if Nature made can get people to download their app they can funnel them coupons and adverts without Newspapers. Newspapers already lost round 1 to craigslist and its cost them billions, they don't want to lose round 1 to the advertisers because it will cost them their whole model.  

Advertisers are wasting money giving me this coupon and Newspapers are wasting money printing it, every knows that. The problem is lots of people do want these coupons and many of those people read
newspapers. Up to this point newspapers were the only viable option for companies to reach out to consumers at a cost effective price point, the definition of cost effective has dramatically changed in the digital age and print adverts just don't cut it anymore. Its also a sad state of affairs when the photos of the boxed food are more vibrant and sharp than the news photos.

Seriously? 

I Included these two photos because there is often an argument that advertisers are leery of online adverts because of the fear of lascivity, but clearly if you can but these kinds of adverts in the Sunday Edition of a newspaper you can get away with quite a bit. 

One of the biggest weakness of newspapers like the Oregonian is that they are not leveraging the potential information they could be receiving back from their readers that would be insanely valuable to advertisers and marketers. The could also be source of information in terms of who knows what for social science researchers who understand the need for paying for valuable hard to acquire information like the information that could be inferred from comment patterns on stories over time in a given region. Like all newspapers they cater to their local audience, local audience behavior and information is some of the most valuable data there is. They already send out coupons it would be a simple matter of connecting user subscription profiles with the coupons they use, something that is impossible in print world and ridiculously easy in the digital world. 

Everyone likes the guy who gets
back up after he got knocked down. 

The decline in circulation that the industry is facing is not because we don't value News anymore, its not just because of advertising, its not just because of Craigslist. The news industry, like all legacy industries, suffers from institutional inertia, administrative greed and incompetence, and a systemic lack of imagination. Society still needs institutions to vet rumors, investigate the stories that social media cannot afford to investigate, and most importantly society still needs journalism to act as a check on the power of business, government, and money. We have better tools than ever to do this and our institutions are failing to utilize them. It is up to us to make these changes and they start not in National papers like the Times, but in state news papers like the Oregonian. Society still needs the fourth estate, in an age of truthiness objective fact based journalism is more important than ever.I bought two copies of the paper to do this assignment and will likely buy more in the future because it was nice to read good regional coverage but I will still mostly read online because its faster, cheaper, and more targeted to me. The Oregonian like other Newspapers needs to continue to iterate on what its already done and  innovate in new directions.