Week 3

zjlalor

Blog Technical Activities 1-9 Quiz Reflections

Quiz 1

The first quiz was very easy. All that I needed to do was look for what the question asked without thinking. The tricky part of this quiz is not falling into the trap of picking answers that correct the examples.

Quiz 2

This quiz was a lot more challenging. It was difficult to remember everything I needed from the textbook. I did not know about the different types of verbs, which make up a significant portion of the quiz. I fell for the trick in the final question.

Quiz 3

This quiz was easier than the second one, though I still got some wrong. The questions were simple, asking to choose between a correct and incorrect option. The part of the quiz I had the most difficulty with was the concept of collective nouns and how they should be referred to grammatically.

Quiz 4

The questions were generally not difficult, although I did make silly mistakes. The most problematic part for me was I kept choosing answers that I knew were correct, rather than the ones that best suited the question.

Quiz 5A

The quiz was fairly easy as most questions were about punctuation and grammar, so it was simple to pay attention and pick the correct answer. The difficult part of the quiz for me was Question 9, as I didn’t fully understand what was meant by inversion.

Quiz 5B

Most of the questions were simple, they only required basic logic and math knowledge. Some of the later questions were a bit ambiguous and confusing. There was one rule I had forgotten and it made me get two questions wrong.

Quiz 6A

The quiz questions were very easy for me. I don’t find grammar and punctuation difficult. The only question I got wrong was Question 8, because I’m not used to using brackets.

Quiz 6B

The questions for this quiz were more challenging than some of the prior ones. Some of the questions were a bit more ambiguous and some answers I was sure were incorrect did turn out to be correct.

Quiz 7A

This quiz was very easy, some questions were completely obvious. The most difficult part of the quiz was that some of the questions were ambiguous in what answer would suit them

Quiz 7B

The questions were pretty easy, the answers were lifted almost directly from the textbook. The only question I got wrong was Question 5, which has multiple correct answers. One is just more correct than the others.

Quiz 8

This quiz basically asks you to check the textbook during it on No.10, which is bizarre, but otherwise was fairly simple. I have an issue with Question 1. In Question 1, it is implied that Hicks states the journalist’s most common fault is exaggeration, when he only suggests it in the book. I got it right anyway but it is still ambiguous. Question 4 is pretty odd as well.

Quiz 9

This was a surprisingly difficult quiz for me. My rewritten versions of sentences and the site’s corrected versions didn’t really match. I had issues with rearranging the sentence when it wasn’t really necessary. I was able to get rid of the passive voice of those sentences.

zjlalor

Week 3 Blog Activity 1 and 2

1. Practical: Register a Storify account

Storify is a social media site that allows users to create stories or articles by compiling resources from a range of other social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Storify seemed pretty interesting to me, although I doubt I would ever use it outside of work. The layout is simple and articles are very easy to make. A range of articles make it to the front page of Storify. Generally, they are all about topics that are currently popular on social media, such as celebrities, controversies and social justice issues. The articles are mainly focused on the pieces taken from other sites rather than having in-depth writing about the topic.

Storify is useful for gathering many bits of info from a range of sources in one place and can be useful  for understanding what people think about a topic. Users can also easily find other new stories to read and learn about. However it does not seem very useful for discussion and analysis of the issues. Something that should be considered is how easy it is for non-professional reporters to use Storify to create a legitimate-looking article. It can be a good thing to add more voices to a topic, but there could be a risk of your perspective being manipulated through select use of evidence on the author’s part.

Link to Storify: https://storify.com/

Link to my profile: https://storify.com/ZacharyLalor

2. Inquiry: Review an event or issue of interest to you that has been published in different media

“Wikipedia rocked by ‘rogue editors’ blackmail scam targeting small businesses and celebrities”

“New scam exposed – Wikipedia rocked by blackmail scandal organised by ‘rogue editors’”

The lead paragraphs for the print and online publications were the same.

The second paragraph was different as the newspaper focused on what happened to the victims, while the online version went into more detail on who some of the victims were. This is likely due to most of the victims being located in the UK, where The Independent website is based, so there would be more personal interest.  The Daily Mercury is an Australian local newspaper, so readers would not be able to easily recognise the victims.

The titles are different for each version. The Daily Mercury highlights Wikipedia’s involvement by calling the issue a ‘scandal’ while The Independent mentions the ‘small business and celebrities’ that were affected. The Independent version is more personal and sympathetic to the victims, while The Daily Mercury makes the story seem controversial.

The online version also discussed more tales from the victims at the end than the print version did. This is likely due to the print version cutting them out to save space in the paper and because Australian readers would be less interested. The website allows for more unnecessary content and can be easily reached by people who are interested.

Both stories are primarily about the methods of the scammers, what effects the scam had on victims and the actions of Wikipedia in response. Both portray the issue as being negative and something unfamiliar and unexpected. The online version makes it more personal by including more stories from people involved.

No broadcast of the issue has been found.

I chose this story because I am interested in the relationship between the internet and businesses and how it affects people. As the internet advances and becomes more involved in day-to-day life, this sort of issue will become more common so it is important to stay aware.

References

Merril, J, Owen J 2015, ‘New scam exposed – Wikipedia rocked by blackmail scandal organised by ‘rogue editors’, The Daily Mercury 7 September, p. 14

Merril, J, Owen J 2015, “Wikipedia rocked by ‘rogue editors’ blackmail scam targeting small businesses and celebrities”, The Independent, accessed 7th September 2015, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/wikipedia-rocked-by-rogue-editors-blackmail-scam-targeting-small-businesses-and-celebrities-10481993.html