Wednesday 20 March 2013

Op-ed style article: second example of op-ed (part 2)


Op-ed style article
Op-ed style article

Another chosen op-ed style article is named Thanks for Not Sharing by R. Cohen (The New York Times, December 6, 2012). In this article the author sarcastically analyses the absorption of the unwanted shared personal information and images that is spread over the social media. First of all, in this article we also can find strong and persuasive arguments, original ideas and strong opinion that should be in a good editorial. But this op-ed article is good for his title as well, which is a little bit shocking and attention grabbing. It is said that readers have short attention spans and it is necessary (when writing editorial) to attract readers with a strong headline that emphasizes your central message. Also, a title should be catchy for readers to grasp the idea quickly. In this op-ed article (as well as in the first example) the title is the first introduction to the argument and it makes editorial to be really good written.

Wednesday 13 March 2013

Op-ed style article: first example of op-ed (part 1)


Expressing opinion


Op-ed style article - is a newspaper or magazine article that expresses the opinion. It can be op-ed editorial (which are usually unsigned and written by editorial board member) or an article written by writer who usually do not belong to the newspaper's editorial board.

Gamification History 1980-2013


Gamification History

Gamification is quite new as a business concept, but it's roots goes way back. A hundred years ago the Cracker Jack company started putting a Toy Surprise in every box. After this, countless companies have used games, toys and other kind of fun, as a way of selling products. They all have some kind of gamification, but it is not like we talk about it today - in terms of systematically thinking about how to make things more game-like and increase sales or motivate people.


Tuesday 12 March 2013

30 Elements of Gamification


Game elements are your toolbox for gamification. They are extracted from games and used in different ways to make business practices more game-like. If you would look to all games you can think of, you will find a vast array of different paths, elements, templates and design patterns that can be applied to other games or gamification.


Gamification - the new way to think

Gamification - the new way to think
Gamification - the new way to think

First time I have heard about gamification and gamified systems it at once got my attention. It's a new way of thinking. A new philosophy of life. According to gamification.org, gamification can be defined as:

The concept of applying game-design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging.

Shattered Glass: who wins fact or fiction? (Part 4)


Say truth or lie
Say truth or lie

Similarly to H. de Burgh, American professor of journalism D. Gillmor writes that there are four pillars of good journalism: thoroughness, accuracy, fairness and transparency. These notions have a goal – objectivity. When a journalist obeys the rules of objective writing, only then he can be called as a professional journalist. “The best reporters I know always want to make one more call, check with one more source“, said D. Gillmor.

Monday 11 March 2013

Shattered Glass: Investigative journalism as a ”muckraking-lite” (Part 3)

Tabloid-styled journalism
Tabloid-styled journalism



As it was mentioned before, investigative reporters are not satisfied about the situation of twenty-first century investigative journalism. Journalists must have a purpose to be free and fair watchdogs of society, but professors of journalism also state that now there are many tabloid-styled stories wrongly labeled “investigative”, which purpose is to entertain. These entertainment-oriented articles are what another investigative journalist J. H. Dygert has called “muckraking-lite”.

Sunday 10 March 2013

Shattered Glass: principles of traditional investigative journalism (Part 2)


Traditional investigative journalism
Traditional investigative journalism

When we are talking about thorough facts checking, we are usually mentioning investigative journalism. While watching the movie Shattered Glass probably a majority of people raise a question: how healthy is investigative journalism when our practice moves into twenty-first century? Despite the fact that today there are more journalists involved in investigative reporting than ever before, many investigative reporters are not satisfied about the situation. Before proceeding in finding answers to this question, it is essential to define what investigative journalism is and what the main values of it are.