Class 4/18

The first part of class today was a writing exercise where we wrote a broadcast story update on Stefanie Ferguson and her saga. This portion of the story focused on her arrest near the Canadian border. After, we took the last current events quiz of the semester and discussed the broadcast story we had just written. Some of the things we talked about are:

• "Authorities demand that she return home" is out of date news that has been outpaced by current events. Therefore, we can leave it out of the updated story.
• We should make sure we start with the new news, then circle around to the background information.

After discussing Stefanie Ferguson, we brainstormed leads for our homework for next week (See below).

After the break, we listened to guest speaker Michael Edson, who has worked in the past as an exhibit designer with the Smithsonian and is now working with the UN to organize the creation of a new UN museum in Copenhagen and elsewhere. Edson is a strong advocate for using technology as a tool for the democratic flow of information.

Edson discussed the old model of information flow, that of the Smithsonian, where the so-called "experts" bring a passive but grateful audience through the doors so they can have information delivered to them. Edson feels a great deal of frustration with this model.

Conversely, Edson in his work now with the UN is focused on finding a new model, wherein everyone can have the chance to contribute to the gathering and distribution of information. This new UN museum is a tool to this end and is being built with the goal of reconnecting people with the original vision of the UN.

Homework for next week:

• Read and think about this article: 
• Write leads for the three stories we brainstormed for in class. Bring in a hard copy, and remember: dead children are more important than anything else.