NPR: "blogosphere is shaping our political and news environment"

Traditional news outlets like NPR and the New York Times are heralding the influence of the blogosphere and Facebook in putting the Jena story into the national discussion.

Additionally, NPR reports blogs are increasingly responsible for decisions made by prominent national leaders.

Yup, you people are the persons of the year.

Click here for the story.

Note: The picture above is a screenshot of the story in the link (above) on NPR's website.

This Week in AP U.S. Gov #3

Some reminders:

• By Friday 9/13 at 3:00pm, you should be a published blogger. The subject must be related to anything in the American political sphere, but that's about the only content requirement - that leaves you many possible subjects!
  
  
• If you haven't already, email me your Blogspot URL immediately. If I don't have your blog address by Friday, no blog project points for you this week! mgwaltney@chaminade.org
  
  
• How long should your blog entry be? For having had many days to think about your entry, it should be of a substantial length. "A paragraph" is too short. If you really need a specific length, try this entry on my personal blog as an example: http://mikegwaltney.blogspot.com/2007/08/socialist-plot-excellent-krugman.html
  
  
• Keep up with the reading! I won't always quiz you or ask if you did it, but I won't cover everything in the reading that will be on the quizzes and exams - if you don't read it and I don't explain it in class, you'll be stuck if it shows up on the exam.
  
  
• There are a few great PowerPoint lecture notes on the Lecture Notes page that I'd suggest you go through when you have time. You may notice that I'm bumping around through them in class but I may not go through each one completely. It's to your advantage to print, study, know, love, and be those notes!
  
  
• The last announced reading quiz is Thursday/Friday. After that, they'll come without warning.
  
  
• Check the course calendar online frequently to know what's coming - there's an exam on the horizon!
  

Comment here if you have questions or concerns.

~Mr. G.

Blog Project Assignment Podcast

If you weren't in class for the explanation of our project in "authentic political participation", you'll love this - I've created a podcast with my audio explanation of the assignment and the Powerpoint presentation that accompanied it in class. Check it out below.

If you were in class, you've lived through this already. If you want to clarify details, learn more about the project, or if you weren't in class for this original presentation, or if you just love to hear me talk, click on the video and get everything you ever wanted to know about the Current Events Blog Project. Enjoy

~ Mr. G.