Week Eight (15 September - 21 September): South African Alternative press, continued...And winding up the first term.

This was the last week before the holiday. There was another viewing of Goodnight and goodluck. There was another guest lecturer this week. He showed us how hard it was without technology to run a newspaper. It is surprising how much of time and effort went into these productions.
The quiz this week was hard! I did not understand or relate to anything.
In the tutorial we discussed a topic for a new story that we are going to work on as a group.
We also read the guidelines for our final assignment.

Week Seven (8 September - 14 September): Speaking Truth to Power: South African Case Studies

Oh my God. There as so much to do this week. So many readings. I did not read them all and therefore I did badly in the quiz. The lectures were all right this week. They still dealt with newspapers and publications. I was surprised to learn that some of the newspapers that are currently circulating, started a long time ago. I also heard a few new names such as John Tengo Jabavu, who played a vital role in fighting against the laws of the government at that time.

I was glad to see that we are using nVu again. I am familiar with it and know how to use it.
During the week I watched Good night and good luck, a black and white movie showing the influence of the television and news at that time.

There were links to tips on how to write good stories and I plan on using them.

Week Six (1 September - 7 September): Speaking Truth to Power

I was relievd to find out that I could get d.p. even though I missed a tutorial. The lectures were on newspapers and we had more 'history' lectures. I learnt about the struggle to get information across newspapers and how newspapers were banned in the past. A timeline was discussed to show the four main periods of the newspapaer revolution.
The reading this week was by Chalmers Johnson, titled: "Otherwise Dealt With". This article dealt with C.I.A. operations. There was also a guest speaker this week.

Week Five (25 August - 31 August): News Media, Citizenship and Cosmopolitanism

I was ill this week and missed out on alot. Catching up with the work is going to be hard. There are more readings to do and unfortunately I cannot co the quiz. That sucks.

Week Four (18 August - 24 August): Social origins of the newspaper

In week four, we once again got a large amount of readings to do. The first reading was from Jurgen Habermas and his view on the public sphere and how it has transformed over time. The second reading was from Alexis de Tocqueville and this was on how the public relates to newspapers. Accompanying these readings were wikipedia links to the backgrounds of these two people.
In the lecture I read about paper making and where it originated from. I also learnt about guilds and the definition of a newspaper. Another new concept that I learnt was 'mass literacy' in relation to newspapers.
I enjoyed the quiz this week.

Week Three ( 11 August - 17 August): Writing as a technology

Starting of week three, I once again found myself learning about the history of literacy and paper making. Thembisa saw that we were surprised by this new take on Internet Studies and explained that we must know the past to understand how we got to the present day.
The long readings have started - which I expected. I was surprised with the reading and could find no relation to them in the tuts. Ahh the quizzes have started - you've got to love it.
I created my first blog (wuhoo) hahaha. Finally something practical.

Week Two( 4 August - 10 August): Orality and literacy

I was surprised to find out that the lectures this week seemed more like history lectures than Internet Studies lectures. I thought I was in the wrong lecture. I realised that Internet Studies was really going to be different this semester.
Sachil, my tutor also had another surprise with the tut work - we had to define dignity and had to work in groups finding sub-topics. I was hoping for something more practical.