Mass Comm Day 2 - Journalism

           Today we learned about Journalism. I am more of a creative writer so it was difficult for me to write a story with out lots of adjectives and descriptions. It surprised me when I found out that when writing a news story that one should always use "said" and not things like "exclaimed" or "sighed." What was even harder about the assignment was that we had to work in groups to write a news article. It can be hard to make the writing styles of three different people  work in a cohesive way. A good thing about working with others is that writer's block never occurs because at least one person in the group will have an idea.

A Process, Not a Problem

High schoolers from across the country, and even the globe have come to Boston University for Summer Challenge, a two-week pre-college program; however, it is not the college courses that have been challenging them, but a simple internet connection problem.

Ever since the Summer Challenge students arrived on the BU campus this past Sunday, they have been heading in masses to the Mugar Memorial Library. At first the students did not know how to fix the connection problems, but their Program Assistants soon guided them to the library. They surrounded the Information Services and Technology desk, hoping to regain access to the Internet not only for their academic pursuits, but also for social networking sites so that they could maintain frequent contact with their family and friends while away from home. 

Although most students were satisfied with their Internet connection once following their visit to the IT desk, as a team of Mass Communication students, we decided to further investigate the issue.  We approached John Scali, a year-round IT consultant, to fully understand how this inconvenience came about.  After all, each student had set up a BU login and password prior to his or her arrival and had been informed that doing so would allow them Internet access.

“It’s a procedure,” Scali said, explaining that the need to come to the IT center was not so much an issue, but a necessity for each incoming student. He said, “Just because you have a username does not mean that you have wireless access.”  

Once a student’s username is verified, wireless access is granted and connection should be simple from there.  It was then apparent that what students believed to be a pressing concern was in fact mere protocol, so we decided to inquire about the larger technological problems at BU. 

“Theft is very common.  International students in particular often leave their laptops, forgetting that they aren’t at home, to buy a cup of coffee, and come back to find that it’s gone.”

With many of the Summer Challenge students away from home for their first time, Scali’s words are a valuable reminder to closely monitor all electronics and other valuable possessions. Not having Internet connection can be an inconvenience for most students, but a stolen computer means lost data and high expenses.  Working Monday through Friday, Scali endeavors to solve numerous tech-related problems, large and small so that each student can rely on Internet and electronic devices while at BU.   

Written by Emily Carroll, Camden Villaire, and Debbie Estrada