Once again it is the time of the year for the open day. I still remember being guided around the university and its campus, wondering what my course would be like and the time that I spent here

At the time I didn’t think about the students who were guiding me around, though I appreciated their insight and kindness. These student ambassadors are responsible for being one of the first pieces of the university that any potential students will encounter and as such their role is very important.

But what else do these roles involve? I spoke to Judith Todd, School and College liaison officer and Sophie Poulter, one of the student ambassadors, to see what the role involves, how they got involved in the first place and what they think of their jobs.

Story 1.

As part of her role as School and College liaison officer, Judith Todd isresponsible for organising the open days. ‘Part of my role does involve organizing campus visits and open days.’

‘I work on initially recruiting and then training and working for us, also any ad hoc work that comes up. Most of it is paid but some of the work is voluntary.’

I was surprised and impressed to hear that six ambassadors were able to deal with the whole of the Brampton Road campus, as it is swarming with visitors today. Across the university as a whole there are 30 ambassadors working.

‘The role of student ambassador involves promoting the university, open day is one of the busiest. Giving tours, meeting people, directing them, registering them as well. They answer questions about life as a student at the university. Outside of open days there are also campus visits where children as young as nine or ten visit the university for workshops.’

‘They wouldn’t do the work if they did not enjoy it. It is a lot of work, hard work. Though sometimes they do get to go away. Drive the university cars if they can drive. There are a wide variety of jobs.’

Story 2.

Sophie Coulter is one of the student ambassadors who was working on the day. ‘Its been quite busy, its hard when its busy. Its like directing traffic as well as doing the tour’ she explains. ‘It is fun when its busy though, you have to be on your toes and really throw yourself into it, really believe in selling the university.’

Sophie is a third year Creative Writing student. This is her second year as an ambassador.

She says while working open days is one of the main parts of the role, there are other parts to it. ‘Schools do come in to work with either the Graphics department or media. I have helped with that. Also a media roadshow which involves going to different schools and putting on a live show for a select number of students.’ The media roadshow is coordinated by Aimhigher and gives school children a chance to see the university.

She would definitely recommend becoming involved to others. ‘The skills you learn being an ambassador, confidence, speaking in front of large groups of people, learning to deal with potential students with a smile and enthusiasm. Also the skills are valued in the real world and look good on your CV. ‘

‘Its not for the faint hearted though, it can be overwhelming with all the people. Its rewarding and fun and the friends you make are the type you would like to keep.’

It is estimated that around four pubs a day are going out of business, at least that is a 2008 figure. Wherever you are locate din the country chances are there is at least one venue that you have frequented that has gone out of business.

But why? What is causing this downturn. After the smoking ban came in, many landlords raised concerns that it would hit their businesses hard, with many regulars instead deciding to stay at home where they can smoke.

Others fear that it is cheap supermarket alocohol prices that are costing pubs revenue. As one reveller put it , ‘you can spend a whole weeks worth of money on one night out’ while at the supermarket you can buy the same amount of alcohol for some times half the price.

But you are not just paying for the alcohol when you are at a pub. It is the experience as well, but is this an experience that could be slowly fading away?

Greece has recently raised taxes on alcohol as part of measures to get rid of its debt. This could also have the effect of cutting the amount people are drinking. This is a method that has been used with cigarettes. Using taxes to try and put people off smoking while using the text revenue to support the health service that will eventually have to treat the smokers.

Indeed, the Health Select Committee has called for such measures as minimum prices which they feel could save thousands of lives a year, even for such a small increase as fifty pence.

If you have read the news this week then you are sure to have seen the news that Carlisle did not get through in the contest to be the City of Culture in 2013. It has led to calls from some groups and individuals that the Carlisle renaissance group needs changes to be made.

 It has been estimated that if Carlisle had become the City of Culture then it could have attracted 350,000 visitors to the city, potentially spending a total of ten million pounds.

The Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Carlisle has been quoted as saying that he feels the groups responsibilities should be handed over to elected officials.

 The group’s future is being reviewed by the organisations that fund it, Cumbria County Council, Carlisle City Council and most significantly for fundings sake, the North West Regional Development Agency.

 The group, headed by Bryan Gray, has a number of plans and ideas for the development of the city. As well as the more culturally emphasised events, plans have also been made to revitalise the city centre.

 The city centre is a focus for retail, office, leisure and public services. Carlisle needs to sustain and develop its city centre for residents, visitors, and businesses. We’re working with many partners to make sure the city centre remains an environment where businesses choose to invest and can thrive, and where more people choose to live.’ Said Kelly Paterson, Communications manager of Carlisle Renaissance.

 Working with the city council and the chamber of commerce, the group has also been involved in creating a City Centre partnership that will be responsible for this undertaking. ‘In the next year we’re looking forward to kick-starting a programme of activity to improve city centre management, promote footfall, secure investment, and develop the quality of Carlisle’s retail and commercial offer.’

My View

Public demand for the empty Lonsdale cinema to be turned in to an entertainment centre has seemingly been ignored. The entrance to the city that is Botchergate is littered with empty shops.

I am not sure if giving control to elected officials will make any difference, but the failure of this bid should not lead to the end of this project.

Been in the works for years.

One of the biggest parts of the early Carlisle Renaissance plan was to demolish most of Rickergate, (Some of which had only been rebuilt after the 2005 floods) to make way for a new town square development. This square would have contained hotels, shops, offices and coffee shops.

When I bought this up again my friend was shocked as he said he felt there were other areas in the city that could do with the attention, not one with a number of old buildings.

In fact Labour has gone as far to say neighbours were bullied by the Conservative run council in one of their latest election papers. This could just be empty posturing though.

I wrote an article that I never used more than a year ago about the S.O.S group and their fight to save Rickergate. At the time the proposals were stilling going ahead so they feared losing their homes.

Obviously now they do not have to worry about the fate of their area. Judging by their website they still are not the biggest fans of the Renaissance scheme. However they bring up issues such as the state of Botchergate, which as one of the main entrances to the city, will be a lot of peoples first view of the city centre.

http://www.sosrickergate.co.uk/

“A housing group is celebrating after a report by Inspectors supported their fight with the council. Plans to demolish houses and buildings in the Rickergate area of the city, including the civic centre, fire station and magistrate’s court have been at least postponed due to the report by Government Inspector Patrick Whitehead.

The overwhelming feeling was one of　 having been　vindicated in our fight to save our homes, community and history. The inspector’s take on the situation validated our stance. This take was as important to us as the way he expressed his thanks for our contribution to the Enquiry noting our　professionalism and positive approach.　

The original plan for redevelopment was a plaza with a four star hotel, shops and offices. The plan was deemed to have ‘serious consequences’ for residents of the houses.

“The inspector’s report was particularly damning of the Renaissance plans for the Rickergate area　pointing out how the aspirations of the consultant’s report did not match the Council’s proposals for the use of the area or their delivery proposals in the way of attracting funding.　This was great – a respected　professional was voicing many of our concerns　and　making a decision which the Council could not ignore.”

Obviously now they do not have to worry about the fate of their area. Judging by their website they still are not the biggest fans of the Renaissance scheme. However they bring up issues such as the state of Botchergate, which as one of the main entrances to the city, will be a lot of peoples first view of the city centre.

http://www.sosrickergate.co.uk/

Package 1

I chose to include the full audio of one of the interviews that I carried out as I had only used some of the quotes in the text article and I felt that there were some interesting points made that while not fitting in the story, would still add to the package. I have often seen this on online news providers, quite often if a story is interview based the full interview will also be available.

I do want to get some pictures of either an open day or one of the other responsibilities that the student ambassadors have such as visiting schools. This will show the ambassadors in their environment and add more than the website publicity shot photographs.

I feel that the interview that I did not include any audio of was better suited to a print article as it was partly disjointed and also did not follow as good a flowing structure as the other one. The interviewee was nervous and did not want to be filmed, which is unfortunate as it would have been an ideal opportunity to get a video interview. Also all involved with the open day were busy up until the end so getting the chance to speak to one was difficult.

I am not sure if this package will fit with the website theme. Though I think it could possibly as it is about people volunteering and helping, but it does not directly fit the theme.

Package 2

For this package I chose to write about the Carlisle renaissance scheme in the light that the bid for the city of culture 2013 had recently failed.

This package contains a slideshow of images of locations that are connected to the Carlisle Renaissance scheme. For this slideshow I tried to use the captions to tell a brief summary of the story. When there are a number of pictures of the same area the caption will be explaining an event that happened that is related to the place, for instance Rickergate and the proposed redevelopment.

With the text I decided to have one main article which was a general overview. The next is an opinion style piece that discusses the renaissance bid and work of renaissance. Finally there is a story about one of the groups involved in protesting against the development of Rickergate.

I did not write about the city of culture bid exclusively as by the time it came to writing this it had been done already a number of times. I wanted to look at the reaction and what is left behind, the work that is continuing despite the failure of the headline grabbing city of culture bid.

I think this package is well suited to the website due to its related subject matter. Though it does not look at a person, group or project specifically, it looks at the wider issue of arts in Carlisle.

Package 3

The pieces that made up this package were an article and a slideshow of photographs. The photographs are pictures of pubs, clubs and other entertainment venues that have gone out of business. I felt this is relevant to the piece as a whole as it is looking at proposed increases in alcohol prices as a disincentive to binge drinking.

It also contains two video vox pops. One is from a bar worker and one from a student, explaining their views on the number of pubs closing down nationwide, and if it has any connection to the smoking ban or cheap drinks in supermarkets. I wanted to get at least one vox pop from someone who works in a bar. Unfortunately I could not get the video while the interviewee was behind the bar working.

The sound on the video is a little quieter than I wanted. I did try the interview in a number of different rooms but his was the best. A possible solution for this in the future would be to record the interview on a dictaphone while recording the visuals on the camera. While this may cause some problems in the editing phase the sound should be much improved.

With the pictures in both the slideshows I had to go back a number of times to gte better versions. Quite often it was something that I did not realise until I had loaded the photo on to the computer.

Looking back on this module I have found it helpful in the way I think about a story. I know think when writing a story more about the possible multimedia content it could have, beyond just photos. I would like to attempt a longer video piece on a specific subject in the future.

I also feel more proficient with cameras now, and have a little more practical experience of filming someone and the considerations that go with it such as lighting and sound.

It has also made me think about the way multimedia content is displayed on websites that I visit. Embedded videos and slideshows are common on sites from the Guardian website to the NME. Most of these are laid out in a fairly standard way, a picture in the top left hand of the screen, quite often a video at the bottom and embedded sound, usually in the middle at an appropriate point. For example http://www.nme.com/news/arcade-fire/50112

Also this website makes use of a sidebar to the right of the text which contains links to other top stories on the site, this would be something I would consider to enable the story to lead on to another on the same site.

I have found Windows Live movie maker a good tool for this exercise. I have not had much experience of video editing other than I-Movie. I imagine this program has less features than a porfessional program such as Final Cut but for what I was using it for it was ideal. I was able to build slideshows, pictures and audio and a video compilation simply and without having used it before.

The one problem I did have was a compatibility one but this was solved by getting a free trial of a file converter.

The book is full of case studies from one end of the scale to the other. One especially memorable part is where young lawyers are trying to justify the fact that they earn more than 100 times what a teacher does.

 I have to be honest and admit this is the first book of this sort that I have read. I have read articles in the style of this but never a whole book and it did take a little while for me to get into. The book is written in quite a journalistic style so readers who the journalism of Toynbee should know what to expect.

Though it is obviously trying to push a point, the opinion is not dominant to the extent that it is completely one sided. Toynbee especially is known as being strongly left wing and anyone reading this should bear this in mind. Even if you disagree with every pinion put forward it is almost guaranteed that there will be at least one statistic you will find slightly shocking.   

An interesting book with an interesting point. However some people may be put off by the opinions being so forward.

One of the most acclaimed titles in graphic novel history has finally made it to the big screen. Cynics may berate it as just being part of the comic book trend bred by the recent films such as The Dark Knight and the Spiderman films. Though unfortunately that is the way things work, no company s going to put millions behind a film where there is no guarantee of success.

Watchmen, written by V is for Vendetta writer Alan Moore, has been an influence on many titles and films. It tells the story of a group of costumed crime fighters after retrial, and the mystery that occurs after one of their former members is found dead.

This is not a typical comic book story line, the costumes and fights are kept to a minimum. A large art of the story is told in flashback form. Instead this book tries to look at a bigger picture. Set in an imaginary 80’s world where President Nixon remains in power and America won in Vietnam, the cold war is haunting the population and the threat of nuclear holocaust edges further every day.

The book managed to tell so many views by having characters who are completely unrelated to the main plot narrating. The film has focused less on this and changed some plot aspects for a film audience or cut down on time.

So, how does the film stand up to the book? I have to say I was surprised by how well done it was. First the soundtrack is great. 1960’s artists such as Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Simon and Garfunkel are used to great effect.

The special effects look mostly spot on and a really good job has been done of creating a believable world. I was not expecting much from this film but it has raised my faith a little in big budget remakes.

 The catch if there is one is that you can not listen to the songs outside of the application. The free version is funded by advertising, license fees are paid to the record companies who own the material.

 So what is the problem. Well there is absolutely no complaint with the program itself, easy to use and with a large range of songs it is as simple as downloading the program.

 The question could be asked, is this sustainable? Media firms have tried a number of things to reduce piracy, sometimes these moves have seemed a little short sighted.

Music videos are now blocked to the UK on file sharing website Youtube. However how damaging was this to the music industry? You could not actually download the music off Youtube (unless you had an unauthorised program) and it could be said that being able to watch the videos on Youtube was a great form of unpaid advertising for the record companies.

 Spotify is easily able to fill the hole that Youtube’s music videos has left. If the growth of services such as Spotify continues will there be any need for people to buy music? Obviously record companies and bands do receive a fee from Spotify but it removes the need for the physical product.

 This service and the many that may follow could be the start of a new age for music. In fifteen years time will there still be shops selling CDs, will there still be CDs. One thing that can be guaranteed is that there will still be record companies, so we shall see.

My opinion on this game may have been influenced by the fact that this is the first shooting game I have played on the new generation of consoles. The graphics are stunning as expected.

What was not expected is how involving the story mode is. You can either play through this mode in single player or split screen cooperative. The plot is like a standard big budget science fiction movie, meaning the dialogue isn’t great and some parts are a bit cheesy.

But playing through such a vast game you do get involved, and want to know what is coming next. To give an example there is one part where you are walking through a massive crater that must be at least a few hundred metres deep. You look up and you see a landslide start and a whole skyscraper falls down. You could see this in just about any big budget film but it is different when you are playing.

This is comparable to the first few Halo games in how innovative and full the story mode is. That’s not to say this is the only good point. There are of course many multi-player modes, some to be played online and some that can be played with two controllers.

And of course, the plot left plenty of room for a sequel.

The second of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films, it is hard to say if this is better than Batman Begins, but it is definitely the equal of it. Very high praise indeed in my eyes.

I have recently read a number of the Frank Miller graphic novels on the Batman character, there is a lot that is not put forward by the cartoons or other films of the character.

That is not to say that I am not a fan of the original films in the series, directed by Tim Burton. I really like his style and the sets he has constructed for films. However in these two films the origin of Batman is hardly explored. He is just there one day.

Batman Begins dealt with this part of the story very well and Dark Knight goes on to look at Gotham city with its new ‘silent guardian’. It also brings the most famous Batman villain into play, The Joker, played by Heath ledger in his last performance.

Another plus point about these films is it puts emphasis on Batman’s pursuit of justice, working with police officer Jim Gordon and in this film DA Harvey Dent. Dent is disfigured by the Joker and becomes one of the other famous Batman villains, Two Face. This is the only criticism of this film, the character of Two Face is very interesting and it is not touched on in too much detail.

With his series of Batman films Nolan has set a new bench mark. Film companies need to realise that with names as big as Batman, Spiderman etc big sales are almost a guarantee. You do not have to make a cheesy kids film to guarantee sales, as this two and a half hour film shows. Hopefully this will set off a chain reaction.

The thinking behind it was simple. An MP3 (lossy version) could be obtained for free. If you wanted a better sound quality version (lossless), you would have to wait for the CD. As an incentive to those who may have got the download for free and not been motivated to purchase any CDs, the band commissioned a two CD, Two Vinyl £40 box set which on one of the CDs included a bonus disc of new material recorded at the sessions.

But they are not the only act in the press for gestures such as these. Prince gave away his new album in the Sunday Mail and Nine Inch Nails are currently using a similar method as Radiohead for their new release (The $300 box set version of which sold out in less than two days). There are many other notable examples as well.

But what is the thinking behind it. Well a lot of the revenue made by artists comes from touring and not the album. Is the tour an advert for the album or vice versa is a conundrum which could never be answered. Illegal downloading seems to have been accepted, not as it is right but simply as it is hard to combat.