Blog #3: California Science Center

As I walked through the California Science Center on Friday, I had a very different perspective than the one I had when I visited this museum on class field trips in elementary school. Perhaps it was because I did not have the sense of wonderment I had when I visited for the first time. Or perhaps it was because the museum’s target audience was children.

The air and space exhibits are probably the most formal displays of all. While the telescopes and space locomotives are beautifully displayed, they offered the visitors little, if any, interactions with the exhibits. 

Moving on to the World of Life, I had a fun time learning about the human body. Next to each display, there were placards with just enough information to keep me interested long enough to finish reading the whole thing. I found this exhibit the most fascinating, although I may be biased because I love biology. There was a great amount of interactive objects, such as replicas of human organs, a body on an operating table in the surgery theatre, a drunk driving simulator, etc. I even went to the Body Works show where there was a 50 ft automaton that attempted to simplify the process of homeostasis. Clearly, these displays were oriented toward children so they can learn in an entertaining yet informative way.

In the Creative World, I explored the Communications place, which showed how people communicated over the years. Near the back, I played with the earthquake simulator, in which I built mini structures to see if they can withstand any seismic activity. Needless to say, they could not.

Finally I visited the third floor. There was not much going on besides the Pompeii exhibit, which I did not want to pay to see. I checked out the transportation displays in the Creative World. Like the other exhibits, there were many interactive displays, such as sail racing, solar powered/electric cars, and a driving simulator, which unfortunately did not work when I was there.

Overall, I had a great time at the California Science Center. It brought back a lot of great memories, and I was happy to see many children there on a field trip, experiencing all the museum has to offer.

Blog #2: Journalistic Privileges

While citizen journalists have a greater advantage in reporting on critically dangerous conflicts that professional journalists may not be able to cover, citizen journalists should not be granted the same privileges professional journalists have. 

Citizen journalists are not tied to a news source. They are unprotected because most are amateurs and do not understand the consequences of pursuing a story. In Syria, more than half of the journalists killed were civilian journalists. In the conflict surrounding the Islamic State, even James Foley and Steven Sotloff, professional journalists who had access and experience, could not protect themselves from harm while investigating the atrocities occurring in the area. There is no advantage in extending special privileges to citizen journalists because that only encourages them to put themselves in harm’s way unnecessarily.

More importantly, citizen journalists are not bound by the journalistic ethics professional journalists follow. This makes their reporting subjective, which tends to provoke more conflicts than provide factual information. For example, the Ferguson shooting was blown up into a national controversy, mainly due to stories and graphics on social media posted by citizen journalists. These stories and graphics may or may not have been taken out of context to favor the citizen journalists’ views and advance their own agendas, whether it be pushing equality for minorities or sparking anarchy. The main issue with citizen journalists is that the information and sources are not verified, because their goal is to break the story as soon as possible, whereas professional journalists takes a while to report the whole truth. That is why professional journalists are given special privileges. That is why professional journalists have credibility and why citizen journalists tend to be questioned on the accuracy of their stories.

Blog #1: Jefferson's Views on Newspapers

“…were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” -Thomas Jefferson

The purpose of the newspaper is to give people facts about events occurring around the world. Jefferson’s quote essentially means that the government should not play a role in influencing the media; that way, the public can keep the government in check by forming their own opinions based on factual reporting and verified sources. Jefferson emphasized the importance of newspapers because they ensured the public security against the power of the government through exposure of the truth. 

Jefferson’s quote is still relevant today, even as our society is moving away from print media to social media. Social media websites are not strictly regulated by the government in most parts of the world. This allows for the expedient spread of information across the internet by the public as a whole, not just by journalists. This phenomenon is exactly what Jefferson meant by “newspaper without a government.” The near instant uploading of events onto social media immediately apprises the public of every single news story that is occurring, with major stories becoming viral in a matter of hours, as in the case of the Ferguson shooting. The Ferguson shooting is the perfect example of government vs. newspapers, with the police arresting journalists on the scene. 

This situation exemplifies another one of Jefferson’s quotes, “It [the press] is…the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.” When the press is being suppressed, the public is being suppressed, and everybody’s rights are violated. This is why Jefferson stressed the freedom of the press and why it had to be included in the Bill of Rights for our protection and freedom.

Dummy Post

First post! :D