Face to Facebook

Within days of our MediaNote about a virtual reality system called Oculus Rift, Facebook bought the Silicon Valley startup for a cool $2 billion. Reaction to the purchase came quickly, and not all of it was positive. Backed by Facebook's deep pockets, however, Oculus will have the resources to become all that it can be. NPR reports.

And here's another thing about virtual reality: We should root for it. According to this Los Angeles Times article, the Los Angeles Area could become the epicenter of VR similar to how Internet companies have clustered around the Bay Area. Questions...

•How could Oculus change the Facebook experience?

•How real do you want your Facebook friends to be? How real do you want to be to them?

•Will people have VR avitars? In what situations?

•How might this change professional sports or plays or museums?

•How might this change political campaigning?

•Which will be a bigger success: Oculus or Google Glass? Why?

Transfer Fair

Your Humble Blogger received the following email about the upcoming Transfer Fair...

Hello GCC,

Don‘t miss out on our College Fair on Tuesday, April 1 from 10:30am-1:30pm and our evening fair from 5:00pm-7:00pm. Representatives from 4-year colleges and universities will be on campus to answer your transfer questions.

Kevin A. Meza, PhD
Transfer Center Coordinator/Counselor
Academic Senator
Chair, Region 7 Transfer Center Directors

Robo Reporter

Your Humble Blogger recalls a journalism class in his distant past entitled Mechanics of Expression. An unexciting title for a class, but at least it was taught by an actual human being.

Last week, the Los Angeles Times began a new era of robo reporting. A Times story about the small earthquake we experienced on St. Patrick's Day was written by something called "Quakebot." The humans are still in control of editing. For now.

NPR reports.

Questions...

•Does it matter who or what reports the news?

•What other news stories are formulatized?

•In what parts of journalism do you really need a human being?

L.A. Times Field Trip Reservation Link

Space is limited on the March 25 field trip to the Los Angeles Times. Tours are scheduled for 9:45 am and 11 am. Each tour is limited to 40 people. Follow this link to the signup list on Doodle. You must be on the appropriate signup list to be eligible for L.A. Times Tour field trip credit.

TV Taping Correction and Update

Your field trip flyer for the Arsenio Hall television taping has the wrong address for the Sunset Bronson Studios. The actual address is 5800 Sunset Blvd., not Hollywood Blvd.

Also, the audience website now indicates that Kid Cudi has been moved to Friday's taping. This afternoon, our group will see Misty Copeland, Omar Epps and Alison Teal. This sort of last-minute schedule change is typical for television tapings.

Bold or Desperate?

Theodore Roosevelt said the presidency was a "bully pulpit." The real power of presidents, he believed, was to promote proposals and ideas to an audience of millions. In the 1930s, Franklin Delano Roosevelt used network radio as his bully pulpit. In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan used television. And perhaps Barack Obama is our first real Internet President.

President Obama recently appeared on a webisode of the Funny or Die show "Between Two Ferns." The result was surrealistic.

Questions...

•Why did the President do this?

•Describe the audience that watches "Between Two Ferns" on Funny or Die.

•Do you think it was a good idea for the President to do this? Why?

•Do you think the President got his message out?

•Why is Zach Galifianakis doing this show?

•Will web-based video eventually become mainstream television? Why or why not?

It All Ads Up

Do you ever wonder why all these free online services are available to you? Some are run by hobbyists, but many popular sites are clearly in it for profit. Well, OK, that's the American Way. But isn't it a little unsettling when you can't even figure out how a site is profiting from your looking at it?

Take Buzzfeed, for example. It creates all those fun (and free) little quizzes that many people take. But what is Buzzfeed getting out of it? Information about you. NPR reports.

Here is a CNN article that discusses the numerous ways that we are mined for personal data.

Questions...

•What quizzes have you taken?

•What might the quiz answers learn about us?

•Do we typically recognize these quizzes as advertising research?

Scholarships Update

Your Humble Blogger urges you to consider applying for a scholarship if you have completed 12 units at GCC and have at least a 2.5 GPA. Log in to your MYGCC account to access the scholarship application.

Dear Faculty---

The GCC Scholarship Office offers over 500 scholarships during the spring semester. I would like to take this opportunity to ask all of you to encourage our students to apply for scholarship by March 20th .

In order to apply, a student must have COMPLETED 12 units at GCC and have a minimum GPA of 2.5. One simple application is all they need to be eligible for one of our many scholarships.

Students can access the application online at www.glendale.edu/scholarships.

A short recommendation is required from a teacher or counselor after the submission of the application. The recommendation must also be done online.

The Scholarship Office is willing to visit classrooms to do a short presentation. If you are interested in having us, please email us the date, time, and room number ASAP as the deadline is approaching.

Thank you again in helping us help our students and getting the word out about our scholarships!

Aida Avanousian
Student Affairs

The Little People

The Best Actress winner clutches her Oscar and basks in the adulation of her peers. She ends her acceptance speech by thanking "all the little people who made this possible."

Your Humble Blogger doesn't know if that line is from an actual Oscar acceptance speech, or if it's just one of those things that someone supposedly said, but really didn't. For example, Cary Grant never really said "Judy, Judy, Judy!" in any of his films.

But the "little people" in the movies are real. Whether in front of the camera, or well behind it, normal working folks are involved in all phases of movie production. In fact, you may know some of them. The Los Angeles Times reported on the difficult time that some movie industry support people have had finding work in recent years.

With Sunday's Academy Awards still fresh in our minds, let's hear from one of those little people. Dean Smith was a stunt man for four decades, doing the dangerous things that movie stars couldn't or wouldn't do. NPR reports.

Questions...

•There are fewer stunt men and women today than there were in Dean Smith's time. Why? Is the decline of stunt people a good thing or a bad thing?

•What are some of the less glamorous movie jobs that people have? How are these jobs good for the local economy?

•Movies require a lot of equipment and services that the studios and production companies have to rent or buy. What are some of the TV and movie-related businesses that exist locally?

•Are movie jobs really any better than insurance jobs or coal mining jobs or restaurant jobs? Is there any reason why California should give special attention to protecting movie jobs?

BONUS MATERIAL: Here is a page with some famous Oscar acceptance speeches.