tagged w/ Citizen Journalism
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Hey freelance workers, this week The Real Recovery is all about you. We want to hear from people who freelance successfully, people who have gone freelance after losing their job, and people who are barely scraping by with freelance work.
Did you know: If you're freelancing, even making far less money than you can survive on, you don't count as 'unemployed'? You fall under a different category called 'underemployment' - here's the applicable part of the definition from Wikipedia:
"Involuntary part-time" workers -- workers who could (and would like to) be working for a full work-week but can only find part-time work. By extension, the term is also used in regional planning to describe regions where economic activity rates are unusually low, due to a lack of job opportunities, training opportunities, or due to a lack of services such as childcare and public transportation.
The national unemployment rate is 10.2% as of October. That's according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS doesn't seem to keep a national underemployment number, which is a lot harder to nail down. But we recently saw that in California underemployment was estimated to be about a fifth of the total population.
This is another topic we want to tackle. As we're trying to put together a picture of the Real Recovery, we want to try to get a handle on underemployment estimates. We'll be working on that for the next month or so. If you want to get involved in that effort, send me a message on Current.
And this week - if you freelance or ever have - tell us about your experience by posting your story on The Real Recovery.
Recently on the Current News Blog:
- Did Obama smuggle a little democracy into China?
- Anti-Chinese violence in Angola
- Water on the moon!
- Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to be tried in New York for 9/11
- Porn 2.0 - Christof Putzel's Vanguard documentaryHey freelance workers, this week The Real Recovery is all about you. We want to hear... more
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This week on The Real Recovery we're looking at how the recession is affecting college grads. It's tough to graduate into such a tight job market. Especially if you've got loans. For many, going to college automatically comes with a big chunk of money that must be paid off. As finding a job gets harder - that amount of money can hang like an albatross from your neck.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="580" caption="Posted on The Broke Grad Student"][/caption]
This breakdown, posted on The Broke Grad Student, shows average student loan debt by state - and no matter where you live, that average is somewhere between $13K and $26K. That's a lot of money!
But despite the high costs the question for many American high schoolers is not whether to go but where to go. Are too many Americans going to college?
From the Chronicle of Higher Education:
Marty Nemko: Increasing college-going rates may actually hurt our economy. We now send 70 percent of high-school graduates to college, up from 40 percent in 1970. At the same time, employers are accelerating their offshoring, part-timing, and temping of as many white-collar jobs as possible. That results in ever more unemployed and underemployed B.A.'s. Meanwhile, there's a shortage of tradespeople to take the Obama infrastructure-rebuilding jobs. And you and I have a hard time getting a reliable plumber even if we're willing to pay $80 an hour—more than many professors make.
It's estimated that on average college grads tend to make about 80% more per year in salary than those without a degree. That's a pretty significant and motivating number, especially when you take into consideration the higher unemployment numbers for those without a college degree that we looked at yesterday. But if you've got loans - some of that has to go to paying them off. And for grad students it's even worse.
Faced with a difficult job market and high student debts, many folks with a B.A. duck back into graduate school to forestall repayments they can't afford. But as you can imagine - that just leads to more debt. Forbes has a controversially titled article that tackles the high debts a law degree can come with: The Great College Hoax.
Accepted into the California Western School of Law, a private San Diego institution, [John] Kellum couldn't swing the $36,000 in annual tuition with financial aid and part-time work. So he did what friends and professors said was the smart move and took out $60,000 in student loans.
Kellum's law school sweetheart, Jennifer Coultas, did much the same. By the time they graduated in 1995, the couple was $194,000 in debt. They eventually married and each landed a six-figure job. Yet even with Kellum moonlighting, they had to scrounge to come up with $145,000 in loan payments. With interest accruing at up to 12% a year, that whittled away only $21,000 in principal. Their remaining bill: $173,000 and counting.
Should you go to grad school? Most experts agree it only makes sense if you have a specific goal in mind. Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist lists several points against enlisting in grad school to hide out from a recession:
1. Grad school pointlessly delays adulthood....3. Business school is not going to help 90% of the people who go....5. The medical school model assumes that health care spending is not a mess.
So what's your experience? Did you go to college? Grad school? Did you have an albatross of loan debt? Tell us your story on The Real Recovery.
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- Pandemic in Ukraine - Is it swine flu?
- Who's unemployed in America? - The Real Recovery
- DC sniper John Allen Muhammad to be executed tonight
- How safe are Pakistani nukes?
- Real Recovery college storiesThis week on The Real Recovery we're looking at how the recession is affecting... more
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Who is faring the worst in this recession? Everyone is doing poorly - but some groups have been more affected than others. The NY Times Economix blog broke down the numbers by huge swaths of demographics last week.
The graph that caught my eye was the very first one - apropos of our Real Recovery topic this week - how are recent college grads affected?
(That said, when you break it down by education, college grads have done comparatively well - those with less education have been more adversely affected.)
The worst affected group is young, African-American men who are less educated. This neat interactive graphic compares all the different demographic slices. Where do you fall on the graph? Has that been your experience?
What is The Real Recovery?
Recently on the Current News Blog:
- DC sniper John Allen Muhammad to be executed tonight
- How safe are Pakistani nukes?
- Real Recovery college stories
- Fall of the Berlin Wall
- Chavez: Prepare for warWho is faring the worst in this recession? Everyone is doing poorly - but some groups... more
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This week, the Real Recovery is focusing on college graduates - recent, upcoming and all-time. I wanted to highlight a few stories shared in the comment thread on the initial college stories post. If you have one - go to the Real Recovery group, click Post a Story, and start typing!
From user trangster:
I graduated this past May and applied for part time and full time jobs. After months of being rejected by employers for not having work experience because I was earning a college education at the time, I started working as a part time host at a restaurant. I recently picked up another part time job so now I'm working two part time jobs to meet bills. Hopefully I get accepted into grad school next year.
From user sugarlilly:
i am a recent college grad working in a job i love but that requires absolutely no education. sorry sallie mae, that 50 grand will have to wait.
From user Karolein:
The first term I learned on-the-job after college was "reduction in force". It was a rude awakening. I finished graduate school in a recession and it took 18 months to find a full-time, regular job. After 15 years in a nice office, I'm looking again, but instead of living at home I have a mortgage to pay. Life is cyclical.
Recently on the Current News Blog:
- Fall of the Berlin Wall
- Chavez: Prepare for war
- Al Qaeda has a magazine!
- Recession and the college graduate - The Real Recovery
- Meet Mahmoud Vahidnia: Mathlete, Iranian opposition heroThis week, the Real Recovery is focusing on college graduates - recent, upcoming and... more
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It's been a tumultuous for the economy in the half-week since we launched The Real Recovery: unemployment benefits were extended and then October's unemployment numbers hit over 10 percent. It seems like just the right time to get to the real stories behind the economic stats.
Each week on The Real Recovery we're going to ask a big question - and then spend the week figuring out the answer with your help. For next week - we're looking at those entering the job market for the very first time.
If a tenth of America is unemployed - how hard is it going to be for recent college graduates to get jobs? For college seniors who expect to graduate in 2010? From the National Bureau of Economic Research: "The Career Effects Of Graduating In A Recession":
Graduating in a recession leads to large initial earnings losses. These losses, which amount to about 9 percent of annual earnings in the initial stage, eventually recede, but slowly -- halving within five years but not disappearing until about ten years after graduation.
Starting Monday - we're going to focus on college graduates. Here's how you can get involved:
Are you a college senior?: Post a story on The Real Recovery about your job search. Do you have something lined up? Are you just trying not to think about it?
Did you graduate this year?: How's it been out there in the job market? Have you been able to find work?
Did you graduate years ago?: How was your experience in the economic climate you had? How does it compare to today's?
You can post your story to Current by clicking the "Post a Story" button on The Real Recovery group page and then just start typing!
And also, if you want to get involved as an investigator - send me a message on Current.It's been a tumultuous for the economy in the half-week since we launched The... more
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This week we launched The Real Recovery: we're working with you on a collaborative investigation into the end of the recession. Sure the Dow is up but are things getting better nationwide?
According to the news today, apparently not. National unemployment has risen to 10.2 percent, the highest it's been since 1983. (posted to Current by ebindelglass)
That's one in ten Americans who are out of work. A lot of people! (Good timing on that unemployment extension, Congress.) This is why we think it's so important to get behind the numbers to the experiences people are having. Come help us out - tell your story or be one of our investigators on The Real Recovery.
More info: The Real Recovery – A collaborative investigation
Join the group: The Real Recovery
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- Iraq's bomb detectors are useless?
- 20 more weeks of unemployment
- Tune in tonight for Vanguard's Sri Lanka: Notes from a War on Terror
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The Senate passed a bill yesterday to extend unemployment benefits for the jobless to 14 weeks, and up to 20 weeks for those who live in states with over 8.5 percent unemployment.
From the Washington Post:
More than 1 million people would have had their benefits ended without the extension, according to the National Employment Law Project, a nonpartisan group that tracks the issue. More than 15 million Americans are now unemployed, more than a third of whom have been out of work for more than six months.
Also yesterday we launched The Real Recovery (here's the intro blog post) - our group investigation into how the recession's effects are still lingering despite its end. Are you unemployed - directly affected by this news? Let us know. Go join The Real Recovery group and post your personal story.
Recently on the Current News Blog:
- Tune in tonight for Vanguard's Sri Lanka: Notes from a War on Terror
- 2009 election round-up: NYC, NY-23, NJ and VA, Maine
- The Real Recovery – A collaborative investigation
- Man Makes it Snow in China (Video)
- The EU finally gets Lisbon; Thanks Vaclav KlausThe Senate passed a bill yesterday to extend unemployment benefits for the jobless to... more
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We’re launching a big project today on Current News. And we’re going to need your help.
Here’s the idea:
Everybody says we’re headed for an economic recovery, right? The economy grew in the third quarter of this year, the Dow is hovering around 10,000, even Ford managed to make a profit. But the other thing that everybody says is that it’ll be a “jobless” recovery. The economy might grow, but unemployment will stay the same. To say nothing of underemployment – people who have taken lesser positions, started freelancing or stopped looking for new work. While the financial folks celebrate the return of the bull market – what about the rest of us?
We want to paint a picture of what’s really going on out there. As the recession comes to an end – what does the recovery really look like? What is the real recovery?
Over the next few months – until the end of the first quarter of next year – we’re going to conduct a special new experimental project to look at the state of our nation. This is where you come in.
My office is in San Francisco. I can give local perspectives from here. But in order to tell this story from every corner of the country – we need your help. What do things look like where you live? Do you have a personal story about how you’ve been affected by the recession?
How you can get involved:
- The big thing is that you can write your own posts in the group “The Real Recovery”. What are we looking for? Local perspectives and personal perspectives. Just a few paragraphs: How are you or your community affected? Every week we’ll have different questions we’re asking – and we want you to post your answers.
- Now, do you want to get really involved? You can become a part of our Current Investigation Network. That means we’ll put you on an email list where sometimes we’ll reach out digging for info or to ask you to help out with collaborative assignments. If you want to be a part of the project by doing a little real journalism – this is the way to do it.
- And as always, you can clip stories and you can weigh in on the comments of posts. We’ll be highlighting stories people post over on the Blog – and that could be yours.
This is a big new step for Current News, and I’m personally very excited about it. I worked on Collective Journalism for two years, our citizen journalism program, and I think this is an even bigger opportunity to get even more people involved in the journalism we make.
So, what’s the next step?
- Join the group: “The Real Recovery”
- Tell us your story – just a few paragraphs. Either post in the comments here – or post your own story to the group. This Friday we’ll feature some of your contributions.
- If you want to be a part of the investigation team – send me a direct message on Current.com.
Stay tuned!We’re launching a big project today on Current News. And we’re going to... more
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Apologies for the slow day on the Current News blog today, I've actually been very busy with the Online News Association conference (#ONA09 on Twitter) here in San Francisco. It's certainly a turbulent time for journalism, so it's encouraging to see so many people thinking big and thinking differently about what they can do with online news.
If you happen to be attending the conference, stop by the Video Free-For-All panel tomorrow at 2pm, where I'll be representing Current.
Otherwise, expect plenty more blogging (or #steadyblogging as Josh from Current_Comedy calls it) next week.Apologies for the slow day on the Current News blog today, I've actually been... more
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We've been passing around an article at Current this week from the Guardian in the UK that focuses on a "Newsroom view of user content". It focuses on the UK, including the BBC, and how they make news out of user-generated content. Here's an excerpt:
"...[T]he BBC UGC hub of 23 journalists [is] now based in the heart of the newsroom and dealing with 10-20,000 emails a day.
She added: 'Now, every day on the hub there's a core team out on Flickr and Twitter looking for news stories, going to where the conversation is taking place rather than waiting for it to come to them. The hub has an awareness of how it (social media) works, and is trying to get the rest of the BBC to take it on board.'"
I always find it interesting to read how other newsrooms are set up, and I thought this might be a good opportunity to share what we do and how we do it.
The interesting thing about the BBC's approach is it sounds like they spend a lot of time scouring the internet. We do too, but we've got a big advantage that they don't: You. We rely extensively on our audience to send us the stories out there that they think aren't getting enough attention. We also on occasion ask people to do a little more. If you live somewhere where a story is happening, we ask you to tell us how you're affected. Personal and local perspectives.
In the early days of Current, when "citizen journalism" was a big buzzword and some journalists were really worried that their jobs would be lost to everyday citizens, we asked a lot of people. Whole short documentaries. But now we're focused on ways for people to contribute that are a little less daunting. Robin Sloan, a part of the Current News team here, likes to call it "committing little acts of journalism".
The fun thing - it's an open process. And it's constantly changing. Have any suggestions? New ideas? Let us know!We've been passing around an article at Current this week from the Guardian in... more
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Arbitrary authoritarianism imposed by ‘jobsworths’ who seek to stop photographers providing us with a record of everyday life and critical moments in history are the subject of this compelling interview. Pauline Hadaway is Director of the unique photography gallery Belfast Exposed and authored the report Policing the Public Gaze published by the Manifesto Club. Joe Earle asks Pauline to explain more.Arbitrary authoritarianism imposed by ‘jobsworths’ who seek to stop... more
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WORLDbytes’ crews of young volunteers learning to shoot alternative news programmes are regularly stopped from filming on the streets of London. Yet it is not against the law to film in public spaces, to investigate what the public think and let people have their say on issues of the day. Sick of being stopped, volunteers made a stand against the arbitrary interference suffered by photographers and film makers and achieved a one day victory for citizen journalism. In future they’ll certainly question instructions to ‘move on’ and need your support.WORLDbytes’ crews of young volunteers learning to shoot alternative news... more
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The Monsanto RoundUp has been a feature of the Sustainable Agriculture Group where I bring you reports regarding news in the world of GMOs and Monsanto. I haven't done one in a while so I thought I would do this to bring people on Current up to speed on the most important events in the past month. It would take too long to bring you all of the news in the world of GMOs within the past five months, but suffice it to say it has been a busy world with both ups and downs.
Hopefully, through our actions and by dessiminating this information to as many people as we can we can bring about the tipping point that will bring back and give food sovereignty to people worldwide who are seeing it stolen and jeopardized by a stealth attack on their seeds, their biodiversity, their culture, their land, and their very livelihoods.
Check below for postings as reference to all mentioned in this video, and thank you for supporting this endeavor of the Sustainable Agriculture Group.
http://current.com/groups/sustainable-agriculture/
Knowledge is power. Satyagraha!
JanThe Monsanto RoundUp has been a feature of the Sustainable Agriculture Group where I... more
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It's the first time the prestigious Polk award has been given in anonymity and the first award for videography. From their site (http://www.brooklyn.liu.edu/polk/press/2009.html):
"The George Polk Award for Videography will recognize the efforts of the people responsible for recording the death of 26-year-old Neda Agha-Soltan at a June protest in Tehran, Iran, and uploading the video to the Internet. Ms. Agha-Soltan reportedly was shot by a pro-government militiaman. The video, which shows the woman collapsing to the ground and being attended to by several men as she lay dying on the street, became a rallying point for the reformist opposition in Iran after it was broadcast over the Internet. Seen by millions as it spread virally across the Web, the images quickly gained the attention of international media."
Is it representative of the death of professional journalism? I don't think so. It was professional journalists who put this video clip into context for us. Who told Neda Agha Soltan's story. Who have done exemplary and dogged work documenting on-going brutality from the Iranian regime.
This award, however, is a recognition of how many of the most powerful and influential moments and images in journalism today come not from professional journalists but from ordinary people in extraordinary situations.
Warning: This video is extremely graphic.It's the first time the prestigious Polk award has been given in anonymity and... more
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Women all over the world are living in slavery. They are slaves to the backbreaking often dangerous job of providing water for their families daily. In countries whose governments are corrupt, the environment is devastated, and the water is not fresh and in many instances in scarce supply. In households where traditions preclude them from education, economic opportunity, and equality in any form. And they are the missing link in regards to the economic success they and many of these countries could have if only this tragedy were given the attention it deserves.
The typical day of a woman living in one of these countries begins at about 2AM every morning. She awakens to make a trek to a water source with her five gallon Gerry can in order to collect water for the family for the day. It won’t go far depending on the number of children she has, and she may even have to forfeit using any of it in order to provide for their needs first. She treks along rocky terrain with her can sometimes with others, sometimes alone, or with her daughter who doesn’t attend school in order to help with this task. The trek can be dangerous, with them taking a chance on being raped, robbed or worse. Once she reaches the water source she must stand in line waiting for her turn to fill her can of what is many times polluted water that may well give her children dysentery. But it is all they have.
Once she fills her can she must then make the backbreaking trek back to her village once again. Her trip can take her anywhere from six to nine hours a day not including her other chores in bringing up her children, providing for them, many times harvesting any crops grown, feeding them whatever they have, and providing spiritual guidance. This then takes time away from her and her daughter having opportunity in education or in pursuing any sort of life where they can contribute to advancing their own lot in life.
And this is their life, every day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, every year.
It is hard for many in this world of plenty to relate to the lives of women who must struggle for all they have and who are denied their identity and their dreams. For us, getting up in the morning and turning on our showers or our taps is something we don’t even think about because the water is always there. We don’t think of the water used for cooking or bathing, or washing, or doing other tasks that people in these countries wouldn’t ever have a chance to do. While we waste water on golf courses, in pools, and to build desert resorts, water is gold to those who live in countries where there isn’t even enough for the basic necessities of life.
cont.Women all over the world are living in slavery. They are slaves to the backbreaking... more
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This is a letter
To President Obama
And all of Congress
It is in Haiku
For those who don’t know Haiku
Ask a school teacher
This open letter
Comes from one single voter
Who speaks for many
Proud Americans
Who believe in our country
But feel discontent
A season of change
Where hopes and dreams are fulfilled
Was promised to us
We want to see change
We voted for you to act
But you have failed us
Barack Obama
Has let America down
By failing to lead
We want our leaders
To step up and fight for change
The way they promised
In Copenhagen
We could have had a real deal
Our President failed
Global climate change
Will now devastate millions
While we fail to act
The Climate Accord
Is not a meaningful deal
Our leaders failed us
Meanwhile in China
Energy Technology
Will help them beat us
They are investing
America is asleep
China will own us
Here in the Congress
We could have real health reform
But it’s watered down
Even 60 votes
Is not enough to make change
When our leaders fail
Now the Dems have lost
Their precious 60 vote lead
The lead they squandered
Nothing hurts us more
Than trusting people to act
And watching them fail
Our leaders squandered
Every opportunity
To bring us real change
It shocks the senses
We see all the potential
But nothing gets done
We don’t give a damn
About stupid politics
We want to see change
We voted for change
And if you won’t give us change
We will vote you out
The alternative
May indeed be worse than you
But it will be change
It’s time to wake up
And stop selling us bullshit
We are watching you
It’s too late for hope
The proof is in the pudding
Shape up or ship out
Get on your blow horn
Make change we can believe in
And win back our trust
Your constituent,
Green Media News Founder
Evan Kopelson
PS to readers
Please help get this letter out
Repost and retweet
http://greenmedianews.com/open-letter-to-president-obama-and-congress-in-haiku/
Haiku is a poetry form from Japan, with 3 non-rhyming lines, and a syllable count per line of 5-7-5.This is a letter
To President Obama
And all of Congress
It is in Haiku
For those... more
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Robert Kremer is a microbiologist with the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service and an adjunct professor in the Division of Plant Sciences at the University of Missouri. He is co-author of one of five papers published in the October 2009 issue of The European Journal of Agronomy that found negative impacts of Roundup herbicide, which is used extensively with Roundup Ready genetically modified crops. Kremer has been studying the impacts of glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, since 1997.
The Organic & Non-GMO Report interviewed Mr. Kremer about his research and the reluctance of the USDA to publicize the findings of the five papers.
Please give me an overview of your research
RK: We started in 1997 wanting to see if this new system, Roundup Ready, would change the production of nematodes in soybean. We started looking at organisms in soybean roots and saw microorganisms colonizing the roots. We suspected that glyphosate was having an impact. There was a root fungi problem that seemed to be encouraging sudden death syndrome (SDS).
We saw the increase of these fungi in the Roundup Ready (genetically modified) system, both soybeans and corn.
What types of things are you seeing in the Roundup Ready system?
RK: This system is altering the whole soil biology. We are seeing differences in bacteria in plant roots and changes in nutrient availability. Glyphosate is very systemic in the plant and is being released through the roots into the soil. Many studies show that glyphosate can have toxic effects on microorganisms and can stimulate them to germinate spores and colonize root systems. Other researchers are showing that glyphosate can immobilize manganese, an essential plant micronutrient.
What are glyphosate’s impacts on beneficial soil bacteria?
RK: The most obvious impact is on rhizobia, a bacterium that fixes nitrogen. It has been shown that glyphosate can be toxic to rhizobia. (Nitrogen fixing bacteria are important to soils because nitrogen is the most commonly deficient nutrient in many soils.)
to be continuedRobert Kremer is a microbiologist with the US Department of Agriculture's... more
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It's the first day back at work in the New Year and the question on my mind is "Are things finally going to get better?" Well, unfortunately, a year's end is a pretty artificial time marker. And it seems the economy knows that.
According to speakers at the annual American Economic Association conference prospects for a big recovery anytime soon are bleak. "'It will be difficult to have a robust recovery while housing and commercial real estate are depressed,' said Martin Feldstein, a Harvard University professor and former head of the National Bureau of Economic Research." Additionally, national unemployment is still at 10% (as of the end of November, albeit with a slight dip from the previous month).
But come on, it's the first Monday of the New Year. Let's not get all pessimistic yet! Wall Street (though I don't think it's a good economic indicator) jumped 1.5% today.
What other signs are you seeing out there? Optimistic or pessimistic? Give us your 2010 predictions and the small signals you're seeing where you live.
FROM THE NEWS BLOG: http://blogs.current.com/news/2010/01/04/2010-same-sht-different-year-real-recovery/
SOURCES: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6021LK20100103
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/business/05markets.htmlIt's the first day back at work in the New Year and the question on my mind is... more
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Yesterday we found out that there was going to be some leftover money from TARP and that Obama wanted to put it to job growth. He gave a speech today outlining some plans. Among the highlights? Assisting small businesses, putting more money to infrastructure and encouraging investments in clean energy. He also called on businesses to do their part for job creation as well, saying there was only so much government could do.He'll meet with lawmakers tomorrow to get some of these plans rolling.
FROM THE NEWS BLOG: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/12/08/obama-lays-out-plan-for-jobs-meeting-lawmakers-tomorrow/Yesterday we found out that there was going to be some leftover money from TARP and... more
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