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Archive for December 14th, 2006

DKS survey results

Thursday, December 14th, 2006

Last spring a focus group was conducted for the Stater. As I planned my semester as editor, the results of the focus group were very helpful in determining what we could and should be doing better. I addressed a number of the issues and worked hard to fix or improve any I could, and I do believe we made a difference.

This fall, other focus groups were held and a random survey was conducted among students. I don’t actually know who initiated this follow-up, but I do like that I can see how my editorship impacted the paper. I never saw the raw data from the first one, but I was forwarded a copy of this semester’s raw data today. Some of it is pretty encouraging, some of it not so much.

  • more than 80% of respondents said the Stater is one of their news sources, with more than half saying they read it 3-4 times per week or every day.
  • an astounding (! to me at least) 85% don’t read StaterOnline. (Which makes me wonder who the people reading it are because we obviously can see the hits?)
  • 90% of respondents either “agree” or “strongly agree” that the Stater adequately covers campus news. (Other high scores, but not nearly as high, went to Kent area news, features, editorials, etc.)
  • no section had anywhere near a majority feel we didn’t adequately cover that segment of news. The closest one was international news, which 21% of respondents checked “disagree” on. (Which makes sense. We pretty much stick to Kent/KSU and only tangentially cover international affairs, except through wire on Nation & World.)
  • the overwhelming majority of respondents consider the DKS a “credible source of news/information.”

The open-ended questions were interesting as well. But I’m not going to quote them or anything here, except to say there were some things we obviously need to draw more attention to because a number of people mentioned things we *do* as “suggested improvements”… also there were quite a few responses that said “more of thus&so” with others saying “less of thus&so”, so that’s always to be taken with a grain of salt. Hopefully Seth and Rachel can take this even further next semester.

OK, I lied because I just saw this comment and it made me happy: I don’t want anything to change! I love it, I read it every day!”

All in all though, the results were quite favorable. And I’m happy with that.

Dear professors, please post my grades already

Thursday, December 14th, 2006

So, for as horrible as I did on the cultural anthropology final, I somehow managed to pull a B in that course. Honestly, I have no idea how that occurred. There was a period in life when a B would bring me to tears. But, I’ll take it in this instance. This semester, I pretty much majored in the Daily Kent Stater. And I don’t regret it at all.

My real question now is, why have only two of my grades been posted? The anthropology exam was my last exam. How can that grade be up but not my others? What sense does that make? Absolutely none. I took one of the finals a week ago.

Although this does make me wonder, what if I was one of those borderline seniors who could potentially not graduate. What if one of the grades could go south and could prevent me from having enough credits to graduate? If my professors (four of them) have yet to file final grades, how will the university be able to hand off diplomas on Saturday? I know they don’t give you actual diplomas and do a final credit check before mailing them out, but still. It would seem they’d need to have the actual grades in front of them before letting you walk across the stage.

Either way, I just want to know what my grades are. Post them already!

UPDATE! My news design grade was posted. An A, though that’s not a surprise. It was the one journalism class I had and as such the class I gave the most effort to this semester. Still waiting on three others. Right now, my GPA is down to 3.76.

Newspaper’s carolers make me smile

Thursday, December 14th, 2006

Kids are adorable. That goes without saying. However, it doesn’t have to go without watching. I’d like to direct your attention to a few adorable kids singing Christmas songs over at the Springfield News-Sun. In addition to being a great way to engage the community and use the community to provide interesting and amusing content, the idea of having readers sing and then other readers vote is a good one. You’re engaging both for minimal effort and minor editing. And plus, you’re providing my “cute meter” with plenty of fodder.

In case you’re wondering, while Joshlyn and Josh are by far the cutest, my vote for best goes to the first entry, Tyler. I played the violin for a decade, and I love Christmas carols as much as the next person. But I don’t know if I would have been willing to play and sing on camera at my peak, let alone when I was that age. He’s actually pretty good, too.

I love that the staff sings on video, too. Although I *know* I wouldn’t be willing to do that even today, I do admire the people who are. It definitely gives you a “we’re having fun” vibe.