University of South Carolina Libraries
2ag£ia“ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13,2002 _ ' ‘Newsroom of future’ set to open Newsplex will test techniques for journalists in converging media BY COREY GARRIOTT THE GAMECOCK The newsroom of the future is set to open Wednesday — right next door to USC, at South Carolina Educational Television beside Williams-Brice Stadium. It’s called Newsplex, and it’s where next year’s methodology will be tested today, in a $2-mil lion facility inte the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies. “In an era of convergence, a newspaper reporter might have to write something for the Web site. A TV reporter might have to file something for a radio station.” Fisher said, “In the future, you may well have to format the story for a PDA, or consider the video elements of it.” The Associated Press alreadv grating all forms of media into one room. Newsplex is a way to research, through trial and error, what tech niques work best for reporters un der the stress of multiple media formats and short deadlines. “We’re on the verge of a true revolution in npwcrnnmc ” caiH Douglas Fisher, a professor in the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies. “Much of the technology that you’ve seen up till now has been primarily to speed up a linear production pro cess.” But reporters today must file the same story in several media, he said, multiplying the labor. “Journalists are being asked to do more than they ever did be fore,” said Randy Covington, di rector of college advancement in “The newsroom of the future needs to be an environment where the information cascading in can be managed. It’s not some genius technology, necessarily - it’s information management.” RANDY COVINGTON DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE ADVANCEMENT IN THE COLLEGE OF MASS COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION STUDIES includes coding on the wires that enables it to be automati cally reformat ted for the Web, he said. Shorter deadlines also crunch the work time for any one article. “The news cycle — which is the point from which vnn rennrt the story to when you get it out — has dropped in a decade from 12 hours to 30 minutes,” Fisher said. To see how reporters will solve these problems, Newsplex will simulate a futuristic newsroom with real reporters covering sto ries on various media, and lead ers will watch the spontaneous methods that reporters create, Covington said. “The newsroom of the future ♦ NEWSPLEX, SEE PAGE 4 PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK Dave “DTrlckle” Ferguson, a third-year history student, plays rock music for WUSC. The Free Times awarded USC’s student-run radio station honorable mention in Its “Best of Columbia” edition, which was WUSC's second recognition by the newspaper. WUSC gets Free Times award BY JOHN PENNINGTON THE GAMECOCK USC’s student-run radio sta tion, WUSC-FM 90.5, has been awarded honorable mention in the Free Times’ “Best of Columbia” edition. Tug Baker, the WUSC station manager, said he was “happy for the recognition and would like to thank everybody who voted.” First place went to WARQ-FM 93.5. This marks only the second time in the 14-year history of the newspaper’s awards that WUSC has been recognized. The radio station won first place in 1990. “I think this says a lot about Columbia,” Baker said. “People are becoming tired of the main stream music.” WUSC, which does not play top-40 music, pro vides alternative programming, including specialty programs fo cusing on single genres of music such as blues, punk, ska, coun try, acoustic and jazz. Baker said current trends in popular music might have con tributed to the recognition. “Even popular bands like the Strokes and Andrew W.K. have non-mainstream sounds,” he said. The recognition is especially important for the station be “I think this says a lot about Columbia. People are becoming tired of the mainstream music.” TUG BAKER WUSC STATION MANAGER cause it is a noncommercial, ed ucational, free-format station, according to the station’s Web site. The radio station has also re cently upgraded to 24-hour pro gramming, which Baker thinks might have boosted its fan base. “It’s hard to have a complete ly student-run station run 24 hours a day,” Baker said. “But we have a bunch of new DJs that we put through D J train big, so now we’re able to run all day.” Amy Sbigmaster, Free Tunes publisher, said the award shows a diverse Columbia fan base. “The voting is not heavily stu dent based,” she said. WUSC “should be very pleased.” The annual edition of Free Times asks readers to vote “for their favorite artists, stores, ♦ WUSC, SEE PAGE 6 Students to give free tests for HIV BY KEITA ALSTON THE GAMECOCK This time, students are the ones giving the tests as the USC Health and Wellness Center spon sors OraSure testing for HIV AIDS. The testing, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., will run until Nov. 25 in rooms 203 and 205 of the Russell House, and is free for USC stu dents. Maurice Williams, a graduate student at the Health and Wellness Center, said that usual ly, nurses from different clinics within the Columbia area do the testing, but he said, this time, they’ve trained graduate assis tants and other students in how to perform the OraSure testing. “It’s not like a nurse has to be there and place the pad into their mouth,” Williams said. “There will be nurses here to oversee actually what’s going on, but there will be students actu ally writing down the informa tion who have been trained to do it.” The OraSure test for HIV-AIDS is 99.97 percent accurate, Williams said, and test results are available in 10 days. He said the OraSure test is noninvasive. “It doesn’t involve a needle or anything like that,” he said. ♦AIDS TEST, SEEPAGE 6 I Joseph 1 Schmidt, a uj first-year H history p student, holds p a plate of rice I at the Oxfam fi Carolina 1 Hunger L Banquet ft Tuesday night f| In the 1 Capstone |j Conference §| Hall. M Participants gj were assigned P high, medium g or low incomes. L People at each ■ level received a jp different meal, P representing ! the distribution L of food p worldwide. E PHOTO BY FORD E DAVIS/THE ■ GAMECOCK P BY WAIEL FALEH THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD, IRAQ — Iraq’s par liament recommended Tuesday that President Saddam Hussein reject the new U.N. weapons in spection resolution, but the Iraqi leader’s son offered a way out — make Arabs part of the United Nations team. f^dai Saddam Hussein’s pro Iraq parliament rejects U.N. inspections plan posal, which echoes one from the Arab League, didn’t impress Washington. The United States insists Iraq accept the U.N. res olution to avoid war. The final decision rests with Saddam, who must respond to the U.N. by Friday. Bush scoffed at the rejection of the resolution. “If Saddam Hussein does not comply to the detail of $|he resolution, we will lead a coalition to disarm him,” he said. Iraqi representatives, who must pledge loyalty to Saddam to earn a place in the 250-seat parliament, voted unanimous ly Tuesday to recommend re jecting the U.N. resolution. Parliament speaker Saadoun Hammadi described the vote as ♦ IRAQ, SEE PAGE 4 ; ’ Experiencing I hunger first hand ■:* At Oxfam Banquet, students get a taste of how 1 food is really distributed around the world BY MICHAEL LAFORGIA THE GAMECOCK People went from riches to rags Tuesday night at Oxfam Carolina’s 10th annual Hunger • Banquet, in the Capstone Conference Hall. Maura Kurtz, president of Oxfam Carolina, said the banquet was “a dramatization about the unequal distribution of food around the world.” The program featured several presentations (intended to promote an understanding of con temporary hunger issues and was accompa nied by live music from Haiduken, a local band. At the door, participants drew tickets that randomly assigned them a high, medium or low income. To accurately reflect the compo sition of the world, 55 percent of the tickets as signed low income levels, 30 percent assigned medium income levels and 15 percent assigned high income levels. Seating and meal type were determined by income level. High-income ticket holders sat at tables and enjoyed the use of utensils, com plete meals and soft drinks. Medium-income ticket holders sat in chairs lined along a wall, used utensils and were served rice, beans and water. Low-income representatives sat on the ♦ HUNGER, SEE PAGE 6 Index Comics and Crossword 10 Classifieds 13 Horoscopes 10 Letters to the Editor 7 , Online Poll 7 Police Report 3 Weather TODAY High 60 Low 38 TOMORROW High 63 Low 43 _* Inside ♦ ON THE WEB For state, nation and world briefs, visit www.dailygamecock.com. ♦ VIEWPOINTS Edrin Williams can help students with end-of semester stress. Page 7 ♦ THE MIX The seventh annual Native American Film Festival is set to play at the Nickelodeon Theatre this weekend. Page 8 ♦ SPORTS The football team begins to feel frustrated as it prepares for Florida. Page 11 :’Jt_