The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 13, 2002, Image 1
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_