Tag: James H. Williams

Moving on to the next chapter

A chapter completed.

Yesterday was probably the last day in which I will have my core Viewpoints staff from the 2016 Spring Semester all in one room. While some of them will remain with the college newspaper to continue what has been started, others will be moving on including myself. For all stories we have written for the newspaper, the stories we all have with each other as a staff, not only from this semester but from my entire time with the program, are the stories I will remember most. Dare I say, the highs and lows we shared together is a book that could write itself.
None of this would of been possible without my family, who have always supported me. Which is something I was never really able to appreciate to the fullest until I found my passion and career. If it wasn’t for their support, I would be lost. So to Joy (mom), Clarence (dad), Michelle (sister) and Jesse (brother) I say thank you.

To my Viewpoints family (which includes just about everyone I ever worked with), I say thank you. As much as many of you have claimed to have learned from me….I learned just as much if not more from many of you! Just writing this is making me think of the people I have worked with during my time at Viewpoints.
Whether I was the Editor-In-Chief or just a section editor, I strived to be the best leader that I could be and serve as that support system for you guys as you guys were for me whether you knew it or not.
Alexis, Matt, Valerie, Laura, Jim and Luis are just some of the many that have helped make my time at Viewpoints a memorable experience.

Obviously this is not the end of my journalism career, I am just getting started and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if I work with some of you again in the future.

In closing, stay true to your gimmick and never trifle.

Visual: San Bernardino County boys soccer rankings

Why Twitter’s character limit increase is a good thing

Twitter is reportedly entertaining the thought of increasing its character count limit per tweet from 140 to 10,000.

It sounded pretty crazy at first but after reading about it. There is a lot of positives that could make any Twitter user happy.

I will be the first to admit that I was against the idea because half the fun of Twitter is getting your point across in 140 characters. I also like the current limit restraints because it keeps you focused on what you are trying to say and eliminates extra information that I, as a reporter, would be tempted to fit into a single tweet. 

While it does sound fine and dandy, there are those heartbreaking moments  when you have something you want to post immediately only to find out you are one character over the 140 limit. Then you spend five minutes fumbling around to make it fit.

Usually I work around it but I really got to thinking about the whole concept of increasing the limit when I saw this tweet from Twitter’s co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey:

 

The way he went about that tweet really opened my eyes because I have seen several of my followers do the things he has mentioned before such as tweetstorms and the screenshot text post.

One thing that I find beneficial is that it will make tweets searchable, which in my eyes is definitely a plus. 

Think about it. You screenshot your long tweet, or rant for that matter, and post it. Clearly you want someone to see it but how can they if it is not something you can search. You are cutting yourself short.

So without knowing it, this may be a change we been asking for and just haven’t realized until now.

Not sure how many of you still use this but I am sure at one time or another if you been on Twitter long enough you used TwitLonger, the third party site that provides a link to your expanded tweet.

Well much like the increase to the direct message character limits, which is at 10,000 characters, the same could be coming to your public timeline but how will that come across the timeline visually.

While it sounds like this possible increase will not hurt the way tweets are currently viewed and displayed on your timeline, we can only cross our fingers and hope for the best.

Also, if they do go through with 10,000 character count tweets. Please Twitter, add an edit button. Yes, add an edit history display as well.

Do not be afraid to follow in the steps of Facebook on this one thing.

But the elephant in the room still remains. Why did they decided to make the huge jump from 140 to 10,000 in the first place?

Only time will tell but as far as how the 140 limit came about regarding SMS made sense and as someone who had to text message tweets at one time because I did not have a smart phone, I can appreciate and respect that decision.

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Viewpoints’ special centennial issue

Well here it is!

As the event got closer and closer, I started to get this idea in my head but at the same time…I thought about something Jorge said at a JACC a few semesters back that really stuck with me.

“Leave a legacy,” he said.

While that was something I mentioned to my staff it was not my main focus.

You only get to celebrate a centennial once and for as much as I had heard about this centennial upon my arrival as a student here at Riverside City College…I knew I would be foolish to ignore it.

Along the way some valuable lessons were learned and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

I am so proud of my staff and the way they handled this issue overall. I also thought it was a positive experience to see the college as a whole rally behind this issue and spreading the word about our coverage.

For as much as we tried to provide a service to the RCC community, they were just as giving with what they did for us.

I want to thank the members of my staff that went out of their way and canceled plans they may have had to contribute to this issue especially after we had already put together a print edition earlier this week.

These moments are what make my job enjoyable and worth doing.

Thank you all for your support whether you are a member of my staff or someone who has been in my corner for a long long time!

Shoutout to Alexis, Laura, Crystal, Tyler, Victor, Stacy, David, Brooke and everyone else that helped with this.

ISSUE CAN BE FOUND HERE