No Games Chicago 2016 Olympic Protest

As the day draws closer when the 2016 Olympic city is announced cities prepare for the big announcement and yes that even means dealing with the protests that are taking place in Chicago. The group No Games Chicago is opposing the bid for the Olympics in Chicago in 2016 claiming that the city of Chicago does not have enough money to finance a massive worldwide event like this and that instead of spending large quantities of money on this even it should be invested in better schooling among other things in the city.

Also the group is stating that there are going to be too many people of a lower class in the Washington Park area who are kicked out of there houses in order to build structures for the Olympics.

On Tuesday September 29 the group held a protest outside of Chicago's city hall trying to inform the city that Chicago is not ready to hold such an even like the Olympics.

On Friday Oct. 2 the International Olympic Committee will announce the winner of the 2016 Olympics. At 9:00 a.m in Daley Plaza there will be a celebration for the announcement.

Mashup Websites, A Journalists Favorite Tool

Being a journalist in the world today requires much more than just having an uncanny ability to write and interview but to also be able to produce graphs, statistics and push your articles with whatever social media needs possible. So what ways do journalists produce the graphs that we see everyday featured with an article, and how do they journalists get these massive worldwide statistics without having to wait every 10 years for a new census to be published. There are some websites that many journalists are using to find this specific data.

StateMaster.com does a very good job to help any journalist or anyone simply interested in finding nearly any statistics. The best part about this website is that when you search a specific subject it breaks the information down by state and into graphs. Say you want to look at the rate of change of the number of people with healthcare. Simply enough you use the two pull down boxes to find health and in the second box % change in individual insurance. It is that easy to search a large database of information and have it broken down into mapping of health insurance information.

The problem that I have with this website is that the only way to view the information is in either a bar graph that is a bit confusing to read, or in a map broken down by state. I feel like there should be an easier way that they could show this information, but other than that this is a great tool for any journalist seeking tons of information or anyone simply curious about specific statistics.

Another website that I like titled This We Know, is a great site for anyone interested in a compilation of facts that would seem simple to find but simply aren’t easy to find. Its very easy to use all you do is type in the location you would like to know more information about, and it compiles this information into a nice list accompanied with a map, population and even mileage to nearby cities.

This site is fantastic and is a great tool for any journalist looking to find those hard to locate facts. I really like this site because of its simplicity and how there is even a link to the side of the fact that you can link that information straight to your Twitter.

The last website that I looked into is a great tool for anyone interested in a surplus of factual government information about activities, rule changes and proposed activities. GovPulse gives you the option to search nearly any information one can imagine as well as even search by location to find out what is going around in your city.

I did a quick simple search by city and looked at the most recent information about what is happening within 50 miles of Chicago. The information is published with an interactive map of where the certain activity or rule change takes place and you can even click on the location to find out more information about this activity or whatever it may be.

This is a great website with few flaws, and is great for any journalist trying to find information for an article that deals with any rule changes or proposed activities and where all this will take place.

These three websites are great tools for journalists trying to expand simplistic articles into interactive articles with great visuals and also a great way to fact check any information that they have received.

Chicago Police Investigating Series of Muggings in Lincoln Park Area

Recently in the Lincoln Park area the Chicago Police have reported a total of seven muggings involving, with all of the suspects being male in their early to mid twenties all walking alone. These victims have all been asked for their wallets and then severely beaten in the head and face. Two of these victims were hospitalized after the incident.

Chicago Police are still investigating to whether or not all of these muggings are linked and they suspect that five out of the seven are linked, the ones in question are the muggings that took place on Halsted in Boystown, and near the 400 block of W Deming Place.

FLYPmedia, Break New Ground in Online Media

As many newspapers and magazines see declines in there sales due to the rapid expansion of online news and media sites one website stands taller than the others. FLYPmedia is redefining and breaking new ground in an ever changing online media market.
This website doesn't limit itself to one subject matter instead it draws people from many markets who are looking to go to one website that is easy to use and yet has a wide variety of subject matter.

Well look no further FLYPmedia is here to stay. What seems to make this website so great is the simplicity that the reader feels when navigating the website. The website flawlessly combines text, photography like any print magazine, but gives the reader the advantage of being able to flip a page with one click.

Also this media outlet stands out among the bunch because not only do they have articles with pictures to explain more about the subject matter but they use video, audio and animation to their advantage to give the reader even more information on the subject. FLYP even allows there users to search through blogs, download their podcasts or simply search their archives with ease for older articles.

I was most impressed with FLYP's music and arts section because they not only have an article about the subject but give you the option to click on an animation to here this musicians music or see a video about them. The article that really displays FLYPmedia's muscles is there interview with director David Guggenheim who recently directed It Might Get Loud about guitar greats Jack White, The Edge and Jimmy Page. This beautifully written article combines all of these elements to tell a story not only textually but visually and audibly.

There are other website magazines like Rolling Stone who have tried to be successful by using there website as a media outlet like this where an individual can find a wide variety of subject matter as well as videos and music with the article but do not have the ease and simplicity that stands behind the FLYP name. Rolling Stone watch out FLYPmedia is catching eyes and is here to stay.