All you need is a little Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust… A Help Page may be good as well

If you are like me you can never have things jut the way they came. You have to take them one step up from where they were. Even if that means using your faith as you dive headfirst into the world of PHP. But that’s the funny thing about leaps of faith, they usually lead you to learning more than you ever expected. I ended up learning more about my Danland template.

When it came time for me to choose which template I was going to use for my Drupal site I was over whelmed by the possibilities. There are hundreds out there. Which one do you choose? I looked into a few, narrowed down my choices and installed one. This theme did not last long and was quickly uninstalled because frankly I found it extremely hard to use. There was also no real help on it posted and if it was there I was just not at the level to understand it. I again found myself at the starting block. Then I found the world of Danland and everything fell right into place.

The Danland theme is one which many individuals have used and know very well. Because of this it is a very new user friendly template. There are tons of help pages written in plain English ( or as plain as you can get in Drupal) to help out the lost CMS users. Anything you want to do with your page the information on how to do it is at your finger tips. All you have to do is search. You will never want to leave your Danland world once you start modifying it! It may take a little maneuvering and remembering where you saw that file before, but with some slight moving and shaking you will be flying your way to an amazing website in no time.

The Danland handbook is a great resource for everything Danland. It has been my trusted guide so far in my journey.

Photo used with a Creative Commons Liscense

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theseahawk/2113028314/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Could social media kill the press reporter, just how video killed the radio star? Senior Capstone update 3/21 to 3/25

With the trend of politicians and government official using Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube to directly reach out to the public there has been some questioning if the world of the press junket is on its way out the door. Looking into this question and trying to find and answer has been the focus of my research this week.

The Press themselves don’t quite feel that they are threatened. Mainly it all comes down to if the American people understand the information which is given to them through these social and new media outlets. The world of new and social media reaches only to certain demographics. Although these demographics have grown in size immensely mainly due to the expanding need to be media savvy, they still do not reach many groups of people who are regular followers of current events or are not technologically inclined. Because of this there will always be a need for other forms and methods of communication beside those linked to new media.

Secondly the American public take the tweets and status updates of these officials as news but really they are a repackaged press release. Why read a whole page when you can get the important info in less than 160 characters? When it really comes down to it you must look at the source or the tweet or update. Information coming straight from the individual is not an outside look or report. The information that comes from the individual could be skewed and bias in a way to make themselves look better.

The press is still needed to give that outside look in. They are needed to collect all of this information and align it in an unbiased way to show the whole story. These social media outlets allow for transparency into the world of the government. But, what is not fully realized is the fact that this transparency could be more like looking through plastic wrap than a window. It could be slightly distorted. But, playing devil’s advocate, news coverage depending on how you obtain it, newspaper, tv or radio could still be skewed in a direction. You just have to be careful.

So in the end, is Facebook going to kill the Front page?

Not likely.

Photo used with a creative commons license: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cafetricot/231865887/

Stereotypes, Issues and Votes... Oh My! Senior Capstone Update March 6-11

Every night when I go to bed I look at a personalized bumper sticker that sits above my head board. Future West Virginia Senator : Ashley Hawkins. It is a constant reminder of my goals and ambitions. This week I dove more into the book The Political Consequences of Being a Woman by Kim Fridkin Kahn. My project is dealing with helping run a successful Gubernatorial campaign for a female candidate. Because of this while reading the book, I focused on the overall political situation women face in a Gubernatorial race. In doing my research this week I found out some interesting information about successful statewide political races. And came to the realization that maybe my sticker should say future WV Governor.

Plain and simple the numbers show that it is easier to become a female Governor than a female Senator. But neither of these offices are easy to get elected into as a woman. West Virginia has never had a female Senator or Governor. In the history of this country there has only been 35 female governors ever and 39 female senators. But of the 39 senators 13 were appointed and 7 of those were appointed to fulfill the terms of their deceased husbands. So honestly there have only been 26 elected female senators. This threw me. I mean they are both state elections what would make the difference. What it comes down to is the issues and stereotypes.

There are certain stereotypes about what women are good at and the positive traits they posses. Women are supposed to be warm, understanding, emotional and compassionate. Unfortunately it is very hard to get around these stereotypical beliefs of a women’s character. Even more sadly is all women who are trying to be competitive in the political arena must posses these traits or they will get no where. Lacking these will make you too “ manly” and will make voters uncomfortable voting for you. These trends of “ soft “ traits lend themselves to such issues and platforms as education and healthcare more than say defense and fiscal/economic issues. This is where the split for Governor and Senator arises. A Gubernatorial campaign focuses on the needs of the state on the state level. It will deal extensively on issues such as educational and healthcare. Things women are supposed to be good at. At the Senatorial level the view is a bit more nationwide. You represent your state but the outcome is for the best of the nation. These issues range more to the defense and economic issues. Women are “not” supposed to be good in that arena. There are ways to try and overcome these issues through your campaign but that is another topic for another day.

Overall sadly even in the political world stereotypes are throwing women into the roles they feel they could play best. It’s ironic that we feel as if we have come so far even though we have so much farther to go. This being said I feel as if the Senator sticker will stay. There maybe a Governor one to join it someday. You never know where life will take you.

Photo used with a creative commons liscense:http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/3631547119/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Hi Ashley, it’s Natalie... Senior Capstone Update Feb 26- Mar 6

Unexpected it the name of the game this week ladies and gentlemen.

In life you have to jump at the opportunities given to you. Even if that means scraping your plans for the week so you can roll with the punches. Thankfully my senior capstone calendar is electronic or I would have had a bunch of eraser marks by now.

This week I planned on drafting and creating my election plan and launching my Facebook and Twitter accounts. All this changed Monday afternoon when I got a phone call from Natalie Tennant herself asking for my help coordinating a meet and greet in Shepherdstown this coming Saturday. My week now had a new purpose and direct ion, which was not the one I originally expected it to have. So this week I accomplished A LOT! I set up my Facebook page and created an event on it for Natalie. This got the word out very quickly. On campus I talked to the political science honor society about the event and addressed Young Democrats about the event and a future campaign stop. They were very supportive. By the time Saturday came the even was a success with both community and Shepherd people alike attending.

This week has been the most rewarding so far. I was very happy at the event when I saw Shepherd students who are not interested in politics educationally. They had seen my event on facebook and came out to hear Natalie. I had gotten someone to go out of his or her way to hear her and get involved. That to me made all the difference. Secondly I think another great moment this week was when I got a like on my Facebook page from someone who was not a local Shepherd democrat or that I personally knew. It meant that my efforts to reach other West Virginians worked. This week was a big personal win for me.