Category: Vodcasts

by Eric Luu, Ayveri Lane–

Curio is a new app that recently became available for smartphones. It’s a unique app that allows people to gather their news by listening to articles. The app joins together multiple publications, such as The Washington Post and The Guardian, to share the news with listeners.

According to the New York Times, more than half of Americans have listened to a podcast. With the growth of popularity in audio formats within media, Curio created a space where users can listen to multiple different stories at the click of the button. It covers topics such as politics, economics, and technology. Users have the option to curate their listening feed to which topics interest them most.

This app is gaining popularity and is well liked, with a rating of 4.8 out of 5. The rising popularity speaks to the importance of creative and new forms of digital news delivery.

 

 

by Maria Berkowitz, Andrew Alix —

Reddit is an online news aggregation website founded by two University of Virginia roommates in 2005. In March 2019, Reddit reached 542 million monthly visitors, making it the sixth most visited website in the United States.

Reddit organizes itself through user-created areas of interest called SubReddits. These subreddits can focus on categories as broad as “r/politics”, which is subscribed to by over 4,930,693 Reddit users, to the vastly more specific “r/VirginiaTech” which is subscribed to by 13,822 users.

The popularity of the site is an example of how the rise of the internet and the development of user-oriented social media type platforms has transformed the way that people all over the world receive the news.  

 

Legalization and decriminalization of marijuana will not be coming to the Commonwealth of Virginia anytime soon.

In January, two bills that could have legalized and decriminalized marijuana across the Commonwealth were struck down by a House of Delegates subcommittee. The bills’ failures have led to many different opinions about recreational use of the drug, which is legalized in some form in over 30 states.

After asking students and other Blacksburg residents on Virginia Tech’s campus, a majority believe that the decriminalization and legalization of marijuana would be beneficial for the Commonwealth. They cite numerous reasons for their opinions, including its potential economic impact, medicinal benefits and the disproportionate incarceration rates of black Americans for marijuana-related offenses, as discussed in an article from the Washington Post. The few dissenting opinions cited that control of the drug was a primary concern.

Even with the demise of the bills, many remain hopeful that Virginia will loosen its marijuana laws in the future.

 

 

 

 

by Monica Becerra, Christina Dougherty–

It’s no secret that under President Tim Sands, Virginia Tech has taken lots of steps to try to make the university a more diverse place. Recently, Virginia Tech was selected as a 2018 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award recipient and a 2018 Diversity Champion by INSIGHT, the largest diversity publication. As far as what diversity really means to students on campus though, there are differing opinions.

After speaking with students, a lot of them feel that Virginia Tech is very welcoming and that it’s growing as a diverse space. On the other hand, however, some feel that while changes are definitely being made, Virginia Tech is not worthy of any awards quite just yet.

Regardless of one’s opinion on the topic, Virginia Tech has taken the award with pride and will continue to further its diversity efforts in hopes of making a more inclusive environment for all students.

by Alexis Bignotti, Ricky Lam–

Sexual assault lately has been a hot topic on Virginia Tech’s campus. Students recently have been receiving emails about the incidents happening. Virginia Tech students share their thoughts and feelings on the topic.

Most feel like Virginia Tech is doing all they can to make this issue known, and others think that more could be done to stop sexual assault. Some think that a program could be started on campus to make students more aware of what is going on.

These incidents are inevitable and Virginia Tech is continuing to try to reduce and stop them from happening.

by Samantha Smith, Ian Andrews–

 

Whether you are a Virginia Tech student, faculty member, or staff, finding a spot on campus can turn out to be one of the most challenging tasks of the day.

Some attribute this to the high number of faculty/staff parking spots versus the low number of spots attributed to students, while others say that it is due to Virginia Tech Parking and Transportation issuing too many parking permits.

According to the commuters we spoke with outside of the Squires Student Center, while the causes of this parking problem differ, the solution is simple – build another parking garage.

According to the Master Plan released by Virginia Tech in 2017, the university hopes to remove the Squires parking lot and the Duck Pond parking lot and add vertical parking solutions, such as parking garages.

 

Photo credit: portalgda on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

by Kallie Carson, Josh Henry–

According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook is taking action to help benefit and promote local news media with an update on users’ home news feed. Facebook page and post boosts have become extremely popular with businesses around the globe. Page admins are able to boost their posts or page by paying Facebook to increase their reach. Leaning on this idea, Zuckerberg plans to boost local news organizations posts for free.

For example, if a user follows their local news station or newspaper, these posts will be higher on the news feed and more prominent over other shared posts and stories. The new algorithm will be implemented in hopes to promote community involvement and spread local information rather than national .