The day started off with everyone leaving the school and arriving at the CU Boulder campus at around 8:30 A.M. in the Macky Auditorium. Everyone had four different sessions throughout the day where they learned different skills applicable for pursuing a successful career in journalism. The four sessions I attended were; Analyzing AI Chatbot and disinformation, What’s your angle?, Write like Taylor Swift, and How opinion writing defends democracy.
The first session, “Analyzing AI Chatbot and disinformation”, covered ways artificial intelligence (AI) can provide value and harm. I gained a deeper understanding of probabilities of AI producing misinformation and inaccurate data. The instructor explained there were issues with the water at the school she taught at last year, leading to its poor quality. She asked ChatGPT to write an article using a quote from the principal about why the water was having issues.
The Chatbot then produced a quote used by the principal that he had never stated before, and produced an entirely different story that made the water poisonous, proving her point. “You have to put junk in to get junk out,” the presenter stated near the end of the session.
The second session I went to was called “What’s Your Angle?” This session discussed how to create effective stories and articles. I learned that a strong story always has a lead character and uses vivid language to draw real life connections to your writing.
The instructor also described how language usage and angle for writing can significantly shift and influence the entire mood of the piece.
The third session I attended was called “Write Like Taylor Swift”, which was the session I disliked the most. The leaders were two teachers who did not know much about the singer and the majority of the session we reviewed song lyrics and explained the meaning behind the writing. The session did not focus on covering how to write like Taylor Swift, which, unfortunately, was what my expectation was for this session.
The final session I attended was “How Opinion Writing Defends Democracy”. The educator was a previous journalist from the Denver Post. I believe this was the best session I attended during the day.
This session connected to the first one, as he said that opinion writing allows you to go deeper and help understand what your angle is. The leader of the discussion says “be a voice for the voiceless” near the end of the session. I believe he said this because he wanted to try to explain the responsibility that comes with people of authority and power to make positive contributions to others and communities.
Awards were given at the conclusion of these sessions. The Mav received recognition for 2023-24 All-Colorado Online Award.
Congratulations to The Mav staff for this incredible achievement. This award recognized the commitment, dedication and hard work of The Mav staff for their efforts.
