Biography
My name is Christopher J. Herman and my goal is to obtain a Master’s Degree from a highly recognized educational institution by May, 2015 and in doing so enhancing my skills as a journalist. I am pursuing my degree in Digital Media at Texas State University. As of 2014, I am working as a graduate assistant (teacher’s assistant) for Texas State’s Communication Department. I have worked as a public relations writer at Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU), an editor for Eastern’s university newspaper, The Campus Lantern, and a math and English tutor.
I have always had a love and respect for film, art and literature. These interests compelled me to follow entertainment websites, podcasts and critic reviews for years. As I got older, I wanted to write about these multiple mediums professionally and take an active role in promoting them to the general public. My expertise includes film, book and game reviews. I have also been involved in the distribution of a social media program called Readmedia at ECSU. This social media site allows users to view their academic, athletic and extracurricular achievements.
Currently, I am writing articles for an entertainment and film website called OneOfUs.net. This Texas based site provides coverage of relevant entertainment news, opinion articles and audio podcasts. My responsibilities include editing, covering local, national and international entertainment stories. As of February 2015, I have written 200 articles focusing on assorted topics, including film, television, comics and video games.
Digital and Internet Visualizations of Music/Music Sharing
A great visualization for using data to cover music is Music Map . When searching for a band or specific artist, lists of albums and songs related to them will pop up. After choosing the album a circle will appear on the map which connects to other related albums you might find interesting.
Liveplasma, much like Music Map, also provides a similar function to those looking for artists. Typing in the name of a specific kind of music or musician will cause the site to produce pop-ups, suggesting other related artists and song you might like.
Discuss your definition of data journalism:
When attempting to appropriately define “data journalism,” the word that immediately sticks out is “data.” To me, data is information, specifically focusing on demographics and numbers. It provides the numerical evidence that needs to go along with a story. This numerical evidence or data can add credibility to a journalist’s article or point of view.
What you think about its role in journalism in the future?
It’s obvious that data journalism has been put to practice with much success. Its use at providing helpful background and statistical information to a story is invaluable. It will most likely be continued to be incorporated into articles as a visual aid. This “visual aid” may take the form of something as simple as a graph to something more complex, like visualizations of music sharing that was discussed above.