My Blogosphere

    I want to share last week's assignment before I sign off from this course. We had to develop a futures wheel on blogging. A futures wheel is just a fancy term for charting how we see the future of a given topic. We were encouraged to “let our imagination roll.”

I created a solar system based on the Blogoshere. Yeah, it's way out there, but we must not forget to have fun while we learn. Let your own imagination go wild as you read my own silly planet chart. One fellow student suggested that paparazzi be astroids. Now that's funny!

   My futures wheel is similar to a vibrant, active solar system. I will refer to this universe as my Blogosphere. There are eight planets that rotate around the sun. Each planet represents an outer ring into the universe.

    Hop on the Blogosphere social shuttle to visit or live on any of these planets, including the sun!

The sun = Planet Educator. Let's start with an energy source: The sun. The sun is 109 times as big as the earth. Without the sun, there would be no life on earth. Earth would be dark, cold and barren, and the other planets would be in perpetual blackness.

In my Blogosphere, the sun represents journalism education. The sun is home to The Sun Academy, where journalism teachers and advisers harness the sun's energy to teach students everything they need to know about journalism.

Journalism educators here have their work cut out for them, though. Not only is it their mission to teach traditional journalism values, like ethics, transparency, balance and verification, but they also must keep up with the most recent technology. Newspapers no longer exist, so journalists disseminate all of their news throughout the entire solar system using social media.

Mercury = Planet Student Bloggers. Mercury is the first planet in the solar system. It's one of the smallest planets, but it's the first! This is a popular communal planet where graduates from The Sun Academy go to live. They stay in shared housing while they hone their writing and ethical skills. They live here until they are ready to move to Venus, where good paying jobs with great benefits are plentiful.

Venus = Planet Legacy Bloggers. All working journalists who live on this planet maintain professional and personal blogs. There's a standard, industry-wide code of ethics derived from the Elements of Journalism (101^st revised edition), which eliminates much of the current confusion when using social media tools. This planet is nicknamed The Fourth Estate. Because all journalists here have jobs, they also own their own hover crafts and homes!

Earth = Planet First Amendment. Remember when Earth was the only planet in the solar system that sustained life? Now, thanks to artificial air and water sources, the other eight planets are thriving with life. But earth is a special place because of its historical value. Not only is this planet known for the creation of humans, it's also where the First Amendment was created.

Yes, this 18^th Century document still exists today! So, because of First Amendment, all legacy and citizen bloggers throughout the entire universe exercise their right to free speech, and censorship is banned.

Mars = Planet Truth. This is home of Poytner Institute and headquarters for the Solar System World JEA. Conveniently located between the planets First Amendment and Citizens, Planet Truth is a popular seminar destination for blogger educators and students.

Jupiter = Planet Citizens. This is the largest planet in the universe, and it's where most citizens live now. Citizens subscribe to their favorite news bloggers from throughout the solar system. Because of the mind-boggling high volume of bloggers available, there is universe-wide accreditation system. This helps to alert citizens when a blog originates from the Planet Uranus.

Saturn = Planet Interesting and Relevant. The inhabitants on this planet are known for their artsy blogging. These crazy newsmakers go above and beyond the 5Ws and the H. Saturnites think outside hemisphere by using short story forms and advanced multimedia. Need inspiration? This is a favorite vacation destination for news bloggers who are tired of the same old way of telling a story. The inhabitants on this planet don't mind sharing their skills and enthusiasm with others. In fact, bloggers from other planets are encouraged to enroll in one of the many famous creative blogging schools here.

Uranus = Planet Misinformation. This makes sense, doesn't it? You know what happens when you assume... This is where bloggers are exiled when they are are caught blogging misinformation, rumor, innuendo and lies. It's way out there in the universe, where it belongs.

Neptune = Planet New Media. This is planet where social scientists are working on the new media that hasn't been even been invented yet. This planet is light years away, but as fast as technology is changing, it won't take long to arrive. We just need to go around Uranus to get there.