Non-topical keywords such as "the" and "every" were omitted from this list. This data was collected from 25,000 words taken from Belmontvision.com article header, caption and body text from date range March 10, 2008 to April 21, 2008. "Sexual" assault was a topic covered in length by student media at the time.
Non-topical keywords such as "the" and "every" were omitted from this list. This data was collected with no date range from 25,000 words found in blog headers and body text from random Belmont students associated with or "Facebook friends" with Nathan Baker. These words were published using Facebook Notes, a form of blogging. This sample is not representative of Belmont University. Therefore, this information would be best be used for sparking future research ideas and disscusion.
Student Newspaper
A more complete collection of keywords sized arccording to word frequency
Student Blog Posts
A more complete collection of keywords sized arccording to word frequency
From this content analysis, I learned a few things that could be topics for future research. For instance, students discuss topics very differently according to the context of the topic. For instance, more "life" keywords appear in data from Facebook posts rather than what we might think of as traditional news locations. This makes sense, and it suggests that a student journalist wouldn't necessarily talk about their relationship with a friend or ponder life in an article, whereas a student is more likely to have these conversations in online public forums such as Facebook.
This may also mean that students expect specific things depending on where they are getting information. If a student wanted to know about the Belmont University community or local musicians, this research has shown that reading the Belmont Vision newspaper would be a good place to start. On the other hand, Facebook would be a more likely place to find discussions about God, life and friends.
I don't think it is necessarily the idea to push Facebook discussions into the news realm or to push newspaper article topics towards the social realm. I think these divisions are natural, but it doesn't mean that viewing the other side of the fence isn't a good tool for either knowing ones audience or for being informed.
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