Article ideas

[carrja99]

Well, school is back in full swing, I've been to all my courses (even a new linux course, I'll talk about it later) and suprisingly, writing for the campus newspaper for my university.

I'll basically be submitting several articles, basically a political opinion editorial, a bit of off campus news, music reviews, and what I'd really like to be a kind of "Your Rights Online" continuing series.

So my query here is perhaps a couple of ideas (just ideas) that I could implement into my articles. One of the first articles I am considering would perhaps kind of raise awareness about spyware and adware (80% of calls I got for help last year were related to this) and give several easy steps to removing and preventing both with maybe a little bit of a debate about violation of privacy on that issue.

After that, it's free hunting. I'd like to keep my column simple so that non-technical people will be able to comprehend it a bit. :D

Oh, and I don't really need to do an article on linux (I might though) as I discovered a new course is offered! I spoke with my professor about perhaps doing independent study to get an elective in, and he suggested a new class that he has this year.

Imagine my suprise when he opened the class by showing a few hilights of Revolution OS and stated that as part of the course we'll be viewing the film!

As for the subject matter itself, it 's very easy and I could do it in my sleep, it's aimed at helping a person with no experience with linux be able to use it efficiently, master the CLI, bash scripting, etc.

Of course, I'll be handing out copies of Debian and Knoppix in class. :D

[keyshawn]

Cool idea...

Good luck.

One question\comment, though:
I've heard Debian isn't exactly the most friendly for newbs.
Are you just picking it instead of mandrake or red hat out of personal preference ?!?!?!?!?

other article ideas:
- The MP3 File-sharing debate [the riaa and its tatics, etc...]
btw, how did your university handle it ??!?!?!
[or even feature music artists that support file-sharing]

[joelc]

To follow up on the Adware article you could do one on virii. Protecting your PC. It's been getting a lot of press lately anyway because of Blaster and the new SoBig, and a lot of freshmen get to school and have access to a high speed, always on network for the first time and aren't aware of the dangers involved.

Oh, and at the bottom of each article, you could have a little 'Short' Section cuttoff called "App of the Week" or whatever (it may not be a weekly article?) where you highlight an app worth trying (things like GIMP, Zinf (open source media player for windows that will do ogg vorbis, mp3, etc), and other good open source apps for the that non-open source OS.

Other ideas:
On any campus there will be a few game servers (counter-strike or UT, starcraft or warcraftIII, etc), and people who play on them. You could give them some press.

If you don't like App of the Week, you could try gadget of the week (think geek has plenty to keep that going for a long time)

Build-your-own computer article. What pieces do you need to find? Where to get them (ie, how to use pricewatch.com), what to look for in certain parts, how much to pay, what's currently considered to be enough RAM, fast enough video card, etc.

What to look for in a laptop (size vs speed/feature tradeoffs, pricing, on board video reduces RAM, combo drive, battery power, etc)

Mac vs PC (vs Linux) (be prepared for some loud feedback on this one, but at least you'll know whether or not you're being read)

An "If you haven't tried linux lately..." article (those who did a couple years back and gave up because they couldn't get it then may find it's advanced enough to give it another look)

Another virus/windows update article, reminding people to keep their definition files up to date and their systems secured, especially on a campus network.

A piece on the campus network, and how to get the most from it. --Sharing files securely and responsibly and then accessing those files from a lab (I'm thinking homework here), how to find the game servers, where to find a less crowded lab or one with better machines, etc.