By Leanna Talarico

            Old coffee bags used as art on the walls, chalkboard of what is in different coffee specialty drinks, the periodic sound of grinding and steaming, and the definite coffee aroma dancing through the air sure is a dead give away that this place is serious about coffee. Aldo Coffee, located right in the heart of Mount Lebanon, is not your typically coffee store.

Starbucks is a name that many know. However, though Starbucks serves coffee, gourmet coffee is not on its menu. Aldo Coffee opened its doors almost seven years ago and has been serving gourmet coffee ever since.

Sam Bastianini has been a barista at Aldo Coffee for almost two years. She says of her experience, “I really enjoy the coffee industry. I used to work at a corporate chain coffee store and then I got a job here. There is such a difference in the quality and taste compared to a chain coffee store. I would never go back to a corporate coffee shop.”

Aldo Coffee is filled with baristas, four of which go to barista competitions. The baristas learn how to do latte art. Latte art is when the foam on top of the coffee is formed into shapes like hearts, flowers, or just unique designs. If you order a latte or mocha you can be sure to see some latte art.

Bastianini talks about her latte art. “It was actually really hard to learn at first. It took a lot of practice, but it’s really fun to do and I can impress all of my friends when I make something really cool.”

Aldo Coffee has a very relaxing environment. Patrons can sit around and drink their coffee. There is not that typical hustle and bustle of a coffee shop where you feel you have to get up so others can have you seat. Aldo Coffee supplies games, books, and Wi-Fi for any patron. Sometimes, patrons spend hours in there just relaxing, listening to the music, and talking to the other patrons of baristas. Aldo has a robustly friendly environment. Everyone always has a smile on his or her face.

Aldo Coffee has been experiencing some changes recently. Melanie and Rich Westerfield opened up Aldo Coffee with a dream to bring Pittsburgh the best cup of coffee. However, Rich and Melanie left for Connecticut and are leaving Aldo Coffee behind to their good friend Sonja Schutte. Many patrons are worried about the change in ownership, but many are excited for the changes Sonja will bring to Aldo Coffee.

Schutte reminisces a lot about when she worked at Aldo five years ago. Her idea of change she would like to bring to Aldo Coffee is “take it back how it used to be.” Schutte enjoyed the spirited barista competitions and hopes that Aldo Coffee will regain its reputation for having the number one baristas.

Schutte plans on running the business with the help of her family. Luckily, her family is familiar with the business and knows how it is run. No one plans on making drastic changes that would upset customers. All the changes Schutte wishes to bring about are only to improve Aldo Coffee. Schutte’s first day of ownership was November 15 and so far all has ran smoothly.

All are sad to say goodbye to Melanie and Rich, but Schutte is excited to join Aldo Coffee, and patrons are excited to hear the plans for the coffee shop. The change has been very smooth and everyone seems to enjoy the change in ownership. One thing is certain though; the delectable flavors of Aldo Coffee are not going anywhere.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8VZ5LSY

The graphic was easy for me to use, but then again I am 21 and grew up using technology. The graphic is a diagram of a plane with the nine points of air travel expenses. The graphic zoomed in quickly, which I was not expecting. However, since using technology for a long time it was not hard for me to use. But for adults who still just have trouble grasping computers, I would imagine this would be a little difficult. To prove my point I had my mom who uses the computer but is terrible at it, use this graphic. She was not expecting that simply by scrolling her mouse over the image that it would zoom in. She had trouble getting to where she wanted and it took her an unnecessary long time to read the short little blurbs. And when it comes down to it, more computer illiterate people are going to be the ones using this diagram then the young adults and kids who know what to do.

The information is useful and easy to understand, but it really did not need to be shown as a graphic. A simple story would have sufficed. The diagram has the nine points at the top and then a diagram of a plane bordered with pictures to go along with the points. My thing is, everyone knows what overhead bin or legroom is. I do not need a picture to go along with it.

This graphic seemed very juvenile. It was extremely basic. Scroll your mouse over an image and it zooms in is not very detailed. I do not really understand the point of the graphic as well. The travel expenses are a legitimate concern or many people, but the graphic does not help to convey the message of how expensive things are. I would never recommend this graphic to a friend. I could easily tell them this information without having to show them the graphic.

http://www.time.com/time/interactive/0,31813,2075457,00.html

Talarico: Alexis Pampena is a nineteen year old student at Point Park University. Pampena majors in Multimedia Journalism. Pampena talks about how she feels towards her major.

Pampena: I don’t really know that much about my major but I am excited to learn or figure out the possible opportunities it can bring me. I’m still trying to learn more about what multimedia consists of and what area of it I am interested in, but I feel pretty excited just to be getting the chance to explore my possibilities.

Talarico: Pampena may just be a sophomore, but she has already had joined two clubs and has held a title as Vice President in one.

Pampena: I joined Association for Women in Communication last semester. This semester I became the Vice President for the Association for Women in Communication. So far I have created a Facebook page for the group and spread the word about the group. Though it is hard to get people to come to the meetings. I also am a member of the Online News Association.

Talarico: So far Pampena seems to really enjoy Point Park. She likes getting the chance to learn and network. Though she enjoys meeting new people, she does not see school as a place primarily for socializing.

PAMPENA: School is more about the experience for me and not so much about meeting new people. Don’t get me wrong. I like getting to meet with people and make new friends, but I am more interested in getting to learn and figure out my life.

Talarico: When not at work Pampena works. She describes herself as a bit of a workaholic. When not at school Pampena says she is probably at work and luckily she enjoys working.

Pampena: I work at Kohl’s since the summer. Sometimes folding clothes can get a little tiring, but I really enjoy my discount. Plus I love Kohl’s clothing. I like to work because I get to save some money and not be held back when I want to do something.

Talarico: Overall Pampena says she is very happy with school and work. Not only does she like her school and her major, but she likes the city environment of Point Park. Growing up in the suburbs can be boring for some. Pampena likes getting to escape the suburbs and just walk around in the city taking it all in. Though Pampena enjoys going to school, the rest of her life excites her.

Pampena: I really look forward to the rest of my life and see where my schooling takes me.

Natsound: Footsteps

Cousin Nate with his daughter Stella at my house on Tuesday October 18 for my aunt's birthdayCousin Nate's other daughter LenaCousin Nate's other daughter Greta

Me with identical twins Lena and Greta, my cousin Nate's two daughters

]]> http://talaricoblog.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/no-class-pictures/feed/ 0 talaricoblog Stella and Nate Babies! http://talaricoblog.wordpress.com/2011/10/15/audio-slideshow-critique/ http://talaricoblog.wordpress.com/2011/10/15/audio-slideshow-critique/#comments Sat, 15 Oct 2011 04:29:51 +0000 talaricoblog http://talaricoblog.wordpress.com/?p=26 ]]>  

I chose for my audio slideshow to watch a video on Cowboy Up! It is a program that helps physically and emotionally disabled veterans. It is three minutes and forty two seconds long, but a lot is crammed into this slideshow to get across information and emotion. I really enjoyed this slideshow actually. It was really put together. The sound was clean, the images captured the moment as well as tell a story, and the people who spoke all were related to the cause.

This audio slideshow used no narration. Everyone that talked either was the director, Rick Ianucci, or veterans, Kristy LaFrance and Stewart Angell. This made this story more personal and reach out to the audience. This is not a news story, but it is a feature story. If narration were used in it then the personal connection would have been lost. Speaking from experience is a better way to connect to the audience. Narration can be good in many instances, but in this one it is not needed. Also, the interviewees were able to give good quotes that made the story flow nicely. I never thought it sounded poorly or like things were just pieced together. It sounded well to the ear.

Natural sound is actually huge in this piece. And once again I find that it works well. Sometimes may it be a little out of place, I guess, but I like the sounds of hoof steps or horses neighing to transition from one speaker to the next. The natural sounds work because they never interrupt the speaker. Instead they just act as transitions and I find it to work nicely. I find they use the right amount of natural sound. Too much of it would mean it would be going on in the background while someone was talking and it can be distracting.

The photos for the most part pair up with the audio pretty well. Some photos are just of the ranch and what it looks like while other stories help to send the emotional impact of the story. For example, Ianucci is talking about the different cases of people that would come to Cowboy up! He talks about the physical aspect and there is a picture of a man holding a retired Army mug with a prosthetic arm. He then talks about PTSD and he uses a picture to capture the essence of the story and I found it work really well because you could see the veterans pain.

Also, when a person is speaking they usually will show pictures of that person doing something for a little of it so the viewer knows who is talking. There are captions letting the viewer know who is the speaker and what is his or her role with Cowboys Up! However the captions were only on one photo or that person, but that was all that was necessary.

I really did not need captions on other pictures because it was just general photos. Every picture either went with the audio or just was a photo to show the ranch and the horses, and was nothing in particular that needed to be explained.

Overall I thought this audio slideshow was well done. It had good sound, images, and story.

CNN.com has a very easy to navigate site; however, there is a lot on the homepage. Granted news is happening all the time and CNN has to report it, but the site can have a lot of text in very small fonts on its main page.

For instance, you can see in this picture that there is a lot of very small text on the bottom left hand of the image. It is under latest news. Now like I said there is a lot of news so of course to ft it all in is hard, but the text is a little too small and to bunched. For older people I can see how it would be hard to view the words.

I like though how the top of the Webpage breaks everything down. It all depends what  topic you are interested in, but the top bar of the page will get you those news stories. It is easy to navigate and helps to guide the user in the right direction.

CNN.com always has some forms of multimedia available whether its videos, pictures, or slideshows. Multimedia is almost always incorporated somewhere on every page. I was watching the videos. Most of them are relevant; however, some of them go on for a while and can be shortened. The nice thing, though, is that there is a video for everyone. Whether it is politics, international, U.S. related, criminal, or entertainment, there will be a plethora of videos for the viewer to choose from.

Overall I feel this site is pretty easy to navigate and multimedia definitely adds an element of entertainment to this site. It makes it more interactive. Some of the stories can be longer than necessary for the Web; however shorter stories are available too or a video. CNN.com is a good site to get news at because it has it all and it is easy to use.