Al Jazeera English: News for the West from an Eastern perspective

When Jean Garner first walked into our Journalism 199 class, her presence wasn’t particularly striking. Her appearance was casual and she had a similar demeanor to most of the instructors on this campus. The knowledge she divulged, however, made a more lasting impression. First, we watched a documentary about educators in Pakistan who defy the norm by encouraging female students to pursue their academic goals. After watching the documentary, I realized that journalism has powerful storytelling potential when applied to otherwise highly politicized situations. The voices present in this documentary, those of Shabeena, the female students, and both of the village elders, would’ve have been lost amongst the rhetoric from those on both sides of the issue. Journalists from news organizations like Al Jazeera are able to showcase the human element to a global audience. This particular documentary proved that there are prominent male figures who don’t subscribe to patriarchal notions of whether females should get educated. Furthermore, the arguments female instructors used to convince students of their right to be educated, dispelled many myths about the tenants of Islam. Thus, effectively proving that there is a distinction between Islamic fundamentalism and the actual practices within the religion; a distinction that many in the West take for granted. Another part of her talk that illustrated the significance of journalism was her description of Al Jazeera’s funding. The Arab nation of Qatar has made it their priority to promote peace in the Middle East. Rather than pursue strategic foreign policy goals through “hard” power, they’ve chosen Al Jazeera as a “soft” power mechanism. Through Al Jazeera, they are able to disseminate information from a third party source to a broader Arab audience. This state-sponsorship has also caused many to be skeptical about claims that Al Jazeera is a truly independent news organization, especially since Qatar is officially an Islamic nation. The documentary she showed us, as well as this account of Al Jazeera’s funding, proved the intertwining nature of journalism and global politics. 

Supercomputing here at U of I

In the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the supercomputer HAL 9000 was built here at the University of Illinois. After seeing the Blue Waters facility for the first time, that random fact was one of the first things in my mind. Housed in a building one block west from Assembly Hall is the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, or NCSA.

            From the moment you walk in the door of the NCSA you are surrounded by technology, the easiest to notice is the high-tech security that protects the entrance. To gain access to the lobby, you have to first swipe a keycard, next you have to scan your iris, and finally you have to stand on a weight sensor so they can be sure that you are alone. My description of this tight security might make the NCSA sound like a place that seemed uninviting, but my first impression was quite the opposite.

            The lobby of the building gave me a terrific first impression, with one wall being entirely glass windows to allow lots of sunlight to fill the open room. There was nothing between the floor of the lobby and the ceiling of the building, it was a room so open I almost felt like I was still outside.

            As impressed as I was by this lobby, the real reason for our trip was to see Blue waters, and it dwarfed whatever feelings I had about the lobby. On the second floor of the building there was a loud, cold room that was the supercomputer’s home. Row after row of what looked like black cabinets lined the room that housed the supercomputer, capable of completing trillions of calculations per second. Blue Waters is made up of 49,000 processors all working together. This impressive feat was accomplished thanks to a 280 million dollar grant bid that the University won. The computer will be available for researchers all over the country to use, and luckily for us 7 percent is saved for us here at the University of Illinois. 

By Austin Keating

As we walked through the seemingly endless tunnel of refrigerator like black boxes, light pouring in through a narrow opening ahead, our tour guide opened a hatch and showed us the inner workings of the supercomputer; her words barely audible over the whirling of the cooling fans. My jaw dropped to the floor when I saw the hardware, unveiled in its full beauty as the door swung open. Just a few of the over 49,000 AMD processors blinked their bright green lights at me as I geeked out.

Early this semester, my Journalism 199 class went to the Blue Waters Supercomputing Facility and went on a tour with an NCSA spokesperson, Trish Barker. She showed us what, when it goes into operational phase, will be one of the largest, most powerful supercomputers in the country; a revolution in efficient cooling and computing speed.

It was a fantastic experience and, for me, the most interesting and rewarding section of the class. I mean, we’ve covered elections, seen printing presses, visited a Herbarium, etc.; but nothing we’ve done yet matches up to the amount of excitement I had after seeing the facility and that told me something.

I decided on Journalism as a major because I generally liked everything and wanted to report on everything. But what I took away from this phenomenal experience is that I shouldn’t report on everything.

Professor Follis told us that we should find our own specializations, and that day I think I found the one I want to follow – technology and science reporting. Throughout high school I spent more time fiddling with my computer tower than anyone should. And after that field trip, I found out how I could apply that interest to my career.

Blue Waters

                In Journalism 199 we have done a lot of science exploration over the past months, yet probably the most exciting occurrence happened within the first month of the course. It was something straight out of science fiction, something scene only in movies like War Games or 2001: A Space Odyssey.  In early October we were allowed to enter the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NSCA), located on the University of Illinois campus, and witness one of the fastest computers known to mankind, Blue Waters.

                Blue Waters is one the few super computers existing that can calculate data by quadrillions, measured as about 1 petaflop. This outstanding amount of data can be used to calculate and image natural phenomena such as hurricanes and tornadoes, supernovae, the formation of galaxies, earthquakes, and more. However, currently the super computer, as it stands, remains incomplete. Yet despite lacking full capacity it has already had an amazing impact upon the world of science. According to article displayed on the NCSA website, with just 15% of Blue Waters running, scientists were able to make a fantastic breakthrough in the study of HIV virus. According to the article scientists were able discover new facets of the virus, shocking even the researchers themselves.

                Such discoveries with only a fraction of the supercomputer available have left scientists in a tizzy. Already over 30 projects are scheduled to begin using the supercomputer when it becomes available. These projects include minor events like accelerating nano-scale transistor innovation and simulating vesicle fusion on Blue Waters but can also include slightly bigger projects like the evolution of the small galaxy population from high redshift to the present. It is clear to all that Blue Waters will be making a sensational impact on the science community, though many of the scientists using it will not have even seen the machine they are using. In that regard the first semester 2012-2013 Journalism 199 class will be a step ahead of them.

--By: Kevin Birmingham

Global Warming and Oil Companies

The oil companies are a despicable institution. They are willing to gamble the lives of the world by paying scientists to put "doubt" in the idea of global warming. They have no scientific evidence that can prove that global warming is not real, and they have resorted to dirty tactics of blaming individuals who were following protocol. A think tank in Washington D.C. charged Ben Santer of rewriting a report that made “the science firmer than it really was.” In actuality, Santer did in fact rewrite the report, but not like what the think tank wants us to believe. Santer had his article peer reviewed; which means that he is supposed to rewrite certain areas to make his arguments clearer or because certain facts were incorrect. This think tank twisted the definition of peer review because the oil companies had paid them thousands of dollars to do so.

I for one believe that global warming is a real thing due to the extensive research that is available. Sea level will rise, due to the melting ice caps, and will drown low level states, like Florida and New Orleans. Global warming has also increase the severity of natural disasters; Hurricane Sandy has become one of the most expensive natural disasters that the state has to clean up.

Oil companies have to accept that global warming will happen, and instead of using finite resources, that will run out, these companies should use their profit to reinvest in alternative energy. This will be beneficial for everyone, especially the oil companies, because they will have a new source of revenue when fossil fuel runs out and they can boost with their image to the public. For example, BP was criticized by the public because of the oil spill, but with alternative energy they can show that this disaster will never occur again.

Impressed by Blue Waters

When I first heard the University of Illinois had a supercomputer, I was not at all surprised. Our school is becoming so technologically advanced that it didn’t even faze me that it was also one of the fastest public supercomputer out there. But what makes a supercomputer impressive? Because, honestly, when I first saw Blue Waters, the supercomputer on campus, it didn’t look all that great. I pictured a huge computer screen with a lot of buttons, but it ended up looking like black gym lockers.  I guess it’s what behind the cabinet that matters.

Since Blue Waters is public, 7% of it is saved for students and professors at the university to do research. The other 93% can be used by anyone by simply applying for it, and receiving a password in the postal mail to get into the system. After you have received the password, you now have access to over 235 cabinets of supercomputer from anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year. What do you get for that? Try a data storage that can hold 380 quadrillion bytes of data. Or 49,000 processors working together in order to, “crunch through numbers quickly” Trish Barker, a worker at NCSA and an University of Illinois alum says, simply. How about being able to do quadrillions of calculations per second? I guess the saying, “Cant judge a book by its cover” applies here.

 Another impressive part of Supercomputers is the cost. Blue Waters is funded by the US National Science Foundation and cost $208 million dollars to build. In order for the university to receive this money, they had to submit a proposal with a detailed explanation of what they will be doing with the supercomputer and compete against other organizations in order to get the grant. I guess that proves I go to the smartest and best institution out there. 

Can Science and Faith Mingle?

I still remember the day I saw the film, My Sister’s Keeper. I was fascinated that the family was able to go to a doctor that was able to engineer their next child to be a genetic match for their daughter suffering from acute promyelocytic leukemia. I was a freshman in high school and quite inquisitive so, in addition to learning about genetics in school, I did my own research. I looked into what jobs were available in that field. I was determined that I would grow up to be a genetic engineer.

I was so enthusiastic about my career choice; I wanted to share the news with everyone! I told my whole family at the table and the responses weren’t what I thought they’d be, “Oh, you want to play God?” Those weren’t my intentions; I just wanted to help people. I was in shock and confused. My family is Catholic and, I never thought that my religion could have such a significant impact on my life and what I wanted to be. If I like science more and believe in evolution, am I not Catholic?

Can science and faith mingle? I thought by reading, Francis Collins’ book, The Language of God, I would finally be able to know if it was okay to believe in God and science. Collins wrote, “…I was beginning to understand from looking into my own heart, the evidence of God’s existence would have to come from other directions, and the ultimate decision would be based on faith, not proof” (36). I believe that there is no definite answer as to whether faith and science can mingle. Due to perception, everyone has their own beliefs and this is one of the topics where I believe there is no right or wrong answer. It is unique to each individual.