All semester long thus far, we’ve been trying to answer the question, ‘What kind of journalism does the public need?’

When our class was given iPads, one of the first things I asked internally was, ‘Why do I need this? I’ve got a laptop. I’ve got a smartphone. What can this do that these can’t?’

After having them for almost two weeks, I’m still looking for the answer. I’m sure it’s out there. I am sure that this tool can enhance our class’ ability of meeting its goal of broadening communication across various communities. I am still on the search for how to maximize this ability, though.

My Twitter community has broadened, that’s for sure. I’m tweeting more often due to the amazing app that is Flipboard. I love Flipboard because it is visually conducive to selecting information that suits the user. For example, when I’m on Twitter on my laptop or android, I can’t always tell if something might interest me based on the 140 character limit the posts allow for. On Flipboard, I get pictures, previews, and variety on a visually aesthetic layout. I’ve found that I read more news on my iPad than I do on any website on my laptop or any link posted through my smartphone. I’ve also re-tweeted more through Flipboard. I think it’s because of this I’ve had some random followers add me lately, such as “Communication News”.

Aside from being more engaged with the news, having the iPad has been a great convenience for other classes. In particular, for classes that have multiple PDF readings due on the same day, instead of printing out longer documents, I can just bring them up on the iPad. I’m still trying to figure out how to be able to take notes on the documents I’m viewing (i.e, having the ability to highlight or insert notes to areas right on the document), but I’m sure once I do that, my communities will be broadened even more by being able to better engage in my classes and the material.

The iPad has definitely altered my relationship with news and politics, because I am paying more attention. Is it necessary? Probably not, but then I also would not be as informed about the world around me, and as my dad says, “knowledge is power.” It’s definitely a powerful tool and I look forward to continuing to discover all that it has to offer over the course of the semester.