Christine Ballard: Life's Journey

Being given the privilege to write about someone's life is one of the most rewarding aspects of journalism.

After pondering over the idea of technology and its affect on older Australians, I refined my Online Journalism original story idea to talk to Christine Ballard. At 63, Chris has just completed her Diploma of Nursing at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Her story is one of independence and fearless determination. She is honestly one of the most genuine people I have met and went above and beyond for me in this assignment, I can not thank her enough.

I also spoke to Merryn Dawborn-Gundlach, a lecturer at the University of Melbourne who has just completed her PhD on mature aged students and their transition into their first tertiary degrees. She, too, provided a great insight and gave me another angle.

Please check out the final piece using Shorthand Social, an online journalism site used to pull a plethora of online materials together in order to create a visually stunning and engaging feature article. Please note it works best on desktops or on mobile devices when on the side.

View it here.

Whilst writing for this piece I was also encouraged to tweet about it. The following Twitter feed shows my progress using the hashtag #originalstoryOJ1.

Twitter Feed:

List of Sources:

1. Christine Ballard

Interviewed on September 22nd at her Sippy Downs home.

2. Merryn Dawborn-Gundlach

​Interviewed on September 16th via phone.

#ashleighdwan #beyondthestory #journalism #onlinejournalism1 #christineballard