Journalism vs. The Internet

Ok, I had to think about this assignment before starting it. This may sound strange to you but I was thinking that the internet was journalism so how can one survive the other one? Its the same thing..... So here is the tid bits of information I present to you on this topic of journalism vs. the internet.
Journalism is in plain words, reporting the news. When you add the internet to the mix then traditional newspaper reporting gets pushed to the side. The internet is making newspapers disappear like there is no tomorrow. For example the Ann Arbor news now only prints their edition of the newspaper on Thursday and Sunday (AnnArbor.com).
Depending on who you talk to they will tell you either yes, the internet is hurting journalism or no, it is not hurting it but helping it. According to the website The Atlantic, it says that the internet "has mortally wounded the financial structure of the news business so that the cost of doing challenging, independent reporting has become all but prohibitive all over the world. It has blurred the line between opinion and fact and created a dynamic in which extreme thought flourishes while balanced judgment is imperiled.” I agree that it has taken away from the news business, but I have to say that it is much more accessible to people. I also have to think about quality control as I would call it, the range of quality on the internet is bigger than the range in a typical printed newspaper. The internet you would have numerous amounts of people posting to the site, whereas the newspaper would be much more limited. Another group of people that is for journalism being on the internet is Reuters. This website says that journalism will survive, " it will thrive. It will thrive as creators and publishers embrace the collaborative power of new technologies, retool production and distribution strategies and we stop trying to do everything ourselves."
Continuing on....Journalism is about reporting the news, like I said above. But what about when ordinary citizens what to report what is happening in the community or around the world? This is called Citizen Journalism and it's when the citizens play an active role in reporting or analyzing the news (Wikipedia). So that means that you or I can go out and report on the topics that interest us. We can even create blogs and use Twitter!

(Click here for more info on this topic and to learn how to get started in Citizen Journalism)


Businesses are adapting to digital media by means of the consumer...they are trying to meet the needs and demands of us. And by doing this they are getting the competitors advantage. Consumers are adapting to digital media by using online resources for news. They are now looking for online newspapers and blogs to keep up to date on events and things happening around the world and in their neighborhood. New forms of digital media are appearing everywhere, on the internet they are appearing as chronicles, like the Ann Arbor Chronicle, or they are appearing as blogs. People are using the internet to expand their readers.


Journalism in 10 years will be looking into Facebook and Twitter. Journalist will report there instead of in a newspaper. Journalists will need to be the center of attention and not the newspapers (If they still exists in 10 years). And the biggest thing is that they will need to be trustworthy and reliable!! (click here to learn more).


Resources:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/04/media-insiders-say-internet-hurts-journalism/7410/

http://blogs.reuters.com/from-reuterscom/2009/12/11/how-will-journalism-survive-the-internet-age/

http://annarborchronicle.com/about-us/

http://www.j-learning.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism

http://www.jasonkandel.com/2010/01/31/5-characteristics-of-journalism-in-10-years/

Image 1 courtesy of:
http://blogs.uscannenberg.org/claire_spera/ugh-journalistic-integrity-is-boring-thumb-300x257.jpg

Image 2 courtesy of:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/loophole/content_images/WTD130.gif

Image 3 courtesy of:
http://www.media.asia/DigitalMedia/Awards/2008/images/index_main.jpg

Digital Convergence

What is Digital Convergence? Well, Digital Convergence is the new way that we are looking at media, news and other print sources. It allows us to have information that is from television, movies, photography, and printed text, combine it into one digital format and view it on our computers, cell phones, I-Pods, and any other piece of electronic equipment that has the abilities to receive data.
Companies all over are coming up with these digital devices. For example, the I-Pad, that Apple developed. This allows users to read the newspaper in digital format.
To be honest, I am not sure I am too fond of these new gizmos, they appear to be way to "digital". I think it takes something away from you when your holding this device in your hands and reading as opposed to actually holding the real newspaper or book in your hands. Its almost like these things are taking away from person to person contact. But again, this is my opinion.
Amazon has came out with their Kindle, a lightweight, thin, digital device that allows users to read and store their library of books in electronic format. You can even download books right to the device and you can research and locate books that are now out of copyright. It even comes with 3G wireless!! I have a friend that has one of these and she just loves it, but I still think I would rather have the actual books. Here is a short video on the Amazon Kindle, in case you want to learn more. There are a few others out there such as the Sony Reader, the Aluratek Libre Ebook and Microsoft's Courier And it's not just books that are changing, now you can stream videos from your laptop to your t.v through a device that Sony has called the Push 2 T.V.
Of course you cannot stream DVD's that are copy-protected or that are Blue-Rays.
People are using these devices to make their lives easier and more organized. Such as the digital picture frames where they can organize their photos, or they even have digital scrapbooking.
These devices allow people to have their own infinite "shelf space", they can store hundreds of pictures or books without running out of "space". And it allows authors to distribute their own work how they want to without the constraints of copyright. If the past ten years has proven to be a success, then the next ten years will be a bigger success. With all the technology that is still to be developed then who knows how much farther we can go. Here is a list of the past ten years top picks for technology.




References:
http://www.macworld.com/article/145480/2010/01/otellini_ces.html

Picture and information courtesy of :
http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/microsofts-courier-digital-journal-exclusive-pictures-and-de/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2010/jan/28/can-apple-ipad-save-newspapers

http://dcc.syr.edu/index.php

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015T963C/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=4466007531&ref=pd_sl_93qxhnzinw_e

Picture of Digital photo frame courtesy of:
http://www.laptop-battery-inc.co.uk/image/10.4%20Inch%20Digital%20Picture%20Frame%20%28Toughened%20Glass%291-big.jpg

CNET top 10:
http://www.cnet.com/1990-11136_1-6312246-1.html