Bitter People Online: Busted!

My personal experience with online communities can be described as interesting, to say the least..  While I have had no personal experience in participating in any malicious forms of interaction or banter between members of any community, I am not oblivious to it.

As a huge Detroit Red Wings fan, I cannot help but be excited, elated and all around enveloped with the recent beginning of the NHL playoffs.  During the regular season, Detroit finished second in the Western conference to the San Jose Sharks.  This is the first time in franchise history that San Jose has finished first, and their fans did not want to stay quiet about it going into the playoffs.

As a nearly 20 year citizen of Northern California, I regularly check SFGate.com and cannot help but read about my favorite team’s number one rival of the season.  All season long, through up until their recent defeat in the first round of the playoffs, Sharks fans just looooved to talk badly about the Red Wings.  This always took place in the ‘comments’ section of the Web page after each sports article about how promising the Sharks appeared to be.

As soon as the San Jose Sharks starting doing poorly in the playoffs, though, the fans were the first ones to start leaving comments about how the Sharks have always been a bad team and how they aren’t surprised that they’re losing.  It struck me as a prime example of how fickle, temperamental and quick to disregard previous notions that some members of online communities and networks can be.

My reserves about the credibility of members of online communities based on bitter sports fans have basically made me question my cynicism.  I know that pinning them as jaded and write-offable isn’t fair, I know that it isn’t rational and I know that it isn’t realistic.  There are a plethora of legitimate online communities in cyberspace and I just am not giving them enough of a chance.  This is a reality that I will have to work at to alleviate.  I will instead have to learn how to discern between reliable, satisfactory online communities and those that are comprised of silly people.  Undoubtedly, this will help me in my journey as a journalist utilizing new technology.

 

Web Cluelessness: Not Only Limited to Older Generations

Believe it or not, illiteracy on the Web transcends into generations that seem like they should likely be competent in its usage.

Parents are the ideal example of what happens when older generations all of a sudden find themselves in a technologically dependent world that has snuck up on them.

They aren’t the only ones.  I, personally, have to admit to being technologically un-savvy prior to this class.  I had no idea how to do anything online other than check my email or do a little shopping.  Here I am, though- I created a new blog, learned the basics of writing HTML code and even began creating my own Web page.  My Web proficiency has doubled in a mere matter of months, and it was not nearly as hard as I thought it would be!  What I once viewed as frightening and undoubtedly impossible to learn is now methodically understandable and tangeable.

I even find myself actally helping my parents or grandparents with their Web usage questions instead of being stumped right along side of them.

Being proficient online is a skill that will need to, and as far as I know is, beging being taught at a young age.  It will boost literacy and pave the way for Web-savvy readers in future generations to continue the need for readables such as newspapers and books for a long time to come.

 

Disappointed In Myself

Reading.  As a product of the Web 2.0 generation, I can admit that I have been conditioned to skim reading material on the Web and extract bits and pieces of valuable information whilst virtually ignoring the rest.  Nonetheless, I still hugely favor it to reading from print.

Undoubtedly, this is having a major effect on the way I read print material today.  Sure, every so often I’ll pick up a newspaper in an effort to catch up on the news- and yet it takes me less than five minutes to get through the whole thing.  Consequently, I realize that I ultimately have not caught up on any news at all.

Worse yet, I find that reading books results in the same amount, or lack thereof, of information extraction from the material.  Needless to say, as a full time student, the majority of the books I read are required texts for my classes.  Even as I am writing this very blog, the realization that I don’t necessarily absorb the intended information from given assigned readings is disconcerting to say the least.

It’s just that print material isn’t as easy on the eyes as text on the web.  There aren’t the same catchy headlines.  There aren’t the same abbreviated stories.  There aren’t as many pictures or as many colors.  Print material simply just is not as inviting as reading on the Web.

Personally, the Web has effected my reading in a way such that I read for superficial content instead of immersing myself in the artistry within the writing.  I know that it is something that I, as well as other members of my generation, will have to work on improving if the art of writing is going to sustain the appreciation that it deserves.

If I want to be the most efficient reader that I possibly can be, comprehension must derive from both reading print and online material.  In the everlasting argument towards the benefit of a symbiotic relationship between traditional and online media, the reading/viewing public must work towards incorporating both into their reading in order to result in gaining the most from what media and journalism has to offer.

 

Chit Chat Around A Watercooler: Blogger Style

Today’s generation of news-seekers, that utilize a computer to access anything and everything information based, have unwittingly set a new pace for the way in which news must now be reported. Nowadays, we want our news fast and we want it now. Waiting until tomorrow to hear about what happened today is just not fast enough for us. Bloggers have found a way to placate the short attention spans of the public. This is perhaps the most valuable lesson journalists can now learn from them.

Personalized information, designed specifically for the audience is key in maintaining viewer growth.  Viewer participation is also key, allowing the public to shape and mold information and entertainment as they see fit.  Partnership with other corporations, other forms of media and other public figures result in credibility being given to the media outlet in the eye of the viewer/reader.  Partnership, ultimately, transpiring between the viewer and news organizations will empower new technologies.

This new community is what readers/viewers today are embracing as resources in which to find their news and entertainment.  It is up to traditional media to also embrace these new forms of community so that they can appeal to viewers in the same way.  Traditional media must accept the fact that times are changing. Newspaper readership is going down and with advancements in technology, plus communication and informational reporting within society, outlets must be accommodating.

A connection to the previous methods of media extension to the public must remain intact amongst traditional media’s efforts of outreach because not everybody is online.  While studies have shown that an increasing amount of people are travelling to the web to get their news or communicate with others, or even just kill time, there are still people whom do not utilize new technology for a multitude of reasons.

The digital divide is something that can explain why traditional media should not focus the entirety of their efforts on those that are online.  In essence, the digital divide is the concept of the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ having different abilities in accessing new technologies.  Obviously, rich people are going to have the upper hand in gaining access because they will have the money to purchase technologies as soon as they hit the market.  Distribution of these technologies will also be heavier in the areas where they are most likely to sell the best, which also targets the ‘haves’.  The information is the disparity between who is more likely to adopt said technologies, which again is more favored towards the ‘haves’.  The digital divide alienates the ‘have nots’ from technology, thus perpetuating the fact that this group of the public will seek information and entertainment from the traditional forms of media.

Journalists should adopt the same philosophy as traditional media.  While the noble, credible and eloquent services of traditional media journalists cannot be undersold, bloggers are becoming more and more relevant as new media increases in popularity.  Bloggers may not shine and polish their writing the way that journalists do, but they get their information on the Web as fast as it is happening and are able to achieve high levels of readership.  If journalists can take note from these bloggers and, without compromising journalistic professionalism, utilize many of the stylistic reporting that bloggers have cultivated, a step towards unifying old and new medias will have been taken.

 

Thank Goodness for Scrapbooks

Where would we be without journalism?  Society as we know it would probably lack an incredible amount of insight from history that would prove beneficial to our proverbial life and time.

I have personally benefited from the existence of print media.  Articles over 50 years old were what I thought would merely serve as an aid in a term project, yet instead offered me a medium for appreciating the life of a wonderful elderly man.

I recall participating in the ‘Adopt-A-Grandparent’ program through CAVE last semester for a sociology class.  Throughout the duration of the semester, I visited my newly acquired Grandpa and interviewed him non-stop in an effort to transcribe his 86 year old life story.  The only problem, however, was that he had begun slipping into dementia and the facts from his youthful stories were recounted inconsistently at every visit.

I heavily relied on a scrapbook he kept containing newspaper articles about such milestones in his life such as his service in WWII, owning his own business and surviving major car accidents and plane crashes.  It provided me with supplementary details as well as background in which to really appreciate his stories.

Without these newspaper articles kept in a scrapbook I would not have been able to write the best biography that I felt I could have, nor would I have been able to cultivate a deep bond with my new Grandpa that is still strong to this day.

I cannot help but think about how beneficial print media is.  While media outlets are acknowledging the fact that more and more people are getting their news from the Web instead of newspapers, print media will consequently slowly yet surely be fading away.  I personally find it disconcerting that we will possibly be losing physical archives of our news.

What happens if 60 years or so from now, a student is given the same task as I was, and is trying to write a biography for an elderly community member- what if the online news articles about that person are unavailable?  Or for that matter, what about any and all news stories that might be lost over time due to some online newspapers folding or experiencing technical errors?  We must rely on digital media to properly and effectively archive our news for us.

I sincerely hope that there is an opportunity for the dichotomy that exists within print and online media to thrive and survive, especially considering that more and more people are pinpointing the Web as their primary news source.  The realist in me knows that this is definitively not going to happen, though, and I just hope a method is determined in which to preserve any and all journalism for generations to come.

 

Membership Required

‘Community’ is a term that can be used to describe many things.  It can refer to a team of individuals.  It can refer to a group of people sharing common interests.  It can refer to an area where people live physically near to each other.  I consider community to be much more abstract than any single definition.  ‘Community’ is less a term and more of a concept, applicable to coexistence between people that penetrates beyond mere physical interaction and into online inhabitance.

Community is something that, in my opinion, envelopes the sense of camaraderie that people experience when living and participating in sociological environments.  These environments can exist in a town or neighborhood and can also exist online.  As long as there are people coexisting together, communicating, linked by a common idea, goal or interest, the concept of community may be achieved.

These communities can be exemplified on a physical level through things that humans experience every day.  Talking to a classmate about the outrageous cost of textbooks at the beginning of the semester?  Community is achieved because we are referencing a common struggle students are faced with concerning ridiculously expensive textbooks.  Going shopping with your best friend so that you can each give each other advice about what clothes to buy?  Community is achieved because we have a common goal of buying flattering clothing.  Attending your street’s annual summer block party?  Community is achieved because everyone is getting together in order to establish a sense of friendliness and unity on a street shared by all.

Community, however, is not a concept that is strictly restricted to physical cohabitation.  It can also be experienced via the World Wide Web.  Reading an article about your favorite sports team online and then contributing a comment about it?  Community is achieved because of the exchange of opinions being shared about a team commonly favored by an array of people.  Logging onto a MySpace page to communicate with friends?  Community is achieved because of the establishment that people are mutually interested in the going-ons of each other’s lives.

Community is about being a member of something.  It is about dedication to a group of people in which a common goal or interest is felt.  Community can be achieved in any way that allows for people to communicate and share, physically or virtually. 

 

 

After-School Nostalgia

On account of the current storms looming over Chico for the past week or so, my internet service has been on the fritz.  After calling AT&T repeatedly to find out what was going on, I was ultimately told that there were some funky signals being transmitted in my phone box and they would send a service representative out in next ‘five to seven business days’ to repair the problem.

For at least the past 48 hours, the inability to access the World Wide Web has been frustrating and debilitating.  It is at this point that I have finally realized the severity of which I am addicted to being online.  In an effort to wean myself from the compulsion to constantly attempt connecting to the internet despite being completely aware that it won’t work, I picked up a newspaper and ventured into a different frontier of which to satisfy my daily news fix.

My parents subscribe to both the Chico Enterprise-Record and the Sacramento Bee.  While I was still living with them, my daily routine always included coming home from school, making myself a snack and reading a newspaper.  Subsequently, when I began reading a newspaper yesterday, fond memories resonated within myself and I, again, nostalgically, felt the comfort that I used to when reading a newspaper at my parent’s house.

It was at this moment that I realized the disparity between the print media that I used to be accustomed to versus the online media that I have lately acclimated myself to.

Print media offers comforts and conveniences that are incorporated into routines.  My parents and grandparents still cannot begin their day without drinking coffee whilst reading the newspaper before heading to work.  They have expressed on multiple occasions that their days are undoubtedly incomplete and feel illegitimate if not sparked by a daily reading of the newspaper.

Furthermore, print media offers, obviously, conveniences for those that do not have access to the internet.  Consider the population that doesn’t utilize online media.  By marginalizing or even eliminating print media, those that aren’t going online are basically being told that they’re simply out of luck.  This isn’t fair because everyone has a right to access outside media sources. 

On the other hand, print media sources are not particularly environmentally friendly due to costs from printing and delivery.  Print media is increasingly being considered a facet of an older informational age and is losing relevance as online media becomes more and more prevalent.

Timeliness, or lack thereof, associated with print media offers a significant disadvantage.  Logistically, it is obvious that print media only gets one chance a day to introduce new information to their audience, whereas online media can update their breaking information as often as they see fit.

Online media contains an expanding force of everyday convenience and increased use.  In the not too distant future, if not generally already, the easiest and most accessible forms of information will be primarily available through online use. 

Fundamentally, it is easier to cite print media’s informational resources when performing research.  This is most relevant for fellow students such as myself.  Newspapers, encyclopedias and magazines provide invaluable when available for physical inspection and citation.  I feel that this is due to the fact that it is just easier to read and absorb information from physical print sitting in front of me on a desk rather than growing distracted while trying to read text online.

Said accessibility, however, is quite possibly the greatest pro associated with online media.  In this day and age, anybody with access to the internet and World Wide Web can find pretty much anything they’re looking for by performing, at the very least, a quick Google search.  However, we must also be aware that websites can become unaccesible at the drop of a hat due to server unreliability, high demand or other problems.  It is in this vein that print offers a physical reliability while online media can present difficulties in accessibility.

When available, though, online media is something I can’t express nearly enough gratitude for. It has offered me invaluable resources via academic efforts, communicatory efforts and entertainment efforts. 

If I can’t fulfill my daily news fix, celebrity gossip fix, emailing fix or homework fix, I feel as though my daily routine is not complete.  While I once required a newspaper to achieve a sense of comfort and complacency in my daily life, I now require online access and my laptop.  At this technologically advancing point in society, we need to embrace the direction in which our media is becoming readily available while simultaneously making an effort to not turn our backs on the intangible qualities print media provides for us. 

 

Can We Be Trusted if Left to Our Own Devices?

A distinction must be made between censorship and the ’sifting’ of information.  If we didn’t utilize a medium that provided us with requested information that is predetermined as relevant, legitimate and credible, we might be overwhelmed with the limitless sea found on the web that is at our disposal without a ’sifter’.

It is in this sense that I agree with Keen’s view on the necessity of ‘gatekeepers’ to help us determine what information is valuable from what is asinine.  However, if there are people out there willing to accept the risk of believing any information provided from anyonymous posters which is not filtered by ‘gatekeepers’, that’s their perogative.

When a teacher provides the class with handouts, i.e. copies of text or suggested readings, the class generally does not question the credibility of said handouts.  This is the same principal that can be displayed when searching for information from acreddited online databases, such as a university library or renowned scholarly articles.

If you were to search for the same information through anonymous sources such as Wikipedia or certain blogs, though, you would have to be incredibly discerning about what information can be taken as reliable.  It is in this vain that I agree with Robert McHenry’s analysis of Wikepedia, by way of comparing it with a public restroom.

I find that, ironically, there is a David Weinberger that aids in illustrating this point:  ”But set us loose in a pile of leaves so large that we can’t see its boundaries and we’ll need more and more metadata to play in to find our way.  Deciding what to believe is now our burden.”

I also believe that we, as the public, should be at liberty to collect and trade information at our will, if we are willing to ’sift’ through databases containing anonymously-contributed information or even our own Google searches.  Regardless of the source, if we deem information as worthy to share with friends, why should anyone stop us from utilizing websites such a Digg or Reddit?  Our friends can determine whether or not to trust what we share with them based on our individual credibility.

ALL Information should be available to everyone.  If we so choose, we can collect it from unacreddited sources to accept or marginalize at our own volition.  We can, however, also choose to amass information from proven, reliable sources where we don’t necessarilly have to second-guess the validity of the information at hand.  Either way, the choice should be up to the individual, not given authorities.

 

Keeping Up With The Joneses

Journalism and media.  Up until recently, the distinction between the two was not as glaringly significant as it is now.  Granted, they go hand in hand and always have.  When did it go from a partnership to a competition, though?

Printed media, via credible newspapers and credible magazines, has always embraced the respectable, classy and traditional method of reporting, albeit it is becoming a rarer and rarer artform as time passes by.

Electronic media, via blogs and other outlets from citizen journalists, is becoming more powerful and prevalent as time passes by, although not necessarilly achieving legitimacy.

Why is it, then, that the concept of these two media powerhouses cooperating to put out the best news possible in the interest of the reader is so difficult to achieve?

Print media has not been very welcoming of new forms of exposure through the world wide web, citing a lack of elegance and tradition.  Conversely, blogs have touted being a venue for news media too cutting-edge and technologically advanced to regress into the world of print media.

More recently, changes have been made in which the two forms of media are beginning to welcome and assimilate each other into their respective existence.  This is the only way for newspapers to thrive and for bloggers to gain a sense of credibility.  Together, a united front may be formed and the ones who will gain the most will ultimately be a more-educated public.