Sunday, March 30, 2008 . 9:08 AM
How does Internet shape the future of Journalism?
Journalism is something close to my heart as I have been an on-and-off student journalist since 2001.
So before I state anything else, I'd like to offer my personal opinion: GOOD journalism is never about the technology. Good journalism is about a search for the truth or an insight that is stunning, even if it means relying on traditional tools of journalism. It is a clarification of what really happened at an event. It offers a perspective which is valid and credible.
For example, Manfred Rist, a journalist who is also a lectuer at uniSIM, went on a trip to Burma during the recent Saffron Revolution (when there were riots and rebellion) as an "undercover" journalist. A simple pen, paper, and camera was all he chose to equip himself with - no posting articles on the Internet while he was there, no blogging, nothing. He also referred to the local newspaper, The New Light of Myanmmar, for news. Other journalists who did rely mostly on the Internet were sorely disappointed because the Burmese government shut down Internet services and these journalists were handicapped without their tools. Many of their articles that were supposed to be posted online were lost too.
That, in my opinion, is the true essence of journalism.
But I may be wrong. An analysis of journalism requires an analysis of the audience it is reaching. And the nature of the audience in the case of online is totally different from that offline.
Citizen journalism is a facet of "participatory culture" on the web.
Participatory culture is a new culture emerging due to new technologies allowing ordinary people to “participate” in mainstream media content. Henry Jenkins, Director of Comparative Media Studies at MIT, describes this cultural shift:
“The term, participatory culture, contrasts with older notions of passive media spectatorship. Rather than talk about media producers and consumers as occupying separate roles, we might now see them as participants who interact with each other according to a new set of rules that none of us fully understands.”
Author Russel highlights that there is a “changing relationship between cultural production and consumption.” In participatory culture, consumers turn producers and vice versa, giving rise to the word “prosumer” to describe the participants in such a culture. Ordinary people create cultural content and upload this onto the Web, and others in turn view and react to this content.
The Decline of Quality of Journalism?
~"Bottom-up journalism"~
Of course the fact that ordinary citizens act as journalists is scary to many people, especially intellectuals and the elite who believe that only professionals are able to report credibly. "Free content, and especially citizen-based journalism and peer-production, is a huge threat to the media industry — not just on an economic level, but on a social one," says Kenneth Neil Cukier, technology correspondent for The Economist in London.
However, as journalist Steven Levy points out, much of these concerns seem to blame the Internet for giving people “the freedom to flourish”. He concedes that while journalists and professionals in the media scene are imperative, participatory culture will not wipe them out.
My opinion
I think the Internet has the potential to groom journalists out of all of us in the future. For those reading news, citizen journalism can help us learn to apply critical thinking in reading news on the Web. For those contributing news, It will hopefully be an opportunity to groom us into responsible citizens who are aware of the issues around them and can report them with accountability. That would really be a true journalist.
Sunday, March 23, 2008 . 9:16 AM
Non-sequitur
Can I hear a yay?!!... for words of wisdom! :D These words constantly inspire me when I'm feeling low.
Have an attitude of gratitude. Be thankful, grateful, accepting and see the good in everyone.
Don't compete against others, compete against yourself.
You can't control others, only yourself is within your control.
=)
Reading interesting books called Neurosphere and The Wisdom of the Crowds. Good for anyone interested in learning about the social functions of the Web. Check it out from the Library! :)
Friday, March 21, 2008 . 5:47 AM
Power, change, and the internet
The power and limitations of Internet for political campaigning
politics. pol·i·tics \ˈpä-lə-ˌtiks\noun
1. power relations wherever they exist, including in everyday life
2. The distribution of power within a society; the forces behind a society-human or divine
Politics, as shown by the above definitions, is all about power. The Internet is constantly changing the rules of politics. It has created is a "flat" virtual space where hierarchy does not exist and power is decentralized - the epitome of democracy. Thus, people in power are trying to use and control this medium to suit their needs. The symbiotic relationship between "power" and Web2.0 is one of core features of the information revolution.
Yet, political campaigning in real life takes on another definition, in itself. Politics, traditionally speaking, is the science or art of government, the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy, the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government. So with what it has done to traditional conceptions of power, does Web2.0 affect political campaigning? Of course, it does.
In the US, no other word than "change" can accurately describe everything happening in the political scene. Not only are the candidates set to become pioneers in the history of US presidency (either a black or a female president), the entire world is engaged in one country's elections. Furthermore, the coverage of the primaries and proceedings is unprecedented. Hundreds of Youtube videos attempt polarise Internet users to either support or denounce a candidate, with exposés (like the Hillary Clinton one - click here) and opinionated "vLogs". Visually appealing, grassroots videos like the Obama Girl sensation will no doubt have an impact. (At least, on the male viewers :))
A sidenote: By the way, the Obama Girl has brought a new dimension to the traditional process of politcal campaigning: making politics "sexy". What more incentive for people to "get out and vote"? A sure-fire method to cure voter apathy? I certainly think so...
Like we got to know from our lesson, research has shown that 50 million Americans go to the Internet for news every day, compared to 27 million people in March 2004. The bottom line is... according to me... political campaigning certainly works in reaching a wide audience and has proven to act as a great fundraising tool. However, the dangerous part of it is it shifts the balance of power from the political campaigners to the people themselves. Which means unauthorised opinions with great power and influence. Which leads me to discuss about the...
Limitations of the internet as a political campaigning tool
According to a study done by the Bigivings group, the Internet has many limitations when it comes to political campaigning, in the US alone. First off, it is important to remember the demographics of the candidates running for office and the limitations of the campaigns’ themselves. Candidates are extremely
busy, and older Americans are unlikely to have the time or inclination to personally participate in the blogosphere. For many campaigns, having a blog just doesn’t make strategic sense. Many campaigns also have extremely limited resources, and are hesitant to devote these resources to an activity like blogging.
Second, there is a perception among many political consultants and candidates that blogging is a risky strategy. Candidates worry that by fully participating in the blogosphere, they will be dragged further to the left or to the right (politically speaking). Bloggers are typically the most active and ideological of Americans, so there is a fear by some that reaching out to these groups may turn away moderate voters.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008 . 4:21 PM
"Technology could enable
a whole generation to create—remixed films, new forms of music, digital
art, a new kind of storytelling, writing, a new technology for poetry, criticism,
political activism—and then, through the infrastructure of the Internet,
share that creativity with others."
- Lawrence Lessing.
I wanted to type a quick entry on the video shown to us this week by Mr Choy. This video spurred me into thinking about a lot of ideas: Firstly, whether the future described in the video would really manifest itself in reality - secondly, about whether new media will REALLY replace traditional media - and thirdly, about the idea of "control and society".
Let me jump straight to the last point. Lawrence Lessing, in his book The Future of Ideas, Lessing talks about a central idea that has followed humanity throughout generations: the idea that "control is good." This idea has been hardwired into us by society over the years. We automatically tend to think that anything that is "free" is inferior. For example, just take many teachers' attitudes towards using information from Wikipedia. Many academics feel Wikipedia is not scholarly enough to cite because it is being edited by ordinary people and is free.
But the fact is not all the things we use in life are paid for: for example, the music we listen to the radio, and the roads we travel on. At least, most of them are not paid for directly.
The idea of control being good is exemplified by the "old" world trying to take over the emerging "new" world, in the video.
Lessing says says: "Free resources have been crucial to innovation and creativity, and without them, creativity is crippled." This is not to say that everything should be made free; rather there are many resources, especially on the Internet which should be left free for all to use.
Saturday, March 1, 2008 . 10:47 AM
Here is the video I made with Windows Movie Maker. Editing a video is a lot harder than I thought, but it is very rewarding.
Windows Movie Maker is fairly useful but could be both more user-friendly and more sophisticated. Sophisticated, in terms of transitions, editing of text, and other range of options regarding what you add to the video.
All said and done, it's a great tool to aid amateur film-makers like me.. although when it comes to (Windows) tools, I feel nothing beats the ingenuity of Windows Live Writer.
That's how it actually looks like when I'm writing. No troublesome html language to deal with, and I get to see exactly how my post looks like.
Windows Live Writer is a software enables me to upload content straight to my blog without me having to connect to the blogger website. I can work on my post offline before posting it online and still get to see it as it would appear on my blog. This is because WLW sort of "adopts" your original blog template. So I can straightaway add in pictures, videos and write without using HTML codes and such, so I get an idea of what the entry looks like before I post it up. It's that convinient! If I've got to choose, it would be my favorite non-google tool of the whole cornucopia of tools online or on my PC!
