My Overall Thoughts

I’ve enjoyed taking a closer look at topics such as the development of new media, interactivity, the evolution of social media, and the importance of an online presence to journalism. Exploring these topics has forced me to stop and consider the incredible digital revolution going on around me that I often take for granted. My attitude on these topics has shifted from complacency to a realization that I need to be aware of the changing media landscape in order to keep up once I graduate. The most surprising discovery from my experiences this semester is the ease with which practically anyone can publish information online in the form of a blog, a website, or even a podcast. This signals a major shift from a time when news agencies controlled the flow of information to the public. In the coming years, technology and media will continue to advance and change and new topics of discussion will need to address the effectiveness and the future of the new media.  

The Importance of Data

Journalism has always depended on the collection and presentation of data, usually in the form of written text. The public’s desire for increasing amounts of data and ways to manipulate it has forced news sources to develop alternative ways of telling stories. Instead of simply collecting information, determining what is important, and writing stories that fit given boundaries, they are now employing computer programmers to create interactive databases and graphics that supplement the text.

Cindy Royal’s article, The Journalist as a Programmer, gives the example of how several online news sites provide data-filled interactive features for events such as the Olympics and the Oscars. Graphic features can provide much more information than written text and are much more appealing to a user sitting in front of a computer or phone screen. The recent election provided another example of the increased use of graphics to tell a story. Instead of simply writing about the Republicans claiming a majority in the House, several online news sites included an updating graphic displaying the number of seats won by each party. The day after the election, the Houston Chronicle provided a database of election results which allowed users to search between county, state, and national races. This type of storytelling allows the user to obtain information at their own pace while giving them the opportunity to view only what they are interested in. Another way in which an increasing amount of data is being made available to the public is through blogs. People post tons of information daily, often less formally than news sources, and as a result, users can search for information presented in a way which they can easily understand.

The future of journalism will most certainly see an increased use of data-heavy applications that give the user more control over the presentation of information associated with stories. Journalism students must have a desire to learn the technical skills required to build these graphic databases and seek out opportunities to practice these skills. Journalism educators must learn how to use these new technologies so they can provide their students with the tools they need to be successful in the industry today. Current journalists must adapt to the changing landscape and, like the other two groups, must search for information about these new features.  

Check out: Royal, Cindy. “The Journalist as Programmer: A Case Study of The New York Times Interactive News Technology Department.”

http://cindyroyal.com/present/royal_isoj10.pdf

Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling involves digital media, mainly the Internet, allowing users to gain a deeper understanding of a story through the use of creative and often interactive graphics that complement the written text.

Emily Nussbaum’s article reports that on Election Day 2008, The New York Times created Word Train, an interactive feature which asked users to pick a word that described their state of mind and to identify their political party. The resulting lists of adjectives were colored red and blue and displayed in varying font sizes; the larger the word, the larger the number of people who reported feeling that way. This feature told the story of the public’s feelings about the election and the candidates in a digital form. In 2006, the Times created a “database-driven, outward facing application” called Casualties of War. That application included a picture of a soldier made up of smaller pictures of those who died in Iraq, a data tab with multiple search options, and narrative stories. The story of the 3,000 soldiers killed was easily brought close to home by this digital representation. By clicking the links above, you can view these unique applications.

By including interactive features, journalists allow users to experience stories in their own way because the information is presented in multiple formats. In addition, digital storytelling devices can hold the attention of a user for a longer period of time. Instead of simply reading text, the user can click through multiple levels of information and choose what they are interested in, as opposed to moving on to another story if their attention is not piqued in the first paragraph.

Check out: Nussbaum, Emily. “The New Journalism: Goosing the Gray Lady.” http://nymag.com/news/features/all-new/53344/

Which apps are popular and why?

One of the fastest growing new media devices is the smart phone. The use of iPhones, Blackberrys, and Androids is increasing as the technologies are refined and new options are made available. Many phones now have access to millions of applications that allow users to check stocks, play games, and do just about anything else. Each user selects their own apps depending on their specific wants and needs, but some apps are much more popular than others. I would like to find out which apps are the most popular and why people like them.

In order to research this question, I would begin by searching the Apple, Blackberry, and Android websites for listings of the most popular apps in terms of number of downloads. I would also survey smart phone users about their favorite apps and why they use them. A discrepancy will undoubtedly arise involving an app that is considered popular based on number of downloads, but highly unpopular by those who have downloaded the app. This is why there is a need to survey actual users rather than simply relying on the online statistics. There are also likely to be differences among the answers provided by several users who enjoy the same app for why they use it. This is why it’s important to find out why people use the app and not just whether or not they use it.

I believe a compilation of these results would provide insight into the kinds of information and entertainment people desire today and would suggest why corresponding traditional media sources providing the same information and entertainment are losing ground. The results would allow future developers of apps to determine what users want and how they want to access it.

Citizen and Participatory Journalism

The terms citizen journalism and participatory journalism are often used interchangeably and both share similar aspects. From my perspective, citizen journalism involves people who previously only received the news going out and reporting the news themselves. I believe participatory journalism describes the act of readers/viewers contributing to journalism via interaction with the news media by participating in online polls, leaving comments on stories, and sending in pictures, video, and other information.

Leslie Walker’s article On Local Sites, Everyone’s a Journalist describes citizen journalism websites as those where all news is submitted by people who are not reporters. However, We Media by Shane Bowman and Chris Willis defines participatory journalism as “the act of a citizen, or group of citizens, playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information.”

The fact that these four definitions seem to all overlap proves that there is no clear definition of either term. Despite the lack clarity, examples of both are abundant. One of the best examples of this revolution is South Korea’s OhmyNews which J.D. Lasica categorizes under “full-fledged participatory news sites” in What is Participatory Journalism?  Bowman and Willis explain how OhmyNews allows over 26,000 citizen journalists to collaborate on writing stories for the online newspaper which is “the most influential online news site in [South Korea], attracting an estimated 2 million readers a day.” (Notice once again how one person refers to the site as participatory and the other refers to its citizen journalism.) Another obvious example of this emerging form of journalism is the increasing number of blogs which allow anyone to report information instantly.

One of the biggest changes in this new era of journalism is the decreasing amount of censorship. In the past, editors reviewed the stories submitted and selected which ones to run. Today, no one reviews all the information posted on personal and citizen sites. Traditional journalism has always concerned itself with principles such as objectivity, credibility, and accuracy, but as citizen and participatory journalism technologies have developed, people have begun to question where the lines have been redrawn and whether or not such work is worthy of being considered journalism. The field of journalism is likely to continue shifting away from large news organizations producing news and toward an increasing number of un-tested and un-controllable individuals posting news and information online.

Check out: Walker, Leslie. “On Local Sites, Everyone’s a Journalist.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46519-2004Dec8.html

Check out: Bowman, Shane & Willis, Chris. “We Media.”

http://www.hypergene.net/wemedia/weblog.php

Check out: Lasica, J.D. “What is Participatory Journalism?”

http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1060217106.php

Creating Conversation in the Community

One of the easiest ways for news organizations to create conversation within their communities is to allow readers/listeners/viewers to comment on stories instantly either on a home website or on an associated social media page. I followed KHOU-TV’s Facebook site and commented on a story about a man who was sentenced to 70 years for stabbing a security guard trying to prevent the man from stealing a tuna sandwich. By clicking the link above, you can find the story and search for comment #41 left by me.

Another way in which news organizations instigate interaction with their communities is through online polling concerning various topics. One of the sports writers for the Houston Chronicle grades the performances of the Houston Texans after each game and encourages others to share their own grades via online poll. News organizations also encourage community members to send in pictures, video, and information pertaining to local news stories. J.D. Lasica’s article What is Participatory Journalism? points out during the Columbia shuttle tragedy, the Dallas Morning News included photos sent in by members of the community. For people to send in items, they must feel strongly enough about the situation to do so and as a result, they contribute to the conversation process.

Creating conversation in a community allows a news organization to cater more directly to the community by providing insight into members’ feelings about certain subjects. It also allows a news organization to cover a story more completely by enlisting the help of those closest to the situation and those with the most to gain or lose from the outcome.

Check out: Lasica, J.D. “What is Participatory Journalism?”

http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1060217106.php

What's Next For Social Media?

It’s difficult to identify the next big thing in social media because recent history has proven that new technologies and services survive because they allow people to do things they never knew they were missing out on. Before Facebook, no one considered needing to know what was going on in other people’s lives at any particular moment, but now people can’t imagine how they ever lived without such access. Similarly, people never considered searching amateur postings for information until Twitter arrived.

In addition, Facebook and Twitter have changed over the course of their short lives, partly as a result of user suggestions, activity, and trends. Steve Levy’s article Facebook Grows Up suggests that Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg made a huge change when he allowed outside companies to create applications that take advantage of Facebook’s connections. By creating their own applications, the companies can use Facebook in a way that will make the most money for them. In Levy’s article Mob Rule! How Users Took Over Twitter, he points out that “the Twitter community created many of the conventions now integral to the service,” including using hashtags for group commenting sessions, dollar signs for financial information, and @ before user names. Levy also mentions that “heavy retweeting by tech guru Tim O’Reilly helped popularize the practice.”

Even as social media continue to develop, they are constantly persuaded to combine with others in order to create even more far-reaching entities. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg turned down a $1 billion offer from Yahoo and Twitter turned down a $500 million offer from Facebook. All the while, Google continues to size up the various challengers threatening to take away its share of the Internet pie.

Pew research shows that among technology stakeholders and critics, most believe that Internet use, often in the form of social media, will continue to have a positive impact on their lives; however it decreases the amount of time spent in face-to-face relationships. Upcoming social media must continue to have a positive long term impact and must deal with the increasing loss of personal interaction. Research also reveals more adults use social media than teens, which means whatever develops next will need to cater to the needs of older generations.

If current trends continue, the next big thing in social media will allow users to communicate with each other and search for information posted by each other in a way that no one understands today. The new technology will force people to consider why they had not been using it all along and will encourage them to find their own unique ways of manipulating their access.

Check out: Levy, Steve. “Facebook Grows Up.”

 http://www.newsweek.com/2007/08/15/facebook-grows-up.html

Check out: Levy, Steve. “Mob Rule! How Users Took Over Twitter.”

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_twitter

Check out: Anderson, Janna. “The Future of Social Relations.”

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/The-future-of-social-relations.aspx

Check out: Lenhart, Amanda. “Adults and Social Network Sites.”

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Adults-and-Social-Network-Websites.aspx

YouTube Instructional Videos

YouTube has created a new avenue for teaching by allowing users to post instructional videos such as the one imbedded here. Today, someone wanting to know how to do almost anything can search for a corresponding video. Well-made videos provide a very effective way to deliver educational material worldwide because of their ability to present information visually as well as orally or in text form. Unfortunately, so many videos are posted that someone searching for information may spend considerable time sifting through the bad ones before they discover the right one for them. Fortunately, someone looking for information has several opinions and alternatives to choose from all in the same place.

The selected video provides clear instructions in all three of the forms listed above and the video is of good quality, an important factor in determining whether someone will spend time watching it. While searching for this video, I encountered numerous similar videos of varying qualities; however, I also discovered several ways to accomplish the same task.  

Interactivity

Interactivity is not easily defined and as a result, several people have attempted to discuss the topic by using divisions, dimensions, or point systems. Jens F. Jensen, author of Interactivity: Tracking a New Concept in Media and Communication Studies, provides the example of Jan L. Bordewijk and Ben van Kaam’s matrix of interactivity. Their four divisions – transmission, conversation, consultation, and registration – are determined by whether the information is produced and distributed by the consumer or a central provider. In the matrix, the highest level of interactivity is represented by conversation – when the information production and distribution are controlled by the consumer, and the lowest level is referred to as transmission – when both aspects are controlled by a central provider.

Jensen also references the point system of Lutz Goertz which creates four dimensions of interactivity based on the ability to choose and modify information. When interactivity is assessed using this system, numbers zero through three or four are selected for each dimension in order to quantify the degree of interactivity. Scores of zero refer to a lack of choice or an inability to modify the information whereas threes and fours represent greater choice and opportunity for modification.

Ultimately, I feel that interactivity in terms of media simply refers to the ability of the user to have an impact on what they receive. Whether the impact is in the form of a choice or communication with the source, interactivity provides an alternative to the user receiving information chosen by the source at a time designated by the source with no possibility for feedback.

One of the main goals of new media is to increase interactivity in response to the inabilities of traditional media. DVRs are a great example of new media providing interactivity by offering choices which were impossible with their predecessor, the traditional TV. Before, users were only allowed to watch programs on TV at the times the networks aired them. Today, users can record the programs they like and watch them at their convenience. Blogs are an example of new media creating interactivity by granting the user greater ability to communicate with the source. Traditionally, newspaper readers desiring to make a comment to the writer of a story had to write the paper and hope their comment was included. With a blog, users can instantly comment on a story and can be assured that not only the writer, but also everyone that reads the blog, will see the comment. In addition, someone who comments on a blog is more likely to receive a response than someone who writes in to a newspaper. As new media continue to develop, users will gain an increased ability to have an impact and interactivity will continue to grow.

Check out: Jensen, Jens F., “Interactivity: Tracking a New Concept in Media and Communication Studies.”

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:CVUsxW-xOwIJ:www.organicode.net/jenson.pdf+interactivity&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjDc5aasAb8BRUvCGWAQKdUd1ND_SjY1CuzGOg8_nyxV3YHCa17S9TM94uOOeCM_oYE7PHFxNi43ATSMiGw0tbxLPhpiqGPj5veKDrR9PjMhUuVCxk0O-svlZXDl_cm3F8wm02t&sig=AHIEtbTaZ_dphcXyhhw7e_VJ6l_yhbiL5Q

My Media Consumption

When assessing my media consumption, I decided to focus on four major groups, TV, Internet, Mobile, and Radio. I have also distinguished between my usage during the school year and my usage at home during breaks because in some cases it’s quite different. Robin Good provides some great national media usage statistics in her article Media Consumption Survey: How Americans Consume Media and What They Want from It. The article differentiates between Millennials (age 13-24), Xers (25-41), Baby Boomers (42-60) and Matures (61-75) and I happen to fall under the category of Millennials.


TV – When I’m at school, I consume less TV because of scheduling and other non-media opportunities available to me. Usually, I only watch an occasional sporting event on TV. When I’m at home, I consume significantly more TV because I use it for news, sports, and primetime programming. Robin Good points out that most people watching TV today use a DVR for time shifting purposes, something I take full advantage of at home, but that I cannot do at school. Additionally, the TV ratings company Nielsen reports that adults 18-24 watch 108 hours of TV a month, a statistic that resembles my usage at home, and adults 18-24 watch about 6 hours of time-shifted TV a month, a stat which resembles my usage at school.

Internet – When I’m at home, I consume slightly less Internet because I consume more TV there. I use the Internet for news (as well as TV), searching, and social networking on Facebook. When I’m at school, I consume more Internet because I use it for news, searching, social networking, and to watch TV shows online that I can’t watch live on TV. Even though I use Facebook less than other Millennials, I use the Internet for news more than others. Nielsen reports that adults 18-24 use the Internet for 26 hours a month, which describes my usage at home or at school, and spend about 5 hours a month watching video online, which describes my usage at school.

Mobile – Whether I’m at home or school, I use my mobile phone significantly less than other Millennials. The main reason for the discrepancy is that I do not have an all-in-one smart phone. This aspect eliminates about half of the normal consumption because I cannot use my phone for Internet or TV purposes. Other than making phone calls and taking pictures and video, I only use my mobile phone for texting, and overall, I send significantly fewer messages than other Millennials. Robin Good reports that “46% of Millennials embrace their cell phones as an entertainment device,” which is not the case with me, but the article also states that 84% of Millennials send text messages, which is true for me.

Radio – Whether I’m at home or school, I consume less radio than other Millennials, with one special exception. I generally only listen to the radio when I’m in my car or on rare occasions during the day and I tune in for music rather than for information. The special exception in my case centers on the fact that I’m a station manager for a radio station. By virtue of my position, I end up listening to more radio than I would otherwise choose to.

Check out: Good, Robin. “Media Consumption Survey: How Americans Consume Media and What They Want from It.”

http://www.masternewmedia.org/media/media-analysis/DeLoitte-US-media-survey-2007-usage-and-preferences-20070928.htm

Check out: Nielsen, “A2/M2 Three Screen Report, Volume 5, 2nd Quarter 2009.”

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/ThreeScreenReport_US_2Q09REV.pdf

What is New Media?

Welcome! I plan to explore the realm of new media, something I’ve already begun simply by creating this blog, and I encourage you to leave your own comments on the issues presented.


I am a senior at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas working towards a Bachelor of Arts in Radio/TV Communications. I am the Station Manager for KSAU 90.1 FM at SFASU and I serve as the Chair of the Student Council at the Wesley Foundation Student Ministry. In addition, I am a Student Instructor for a section of SFA 101, a course designed to assist freshmen with the transition to college. When not in school, I live in Houston, Texas where I continue to serve as a worship technician at my church. I am an Eagle Scout, member of the National Broadcasting Society, and I recently interned with Cox Media Group Houston, where I worked with the producer of the 93Q Morning Zoo and the Production Director.

New media, ironically, is most easily described by discussing old media, technology that already exists, but remains relatively new. Items such as the iPhone and Blackberry and websites such as YouTube and Facebook can all be considered new media, despite the fact that they have each been around for several years. The key to understanding new media lies in comparing it to traditional media such as radio, TV, newspapers, and magazines. A more abstract discussion could include potential new mediums which have yet to be created or which have not yet become widely used and accepted by the public. My working definition for new media is: recently developed or potential technology which improves upon traditional media by broadening the abilities of the user.

New media is often not accepted at first because of initial high cost to the user and because people don’t understand the need for it when they’ve been getting along with their old media just fine. Baron Dennis suggests in From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies that new technologies also threaten the business of former technologies, further delaying their widespread acceptance. Over time, new media becomes automatically accepted as some begin to understand its potential while others live without knowledge of its predecessor. At that point, the new media becomes traditional and is soon replaced by the next innovation.

New media often lead to a loss of personal contact in communication and consequently, the ability of the receiver to fully understand the tone and scope of the sender’s message is diminished. Similarly, there are many aspects of traditional media that, by their very nature, new media cannot provide. Dennis gives the example of Samuel Morse’s aversion to Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone. Morse realized that unlike with a telegraph, a telephone could not provide physical documentation of the communication taking place. Unlike watching TV, when a user searches for videos on YouTube, they cannot be assured of their quality or appropriateness. The key to the success of a new medium is expressed in my working definition. The new media must be able to improve upon the traditional media by giving the user more abilities, such as instant access to news on an iPhone. These new abilities must outweigh the negative aspects of the new technology in order for the medium to gain acceptance. Ultimately, Dennis points out that fraudulent use of new media becomes more of a concern as they become more established. This, in turn, helps fuel the need for the creation of new media.



Check out: Dennis, Baron. “From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies” in Passions, Pedagogies and 21st Century Technologies, 1999.

http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/essays/pencils.htm