Online Journalism: not just news, but also entertainment.

When we first think about news it is rarely first thought of as a form of entertainment, which makes sense. If something important is happening, the public wants cold-hard facts and numbers from a trusted source. . . the newspaper. However, the internet has the ability to combine these facts with more opinion, sarcasm, and satire which has the ability to turn the news into a more vibrant form of entertainment.

Online news sources whether they be a branch of actual newspapers, wikis, or blogs are all examples of the evolution of a technology that is optional for the public to use; they still have the option of having e newspaper) about the same issue, but instead he puts his own spin on it.

He says, "The closer we get, the more I think this whole conversion to DTV is a scam to make money for the government, the consumer electronics industry, and others who stand to gain from this conversion. For young folks who grew up with iPod earphones stuck in their head and a cell phone in their hands, it is no big deal. But not everyone can handle the intricacies of the change. And with DTV, instead of a little snow but a perfectly watchable picture, we get no picture with a weak signal. We also are subjected to compression artifacts and pixellation."

The style of writing is more informal than the newspaper, yet it is not so informal that it should be dismissed as inaccurate. After reading The Wall Street article with the constant reference to how businesses were being affected by this change in technology, I instantly took into consideration Randy's theory about this 'scam.' Along with his blog he posted a video that was meant to be comedic, yet also grasps a sad truth in how the transition to digital TV may be affecting older generations. Take a look at the video



This is how online sources provide news through entertainment. It may not involve as many statistics, but it accentuates the issue in unique ways. Another benefit of online news sources is what I have mentioned before in my blogs, and what was discussed the first day of class: it is live. It is easy for news followers to see how articles and opinions have evolved, looking back at earlier blogs or posts on newspaper sites. It is far more difficult to do so with an actual newspaper unless you want to stack them up in your home, or you want to go dig up old information in a library.

As a 19 year old who grew up with internet information technology, using the internet for news has become a habit. This is where my mother and I differ in how we do things. Since I can remember, my mom cannot go to sleep until she has read the paper. She gets in her chair and will sit there for at least an hour each night. Her reasons are that the news on TV is too monotonous and depressing, and she can't stand pop ups and advertisements on the internet. So, reading the newspaper has become a part of her everyday life, it is was she is comfortable doing.

As comfortable as she may be, she may be getting outnumbered by internet users. Due to a 16% drop in advertising for the printed newspaper The Washington Post, many companies are laying off workers. "Time Inc., publisher of Fortune, plans to slash 600 jobs, according to a report in The New York Times. Gannett Co., publisher of USA Today, plans 3,000 job cuts, according to Reuters, and the Tribune Co.’s Los Angeles Times plans to cut 10% of its workforce." (Original Article).

Maybe printing companies are slowly starting to surrender. First comes analog to digital... next comes paperboy to bloggers? We'll see!

Sources:
Bustillo, M., Lawton, C. (2008 Oct 28). Some Consumers Keep Old TVs Despsite Switch to Digital Signals. The Wall Street Journal, p B8.

Meant as Humor, But Makes a Good Point. Retrieved October 30, 008, from http://rktoday.blogspot.com/2008/10/meant-as-humor-but-makes-good-point.html



Print Media Companies Slash Jobs as Economy Sputters. 30 October 2008. http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1812128232245338045&postID=7759364108462733871

Need a Good Web App? Google Blog Search is worth trying out.

For many internet users, the homepage that immediately appears for them is the Google site. It is a browser that we are all familiar with, and it has become so habitual in our daily lives. My mom is still clueless when it comes to using the internet, but she sure knows about Google. If I ever ask her a question that she does not know the answer to, her first response is always, “Well why don’t you just Google it?” She is beginning to think that Google has the answers to all of life’s questions, and in many cases it has.

Google has used its popularity with the public to expand and create many web applications that help its users. There are applications for Google maps, advertising, office productivity, email (gmail), video, and so many more. The web application that I want to focus on is www.blogsearch.google.com . Google Blog Search helps its users to find the most recent and interesting posts in the blogosphere. I have to admit, that prior to taking this class I was not extremely interested in finding blogs, I was actually sort of “anti-blog”, if you will. Now that I have become a part of the blogosphere I am finding how interactive and unique this world is. However, with so many people out there blogging it can be more tedious than entertaining or resourceful when you have to dig through all of the junk on the web to find the good stuff; that is where Google’s Blog Search comes in to play.

For people like my mom who did not grow up using the internet, I believe that her unwillingness/slow adaptation to using the World Wide Web is due to how overwhelming it has become. My mom will put a label or a post-it note on anything and everything. Her coupons are alphabetized, events are highlighted on calendars and bulletin boards, and her closet is even organized according to color. The point is, when it comes to such a vast field of facts and opinions, people want organization and Blog Search does exactly that.

First, Google models this site to make it look very similar to the regular old Google.com. Right off the bat, this familiarity makes the application that much less intimidating for users. There is a simple search box and it is very plain, no decorations, cluttered designs, or distracting colors. An addition to the site includes a side bar on the left that lists categories for further organization of blogs. They include: US, World, Business, Technology, Video Games, Science, Entertainment, Movies, Television, and Sports. If you do not have anything specific to search, by clicking on one of the links mentioned you will receive a list of blogs according to the most recent, which can be as recent as being posted only a few hours prior to your search. They are clearly presented with the topic in bold, with the name of the forum listed underneath.

This site makes entering the blogosphere easier and less time consuming. It is extremely helpful how quickly the site is updated and how easy it is to read about the biggest issues in our society. Obviously this connects people because it is spreading not only facts, but tons of opinions and perspectives on current events, and allows for what we have been discussing in class: progressiveness. By easily locating new information, internet users can quickly expand on it. I highly suggest using Google Blog Search for research, social networking, and just plain old curiosity.

Creating and Saving Social Ties : Online Support Groups

In my last blog I focused on my participation in an online support group for my illness of narcolepsy. To summarize it quickly, I am a member at www.dailystength.org; it is a medical site dedicated to organizing and uniting people of all ages who share the same medical issues. I participate by blogging and posting in forums that are specifically targeted for me and fellow narcoleptics.

A support group is exactly what is implies; it is a foundation for support when you need it the most. Blogging and posting provide a ridiculous amount of advantages to people in need of support. Opposed to face to face support groups, the biggest benefit of online communities is that they save time. We live in a fast pace society in which people need convenience, therefore we have the beautiful creation of the internet.

First and foremost, you get to shop around! Look through a few sites, see what kind of information and support members are providing, and then decide if you would like to become a part of that particular community. Once you have decided, dip your toes in at your own leisure; you are never forced to jump right in. There are no constraints or scheduled meetings to attend; there is only you, your computer, and the comfort of your own home… and you are the one who decides what blogs will be coming in and out of your door.

I want to make it clear that I do not believe that all blogs are beneficial, but I truly put my faith into www.dailystrength.org because it is a medical website and the information that is posted everyday has a greater chance of being accurate, and is coming from someone who is taking the issue seriously. In my own experience, when first becoming a member of the site, I did not plan on posting as much of my own insight as I did plan on just reading others blogs to gain perspective. However, after spending a lot of time reading I became eager to respond to others who were just like me. Being a young teen, the only people that had any advice for my condition were my doctors, who were well over fifty years old (also whom did not actually have narcolepsy, they had only studied it). When I came across people that were my age in these forums it was like I had struck gold. I began forming stronger social ties.

Blogging and posting became more intimate as the frequency of responses became greater, and more in depth as well as personal with a handful of people that I had met through the support group. Deborah Gray states in her article about online support groups that, “Geographical distance is only an abstract concept.”I believe that the reason that I turned to the internet for support was because of the rarity of my illness. Although people as far back as Harriet Tubman, and even many celebrities today have narcolepsy, it is still a fairly new field for medical exploration and is undiagnosed in 150,000 people out of every 200,000 that if affects. Point in case? There are not too many narcoleptics walking around the streets that I can have a cup of coffee with and chat about drugs and daily life. What I can do, is pour myself a bowl of cereal and sit at my desk and find a whole bunch of people to talk with.

Two years ago, through this site, I found one of my best friends. Also a narcoleptic, we found ourselves constantly blogging back and forth since we were both the same age and both about to be in college (same fears, same questions). She is now a sophomore student at SUNY Cortland and she grew up in a town about a half hour away from my own. Never in a million years did I believe that I would be the type of person to find any random friendships via the internet, yet I have been proven wrong. We started in the forum atmosphere and after awhile we exchanged screen names (a more intimate form of online communication); we have even met each other in person. This is an example of how social ties can be created online.

Another way that online support groups affect social ties is by saving pre-existing ones. “If a teacher is known to attend a meeting for people with depression, might it affect how he or she is perceived at work by staff and parents?” (Gray 2007). This brings about a very interesting point. Not only do we live in a fast pace society, but we also live in an extremely judgmental one. Parents can be very overprotective of what and who their children are exposed to. Face it, these days it is difficult to keep much of anything a secret. If a PTA parent discovers that her child’s teacher goes to support groups for depression or any other mental illness it is more likely that they will be more skeptical than understanding. The teacher can get help anonymously by using an avatar and a pseudonym.

All in all, online communities that offer medical support are revolutionary and extremely helpful in both creating and saving social ties through blogging, posting, and exchanging information and expertise in forums.

Sources:

Gray, Deborah. 2007. Support in Your Pajamas: The Benefits of Online Support Groups. Retrieved on October 7, 2008 from http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/support-groups-2580-143_3.html

me!

www.dailystrength.org

Anonymous Identities Can Sometimes Be More Helpful than Harmful.

I’m not going to talk about Facebook. It is nothing new; we all have one, know how it works, and we all have an identity personified through our account. There are so many other online communities that exist, and they are often far more interesting and definitely more helpful than Facebook. The virtual world is composed of information rather than matter; it lacks physical appearance and nonverbal cues (Donath 1996). This absence of face to face interaction is what led us to our discussion on gift economies a few weeks ago. The information we seek online is so valuable and so frequently accessed, yet since we do not have any type of intimate relationship with those we are obtaining information from, we continue to just take information without giving back. However, when users do decide to reciprocate knowledge and expertise, it is often necessary to create an identity to become a part of an online community. I am currently a member at www.dailystrength.org.

Dailystrength.org is an online community that allows individuals with all types of medical issues to come together to have discussions in forums, blogs, and research. Narcolepsy effects 1 in every 2,000 Americans (Schoenstadt 2006). I, myself, happen to be one of them. It is not very common to bump into someone who has had any of the same experiences that I have, or shares a similar daily routine. Both my doctors and father tried to convince me to join online support groups for years (I was diagnosed 5 years ago). Plain and simple, I just did not feel comfortable; it was because of these issues of online identity that made me hesitant to participate.

The World Wide Web is umm well … WORLD WIDE. At the age of fifteen I was scared to jump into such a vast pool of people, regardless of who recommended it. After a rough couple of years, I was desperate for anyone who I could talk to that I felt had actually walked in my shoes, not just someone who would nod their head and claim to understand my condition. So, I began to look at this medical online community from a different perspective. Think about it, when you have a problem it sets you apart from the ‘normal’ human being. People, especially young adults, tend to view any abnormality as a weakness or a need for rehabilitation. And when people think of rehab, we think the worst, which obviously leads to denial… and we get nowhere. The way that any type of rehabilitation or support is shown in the media is basically people sitting in a circle with strangers, repeating lines such as “I feel … when …” You are fully and completely exposed, and often times this approach is far from effective. Sometimes, we are just not the type of people that need a hug or a pat on the back, we just need to know that someone else can relate, understand, or give advice. This brings us back to the absence of the physicality of interaction when we choose to participate in communities online.

When I became a member of dailystrength.org I was asked to create an identity. Since this was my first step in actually becoming a part of anything online other than AIM, it was not even a question whether or not I would use a pseudonym. My user name is Narc13 (narcoleptic and my favorite number is 13); not necessarily giving anything valuable away with this name. The avatar that represents my identity when I post anything on this website is a picture of a sunrise (sunlight always helps me to stay awake on rough days).

As far as someone being able to steal my identity, the only personal information that I was required to give when signing up was my email address. So far, I have not received any junk email, and no one has accessed my account on the website. In terms of my identity and safety within this online community, I feel very confident and comfortable. First, it is a medical website that ends in .org, which always just sounds more official/safe than any random blog. Also, I have yet to experience any trolls in my forums. I feel like people have better things to do than phish through narcolepsy support groups, and so far I’ve been right.

Dailystrength.org has helped me in so many ways, that the risk of having an identity with the website has been well worth it. It is kind of like a version of narcoleptics-anonymous. They can’t see me- I can’t see them- no judgment- strictly information and help. There are countless ways for identity deception to occur online (to catch a predator, facebook, ebay, amazon), however, I wanted to focus on an online identity that I have created that has yet to back fire and has been more helpful than harmful.

sources:
Donath, J.S. (1996). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. Retrieved on October 2, 2008 from http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

Schoenstadt, Arthur MD. (2006). People With Narcolepsy. Retrieved on October 2, 2008 from
http://sleep.emedtv.com/narcolepsy/people-with-narcolepsy.html