Briggs Portfolio

Brandi Mahoney

December 5, 2010

Advanced Blogging

• http://loveblog.in/heart-break/why-do-marriages-fail/ I chose the love blog on why marriages fail because it went into depth on the topic and that is what I look for when I evaluate a problem. The blog provided answers that people could relate to and the reasons the blog gave why marriages fail are ones of truth. The audience gave their personal stories and they added more reasons why marriages fail.
• Student Success Blog- I chose this blog because it allowed me to get some great information on being a successful student. It has categories for every aspect of a student’s life. I am a student therefore I can relate to the blog.
• New Media Blog- I had to do it. I like the style of the blog. It was highly decorated and the blogs covered some interesting topic such as “Cyberwar” and Wikileak.” These topics are geared more towards new media.
• Name of blog-lalove12

Catch Phrase for blog- I just do me.

My Blogs mission is to post my reaction about the articles that my New Media and applications teacher, Dr. Matthews, gives us.

Micro Blogging

• Set up a twitter account.
• I found out that social organizations, newspapers, and sports teams all have twitter accounts. I can get my tweets to my phone. This is awesome.
• I am following CNN because I think their news is efficient, Barack Obama (this President is really trying. I support him), twtfm (share music on twitter, Arnold S. he is the governor of my state (worst governor ever), Golden Corral (I am so fat), Dunkin Donuts (Great Coffee I swear), TNA Wrestling (I like watching men fight), TMZ (those people are very funny to me because they are the paparazzi time two).

Visual Story Telling with Photographs

• The difference I noticed in the pictures I took with my sister is that the light shining on us in the door gave the pictures a blurry look. I took pictures if my aunt, my uncle, and my sister-n-law in different type of Lights the pictures came out well.
• I used Windows Movie Maker to do sound slides. I don’t have photo shop.

Crowd Powered Collaboration

Tawnell Hobbs -The Dallas Morning News:http://dallasisdblog.dallasnews.com, Brian Krebs-The Washington Post: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/, Stephanie De Pasquale http://my.quadsville.com/StephanieDePasquale/blog.

• I discovered that Brian Krebs from the Washington Post and Stephanie Pasquale seem to have the best collaboration with their audience. They have more comments on their page and they seem to meet people on a personal level. Pasquale blog seems to put her story of how thanksgiving went at her house on display. Very few journalists put their life on display where people can see it. I think when people they can relate to you they will comment a lot more and I think people appreciate journalists who keep it real.
• I am not into the journalism part of new media, but if I had to set up a journalism site. It would be sort of like cnn.com. It would have comment section, news for every type of user, and a fun zone for kids. I would also have a suggestion link where people could give me some suggestions on what kind of news they want on the site.
• Newspapers are getting more input from the audience, they have blog sites, they are trying to cover every major event and they are trying to get more students involved in the newspaper as well.

 

Make Journalism Visible

Podcasts

      I interviewed my friend Jessica on why she likes uttyler. I did it from my phone. It wsn’t good quality I don’t like it, but my phone is an old model.

• Pop My Culture with Cole Stratton and Vanessa Ragland
• Smartest man on the Earth-Greg Proops
• The Long Shot-Todd Levin
• My Favorite Stranger-Craig and Ahm
• The Zesty Show

The best Podcasts was the smartest man on earth because he was funny and I could hear him clearly. I like the fact he didn’t sound like Perez Hilton or the paparazzi. The Long shot by Todd Levin basically told a story about a movie he was doing with the Muppets. It wasn’t that interesting. The Pop My Culture podcast slammed celebrities. I am not really into gossip so I didn’t like it. The zesty show was actually my second favorite because it takes me into the world of real news.

Telling Videos with Video

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/06/huckabee-draws-contrasts-between-him-and-palin/: TRENDING: Huckabee draws contrasts between him and Palin.

• This would make a good news story because a reporter could show the contrast between Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee by capturing their political lives on camera. They are both considering running for President so I think this would be a perfect time for the citizens to get to know them. I would love to learn more on Huckabee.
• I made my video on youtube.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXu3sNb2am4

 

Managing News as Conversation

http://www.bforyourlife.com/2010/12/rihanna-reluctant-for-her-baby.html/comment-page-1#comment-

http://larrykinglive.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/02/sneak-peek-mike-tyson/#comment

• The story on CNN’s blog site and the one on the blog for your life were both about celebrities. Mike Tyson told the story of his past life and Rihanna was more on her life’s choice. Mike Tyson’s has been known in the media as a bully for quite some time. I now know the reason that Mike Tyson is a bully. Rihanna’s blog is on how she would raise children. I like to give my opinion on certain issues. The blog with Rihanna was more geared toward celebrity news. The piece with Mike Tyson was geared more towards getting to know the man behind the celebrity.

 

• I joined twitter and I already had a facebook.

 

• I joined ballhyped.com. My user name is brandi17. It’s a website for people who love sports. It gives you sports updates and game schedules.

Building A digital Audience

• http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/world/07wikileaks-weapons.html?_r=1&hp
• U.S. Strains to Stop Arms Flow. I though this article would be good for readers and robots because it deals with the nation as a whole and the immediacy of the situation.
• Search Results

Los Angeles Times – California, national and world news …

The Los Angeles Times is a leading source of news on Southern California, entertainment, movies, television, music, politics, business, health, technology, travel …www.latimes.com – Cached

Sports

Local

Games & Puzzles

Obituaries

Jobs

Lakers

Games

Business

more results from latimes.com »

Los Angeles Times – California, national and world news …

The Los Angeles Times is a leading source of news on Southern California, entertainment, movies, television, music, politics, business, health, technology, travel, sports …www.latimes.com/?refid=333 – Cached

Featured Articles From The Los Angeles Times

Popular articles, stories & photos from the Los Angeles Times news archives, including an extensive archive and timeline that can be browsed by date, keyword and writer.articles.latimes.com – Cached

Los Angeles Times — Crossword Puzzles and Games – latimes.com

Los Angeles Times games, daily crossword puzzles, sudoku, weekly crossword puzzles from the Los Angeles Timesgames.latimes.com – Cached

Los Angeles Times – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The report, which condemned the Times as a “web-stupid” organization,” was followed by a shakeup in management of the paper’s Web site, latimes.com, and a rebuke of print …

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latimes – Cached

Top of the Ticket | Sunday shows: Jindal …

political news, analysis and commentary … ABC “This Week” with Christiane Amanpour: R. Clarke Cooper, Wesley Clark, Tammy Schultz, Elaine Donnelly and Bob Maginnis with …latimesblogs.latimes.com – Cached

www.latimes.com About 337,000,000 results (0.28 seconds)

Search Results

Los Angeles Times – California, national and world news – latimes.com

The Los Angeles Times is a leading source of news on Southern California, entertainment, movies, television, music, politics, business, health, technology , …

Sports – Puzzles & Games – Local – Lakerswww.latimes.com/ – Cached – Similar

Get more results from the past 24 hours

►

CBS Los Angeles- News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of LA

News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of LA.

News – Seen On TV – Traffic – CBS2 / KCAL9losangeles.cbslocal.com/ – Cached

Get more results from the past 24 hours

Los Angeles News and Video for Southern California – KTLA.COM …

Los Angeles and Southern California News from KTLA 5 the CW. The home of the KTLA Morning News with Michaela Pereira, plus Photo Galleries, video and the …
www.ktla.com/ – Cached – Similar

News for los angele news

 

KABC-TV Los Angeles News, Weather & Traffic | Southern California …

Los Angeles news, traffic, weather, politics and sports. Get the latest Southern California news, turn to abc7 news for breaking news & Live weather …
abclocal.go.com/kabc/index – Cached – Similar

myFOX Los Angeles | KTTV FOX 11 | KCOP My13 | FOX 11 News …

Los Angeles. FOX 11 – Your source for breaking news, weather, traffic, entertainment, sports and live video in the Los Angeles area and Southern California. …
www.myfoxla.com/ – Cached – Similar

.

Homes – LA Daily News

VICA builds record of success in Sacramento … VICA’s monthly lobbying trips to Sacramento yielded some pretty big dividends for the San Fernando Valley. … Local Real Estate News…

www.dailynews.com/homes

 

Los Angeles Times – Elections coverage, plus California, national

 

The Los Angeles Times is a leading source of news on Southern California, entertainment, movies, television, music, politics, business, health, technology, travel, sports, environment, economics, autos, jobs, real estate and other topics affecting Califor … Tobar: New life for an old temple in Los Angeles … In the News: www.latimes.com/

 

• www.google.com, www.ask.com, www.yahoo.com
  • www.latimes.com, www.HelloLosAngeles.com, www.dailynews.com
  • www.abcnews.com has a facebook, a twitter, ipad application, mobile tweets,

 

 

•  

screen shot

Convergence Strikes Again

Brandi Mahoney

November 19, 2010

Reading Reaction 13

            Can’t we all just get along? For some people this is hard to do even for the greater good. Convergence is a process that requires people to work together and that sometimes means you have to share control. Economics is one of the biggest reasons for convergence. Companies may be able to increase revenue or even save their company if convergence is used, but even then people still gripe and complain about convergence. One doesn’t necessarily have to like convergence, but one has to realize that it is necessary. The media is headed toward convergence. In convergence the print journalist, internet professionals, and the broadcasters need to learn how each other’s conduct business in their medium. What is the point of convergence if people only operate the same way? In my mind I can see all mediums operating in separate corners and workers’ walking by each other barely noticing each other’s existence or when they do it is to borrow from each other every now and then. This is not my idea of convergence. My idea of convergence is mixing or blending. I feel people can learn a lot from convergence, but they have to remain open- minded to it. Without convergence the media devices we hold dear would not be possible. I know I made this statement once before, but I think repetition is useful to get a point across. It is not about them, it is about us, the audience.

            In the Understanding Media Convergence book in chapter twelve I find it interesting that it talks about teaching convergence. I know that has to be a fun process since most people can’t seem to agree on how to input convergence into their curriculum. Unfortunately, convergence is a topic that needs to be discussed because it is where the future of media is headed and if students want to work in the media field they have to know about convergence. The question is how? Professors can’t see on how convergence should be taught or they are leaving that job to the journalism teachers. This is a heavy burden for a few to carry. I didn’t know about convergence until Grad school and it makes perfect sense. I had been seeing convergence for a while, but I didn’t know what to call it. Joel Kaplan, a professor from Syracuse University, believes there are dangers in convergence. He feels that people will lose their audience if convergence is allowed. I think if convergence is used it can draw in a bigger audience, but that is my own opinion. Some teachers feel that good journalism would suffer at the hand of convergence. Convergence is seen as way to make the media owner more money, but the information the audience would receive wouldn’t be up to par. Yes, economics has a lot to do with convergence, but that isn’t the only thing convergence is good for. The survey that was done on the newspapers and local news stations actually showed a positive outlook on convergence. I think that is the best example of successful convergence so far. These media stations actually had a positive disposition when it came to convergence. Yes, there are still some concerns nonetheless, they are giving it a shot and their audience seems to be ok with it. The audience should be there main concern. What is good news if there is no one there to listen? This is a good question in my book.

            I like the title of chapter 13 beyond the “Tower of Babel.” I think that pretty much sums up the separation of mediums when it comes to convergence. Everyone wants to do their own thing and people want to keep themselves. This is not going to help convergence to be successful. I think for convergence to be successful you have to learn the language or jargon of each medium. There are terms that broadcasters should know if they are going to be working with print journalist and web professionals. This is where learning and adaption comes in. Convergence isn’t a process that most people naturally get. You can easily confuse people when it comes to convergence. Companies have to be on the same page and there has to be some unity. United we stand, divided we fall. This also works for convergence. Journalists know a lot of the terminology that broadcasters do, but the same is not said for the broadcasters.  The web professionals speak their own language, but it is hard to keep up with them because their medium is constantly changing. It is time that companies start learning how to work with their partners to get rid of the “Tower of Babel because eventually it will spill out to their work and their audience will see it. I know they don’t want to deal with that problem. It is useless to use convergence if you are not willing to share. I know each medium is unique in its own way, but you are going to share that uniqueness if you are going to work together. I think all mediums should learn about the functions of the web because that is where the audience is going. Knowing how the internet works will not hurt anyone. Regardless of how convergence turns out people can learn from it.

            Convergence has made its mark once again. The readings Dr. Matthews have given us show us just how important the topic of convergence is. In the articles we have done on convergence I have seen struggle, success, failure, resistance, and defiance. Yes, it has been a tangle of emotions. I have learned a great deal and as convergence continues to grow I will continue to learn. New Media and convergence go hand and hand. I finally see the connection between the two. I think as convergence grows we have a lot to look forward to, but whether it is positive or negative that is yet to be determined. Good luck you guys.

References

Grant, Wilkinson (2009) Understanding Media Convergence: The State of the Field. New York Oxford Press

Go Team Convergence

Brandi Mahoney

November 12, 2010

Reading Reaction 12

            “Convergence, convergence he’s our man if he can’t do it then we are out of luck.”  I wrote this quote because I have fully accepted that convergence is needed. Convergence is seen as a hero, a villain, a savior, and a destroyer. I know it is an imperfect process and it can be a tedious process, but it can be a solution to many problems. Think of the new media devices that we use in our everyday life. Without convergence those devices would not be possible. Sometimes you have to set aside differences for the greater cause. News professionals and journalist are now seeing convergence in a new light.  They see it now as a means to an end. There is still very high level of resistance when it comes to convergence. I think it is because people don’t want to share power. It is a human need to be in control of things. I like being in a position of power. I was the head manager of a restaurant called Cajun Tex in Marshall, Texas. The only person who had power over me was the owner and he pretty much let me do what I wanted. I didn’t have to share power with anyone. I feel that when you make the decision to utilize convergence you should make sure it benefits all the parties involved. There are different reasons why convergence is needed, but none to me is more important than the other. The audience is looking to the journalist, news professionals, and the internet professionals to provide them with the media they are used to. To me the process of convergence would be easier if people liked change, but as we know most people are afraid of change. The thing is change comes whether we like it or not, you can go with it or you will be left behind. It is as simple as that.

            There are risks you take when you decide to converge. The case study that was done on the Tampa News Center was helpful because it shows that convergence can work and it gives a solid answer to “why convergence.” In chapter eleven of the Understanding Media Convergence book it talks about the influence of convergence. There are many different factors that contribute to the influence of convergence. Resources are one of the main factors. A lot of times companies find themselves lacking in resources such as money or certain technology, so they might team up with other companies that have those particular resources. Convergence is supposed to benefit everyone involved. This is not always possible. Convergence does not always work and sometimes it is a slow process. There have been failures in convergence. Take AOL and Time Warner and AT&T Broadband for example. They took a chance on convergence and it didn’t work. These answer to “why convergence.” The process hasn’t been an easy one and the revenue has only increased by two percent, but it is further than most have gotten with convergence. I see the newsroom has had an easier time with convergence because it has used it to its full potential. This is something that a lot of companies lack. Newspaper and newsrooms converge, but they still pretty much do what they did when they were a singular entity borrowing every now and then from their partner. This is a waste of convergence. I understand that convergence isn’t an easy process and there isn’t any magic spell to make it work. There are rules and you have to follow these rules if you want it to work and even then there are no guarantees. Newspaper journalists seem to have the hardest time with convergence. Some of them are set in their ways. I understand why they are against convergence, but they could benefit from it because their medium is dying. That is hard to accept, but it is true. I don’t think it will completely die out, but to some it might look like that. The web seems to draw in the biggest audience and people have even started to get the serious news off the internet. I know some journalists are opposed to the internet, but it might be good for some of them to jump on the bandwagon. This might be asking a lot, but I see it as a solution to the problem. Sometimes I believe people are making the idea of convergence more difficult than it needs to be. I am trying to understand how others see convergence and sometimes I can, but sometimes I think people’s arguments against convergence are ridiculous. You don’t utilize convergence because you want to in most instances. You do it because you have to and the audience expects it of you.

            The debate and studies on convergence has taught me a great deal. One of the things I learn is they can make an argument out of anything. Convergence takes on many roles, but no one can deny it makes one interesting topic. It is interesting how the topic of convergence can stir up many emotions. When I think about convergence I think about streams that lead to one big river. Convergence is supposed to help move things along. It doesn’t mean any harm even though people see it that way. You would swear it was the devil the way some people talk about it. I think it is all about how you look at things. Sometimes you can create a problem where there is no problem or you can make problems more advanced than they are as I see most of the articles people write doing when they write about convergence. I am down for convergence and I see very little problems with it, but maybe because I am on the outside looking in. I respect all forms of media because I know it is no easy task to bring audiences everywhere the news or media they are accustomed to convergence or no convergence. I thank you for all you have done because without you media wouldn’t be possible.

References

1. Grant, August Wilkinson, Jeffrey (2009) Understanding Media Convergence: The State of The Field .Chapter 11 The Meaning and Influence of Convergence: A Qualitative Study of Newsroom work at the Tampa News Center. New York: Oxford University Press

On the other side of media

Brandi Mahoney

November 5, 2010

Reading Reaction 11

            I remember when I was in high school I used to read the newspaper just for the funny section. I could care less about the rest of the newspaper content. I didn’t engage in politics and I didn’t read the newspaper to obtain useful information. After finishing the funny section, I would throw away the newspaper. I have also seen people use newspapers for other things and not its intended purpose. It takes time and effort to put a newspaper together and we take it for granted. The internet has already overshadowed newspapers. I get most of my information off the internet. Rarely do I see young people between the ages of 18-25 pick up a newspaper. On the internet we have unlimited access to the news we want to know about. In a newspaper we may or may not have that luxury. I sympathize with the decline in the reading of newspapers, but I feel that the newspaper journalists need to follow the audience. The biggest audience can be found on the World Wide Web.

            Newspapers are hanging in there strong. There are many people who predicted the demise of the newspaper, but newspaper journalists are showing no sign of surrendering. There just might be some hope for the comeback of newspapers. In the article “The Causes of Youth’s Low News Consumption and Strategies for Making Youths Happy News Consumer” by Edgar Huang, it talks about how young people are not reading the newspaper like they used to. Most of the young people are not interested in serious news. It would be great if more young people were more politically sound, but sometimes I feel like we live in a different world than most grownups. The news my generation engages may not be published in a newspaper. Young people are drawn to the internet because it can satisfy a lot of their needs. I know when I do research I get a lot of my information online. Professors are making homework assignment accessible online or they may give test that can only be accessed online. This brings us back to the Uses and Gratification Theory. We are responsible for the media that meets are needs. We have the power and we like having the control. Newspapers have lost control of their audience and they are trying to reel them back in. Young people like to be entertained. School takes up a lot of my time and reading a newspaper is like reading a textbook. I read a text book because I have too not because I want to. Get the picture?

            We have now come back to theory. Theory is a wonderful thing because it used to explain things that happen around us. The funny thing about theory is that the phenomenon’s that are explained have been happening for a long time. It just took someone to explain it to us so we can understand why things happen. In the chapter ten of the “Understanding Media Convergence “book it puts theory in the center of convergence. The need for convergence is driven by many things. Last week we talked about the need for convergence driven by money. The theories in chapter ten show me how money can drive convergence. Sometimes companies partner up with media outlets as a way to market their product. The commercial or the advertisements we see on television are a result of convergence. Companies working together can have a positive outcome or a negative outcome. Even though convergence can be market driven, it can also provide more resources for the company that is lacking in resources. It’s a win-win situation sometimes. Sometimes it is not really about what you want to do, it is about what you have to do. Convergence can be a problem solver.

            We know that news has gone digital, but doesn’t mean we know how to reach out to the digital audience. It is a process that takes time. There are things that must be done before you can build a digital audience. A journalist must do their research. Before reading chapter 11 in the Briggs book I didn’t realize how much work it took to appeal to the digital audience. Journalists have to make sure the audience can find the news through the search engine, the writing appeals to the audience, and last but not least find their audience. These are important factors in building a digital audience. This requires a lot of work from the journalist. I would be reluctant to do all this work and I have new respect for journalist because this is their job. New Media is making their lives difficult, but change is inevitable. If people are not ready for change I don’t know what to say to them.

            I like the information I am obtaining from the articles we have been reading I understand things so much better now. I never thought new media had this type of impact. I have always taken it for granted, but now I have new appreciation for new media.  I also have new appreciation for newspaper journalists because they put in a lot of thought and effort into newspapers. There are so many underlying things that make good media. We haven’t even begun to discover what new media has in store for us. This is only the beginning stage. Journalist may just be on to something when they talk about the takeover of new media because it has already happening. The experiment I did with giving up new media for a half a day nearly had me on edge. We are so attached to our media devices and the only way journalists can get through is if they appeal to us through those devices. Think about how new media affects us. I don’t know if I like how new media affects us, but I have accepted the changes it has brought to my life. I don’t plan to get rid of my new media devices anytime soon.

References

1. Huang, E. (2009). The Causes of Youths’ Low News Consumption and Strategies for Making Youths Happy News Consumers. [Article]. Convergence: The Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 15(1), 105-122
2. Briggs, Mark (2010) Journalism Next: a practical guide to digital reporting and publishing Chapter 11 “Building a Digital Audience for News pg. 310-334 CQ Press A Division of Sage Washington D.C.
3. Grant, August Wilkinson, Jeffery Understanding Media Convergence: The State of the Field Chapter 10 On Linkages and Levels: Using Theory to Assess the Effect of Converged Structures on News Products by George L. Daniels pg. 164-181 Oxford University Press.

NEW MEDIA EXPERIMENT

What would I do without New Media?

            I was having a hard time not using my media devices yesterday even though I kept myself busy. I knew it was going to be hard, but I thought I was going to be sick. My cell phone is usually attached to my ear, I watch television often, and I constantly search the web. I am not particularly proud that I am attached to new media outlets because I feel dependent on them  and if they were to break down or stop working I wouldn’t know what to do. I have indulged in a world outside of the real one I live in. You can call it cyberland, but it deals with new media in general. When I didn’t use my new media devices for five hours I thought about them constantly. I had my roomate Asia keep my devices in her room because I would have been tempted to use them. I think the companies that invented these products knew exactly what they were doing. I feel like an addict when it comes to new media. I don’t know whether this is good or bad. I know there are more people like me. I don’t remember a time before I had new media devices, but I am sure I experienced because I wasn’t born with those devices attached to my body.

Convergence Time

Brandi Mahoney

October 29, 2010

Reading Reaction 10

            Convergence seems like a process that is far from simple. I see why some critics might be opposed to it. Sometimes things don’t work out the way you want them to, but one can only figure that out through trial and error.  I am all for advancing new media, but sometimes partnerships between two media outlets just doesn’t work out the way people expect it to. There are many different factors that might have caused a failed relationship between two mediums, but sometimes blame is in the eye of the beholder. This push for convergence comes with a lot of problems and expectations that may or may not be realistic.  The idea of convergence is not a new concept and you would think that people would be ready for things to change especially since people knew the changes were coming beforehand. I never knew there was such a vast amount of opposition to new media until I read some of these articles for the past ten weeks. I know that we have made a transition from traditional media to new media and for that I am grateful. Convergence is a blessing and a curse.

            In the article “Hypercapitalism: A political economy of informational idealism” by Phillip Graham focuses the capitalism of new media. We are a capitalist nation. We have our individual rights which include the right to own property. The government has little to no interference in capitalist societies. A lot of us are consumers of new media. New Media makes our life better and there are companies who are dedicated to making sure are demands for new media is met. This requires resources like materials, skilled workers or machinery, marketing strategy, etc. Convergence is not only time consuming, but it hits consumers and the producers where it hurts: in the pocket book. The consumers are going to take the biggest hit because the producers are going to make sure that they make a profit from their product. It is not personal it is just business. I find that if you know how economics works you can survive in a capitalist society. Some might say that capitalism makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. This might be seen as a Marxist view of capitalism. Not everyone has a mind of an entrepreneur. There was times where you needed a bunch of workers to produce products, but now people are being replaced by heavy machines because they can make more with less. I am not saying if this is fair or not I’m just saying this is the way a capitalist society functions. Economics plays a big role in new media because if we didn’t have companies to produce the products we use to access new media then there would be no need for consumption.

            We have decided on convergence, now what do we do? There is no magic spell or fairy god mother to make convergence successful. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t and some will never give it a chance. When I think about convergence I think about a relationship or a marriage. Sometimes the relationship or the marriage works out, sometimes it doesn’t, and even though they might end they will part as friends. In chapter eight of the Understanding Media Convergence book it talks about getting the media managers ready for convergence. I think you have to accept that convergence is happening and have the resources to accommodate it before you can actually be ready for it.  Everyone doesn’t take change the same way. Sometimes you have to change the way you operate, some people adjust to change quickly, the focus of the group might shift, and those who aren’t willing to go with the flow might be left behind. Convergence is a trend in other words and sometimes it is not wanted, but it is necessary in some instances. The media outlets know that we are moving rapidly into convergence and a lot of them have to play catch-up. Decisions have to be made, practices have to developed, and sometimes roles change and other roles develop. Newspaper journalist and television professionals are getting with the program. According to Grant and Wilkinson a media manager has to understand why we need convergence and how to build a convergent relationship. Even though television and newspaper are competitors in a lot of instances, but for the sake of conversion they might be seen working together.

Some people believe blogs are a way to view public opinion. Emphasis on opinion because I believe a lot of what people write on blogs is nonsense.  Can one really be enlightened by blogs on how people think? How do we know it’s not crap or made up? In the article “The search for a Purveyor of news: The Dewey/ Lipmann Debate in an internet age by Nathan Crick it talks about the relationship between internet and democracy. I don’t think you can conclude that most blogs are based on intelligent facts and good collective judgment. Some of the things people write on blogs have nothing to do with society. I am as liberal as they come, but I don’t think I would turn to a blog site for accurate information and some of the things people blog about they never should have posted online. I love living in a democratic society, but I feel that there should be more rules when it comes to the internet. People often abuse the freedoms that they are given through blogs. Should you be able to post anything online when it might offend or hurt someone else? This question might be making something out of nothing, but sometimes my mind thinks about what it can be opposed to what it is.

            I think convergence is a good thing, but like most things it is a process. It doesn’t come easy and a lot of times it doesn’t come cheap. I am grateful that there are some people that are willing to give into convergence because soon it is going to be the only option soon. I’m sorry to burst anyone’s bubble, but I don’t see any other way.

References

1. Graham, P. (2000). Hypercapitalism: a political economy of informational idealism. [Article]. New Media & Society, 2(2), 131.
2. Crick, N. (2009). The Search for a Purveyor of News: The Dewey/Lippmann Debate in an Internet Age. [Article]. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 26(5), 480-497.
3. Grant, August Wilkinson, Jeffrey (2009) Understanding Media Convergence: The State of the Field. Chapter 8 Developing Media Managers for Convergence pg. 135-149 Oxford University Press

Reading Reaction 9

Brandi Mahoney

October 22, 2010

Reading Reaction 9

            The social identity theory is Henry Tajfel and John Turner explanation on how groups make up a person’s self concept. The theory has been in effect for a long time before Tarjfel gave it its name and broke down its dimensions. Everyone fits in a group whether they like it or not. These groups can be categorized by race, family orientation, preference, classroom setting, etc. The groups we fit into set the standard on how people see us and how we see ourselves. It is natural for us to want to fit it. We all want to be a part of something great and we believe the groups we are a part of or the groups we want to be a part of will help us do that. Some groups we are naturally apart of, but there are groups we perceive ourselves to be a part of. For example I am an African American, but I perceive myself to be a part of the internet generation because I am a young woman who spends countless hours on the internet. Groups can have a positive or negative influence on a person’s life. If we take ourselves out of the groups that make us who we are then we would be left with a person without an identity. I am sure we can all agree on that.

            In Chapter seven of the Understanding Media Convergence book Grant and Wilkinson targets the convergence of television and print journalism. Convergence is happening at a rapid pace and there is a lot of opposition to it. Print Journalist once held the power of media in their hands, but now because of new media they have had to surrender that control. I know what it is is like to have all the power and then have to share it with someone else. Print journalist are very reluctant to share power with any other form of media even though they know media is moving in another direction. I rarely read a newspaper in this day and time. I get the news off the internet or on television and the internet allow me to see more than one news source at a time. I think print journalism is important because news is written down before it is broadcasted. Good news doesn’t just flow out the top of someone’s head it has to be crafted and ideas have to be placed in order to make a good news story. Print Journalism and television groups often find themselves in a tug of war and us as the audience has our own perception of them. They each see themselves as the better news source, but we have to make the choice for ourselves. We go with the group we think we fit into and that depends on various factors.

            In the article “What’s Stopping Them?” by Steven Steenson it talks about how online journalists aren’t making any changes to the internet that we would call extraordinary.  We already know that all form of news is going to the internet, but groups are having a hard time accepting it. The L.A. Times is a newspaper and it has a online newsroom. The team that keeps the online newsroom running is different from the team that runs the paper. Websites take a lot of up keep and the people who run them have to have the skills to deal with the technical problems that they might run into. I run into various problems when it comes to the internet. My wireless goes down, sometime the sites have a technical error, or some of the applications won’t download. Technology is constantly changing so I can understand why online journalism might not be as innovative as people think it should be. We talked about social movement organizations not utilizing the internet to its potential, but if you don’t have the full resources, time, or the skilled workers you can’t make good use of it. I like the part in the article where it say’s “Printed newspapers were supposed to die.” I laugh because it is so true, but printed journalism is hanging in there and they are not going down without a fight. I am not mad at them.

            Digital news has definitely kicked it up a notch. The internet has become one of the primary sources of news. It is like a news buffet. In chapter ten in the Journalism Next Book Mark Briggs brings out the point that Journalist, although grudgingly, have admitted that having online blog sites and communities has it uses. Why not draw to the media source that has the biggest audience? This might seem like common sense, but unfortunately common sense isn’t all that common. People use blog sites and social network to conduct conversations. If journalists are interested in what their audience thinks then they have to become a part of their world. People want to be heard and you will find out that people do care. If you want to have a good conversation write me on facebook, email me or text me. News is and should be a conversation. I should have my own input in want I want to hear. Even though Journalists thrives on their objectivity they still have to tap into their subjective mind if they want to sway their audience. Things have changed and people are starting to get with the program. The internet has officially taken over the news. It is fine by me.

            Social identity theory, convergence, and managing conversation all play a role in new media. Media professionals predicted that new media would be a strong force, but I know that it hasn’t been easy to accept. The good thing is we have a variety of media even if one dominates over the other. Change is inevitable, but we have a lot of progressing to do. New Media is not done yet and this is far from over. I don’t know how this is going to play out, but it should be interesting.

Refrences

Briggs, Mark (2009) Journalism Next: A practical guide to digital reporting and publishing/ Chapter 10: Managing News as Conversation Pg 277-309  Library of Congress Publishing Data

Steensen, S. (2009). What’s stopping them? [Article]. Journalism Studies, 10(6), 821-836.

Grant, August  Wilkinson, Jefferey (2009) Understanding Media Convergence: The state of the field/ Chapter 7 Culture, Conflict and Convergence pg. 117-134 Oxford University Press

Reading Reaction 8

Brandi Mahoney

October 14, 2010

Reading Reaction 8

            There are a lot of questions you can ask regarding new media, but does social movement organizations use the internet to its full potential is definitely a new question. I have never really thought about how effective the internet can be to a social organization. That is not a question very often.  I guess since there are a million web users that can be a way for organizations to reach out to people who support them and their cause. It may also give organizations the opportunity to draw people who don’t already support the cause. I see the internet as a gateway to unlimited information and people that don’t take advantage of it will miss out. The web is a place of many possibilities.

            Even the Democrats and Republicans have found a way to use the internet to draw people to their candidate. During the 2008 elections I looked on the internet to learn more about both candidates. I didn’t know much about either candidate because in the prelim’s I voted for Hilary Clinton. My reasons why is because she had some political experience, she was a woman, and she was the wife of my favorite president, Bill Clinton. Maybe these are not good reason, but these are the only ones I had the time. John McCain to me was not a true conservative, but Obama was a true liberal.  I didn’t look at the presidential debates or paid any attention to their commercials. I did all my research on the internet when it came to the elections. I worked for a call center that did fundraising for quite a few social organizations. We did calling for the A.C.L.U., Democratic.org, Democrats for Senate, LGBT, and etc. I didn’t know much about these organizations until I started working for the company and I looked up the organizations on the internet. Many people have supported these causes that I knew nothing about. Citizen’s give money to these organizations online or through the call centers. These contributions are not just made one time only. There are people who give consistently to these organizations and the fact that they can do it through internet makes it easier. Why not go with the medium that draws the bigger audience and gets the most exposure? No one can deny that the internet is a great way to get your cause out there.

            The survey in the article “Social web use in theory and practice: content analysis of US movement sites” by Laura Stein shows that social organizations do use the internet for their cause, but not to its full potential. The organization’s do however seem to put their history on the site and their policy’s. These are the two main things that organizations put on the site, but I only look for the history.

            There is no doubt in my mind that social organizations know that the internet that can only move their cause forward. Many maybe still reluctant to go that route, but in the end do they really have much of a choice? I know some might stay away from the internet because it interferes with their beliefs and sometimes I can understand that. The internet has become its own genre. A lot of organizations are getting support online for their organization because that is where people who believe in the same cause are forming the same communities. This is seen as a problem because online relationships may replace offline relationships which might be another reason why social organizations tend to deviate away from communicating on the web. Social organizations are about supporting a cause. Sometimes support can be direct or indirect. The support on the internet can be taken both ways.

            Social organizations are important to a lot of people and they have caused a lot of change in our society. Those are the two things that new media and social organizations have in common. New media can explain the message of social organizations as well as traditional media. New Media does the same job as traditional media. New media seems to be a lot faster in getting the message out and it leaves some of the responsibility up to the audience. Social organization sites are another form of proof that new media is moving up the ladder. I am starting to feel maybe new media will replace traditional media, but only time will tell. I am just kidding about that. In my opinion new media is only making traditional media better.

References

1. Stein, L. (2009). Social movement web use in theory and practice: a content analysis of US movement websites. [Article]. New Media & Society, 11(5), 749-771.