ALJ301

http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008/09/29/once-and-for-all/

This post by Jeff is about the shortcomings of the Internet. He cites most of the common “issues” people have with the Internet, like “There’s junk on the Internet, anyone can say anything, there are inaccuracies on the net, people are rude and blogger’s aren’t journalists”.

For the most part, he agrees. ”True. There’s junk everywhere, True. But the web enables us to correct our mistakes.” etc. What sticks with me though is that he agrees with the general pubic, but as an obvious “believer” in the Internet he cites that there’s is junk everywhere, even “on book shelves” and that newspapers print mistakes as well and everyone knows they are not always 100% accurate, far from it! But the most remarkable thing for me is, i agree with him…as one can see i am very sceptical about the net and its many many pages of junk. But as Jeff Jarvis says “The Internet is life. Life is messy. Get used to it.” and i think i am getting used to it, much to my displeasure.

ttp://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2008/10/cuny_business_model_presentations_daily.php

This short blog posted by Katerine Thompson is about the Daily Telegraph’s Digital Director, Edward Roussel believes newspapers should not worry about outsourcing and focus more on what newspapers do best! “newspapers need to invest in their premium products and make cut backs in the less specialised areas.”

Roussel was keen to invest more time into original content to make the “premium product even better”. In other words get right what we do best and worry about the extra curricular activities once that is perfect. The Daily Telegraph according to Thompson outsource some online video work to ITN in the UK because they are better at it than the Telegraph.

The theme i picked up from the blog was that newspapers need to swallow their pride somewhat and let others take control of fields your particular paper is not an expert in. With the world being so small and accessible newspapers can’t afford to waste time and money on a field they aren’t proficient in. It could mean the end of the paper itself if people can get the same story through another media outlet that has outsourced video updates for example to experts.

Newspapers have a lot of thinking to do, particularly those being left behind.

http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008/10/19/a-powerful-memorial/

This blog was only very small but to me immensely powerful because of the pictures it carried.

The pictures of a memorial in Frankfurt are innocuous at first glance but after taking the time to look closer it reveals the names of people killed during the second world war. The memorial is a section of paving that has metal inlays with the names and dates of people killed.

What struck me was that while most war memorials are big and proud and in the public eye, this one was small, unobtrusive and not drawing attention to itself. Almost as if to get the attention of people who keep there heads down not looking to draw attention to oneself, perhaps avoiding the rigours of day to day life.

Stolpersteine’s they are called and can be found in Germany, Austria, Holland and Hungary. In Berlin there are over 1,400!! They remind me of the makeshift memorial grounds in Australia’s war history in places such as the Kokoda track or Galipolli where people or soldiers are remembered on site. These places are where Australian’s died and were remembered, for many towns of Europe, it was in almost every street.

This is a fantastic article to support what we have been studying this semester about the media habits of people all over the world. The article’s major theme is that more and more people are starting to use the Internet to view TV.  Using Saturday Night Live and their comedy skits about Sarah Palin as a guide to the usage of the Net as a substitute for live TV.

10.2 Million people watched it live, 1.2 million recorded and watched at a later date, NBC online streamed the skit 13 million times and a Youtube video with a review of the same skit has had 6,289,799 hits!!!

The article also has the same issues we have discussed in it, the level of advertising for both the online facet of the skit and the potential drop off in advertising if viewers no longer watch the live show and just view it online! Issues we have discussed previously.

I think another advantage is that this particular skit and others like it has had enormous world wide coverage from media outlets, not limited to the US.

Check out the article at: http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/skit-marks-tv-turning-point/2008/10/20/1224351116302.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

See what you think!

I watched Media Watch on the ABC last night and was fascinated by what i saw. There was 4 separate interviews on the future of Australian TV. the 4 men interviewed were: Media Analyst Peter Cox, ABC Managing Director Mark Scott, Chairman of Free TV Australia Wayne Goss and CEO of Foxtel Kim Williams.

Now obvioulsy they all had considerably different views on the future. But the general theme was on Januray the 1st commercial networks will be allowed to show different programming on there various digital channels. “The biggest immediate change is that from January 1st, all five free-to-air broadcasters will be able to offer alternative programs on a second, standard definition digital channel.

For two years now, the networks have been allowed to offer new programs on their high definition digital channel. Not that they’ve offered all that much.

But only the ABC has a separate standard definition channel showing new Australian material: ABC 2. ” (mediawatch website)

This is big news for me a non pay tv subscriber, the possibilities of channels available for FREE completly dedicated to one for of media is an idea of TV heaven for myself.

But, this will not eventuate apparently according to the Media analyst Peter Cox. With the availability of more channels the advertising dollar will have to go further, so in theory (According to Mr. Cox) advertising will become more expensive and the mecca of individual sport, news or weather channels on Free to Air TV will not exist!!!!!!!!

Thats not fair, Cox went on to cite the current financial predicament of Channel 9 as a significant reason they might not go down the individual channel path but i for one hope they do.

Bring on Jan 1st, something better happen!!

This is a response to the actual video blogs posted with the unit guide for week 10.

Firstly Reuters in the first blog are taking a very mature and informed approach to the field of video blogging, they could never be attacked for a lack effort with regard to reaching the video blog viewers of the world. Vint Cerf has a great point of view as well and while I may not be a convert, he understands the level of which video blogs can reach the world. It’s a good example of how a leading media organization will continue to lead the world and a area of journalism they must have a full grasp of in order to continually do this.

The second video blog posted about the use of mobile phones is a foreign language is a good example to me personally that phones and other forms of technology can overcome various cultural barriers, whether they be language or not, a phone or the internet is the same in any country or culture and with the influx of these they will again make the world smaller and make the ease of reporting in a different country much much easier.

The third video blog or blogger Steve Garfield. The idea of live video streaming with a view to reporting news is brilliant! The only problem I have is when people like Mr Garfield are the ones reporting the news. This is the type of video blog that Reuters should be the world leader in, not Steve as innovative as he a Qik may be! This if anyone has read my previous posts will realize I don’t much care for the everyday Joe or Steve giving me my news, perhaps its an old fashioned approach but I like my news to be delivered by a professional. While I do want news on demand on the net when I want I will have to wait until networks “catch up” and start working in this particular field. This brings me to another point; other countries have system like this in place, why do Australian news networks not have systems where news can be fed live at anytime? Interesting.

This week we have a review of another media organization that is being significantly aided by online “intervention” from everyday citizens.

And the first point that comes to my mind is after reading and viewing a couple of citizen online news organizations and the different ways in which they work is, WHY DOESN’T AUSTRALIA HAVE ANYTHING LIKE THIS!!

The latest, www.stomp.com.sg is in my opinion the best form of citizen intervention of news reporting i have seen so far. Based in Singapore stomp is an online news field where members of the public can post items of newsworthy value, the total citizen content is reportedly 80-85%. The reason i believe this is better than others is because the citizens who contribute only contribute ideas for stories or add the value of an existing story. Adding to the existing value of a story is usually via the wonderful mobile phone and its ability to capture both still images and moving images. the stories are then printed in a leading Singapore newspaper The Straits Times This is the best way to operate in my opinion. Unlike other sites such as Ohmynews contributors don’t directly report news they just influence the coverage the everyday person receives, thus not giving too much power to the contributor. a downside i believe would clog other citizen based sites. A system such as this also gives the newspaper a current affairs type approach. If an issue appears to significantly affect the greater community the newspaper could be seen a hero that enacts change. Like that of its initial story about ridiculously long queues to see medical staff at clinics across Singapore

The best system so far.

Week seven’s topic was picture posting for web pages. To me pictures are a lifeblood to any internet site. Without them i would be unlikely to look twice at a web page. Why? Because throughout my uni studies we have been taught to look for high quality web sites, websites without pictures, letterheads or any notification are more than likely a site to steer clear of! Picasa as mentioned in the reading is a program i ahev experience with, and it is handy at best. While it does have editing capabilities they are cheap copies of the more delicate tools available.

Pictures are the hook a website must use to get readers. Like a slogan or catchphrase they have to polarize the reader, whether this is for god or bad it does not matter. Newspaper sites are a perfect example. If the have a headline picture of an explosion immediatley people will be interested to find out more. This is a critsism of Australian newspapers at the moment. The Age, my preferred paper has only one image on display, while it may be the leading story, if it does not interest me i will skip it. The herald sun on the other hand has scrolling headline pictures and i always glance at however many there are. The West Australian perhaps has the best scrolling pictures often showing all facets of the media.

Pictures should be given more thought in my opinion when trying to gather more readers!

Video blogging is an interesting field.

More than a normal written blog, the blogger i believe has to be much more interesting. And also appealing to the eye. Not in a personally attractive way, but with regard to body language, voice tone, demeanor and personality. Video Blogs are no different to TV in this manner in that it is very difficult to find a good host!

I think video blogs appeal to the lazy blog viewer. As we all know it is much easier to watch someones opinion rather than reading it. This is why i prefer the written blog and am not overly enamoured with the world of video blogging. While of course it has a bright future, i think written logs will continue to rule for some time.  

This week’s blog is about the wave of blogs hitting the world at the moment.

I’m a big fan of blogging, the trouble is finding the right one. The blog really is the new fad or tool for journalists all over the world. And with the power of the internet anyone anywhere can read it. With the advent of the internet on mobile phones, blogs are being updated more from anywhere. I recently got a new phone and it has quick links directly to the internet and to a blog address that I can type in. Although I don’t use due to the enormous expense!

Some of my favourite blogs come courtesy of www.espn.com. Everyday they select from blogs all over the net about basketball and promote a handful to the espn NBA website. Each day there is great debate about the blogs nominated with people either thrilled or disgusted at the blogs selected.

But blogs are not limited to the written word. Video blogs and podcasts are also taking the journalistic world by storm. I personally podcast the Hamish and Andy show, from the Fox FM website(www.hamishandandy.com.au). I don’t watch a lot of video blogs because they tend to eat significantly into my data allowance.

But while this is a problem for me the major problem with blogs is because of the huge numbers how can one choose? Finding a blog worth reading on a regular basis is difficult. The range and quality of blogs on the net is ridiculous. I like to use the big name media outlets to find a blog, like www.espn.com and newspaper sites particularly the times newspaper from London (www.timesonline.co.uk). Both recommend reputable blogs and writers from these sites recommend there own. My favourite of all though is without doubt Jeremy Clarkson. 

With video blogs, I’m not familiar with many but, one I have looked at in the past is an updating source from www.cricinfo.com. Every couple of days a new “blogger” usually and former cricket star voices there opinions on current topics. Names like Tony Greig and Ricky Ponting have there say and are then published on cricinfo.com. They are typically informative but not overly compelling. During the Olympics I found hundreds of video blogs from athletes. www.nba.com had blogs updates regularly from the women’s and men’s American basketball teams, which as with most things American very brash and pro America. Not my cup of tea!

But blog’s appear to be taking over, although I fear that the more people that write the more ordinary blog’s we are all subjected too unfortunately!!!! Filtering the crap will get harder and harder.