Overall Impression

My overall impression of the topics that we discussed this semester is that I really enjoyed New Media.  My attitude has definitely changed because at the beginning of the semester I was honestly worried about taking this class.  I am not caught up very much in the New Media world as it does not play a major role in my daily life.  This is something that I discussed in my second blog as well.  After starting New Media my nerves settled and I found that I enjoys it very much.  I found that I extremely enjoy creating websites in iWeb.  Both assignments of creating a website this far were both a lot of fun and educational. 

What surprised me the most was just how much New Media did play in an average persons normal daily life.  I always knew that New Media was an important role, but after taking this class I discovered that it was more important than just Facebook and Twitter.

Data

I think the statement, "Discuss the importance of data to the future of journalism" is, in small portion, false. 

Data is an everyday usage in the world of journalism and it is already an important factor.  If anything it will just become MORE important. 

Journalists should learn to take advantage of the data that is at their finger tips.  Data is and will continue to be an important role in the field of journalism.  There actually, in my opinion, is no journalism without data.  How can a journalist report without data to report about or support the topic that is being reported without data to back it up?  Internet, surveys and good old fashioned interviews are all wonderful sources of data.  With the Internet growing so rapidly, this can only help increase the finding of data.  Of course, the journalist gets to decided if the Internet source is reliable or not, but it is a gamble worth taking. 

Journalism students are learning late in education the importance of data gathering.  I am a junior in college and I am just now taking a class the involves data usage.  If I had not personally worked for a news paper outside of school or volunteered to work at the news paper at my junior college, then data gathering would be new to me this year.  My News Feature Writing Class is the class that I am talking about and it is this class that I have given assignments that call for data.  I think a little more personal motivation from students to get more active in data research is a great way for journalism students to prepare for their future in the journalism field.

As for journalism educators, based on my last paragraph, I think introducing the students to data research much earlier in their educations is the right way to go.  I don't think there is much preparation for journalist and journalism educators because of the knowledge most already have.  It is the journalism students that need the most preparation on this matter. 

Digital Storytelling

Digital: A recording technique in which sounds or images are converted into groups

  of electronic bits and stored on a magnetic medium. The groups of bits are read

  electronically, as by a laser beam, for reproduction.

Digital Storytelling: Enhancing Student Literacy through Digital Video.

http://www1.kent.k12.wa.us/staff/tomriddell/digitalstorytelling/about.html
Digital story telling is most commonly known for being in the classroom.  Film producers and makers use Digital Storytelling mosty.  How a Journalist might be able to use Digital Storytelling is somewhat limitless.  A way a Journalist could use Digital Storytelling is by reinacting a scene of a crime.  This way viewers could see exactly what has happened and better prepare themselves from the same thing happening to them.  Also, Digital Storytelling helps with weather warnings.  If a hurricane or bad storm comes thhrough the news edia uses Digital storytelling to show viewers the location and destination of it. 

Why is Twitter growing so rapidly?

Twitter by definition is a micro-blogging service that allows people to type in short messages or status updates that can be read by people following them. An individual message or status update is often referred to as a 'tweet'. Find out more about Twitter.
webtrends.about.com/od/web20/a/web20-glossary_2.htm

According to Websters Dictionary, Twitter is to utter a succession of light chirping or tremulous sounds; to tremble with nervous agitation or excitement; light tremulous speech or laugh. 

I personally do not have a Twitter but how I would operationalize this in a research paper I would create my own personal Twitter account.  This way I can live the life of a "Twitter er" and maybe fully understand the addiction that it produces.  I would take notes about the things I thought were important to Twitter about and even scope out other users and their twits to see what they believe is important.  Interviews with Twitter account holders could be arranged and questions such as 'Why is Twitter important; How often does one use Twitter; What do users really think about the 140 word limit; how long has the individual been a member,' could be asked. 

The definition that appears behind Citizen Journalism is the involvement of non-professionals in reporting news.   The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own.  This is according to http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/citizen+journalism Examples include things such as blogging.

Participatory Journalism has been considered to be the same definition.  I think, however, that participatory journalism is when the audience partakes in commenting and giving opinion on the news that is being delivered.  It is also when viewers send what they think is news worthy to those that are professionals so that they can present the news such as pictures, video, etc.

My idea question is what other ways are there for communication between news organizations and their community.  That is when I found an article titled "7 ways to make news sites more social"  written by Vadim Lavrusik.   http://mashable.com/2009/09/15/social-news-sites/

"Journalism is supposed to be a conversation, but often news websites don’t provide the tools for that conversation to take place."

With saying this quote, there are ways to avoid such a thing.  It is now possible to instantly comment on posts, blogs, video, etc.  This provides a form of communication.  This way the individual who made the post can see what the viewers think and feel about the piece.  I believe that there should be more ways to do this.  That is why my question came to be. 

The seven ways to make news sites more social include:
"'Connect with us' links and directory."
I agree when the article says that several links on websites are hidden and with this being the case then the viewer of the site finds it more difficult to find information that he/she needs or wants.  This is failed communication on the publishers side.

"Twitter Streams and Showcased Tweets."
This part of the article discussed how links to Twitter and Facebook are common forms of communication.  This is also the most popular form of communication right now and almost every site a viewers sees there is a Facebook or Twitter link somewhere.

"Live Blogging."
This way readers can get the information right as it is being said and can post comments instantly.

"Creating a Social News Network."
It is recently that viewers are allowed to register from their Facebook accounts to Websites of their choice allowing viewers to have a wider range of access to that particular Website.

"Social Share Buttons."
The article suggests that their be more Share Buttons used on websites rather than the most popular such as Facebook or Twitter.  These special buttons could also include "Blogger, Mixx, Myspace, Wordpress," and etc.

"Enable Social Commenting."

and

"Utilize User-Generated Content." 
Basically, take advantage of what you can use to help communicate with viewers.

"With Twitter, Williams was launching a communications platform that limited you to a couple of sentences at most. What was next? Software that let you send a single punctuation mark to describe your mood?"  Asks Steven Johnson in his article, How Twitter Will Change The Way we Live.  Well, I doubt that.  However, i do believe that the Internet has much more in store for us than we can imagine even though it is very hard to tell what exactly the nest big thing for media really is.  First Myspace was brought to the Internet, then Facebook now Twitter is hoping on the social media bandwagon. 

 

One thing new about the usage of Facebook compared to other social media items is that "Internet users behaved differently on Facebook than anywhere else online: They used their real names, connected with their real friends, linked to their real email addresses, and shared their real thoughts, tastes, and news."  Great Wall of Facebook: The Social Network's Plan to Dominate the Internet - And Keep Google Out. By Fred Vogelstein. 

 

I used Google to find "What is the next big thing in social media" and results popped up saying that some believe that the next big thing in social media is "a single site that aggregates content from a variety of social network sites would be a blessing for consumers; who signed up for a variety of social-networking sites from MySpace and Facebook to LinkedIn and Flickr cannot keep track of them all. "  Social Media Aggregation by Alain Portmann.  It is though that an aggregates site will help filter through interests of users faster than just any ordinary social site.  Like typical trash-talking youngsters, Facebook sources argue that their competition is old and out of touch. "Google is not representative of the future of technology in any way," one Facebook veteran says. "Facebook is an advanced communications network enabling myriad communication forms. It almost doesn't make sense to compare them."

 

Personally, the next big thing in social media could be just about anything.  It all mainly depends on what exactly is being offered.  There are going to be things in social media that are a huge hit such as Facebook and Twitter, however, there is just as much possibility that it could fail with so much as a blink of the eye.  Social media is constantly changing and progressing more and more.  Everyone is willing to change and progress with it as long as it is worth the change in their opinion.