Something that grabbed
my attention from lecture 2 was the correlation between the evolution of the
web and the progression of the media. Web 1.0 is a form we are all familiar
with, where the content is far outnumbered by the ads. The link between this
and old media such as newspapers, magazines and television is obvious then. There
is no escaping the ads on television, radio or print. You have no choice but to
cop the barrage of latest trends, fast food and upcoming sales.
And then comes along Web
2.0: The Social Web and The Rise of the Prod-user (which sounds like the name
of an action movie!). This was the age of social networking, interactivity and
user generated content and so the line between the producer and the user became
fuzzy. Web 2.0 lent itself to citizen journalists and bloggers as well as
breaking news on Twitter and Facebook.
Finally, the dawn of
Web 3.0 which is all about creating meaning and making sense of the
information. I’m not a paranoid person but these newfound capabilities of the
web are a little bit daunting. Through Facebook, the web knows our personal
details and appearance. Through our web browsing history, the web can track our
interests. And now because of GPS on smart phones, the web can pinpoint our
exact location at any time. This sounds too much like Eagle Eye to me and I’m not particularly comfortable being stalked
by artificial intelligence, particularly considering that I carry Siri around
in my bag every day.
But in all seriousness,
this does mean another change in the way we receive news (and advertising). The
news we receive can now be highly relevant and specific to the individual,
relating to their interests or place of residence. People are able to dictate
exactly what news they want to receive and the web is able recommend news that
will be of interest to the individual. Like on YouTube where the site
recommends videos that you may want to view. While it is all well and good that
people can have direct access to the news they want it will surely result in a ‘tunnel
vision’ society. Certainly the lack of general knowledge will cause the trivia
business to suffer as well as an ignorance of current global events. Effects of
Web 3.0 are already creeping into society but we remain to see the long term
impacts of this technology.
The discussion of
changing technology during the lecture brought us around to the notion of
entitlement. Up until now we have been able to access online news basically for
free but we realise that this can’t last forever. Journalists, just like
everybody else, have bills to pay and mouths to feed so they can’t just be
giving their services away for nothing. I (like most other people) feel
entitled to free information on the net and if I happen to come across a site
that requires me to pay I simply look somewhere else for the same information. Uni
students’ barely have a cent to their name anyway!
The question was put to
the JOUR1111 cohort, is entitlement the death of journalism?
Well possibly... but
unlikely (remember that people will always listen to the radio and watch
television and they have to get their news from somewhere!). It is really all
about providing enough benefits for the reader that they don’t mind spending a
small amount on an online news subscription.
News seems to be a
constantly evolving phenomenon so who knows what it will look like in a decade
from now.
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