JOUR1111 Lecture 1 and 2

The first lecture in my journalism course on the 27th of February, unsurprisingly jumped straight into the world of journalism. We learnt the specifics of what is expected from us as students, and taught the course philosophy which stated that we were the journalists. Granted, I was a little shocked that we were instantly perceived as journalists, but I am just as eager now as I was then to earn that title.

As contemporary journalists, we were informed of the challenges associated with journalism in our technological age: the horribly endangered newspaper slowly becoming extinct, as well as the need to not only convey information, but also make it entertaining! The former is a terrible concept to consider, as news outlets all over the world seem to be loosing revenue in the print industry, which is guiding them to consider digital printing options: http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/search_new_business_model, and may potentially end the availability of buying a newspaper.  The second point is similarly concerning as the need to entertain may, and most likely does, impact upon the morals of journalists, who tend to compromise truth for entertainment.

These were very interesting concepts to consider, and greatly increased my excitement in commencing this course.


The second lecture on the 5th of March focussed on the different types of news platforms. The first was explained as "Old Media". This type of media was defined as that which has been in production since before the new digital age; such as newspapers, magazines, and radio.
In the Digital Age however, media is separated into platforms in association with the Web, such as Web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0.

Web 1.0 was defined as a promotional web, where companies could earn money from advertising on-line.

Web 2.0 was defined as the 'social media' Web, which is driven by the 'user' and much more interactive than the web was previously. This can be examined at: http://nms.sagepub.com/content/11/1-2/155.full.pdf+html

Web 3.0 can be defined as the "the semantic web" which refers to the idea that the web is a body of information which can be accessed and utilised as a social or scientific database. It can answer complicated questions, as well as target specific individuals in order to generate appropriate advertisement useful  to them. T. Berners-Lee and J. Hendler note in association with web 3.0 that:  "We are in the early days of a new web revolution, one that will have profound implications on web publishing, and on the nature of the web itself."  http://www.citeulike.org/group/1584/article/782655. 'Hyperlocalisation' was discussed as a result of this rapidly developing media platform, as it can directly address local audiences or consumers. This result seems great for direct company advertising, but can potentially contribute to a smaller view of the world due to extremely localised media, and as a result: an ignorance of world media.

Again, the fear that newspapers may finally go out of print was discussed as a direct outcome of this rapidly developing web system, and consequently, the role of the journalist is jeopardised.

As I was previously unaware of the potential of these developing media platforms to 'kill' the print industry, I can now fully comprehend the need for journalists to learn and utilise these web frameworks on order to keep journalism alive, and directly address the evolving world audience.