Saturday, September 20, 2008
How are we building our blogs?
As a class group we are building and maintaining seven blogs. This class blog will center all its attention towards theory and methodology. I will to post general comments on our readings.
What is a blog?
There are different sources that explain what is exactly a Blog. Following Howard Rheingolg's Project, Participatory Media Literacy, we will analyze blogs as a new and indispensable tool that transformed the website from readable to writable.
Basically a blog is a web page that is updated frequently by posts published in order of production. "Blog" is a contraction of the term "Web log" and tend to be a space of comments and news on a particular subject.
With the appearance of journalistic blogs, audiences turned to be more active in the consumption of new media. Most of the mass media producers are increasingly recognizing the importance of incorporating such tools in their daily practices. Three years ago, all the BBC Editors were asked to start and maintain journalistc blogs. The main reason for this decision, as they declared, was to open a new form of communication with their transforming audiences.
Basically a blog is a web page that is updated frequently by posts published in order of production. "Blog" is a contraction of the term "Web log" and tend to be a space of comments and news on a particular subject.
With the appearance of journalistic blogs, audiences turned to be more active in the consumption of new media. Most of the mass media producers are increasingly recognizing the importance of incorporating such tools in their daily practices. Three years ago, all the BBC Editors were asked to start and maintain journalistc blogs. The main reason for this decision, as they declared, was to open a new form of communication with their transforming audiences.
READING: Impact of new technologies in the production of news
The first readings will help us understand the impact of new technologies in the production of news. As a group, we were discussing the advantages and disadvantages of becoming ejournalists. Which are the main differences between "old fashion" journalism and current journalism practices? Why are we going to incorporate such theoretical and methodological questioning in this course? Why this is not a exclusively technical course?
Leading with the discussion pointed out in Deuze's and Gillmore's text we are centering our debate in what is going to be the future of print journalism. I expect some comments in this sense. Take a look at online version of the Washington Post, where do you find some examples of what Gillmore and Deuze pointed.
Leading with the discussion pointed out in Deuze's and Gillmore's text we are centering our debate in what is going to be the future of print journalism. I expect some comments in this sense. Take a look at online version of the Washington Post, where do you find some examples of what Gillmore and Deuze pointed.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
READING: From the Screen to the Streets
By Howard Rheingold
In These Times, Volume 27, issue 26.
10.28.03
It was five years ago when Rheingold reflections about new media were published in In These Times. His discussion will help us understand the role of new media in activism and politics.
"It has taken 10 years of talk about “new media” for a critical mass to understand that every computer desktop, and now every pocket, is a worldwide printing press, broadcasting station, place of assembly, and organizing tool—and to learn how to use that infrastructure to affect change.Previous technologies allowed users only to communicate one-to-one (telephones) or few-to-many (broadcast and print media). Mobile and deskbound media such as blogs, listservs and social networking sites allow for many-to-many communication. This provides opportunities and problems for progressive political activists in three key areas: Gathering and disseminating alternative and more democratic news; creating virtual public spheres where citizens debate the issues that concern democratic societies; and organizing collective political action".
http://www.inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=414_0_1_0_M
In These Times, Volume 27, issue 26.
10.28.03
It was five years ago when Rheingold reflections about new media were published in In These Times. His discussion will help us understand the role of new media in activism and politics.
"It has taken 10 years of talk about “new media” for a critical mass to understand that every computer desktop, and now every pocket, is a worldwide printing press, broadcasting station, place of assembly, and organizing tool—and to learn how to use that infrastructure to affect change.Previous technologies allowed users only to communicate one-to-one (telephones) or few-to-many (broadcast and print media). Mobile and deskbound media such as blogs, listservs and social networking sites allow for many-to-many communication. This provides opportunities and problems for progressive political activists in three key areas: Gathering and disseminating alternative and more democratic news; creating virtual public spheres where citizens debate the issues that concern democratic societies; and organizing collective political action".
http://www.inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=414_0_1_0_M
READING: The Read-Write Web. Technology that Makes We the Media Possible
Gillmore Dan (2008): “The Read-Write Web. Technology that Makes We The Media Possible”, in: We The Media. Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People, O’Relly.
In the introduction of his book, Gillmore gives an interesting advice to journalists:
"We will learn we are part of something new, that our readers/listeners/viewers are becoming part of the process. I take it for granted, for example, that my readers know more than I do—and this is a liberating, not threatening, fact of journalistic life. Every reporter on every beat should embrace this. We will use the tools of grassroots journalism or be consigned to history. Our core values, including accuracy and fairness, will remain important, and we’ll still be gatekeepers in some ways, but our ability to shape larger conversations—and to provide context—will be at least as important as our ability to gather facts and report them" (Gilmore, 2008: xiv).
We will discuss his Chapter 2:
READING: Understanding Journalism as Newswork: How It Changes, and How It Remains the Same
Deuze, Mark (2008): “Understanding Journalism as Newswork: How It Changes, and How It Remains the Same”, Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture © 2008 (University of Westminster, London), Vol. 5(2): 4- 23. ISSN 1744-6708 (Print); 1744-6716.
ABSTRACT
"For a media profession so central to society’s sense of self, it is of crucial importance to understand the influences of changing labour conditions, professional cultures, and the appropriation of technologies on the nature of work in journalism. In this paper, the various strands of international research on the changing nature of journalism as a profession are synthesized, using media logic as developed by Altheide and Snow (1979 and 1991) and updated by Dahlgren (1996) as a conceptual framework. A theoretical key to understanding and explaining journalism as a profession is furthermore to focus on the complexities of concurrent disruptive developments affecting its performance from the distinct perspective of its practitioners – for without them, there is no news".
http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/pdf/WPCC-Vol5-No2-Mark_Deuze.pdf
ABSTRACT
"For a media profession so central to society’s sense of self, it is of crucial importance to understand the influences of changing labour conditions, professional cultures, and the appropriation of technologies on the nature of work in journalism. In this paper, the various strands of international research on the changing nature of journalism as a profession are synthesized, using media logic as developed by Altheide and Snow (1979 and 1991) and updated by Dahlgren (1996) as a conceptual framework. A theoretical key to understanding and explaining journalism as a profession is furthermore to focus on the complexities of concurrent disruptive developments affecting its performance from the distinct perspective of its practitioners – for without them, there is no news".
http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/pdf/WPCC-Vol5-No2-Mark_Deuze.pdf
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Introduction and suggestions
Welcome to the New Media Course Blog, a space for discussion, sharing and production. In this space you will find updated posts related to theory, practices and information on the e-media businness.
We will produce six themed journalistic blogs over the semester. You are expected to update your group project weekly by posting texts, photos and audiovisual material.
You are also expected to post a comment on any of the class blog posts, especially the ones dealing with the readings seen in each session.
We will produce six themed journalistic blogs over the semester. You are expected to update your group project weekly by posting texts, photos and audiovisual material.
You are also expected to post a comment on any of the class blog posts, especially the ones dealing with the readings seen in each session.
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