What kind of reader are you?

Do you..

1) look online for all of your daily news and loathe traditional newspapers

2) love opening a printed copy of the Tribune, no matter how abbreviated or lousy the news is

3)wish there was a compromise between the internet and newspapers


When you were a kid...

1) you read like, a million books a year

2) you liked reading, but only a few books now and then

3) you only read the books that your friends read and the ones you HAD to read

4) you hate reading. Always did, always will.

The Downward Decline of the Newspaper

I was almost surprised by the decline of the Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, but then again, I'm not surprised. With the rise of the internet, readership of these papers is going down. In our online class yesterday, we discussed where the public will be able to get their news and if that news could be reliable.

Personally, I don't think that professional journalism will never completely disappear. More and more professional journalists might start their own blogs, but the journalistic style of writing and reporting will never completely disappear. Professor Macek mentioned yesterday that journalism might turn into a hobby, but I disagree. There will always be people who want professional news, online or otherwise. However, I think that journalists will get paid less money and that news posted on the internet will be less reliable than printed news. I was just discussing with a friend today on entries in the online edition of Encyclopedia Britannica. My friend looked up an entry about a famous composer in the print edition (which contained a comprehensive overview of the composer's life, music teachers, repertoire, etc.) Later, my friend looked up that same entry online and found that the online edition contained massive errors about the composer (that he had webbed hands and physical features that made it easier for him to be a virtuoso...not!)

I know I'd rather have a print edition of a newspaper than have to go online to find news. But I'd rather have quality news than no news at all!

Transmedia...in odd places

In class, when we were talking about transmedia, it mostly had to do with storytelling - like how the story behind The Matrix was constructed. Other forms of media, like magazines and newspapers have also resorted to using the internet to promote their readership. My mother recently got her favorite cooking magazine, Taste of Home, in the mail. She keeps telling me over and over that she wants to cancel her subscription because she hates the new format that TOH has been using. As I was flipping through the current issue, I saw a few articles that normally would have included a recipe on the same page. Instead of printing the recipe in the magazine, TOH instructs its readers to go online to search for it (which is very annoying, especially if the ingredients don't look so appetizing!)

On their website, they have cooking videos, a very nice search engine, and a community that is formed around the magazine (had I known about this sooner, I would have wanted to conduct my ethnography on it). Also, this magazine (in order to appease its readers for raising the price of a subscription) keeps sending us these how-to-cook DVDs. While its a clever way to use transmedia, it is also costly. Perhaps newpapers aren't the only ones in trouble financially...

DSO - Darth Vader Symphony Orchestra

Since we've been talking a lot about fan 'film fiction' in relation to Star Wars, I thought I'd post this video...

Yep, it's Lego orchestra! Some fans have too much time on their hands...

The Law of Polarization

Today in class we discussed the law of polarization. Although I can see where this theory can be sometimes right, I don't think it can be applied to every situation as in the case of the pro-life movement (which was one example someone gave to illustrate the law of polarization.)

Now I'm not saying that there has not ever been an extreme radical 'pro-life' activist who genuinely wants to kill people - there have been a few, but these people ARE NOT PRO-LIFE!!!!

An excerpt from a handbook from the Pro-life Action League states that

Despite some highly publicized cases, violence perptrated by by babortion
opponents is extremly rare. The few individuals who have bombed abortion
facilities were not part of the mainstream pro-life movement, and in some
cases have even admitted they were more motivated by a desire for fame than
concern for the plight of unborn children.

Here is a very good article by Joe Scheidler. Click here to read.

And here's another article about the President's new terrorism dictionary where pro-life activists and veterans are placed on the same level as terrorists. It's just ridiculous!!!!!

The pro-life movement is founded on peaceful protests. Having been to numerous protests myself, I can say that the more pro-lifers join together, the more peaceful they become.

OK, rant over. The point is, the more certain groups discuss things does not mean that they will turn to violence in order to get their opinions across. Rather, they will double their peaceful efforts to make a statement and get excited about common interests.