Computer Assisted Research- What did I learn?

My experience of using spread sheets to probe crime statistics has been very enlightening. I started the exercise with the belief that everything can be found on the internet with ease, and I have finished the exercise with the knowledge that this is not always the case. The crime statistics were fairly easy to find at first, as it was merely a matter of looking on the “saps.gov” site and finding the 2006 statistics for each area. However, my first stumbling block came when I couldn’t find the stats for Bloemfontein. Jude hinted that Bloemfontein had undergone a name change, and so I found the new name (Mangaung) and was eventually able to find the stats. I also battled with finding detailed population statistics for each of the cities in the exercise, until Galen figured it out. It was a matter of finding the “Data supplied to the National Treasury”, and then finding the municipality codes needed to decode this document. Once I had all the statistics, it was fairly easy to use the information to work out the per capita rates and to create charts. I realised in the duration of the exercise that the task which I had expected to be easiest (finding the information), was in fact the most difficult. I do not believe that the information was intentionally hidden, rather, I believe that it was difficult to find due to a lack of organization on the site. I had assumed that vital statistics - such as population statistics - would be easily accessible on the internet, due to the obvious importance of these figures. This exercise has shown me that the internet is always the “font of all knowledge” that one assumes, and that sometimes one must resort to traditional sources, or some very creative thinking, in order to find that information that one needs.

The significance of my introduction to new media and journalism studies

I believe that my introduction to new media and journalism studies has vastly influenced my future career in the journalism industry. As the use of new media such as the internet grows, it is imperative for journalists to understand the impact that these new channels of communication will have on the way in which news is presented, distributed and assimilated. New media offers various unique opportunities for journalists. Lister asserts that “new media appear, as they have before, with claims and hopes attached; they will deliver increased productivity, educational opportunity and open up new creative and communicative horizons” (2002). Some of these communicative horizons, according to Lister, include “new textual experiences”, “new ways of representing the world”, “new relationships between subjects (users and consumers) and media technologies” and “new patterns of organization and production”. These create exciting new opportunities for the media to reach its audience on an entirely new, and more interactive, level. Lister asserts that information on the web exists in a “permanent state of flux, in that, freed from authorial and physical limitation, any net user can interact with [it]”. I believe that the interactivity of the web will allow for a more relevant, more democratic form of journalism, closely criticised and regulated by the very audience for whom it is produced. With regards to how new media relates to critical media studies, I believe that there is much merit in research of the ways in which people view new media, and the ways the new media act as filters to shape those perceptions of the media. We use cultural decoding to make sense of the advent of these new forms of media, and it is these new forms of media which give us the tools to decode them in a certain way. Lister mentions the need for critical study of “the wider processes through which media information and representations of the media is distributed, consumed and received by its various audiences.” Two major areas within new media which relate to critical media studies are “the shift from modernity to post-modernity” (and the perception that new media are one of the main manifestations of post-modernity) and the connection between new media and intensifying processes of globalisation - as seen in the expansion of the global village, via search engines such as Google (Bucy 2005). New media are seen as both cause and effect of these changes. Lister also asserts that internet thought is “modular, non-linear, malleable and co-operative”. These characteristics of the internet result in what Lévy calls “the disappearance of the signature”. A “reading writing continuum” is formed when the lines between reader and writer become blurred. This new experience of media is of great importance, as it influences the ways in which people relate to themselves, to the world, and to new media itself. I also believe that new media cannot be called “old wine in new wineskins”. Lister asserts that “the nature of the change that was experienced [at the advent of new media] warranted an absolute marking off from what went before”. Our current new media differs vastly from previous forms of media in that it utilises digital, rather than analogue, forms. This allows for “media texts to be ‘dematerialised’”, “compressed into very small spaces”, “accessed at very high speeds” and “manipulated far more easily than analogue forms.” These, and the high level of interactivity afforded by new media, means that the media is more accessible to the public than ever before.

Bucy E (ed). 2005. Remediation in Living in the Information age: A New Media Reader. USA: Thomson Wadsworth *
Lister, Martin [et al.]. 2002. New Media and Technologies in New media : a critical introduction . London : Routledge

Why learn xhtml?

Why learn xhtml? Due to the profusion of advanced web design tools available to the new media journalist, it may be tempting to overlook the value of learning xhtml, the absolute basics of web design. However, it is in fact extremely important, because xhtml forms the building blocks of any work done in new media, and is the underlying common language which links all aspects of the emerging field. Firstly, it is not enough for a new media journalist to simply be proficient in the journalistic aspects of new media (eg: writing for the internet, or how to choose video footage for the internet) – for the web site to work as a dynamic package, one must master all the technical aspects of online journalism. Secondly, if one is to use powerful web design programs such as Fireworks or Dreamweaver, one should have an understanding of the fundamentals (xhtml), so that these packages are used merely as aids to enhance one’s ability to create web pages. Bus Kraus points out that knowledge of xhtml allows one to edit the code while one is using these programs, to allow for creativity and innovation. Templates can be personalised and customized to suit the individual needs of the designer. He also says that the ability to edit code gives makes it possible to “create optimized easy-to-manage web sites that upload and download faster, and enhance search engine optimization”, because one can do away with unnecessary and superfluous code. Knowing xhtml also helps one to learn other markup languages such as XML, SVG, SMIL and RSS more easily, as they rely on the same syntax. This is useful to any new media journalist, because one has more abilities and can manipulate a variety of coding languages. It is also particularly useful for new media journalists to learn xhtml because it makes one more independent of web design programs. If one is on a tight deadline and there is no access to these applications, a journalist can generate news from any computer, as one is able to use basic standard programs (such as Notepad) to create a basic webpage.


Bud Kraus 2000 - 2007 TryNet, Inc. 5 Good Reasons to learn XHTML and CSS.
http://www.joyofcode.com/reasons_to_learn.html

Intro to XHTML .A Tutorial for the Beginner.
http://www.sarahdopp.com/docs/Dopp_XHTML_Tutorial.pdf

Top XHTML. Learn XHTML Tutorial.
http://www.topxml.com/xhtml/

What is a blog?

One of the largest controversies in contemporary media studies, and in the journalism industry, pertains to whether or not blogging can be considered a valid form of journalism. Wikipedia defines blogging as a constantly updated flow of information in reverse chronological order, often pertaining to current news and areas of specific interest. Blogs attempt to connect communities of interest in an unmediated discussion, which allows for the emergence of alternative viewpoints and in-depth analysis of news. The diversity of blogging sites means that a blog can be as in-depth as the most specific niche-market magazine, but infinitely more interactive and current. Although traditional media such as print and broadcast also aim to play the role of “networker” and “public informer”, power dynamics and entrenched practices within newsrooms mean that information often favours the elite. Power monolpolies which influence conventional journalism include economic concerns (the need for the preferences of advertisers to be met, often at the cost of the quality of journalism produced), government pressures and newsroom hierarchies (the views of newbie journalists may be overthrown by those of their more established colleagues). In sensitive cases censorship and self-regulation is often enforced in order to protect the image of a media organization, and to avoid costly defamation suits. However, the emergence of blogging has allowed journalism to free itself, to some extent, from these power monopolies and practices of self-regulation. Blogging allows the individual the ability to express opinions which are divergent from those of the mainstream, without the need for self-censorship due to obligations to a particular media organization. Critics have said that due to the lack of emphasis on objectivity (as seen in conventional media), journalism in blogs has the tendency to be biased. The opinions of the author of a blog do not necessarily represent the opinions of society on whole, or even of the specific community of interest from which the blog arises. However, the conventional media cannot be said to be completely unbiased either, as the viewpoints expressed are usually of the academic or financial elite. Blogging can be seen as a form of participatory journalism, in that information is collected and disseminated by the very people who consume it. The interactivity of blogs allows for a greater realisation the concept of citizen’s participatory journalism, as a variety of people can edit the content.