Philosophy

Converged Devices Doesn't Mean Fewer Devices

by Robert K. Logan

In the last blog post, I looked at the 14 messages of new media, one of which was convergence. In today's blog post, I'd like to focus on convergence and hybrid technologies, which characterize today's new media. Let's begin by exploiting a McLuhan technique known as the laws of media, in which we identify what a new medium enhances, obsolesces, retrieves and reverses into Hybrid technologies enhance convenience, obsolesce many individual devices, retrieve the Swiss Army knife, and reverse into clutter.

• August 8, 2007
• 1 comment

Philosophy

The 14 Messages of New Media

by Robert K. Logan

New media have certainly changed the landscape of communications and education in an even more dramatic manner than electronic mass media did as was documented and analyzed by "Marshall McLuhan" in 1964. I had the good fortune to collaborate with Marshall back in the 1970s and have tried to carry on his tradition, as have others, by focusing on the impact of media independent of their content. McLuhan's pithy way of describing this approach was through the use of his one-liner "the medium is the message," which he made famous in his '64 book "Understanding Media."

• August 6, 2007
• 10 comments

Citizen Journalism

Can Media Get Beyond Reactive Response to Tragedy?

by Jon Garfunkel

After the shootings at Virginia Tech, much of the initial reaction on the Internet followed the familiar rhythm of disaster reporting in recent years. First, the point is made that it is now more likely for an average person to be at a tragic hot spot with a cell phone or Net connection. Next, the story is naturally picked up, either directly or independently, by a traditional media outlet. Finally, the advocates of citizen media claim victory while the actual story is still bleating. Rob Walker first noticed this in Slate in March 2001, when the denizens of MetaFilter first noticed an earthquake. New media triumphalism is now professionalized, and the major journalism studies programs all contribute to it.

• April 20, 2007
• 4 comments

Citizen Journalism

Assignment Zero Has Birthing Pains with 800 Volunteers

by Jay Rosen

Especially after David Carr's column about "Assignment Zero" in the New York Times, people have been asking me how my new venture is going. Alright, I'll tell you.

• March 30, 2007
• 4 comments

PoliticalShift

Escaping the Bubble in Campaign Journalism

by Jay Rosen

This week Arianna Huffington and I announced at the Huffington Post and PressThink a new project in campaign journalism.

• March 29, 2007
• 3 comments

Citizen Journalism

Keeping an Eye on the Kenyan Parliament

by Ory Okolloh

One of the things I'm most proud of as far as my accomplishments go is being the co-founder of Mzalendo. At a basic level Mzalendo intends to monitor what Kenyan Members of Parliament are doing for their constituents. The Kenyan government generally operates in a very opaque manner and it is very difficult to obtain access to public information both online and offline. While there are some government offices that are trying to remedy this (the Office of Public Communications is one example), most of the information provided is generic.

• November 10, 2006
• 4 comments

World View

The China and Africa Story

by Ory Okolloh

Over the last year or two, mainstream media outlets have started paying much more attention to China's increasingly strong presence in Africa. This interest was recently amplified by the China-Africa summit, which was recently held in Beijing.

• November 9, 2006
• 2 comments

NewspaperShift

WECAN Harnesses Wisdom of Crowds for Newspaper

by Mark Tapscott

One of the biggest reasons I can't wait to get to the newsroom most mornings is the WECAN project --- the Washington Examiner Community Action Network. This project is barely in its infancy but is worth watching because it combines elements of citizen media and open-source journalism, with a semi-traditional daily newspaper.

• October 4, 2006
• No comments

Media Usage

'Never Let Schooling Get in the Way of Your Education'

by Henry Jenkins

Some years ago, my wife, my son, and I came to a parting of the ways with the Sommerville Public School System. We felt the schooling process was failing our son. The science teacher conducted no experiments but simply had students write answers to study questions while he worked crossword puzzles in front of the class. The literature instructor had managed to walk them paragraph by paragraph through a single, not particularly challenging novel for the entire school year. And the history class had not progressed much past the American Revolution after 9 months.

• July 14, 2006
• 9 comments