WalesOnline-You can get twitter there?

Whilst scanning the net the other day, I came across the most peculiar site, WalesOnline. As the name suggests, this site deals with all things Welsh. Aesthetically, it looked like any other news site. It contained very user friendly tabs within a  navigation for ease of manoeuvring through the site. However, what struck me as most peculiar was the content itself.

The Twitter Bug!

Although the rules of grammar and punctuation remain constant throughout our lifetime, our vocabulary incessantly expands. As well as incorporating slang into our everyday speak, we must try to comprehend new words we encounter. Currently, there is one word baffling me…twitter.

It seems that the concept of twitter is infectious. Everywhere I turn, a little blue bird appears. Thus, to end my curiosity, I decided to investigate their website, in order to find out more about this melodious blue bird.

Fortress Newsroom v. Transparent Newsroom: Which will prevail?

Whilst researching my segment of our final presentation, I stumbled across this article which identified two distinct newsroom models; the fortress newsroom and the transparent newsroom.

Round Two for France’s Three Strikes Law.

It seems that nothing will deter President Sarkozy in his crusade against net piracy…even a rejection of the legislation.

IndyMedia: Indy-spensible or In-dy-Bin?

In a previous post, I examined the popular citizen journalism site, OhMyNews.com in order to fully absorb this new facet of modern journalism. Ever since this, however, I have worried that my argument is quite subjective since I chose to focus on one site. Thus, in order to put this problem to bed, I’ve decided to devote this post to the analysis of another popular citizen journalism site,  IndyMedia.com.

The Korean War: Do You Need to Phone a Friend?

Whilst browsing through the popular citizen journalism site, OhMyNews.com, I came across an article written by Kon Yeonghui highlighting the lack of knowledge that Korean teenagers have about the Korean War.

Entitled “How Many Teenagers Know About the Korean War?” the article explains that a staggering 50% of Korean teenagers had no inclination of when the Korean War erupted or who started it.

Facebook Addiction Disorder: Is it just a F.A.D?

Addiction is undoubtedly a scourge of the human condition. Society has witnessed colossal increases in cases of addiction and misuse. For instance, in Ireland, the findings of the Health Research Board‘s most recent survey indicated that problem alcohol cases increased by almost 1,500 in a twelve month period, from 5,876 in 2006 to 7,312 in 2007.

Although many of society’s most renowned addictions such as alcoholism and drug abuse are widely accepted as valid addictions, several addictions have emerged in recent years that conjure a great deal of doubt within society. Examples of these addictions vary from an addiction to Mc Vitie’s Jaffa Cakes to an addiction to eBay bidding. However, it was an addiction to the social networking site, Facebook that caught my eye.

Amazon Kindle: Will it make your Christmas list?

During my sweep of the LA Times website, a small advertisement caught my eye. It read ‘LA Times Now on Kindle’. In order to appease my curiosity about this rather festive-sounding device, I decided to conduct a little research into this nifty gadget.

Following in the footsteps of the Sony Reader, which condenses approximately 160 digital books into a device  ‘smaller than a typical paperback‘, the Amazon Kindle allows the user to download  ‘over 245,000 books plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs.’

The Los Angeles Times: An Analysis of Interactivity in US Online News Sites.

Oxford English Dictionary defines the term interactivity as “allowing a two-way flow of information between it and a user, responding to the user’s input.” Interactivity in traditional print journalism was quite constrained, with the letters to the editor page or a simple audience poll being their primary outlets. As news media evolved, interactivity became a greater issue. In radio for instance, programmes such as Adrian Kennedy’s Phoneshow on FM104, depend greatly on public input. With the explosion of the Internet into daily life, traditional news companies recognised the need to create digital duplicates of their publications in order to keep their online audience satisfied. This move sparked an increase in interactivity. The introduction of features, such as forums, comment boxes and hyperlinks both internal and external, have allowed readers to interact and engage with information on unimaginable levels.

For this reason, I have chosen to examine the news site of the Los Angeles Times with regard to interactivity in the hopes of determining how important public input is to this US newspaper.

Children of the Digital Revolution: Do They Need Another Hero?

It was the Canadian Communications theorist, Marshall Mc Luhan, who proclaimed “It is the framework which changes with each new technology and not just the picture within the frame.” Indeed, with the birth of a new medium of communication, old rules are discarded and new ones generated.

For example, news writing for print publications relies heavily on the inverted pyramid structure, placing the most important information in the opening few paragraphs. On the other hand, radio writing depends greatly on a chatty, conversational tone as well as the simplification of complex details, statistics and jargon. Sure enough, the birth of the Internet created a plethora of new rules.

In a previous post, entitled “The Internet: Are We Being Foolish with our Lives?“, we discussed the negative effects that the Internet has on our concentration and our ability to retain information for prolonged periods of time. The piece deduced that if society didn’t alter their intense relationship with the World Wide Web, the physical, mental and psychological consequences would be unalterable.