Blog & Discussion Assignment

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004060171

*I know that we weren't supposed to post links, but my blog won't let me copy and paste into a new blog post, so yeah...I made sure the link worked though. I apologize for technology being dumb!

OK, so as more and more search engines, such a Google, begin to post more news headlines on their webpages, the news corporations are losing readers and viewers of their own companies to these generic internet search giants. It doesn't suprise me, because most people are online about 1/4 of each day and they can find all they need to find on the internet. Synergy becomes a big part of this because these search engines promote the articles found from these news corporations, which also bring people to find the articles using the search engines as well. It's mutually benefitial that doing it separately. The targeting of the audience also becomes a big part of how news is now distributed too. Since the majority of Americans are online, it would be better for the news to be posted and distributed throught it. Internet searching is the new 21st century lifestyle. Also, since the written word (a hard copy) will never go away, the movement from the written press to the internet/electronic press will never be absolute. Just like the Kindle (sp?), books will always be prefered.

So, my discussion topic is this: When older mediums begin to lose their significance, should we omit them from the media picture completely or try to adapt them to new ways of usage? If we scrap them forever, what would we need to do to compensate for the loss of that medium? If we keep them, how could we use them in new, productive ways?

Media Journal Assignment #1

Obviously, I check my phone every other 5 minutes. In terms of other uses of media, I’ve used books, my Ipod, school computers, my home television and computer, magazines, pictures on power points, my flash drive, and bought a t-shirt with writing on it. I knew from the start that this assignment was going to open my eyes up to how much media I use in one average day. I already knew that I involved myself in the media practically 75% of my entire day. However, what I didn’t realize was how many different mediums I actually used, which really isn’t that many.

Since most of my time was spent on the computer or playing video games, many things I used the media for were for my personal entertainment. I have an Ipod I use to keep myself entertained on the drive to and from school, a computer at home for surfing the web and watching videos, and my Xbox for playing loads of hardcore gaming. What I’ve learned from this journal was that I check my phone WAY too often. I mean, I don’t text very much and I use it for looking at what time it is and such. This journal showed me that I do use my phone more than I think I do. It’s a bad habit that most of us could agree we have as well. Granted there were other things I did which involved the media, nothing compared to the video gaming and the computer use.

I did this journal on Friday, which should say a few things about why I used the media in the ways that I did: I wanted to relax and just have a fun end of the week. All of the things I used the media for were for my own relaxation and relieving the stress developed over the course of the week. I used the media in forms of school books and homework sheets also during the day, but they obviously weren’t for entertainment. I wanted to take a break from school and whatnot from the week and have some fun on a Friday, and I did just that. I noticed that the media I used mainly had many different media forms already incorporated into them. Xbox Live and Google have many different advertisements and products shown to viewers that aren’t even a part of their subject. This sort of involves synergy, where multiple companies work together to have an influence on the consumer rather than try to have that same impact on the consumer by themselves. Exhibition was really the key here, advertising their products through mediums so that everyone can get an eyeshot of it.

What I learned through this experience is that I use a very small amount of mediums, but through these I experience a ton of media through them. These days, you can use your phone to do your taxes, or watch movies from your gaming consoles. I now see how I am involved in the media, even if I only involve myself in it through a little number of mediums. It’s amazing to realize how much we don’t think about this: that we still think we need more and more ways to experience the media when it’s all designed to be put in products that can fit inside your pockets.