Wednesday, March 28, 2012

The Times, They Are A-Changin'.

     From time to time, a platform- the newspaper, the car, Windows 98- any standard- begins to fall out of use, or be used less and less. The question always turns out to: "Will X be phased out?" Inevitably, people begin to render all sorts of futures without X, and soon enough, people move onto the next big thing, and forget all about X. The truth is, though, X isn't dead- just not as preferable.

     Think about it: When the book was invented, did word-of-mouth die? Of course not. We have multiple types of media today- from billboards to the morning news and internet blogs to newspapers. There are plenty of ways to spread your information. In class, we discussed the point at which the speed humanity advances technologically approaches a vertical asymptote. We don't know how close we are to this point, yet we continue to innovate quicker and quicker. Soon enough, media will evolve even quicker than it does now. And when the newspaper loses popularity, I'll be waving a content goodbye.
    That being said, only the paper is leaving. Those behind the typewriters are rapidly converting to word processors. Journalism is shifting gears, but it is still very much alive. The vast majority of the blogs and internet related news I read links to their sources. There is almost always a trace back to a major news source, or a primary source if it is a story about the net. Someone has to gather the information, and the people who gather it now will still be gathering it. Spreading it is a different story.

As well, forgive me. I couldn't resist:
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2 comments:

  1. Alex DebrechtMarch 29, 2012 at 9:53 AM

    I like your point that while the major news stations will still provide the information, it is likely that bloggers will become the standard for accessing that information. If that happens, though, how will the model for journalists change, if they are not actually writing for the people who are distributing the information? The news media may have to shift gears in order to avoid becoming obsolete, as so many technologies and companies have in the past few decades.

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  2. David GrimApril 5, 2012 at 9:27 AM

    I really enjoyed your comment that while the means in which we communicate may die, people who are doing the communicating won't. People will learn to adapt and transfer their skills and abilities to adhere to the standard. The authors, journalists, and newsmen/women are still going to be out there. They just might not be doing exactly what they would have been doing had they been alive in decades or centuries past.

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