thoughts on the lecture notes

i think the lecture notes was good at describing the journalism associated with the digital version. it mentions that the roles of the reader and writer have changed. Readers become citizen journalists. For the first time regular people are able to comment on news and write about news or their opinions on it. When reading the the phone story I saw the the companents of the digital news environment. This kind of digital journalism has more content then before. For example the idea of a missing cell phone led to other content being discussed like military police and racial questions. The story became unfiltered with news. Everything and manyhting became open to discussion.

readers becoming more than just readers

This week's reading, "It Takes a Village to Find a Phone," a great example of how digital journalism has readers become more than just readers. Their involvement in the story doesn't just stop the second they stop reading the post. The readers became activists, detectives, commentors, and participants to the story. They helped shape the ending of the story by the work they did.

While there were various reasons why they became so affected by the story that they had to participate in some way, the reason they were able to do that was from the digital format of the story. I got to thinking about what would have happened had it simply been a newspaper story. A reader may have been just as affected by it as on the internet. But the difference is that the most the reader would have probably done is write to the editor or Evan. Or perhaps discuss is with a friend, co-worker, or family member. But I think the interest would die down after that.

But with the system Evan set up people were able to fuel the fire. Discussion boards brought thousands and more people together instead of just a handful. They fueled each other with their online discussions and ability to track down new information through the internet. The ability to email the story to others helped others who had the ability to help the cause get involved. The internet gave people the freedom to post things they would not have probably written in to a newspaper about. They wouldn't tried to post pics off of Sasha's myspace or get into so many other related topics like the military or police duty.

Like mentioned in the reading, Evan created an army through his website. I don't believe it would have gone the same route had it just been in a newspaper.

Ann Arbor News

My opinion is that annarbor.com is an example of the hybrid form that Prof. Tracy wrote about. It has elements that use the internet technologies to improve the news given. It isn't just the paper version reproduced online. Something that stuck out for me was the other links given in a particular story. For example the article covered the Michigan vs Eastern game had some many other links inside the article. I could watch videos, chat about it, find other stories related to the game, get stuff on the big ten, etc. The article gave me much more options to find out more about the game. This struck me as a key point in the hybrid model mentioned in the reading. The articles on this site connect people to more information by using links to various topics and media forms.
Other things that I connected to the hybrid form was the way the reader could interact by leaving comments and live chatting. Also the site was constantly being updated around the clock. The article mentioned above was posted 5 hours ago an I even noticed another story posted at 3 am.
For these reasons I think annarbor.com was a good example of the hybrid form.

hey everyone! I just thought I should stop by again and tell you about myself. I'm a senior and will hopefully be graduating next semester. I'm a literature, language, and writing major with a minor in journalism. Though right now my job is being a waitress my goal is to one day work for a book publishing company. I'm 23 years old and live in Monroe. I'm the youngest out of 5, although my twin sister, Courtney, is only one minute older. I love reading and writing, hence my major and minor. I don't have a favorite genre or author. There is just too much good ones to choose from. My room pretty much looks like a library because of all the books.I'm also a pretty big music fan and again I couldn't tell you a favorite. It generally just depends on the mood I'm in. Other than that I'm pretty normal, I guess. I love spend the little free time I have with my family and friends, who I consider my 2nd family. Especially my nieces and nephews. well I suppose that's it but feel free to comment or ask questions if you want to know more about me.

reflection on the evolution of the newspaper

I found this reading to be interesting and insightful. Like most people interested in journalism I often wonder about the future of newspapers and the evolution of journalism. The thing that I found most interesting and enjoyed the most was the idea that journalism was taking a natural evolutionary step with the Internet. While some may argue that the Internet is ruining writing, journalism and our connectivity, I believe the opposite. More than ever we are connecting with people and sharing our thoughts. If people continue to use the Internet in a positive way than the Internet can only cause good things for journalism. Like the reading said I think journalism can evolve into something better as long as journalists can figure out how to use the Internet in the best way fitted for journalism. I believe the article was right when it said a hybrid format was the solution. While it hasn't had much success yet I believe that once journalists work the kinks out, newspapers and journalism has a real chance of surviving and thriving in a digital world.