INTRO: The man behind Journalism Next, Mark Briggs, certainly knows that we are in a world of rapid change. Information has become instantaneous, the youth are checking updated news on revolutionary smart phones.
Briggs contends that journalists should embrace this new wave of technological advances, rather than become victimized by it. This burden falls on the upcoming class of journalists who must explore every avenue of information if they are to make it in a competititve industry.
Mark Briggs emphasizes the role that young journalists will play throughout the introduction as they are most proficient with new technology. Also, since people can now search for information more efficiently, the field of journalism has become narrower as journalists write more towards a desired audience.
There is simply no way to stop the rapid advancement of technology in the media, it is up to the individual journalists to adapt just as fast.
CHAPTER 1: In Chapter 1 of the book, Briggs explores the various innovations that people, particularly journalists, can use to improve their work. Obviously the internet is a basic means of gathering information, but there are several key features of the internet that make it an immensely powerful tool.
A prime example of this is RSS feeds, better known as Really Simple Sindication. By simply subscribing to these feeds, users can acquire vast amounts of information without bouncing between websites. With a few clicks, a blogger could easily have up to the minute news from a different site on his page.
Briggs also looks at the world of HTML, also known as Hyper Text Markup Language. Although journalism majors and computer science majors are radically different, theres no denying that HTML must be used across various fields. This makes sense because modern day journalists are responsible for producing stories on the internet. With basic HTML knowledge, that same journalist could create an effective, visually appealing page.
As our nation continues to advance technologically, journalists will be required to be proficient with a variety of platforms.
CHAPTER 2: Ironically enough, Chapter 2 shifts its focus towards blogs, which could very well prove to be the future of journalism. Blogs provide an opportunity to get pieces of writing out there.
This is especially relevant to onMason because our blogs can be found on notable search engines. In classes such as Writing Across the Media and Online Journalism, students are being asked to start up blogs but everyone is just scratching the surface on what can be done with them.
By combining elements such as RSS feeds into blogs, journalists can provide the reader with easily accessible stories with links to additional information. In addition, many blogging sites have user friendly interfaces that allow contributors to focus on the content rather than the appearence. Although everyone aspires
