Yay for Blog Post #2!
We had our first "official lecture" Tuesday morning for my Multimedia Production Skills class. We discussed the basics of the internet and the world wide web. The one important thing we discussed was the actual difference between the internet and the world wide web; which to be honest I thought were the same thing. According to Online Journalism, "The internet is the worldwide network, or connection, of computers that allows any user on the network to access information from anywhere else on the network. The World Wide Web refers to the set of technologies that places a graphical user interface on the Internet."
We also discussed how each individual computer has its own IP (Internet Protocol) address, numbers based, which is used as an identification tool. On the other hand, Domain Name Systems (DNS) are text based and are usually used to identify comptuers on the Internet as well. File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a program that allows users to transfer files to and from computers. To further understand these things and how the Internet works, one needs illustrations. Unfortunately, I cannot provide those to you here, so you will have to rely on my words.
Our class did conclude on a rather "intense" note as we got into a heated discussion on the credibility of blogs. It is important to know that not all Blogs are opinion driven, and that some of them are actually in fact pretty credible. A blog is just another publishing platform. It is the content of a blog that determines whether it is credible.
What does this all mean? Why is it important to us?
Well as hopefully future journalists, it is important for us get familiar with new technology mediums; especially the internet. The concept of online journalism is rapidly growing, and it is becoming a way for people to get their news. For journalists, we need to know and understand how the internet and the world wide web works because eventually we will all at some point be publishing our work on the internet. In addition, at some points in our career we will be sent out to the field and be required to send footage and/or our written story to our employers almost immediately after we've finished it. FTP is essential because it specifically works with transfering files. Not only this, but backpack journalists also use the internet to publish their work. Knowing how to create a webpage, and maintain is essential in being a successful backpack journalist.
I guess the most important thing to keep in mind about all of this is that our world is changing rapidly. The way we get our news is changing. The way we get our information in general is changing. Technology is changing. The more we educate ourselves in these new technologies and how they work and what they do, the closer we are in being better journalists.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
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Well said! I agree that for those of us who want to work as print journalists will inevitably have to know how to publish our articles online. Writing HTML is intimidating, but at some point we will have to know how to write it in order to be successful as a journalist.
ReplyDeleteGREAT post. Very informative. Acutally I was re-reading the um..readings (that sounded repetitive) and it never mentioned if there was a size limit to a file transferred through FTP. And is FTP or a USB better to transfer files through?
ReplyDeleteIf we were to start producing interactive journalistic pieces (for example some article presented in Flash) which way would it be best to transfer these pieces?
Hmmm...might be good question for class...
Tiana, I am about to use your posts as additional notes from class! Great recap of this week's discussions. I think the debate we had over whether blogs are credible was really important -- most professors will not allow students to use blogs as a "credible source" in papers, but I think that if you understand that the blog represents a specific point of view, they can be useful in research....also they are often very interesting!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see you all having a good discussion here. Please remind me to continue the "blog" discussion in class.
ReplyDelete