Technologies

Over the last 100 years, technology has had an astronomical impact on the way the written media has presented itself to the public.

“A broader version of conventional literacy, which enables all visual, aural and digital forms, seeking to enable people to become thoughtful producers and interpreters of media” (Peter Fraser)
Fraser means that there has been a change in power between the consumers and creators of media, and this is evident in my further analysis of technology change.

It's 2012, and news coverage is instant from all corners of the globe. With the introduction of Twitter in 2005, suddenly all current information was at anyone's disposal. The idea is that you 'follow' somebody, and get live updates from wherever they are. Several stories have broken on Twitter before 24 hour news broadcasters like the BBC and Sky News could get hold of them (such as the death of Gadaffi, where pictures of his bloodied body surfaced online), and this represents Fraser's shift in the media from big companies with all the power, to suddenly every person with access to the internet being able to publish their thoughts for them to be read anywhere in the world. This is extremely beneficial for daily national newspaper journalists, who need information fast, however, this side of advances in technologies do not necessarily have as much impact in an industry where there is a week to prepare a newspaper for distribution, and the paper's contents revolve around a small region or community, not an entire country, which several hundred journalists and sources are employed to collect information from different places.

Gauntlett suggested that elite producers and typical consumers are merging with new technologies. Industry style cameras are available to everybody at all time low prices, and the hardware themselves are getting smaller. All these factors accumulate to mean that new technologies are becoming more accessible for the everyday person, meaning that it is not just big companies that can produce a high definition, or even 3D publications. With the ascension of social media and YouTube, your average Joe can upload their home-made video, and get instant comments, ratings and even become an overnight internet sensation. A good example of this is Justin Bieber, who uploaded videos of himself singing, and was spotted by music scouts. The fact he is now a millionaire and adored by millions of teenage girls, is a measure of just how far new technologies have had an impact in popular culture.

Leading on from the idea of journalism being aided by social networking, it is important to add that sub cultures can benefit from an increase in free speech on a bigger scale. Youths and ethnic minorities, who are often misrepresented in the media, can speak for themselves and be heard by many people. This means that finally, young people can be given a voice in the media.

Of course, alongside social networking comes blogging. Blogging means that anybody can be the journalist, and create their own feed of information for anybody to read. This, some would say, renders the newspaper old-fashioned; why would you buy one of you can follow somebody's blog (or Twitter account) who is in the know? But, at the end of the day, the luxury of having all of the relevant information in a relevant order in a tangible newspaper is somewhat appealing to people, and this is why newspapers sell.
Also on blogging, tracking my own progress through this project is made easier on Blogger, where I can incorporate text, video and images to my blog, as opposed to having them scattered around everywhere on my computer hard-drive and adding them in to the flawed Microsoft Word, as per my AS coursework.

The technology that we have gained in college over the last 5+ years has helped with incredible effect. Suddenly, powerful Apple Macs are available for everyone, with programs such as Word, Adobe Photoshop CS5.1, Final Cut Pro, iMovie, iWeb, and After Effects. This means that anybody, given some experience and know-how, can create an up to date, professional style production, and this will aid me in my coursework.