The Shirky chapter for this week covers the effect of social events on society. For example: Shirky notes that the creation of the printing press created a social event that affected the lives of all people. The Printing Press removed the importance of the scribe and created a society of amateur readers and writers. The profession of the scribe and reading and writing became unnecessary. The same is true of this current era. Online media and tools have created an event that had an effect on all of society. Journalists are becoming obsolete as blogging becomes more and more prevalent. News is no longer defined and owned by corporations and their representative journalists.
Of course, there are many more examples of the spread of "amateur" use of things that once were professionalized. Used car salesman and pawnshops are becoming less important as well with the increased use of online selling sites like eBay and Craig's List. What are some other ways that Shirky's social events can be seen taking place online? Or, how online society is affecting offline society?
I really related to chapter 3 of Shirky. I was an editor for my high school newspaper that came out every two weeks. We always struggled to come up with news story ideas, because when anything newsworthy happened, it would become old news by the time we printed. After a while, we decided to create a website so that we could post stories as soon as they were written. Because of this, we had to find other sources of content to fill our newspaper so it consisted mainly of local feature stories such as band profiles and museum reviews. Having experienced the effects of the growing online society, I realized the threat that offline society has. Seeing our school newspaper slowly begin to turn into an online society, I wonder how long it's going to take for all newspapers to become obsolete. Although I personally still like the idea of printing newspapers and magazines, the rest of society is going along with the online movement, and it will be interesting to see how the movement progresses.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 3 of Shirky he was showing how printed news is almost fallen to the way side. At the rate that companies print out newspapers the news is already a day late. People want to know the information as soon as it happens. The United States has breaking news all the time. People want to know this news a.s.a.p. This is a big reason why people are canceling their newspaper subscription and reading news as it happens online for free.
ReplyDeleteI often joke with my parents about the fact that newspapers are from the stone age. Back at home, my parents subscribe to not one, but two newspapers. Over the years I have noticed that both papers (The Democrat and Chronicle and The Wall Street Journal) have gotten thinner and thinner, as well as smaller in dimension. This is simply because no one reads newspapers anymore, which causes their funding to go down, meaning there are less writers paid, and less news in the papers! I guess it is kind of sad that newspapers will eventually come to an end (that probably isn't too far into the future), but if you think about it, the internet is a great news providing source. Just like DVD replaced VHS.... newer is usually better!
ReplyDeleteI find it a little sad that newspapers have in a sense fallen to the waste side. I used to love to read the newspaper, but recently I find getting online to be the easiest and quickest way to get information. It's just sad to know that something that has been a large part of our society is slowly declining in demand.
ReplyDeleteI was featured on CNN's iReport a few years ago! It was really cool!
ReplyDeleteI found this chapter particularly depressing. I am a journalism major and, sadly, the things Shirky was saying made sense. The boom of mass amaturization is completely changing newspapers. Some of my professors say they will be gone in ten years. Many people are getting out of the news writing sequence. It's amazing how technology changes the world.
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