The NY Times vs My Blogs

There are many relationships between the NY Times and the two blogs I am following. The Daily Dish by Andrew Sullivan covers similar information to the New York Times. The consumerist does not deal with as much that the New York Times deals with, but they have similarities in their structure and style. I think a big difference is the audience that the blogs are concentrating on as opposed to the New York Times. My blog the consumerist is aimed at anyone who buys consumer goods and is a lot less lengthy and detailed. The audience is not for scholars who are trying to find out what is going on in the world and their nation. It is more for people who are worried about saving a little money and knowing certain things about items.

The New York Times and blogs both fit into the press sphere or news ecology. The New York Times is more part of the press part of the press sphere, but the blogs are more of the responses and people's opinions on it after it appears on the news. The blogs are the continuation of the news after it is formulated and distributed by the press. The blogs are more of what may perfect and finalize your opinion. They all fit into what influence us from the begginning of the news through the whole process.

In conclusion, There are many relationships between the NY Times and the two blogs I am following. The Daily Dish by Andrew Sullivan covers similar information to the New York Times. The consumerist does not deal with as much that the New York Times deals with, but they have similarities in their structure and style. I think a big difference is the audience that the blogs are concentrating on as opposed to the New York Times. My blog the consumerist is aimed at anyone who buys consumer goods and is a lot less lengthy and detailed. The audience is not for scholars who are trying to find out what is going on in the world and their nation. It is more for people who are worried about saving a little money and knowing certain things about items.
The New York Times and blogs both fit into the press sphere or news ecology. The New York Times is more part of the press part of the press sphere, but the blogs are more of the responses and people's opinions on it after it appears on the news. The blogs are the continuation of the news after it is formulated and distributed by the press. The blogs are more of what may perfect and finalize your opinion. They all fit into what influence us from the begginning of the news through the whole process.

Sullivan vs. Jarvis

Jarvis' model of the press sphere and Sullivan's view of blogging compliment each other. I think that Sullivan's article proves the point that the Press Sphere has been changed, and Sullivan comments a lot about how news has changed because of blogging. Sullivan comments on how blogging changes the news after it comes out. How the blogging comments on and eventually ends up changing the news. This would go directly into the diagram Jarvis had on his blog. Blogging is only one of the processes that fits into Jarvis' press sphere however. I believe Jarvis' model covers a lot more material than Sullivan does. Sullivan covers his topic more thoroughly and has a more organized essay, but Jarvis talks about a much more general and inclusive topic I believe.

As far as this conforming to my personal experience, I think it conforms to everyones experience unless they do not have any experience with news in their life. Even though Jarvis's article was not organized it had some good points, and I agree with the points he pointed out in his blog post. I do not think that the two articles are related. The model pointed out in Jarvis' article, I believe, is what the model is truly like in the United States. The news is ever changing like many people have mentioned in articles. People need to incorparate Jarvis' press sphere into their life. Even though I think his press sphere model is correct, it only works when people are active in the system.

Jarvis's Press Sphere

I believe Jeff Jarvis's ideal of a press sphere is the news press talks about and everyone who contributes to it. In today's society that includes a large number of people and other things as many people are actively participating in critiquing and commenting on the news stories. He mentions many things such as witnesses, links, archives, and many other things that he includes in the press sphere. I think the main idea is that the news world is expanding and so is the role of everything outside the press. The press is not the sole proprietor of news anymore. Everyone can chip in and contribute their own opinions and ideals. Especially with the internet is news readily molded and changed. I like the point where he says a news story never ends anymore. Technically I do not think he is right, but I get what he is trying to say. There are always new angles, ideals, and stories that develop along the way. Like when we were discussing how the Iraq War started today, we commented on how why we were there changed many times as new info was obtained and intentions were revealed. Many news stories do not just have one article related to them anymore.

Even though I believe Jarvis has some good points in his blog post, I think he could of elaborated more. Some of the topics were not completely covered in full detail, and he could of organized everything a little bit better. He had too many charts and not enough explanation to a lot of things. You also have to think that it is a blog post, so he might not have meant to fully express every detail concisely. I think the topic needs to be explored more fully maybe by this press sphere.

My Two Awesome Blogs

The two blogs that I chose to follow are Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish and The Consumerist. The first one I found on the list of blogs provided for our class. We had used it in class a little bit and decided it would not be a bad choice to follow for the rest of the semester. The second one I found, The Consumerist, I found by searching on Google for popular blogs. The Daily Dish includes stories that deal with big political issues and opinions on this issues. They post many different posts dealing with all kinds of different stories. However, since we all pretty much know what the Daily Dish is about I will not spend too much time on it. The Consumerist talks about many different things to do with money and all kinds of different items that deal with the consumer. It includes anything from little tips and suggestions to full length articles about more important issues. For example, some of the stories I have read include item recalls, myths and facts about car care, and the debate of whether or not people should pay for internet use. The author includes different people who write small posts on the site. Then of course people can comment on the posts and put their own opinion. The audience can include anyone. I think the debate over the internet is especially significant because everyone uses the internet now. The purpose is to educate people on issues regarding different products and ideals in the consumer market and to help people get the most of their money.

My Experience with the NY Times

My experience with reading the New York Times has been going very well so far. I have learned of many new things that I would not have had a clue about otherwise. I have been following stories through their progression which I find rather interesting. It is kind of like reading a story at little intervals with some of the articles. I have been paying attention to many different stories from the New York Times. I usually will browse through the main categories(World, US, Health, etc...) and pick one or two stories that look interesting to me. So far I have read stories covering topics such as the lack of flu vaccines, the national deficit, and the Pakistani-Israeli conflict. There is not one certain section that I find all the stories I like, and I also realized sometimes stories are in two different sections because they fit in both categories. As far as why I noticed them I just think the heading and the intro paragraph thing just caught my attention and then I want to read further.

Even though it has been an adjustment having to read the newspaper and the blogs, I do not really think it has changed many of my habits. It might develop into a new habit, but as far as changing my current habits I have not seen a noticeable change yet. I believe it is too early to say anything though about the effects it might have. We still have a rather long time to the end of the semester, and my opinion could change. Also the effect it has on my reading and writing habits can not fully be described yet because there has not been a huge amount of writing since we started. I think it will effect me a little bit, but in my opinion, we still need more time to see real changes. Lastly, even though I think it is good to know what is going on, I feel like there is not much point. I never talk about the world news with other people that much. When I go and hang out with people like my friends, we do not sit around and discuss the current world crises. We just go and hang out and have fun. So I do not see the impact of this that much, but nevertheless I believe it would be a good habit to get into for later in life. The time will come when I will need to know this information before I know it.

I'm not the only one...

As I browsed throughout my different classmates blogs about where they got their information from, I started to realize something. I am not the only person who does not really try to keep up with the news that much. Many people said that they did not actively seek out the news and just heard it from people such as their family and friends. While there were exceptions as some people claimed they read the NY Times and other such news sites like CNN, I think that if it would not have been an honors class there would have been even fewer people who had even that much knowledge on what is going on. The dinner table is a place where news is actively traded among many families, but in some cases, the news seems to end there. I think what even this small study shows is the lack of civic literacy and the urge to attain civic literacy. Many people now a days do not have to know about what is going on and feel that it is a waste or they just do not feel like putting the effort into it. Hedge's would probably go off about how the United States is going to end up destroying itself while someone like Carr might try to examine it and find the causes of this. If people put in even a little effort like what we are doing for our class, I believe that we would become a more civicly literate nation. This would benefit everyone in the long run even though it may not seem like it has a point. We need to take some of the responsibility in our own hands.

Blogs that I am following

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

http://consumerist.com/

Where I Learn What I Know

In all honesty, I do not keep up with the news that much. I used to pick up and read the paper every now and then, but now I do not even usually do that. I have a very superficial understanding of what is going on in the world today. The bulk of what I know about what is going on is from other people such as my parents who might discuss some of the major topics every now and then at dinner or sometimes when I go up to Hester's gym they will have the news on and I will be able to look at the major headlines. However, even though I can tell you that there is a lot of concern about things such as the H1N1 virus and things such as the economy, I could not go into very much detail about any of them. I read the NY Times for the first time last night and learned many new things just in about twenty to thirty minutes. If you count looking up stuff for school on groupwise and ulink as news, I guess you could say I use the internet for news. Now that we will be reading the NY Times for class that should be a major source of where I get my info. Other such media that many people use to get news such as the radio, I do not use. When I listen to the radio, I look for music, and if their is not any music, I will usually just turn it off. I think I need to start learning more about what is going on, and I think that this class will help me with that a lot.

Essay

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Stephen Guelda
ENGL 105-07
Mr. Leake
27 September 2009
Literacy and the Internet
Once there was a time when people had to walk ten miles to a library, search through rows upon rows of note cards in a card catalogue, and then drudge through page after page of a book just so they could find a little bit on information for a research paper. Things have definitely changed since those days. Now people just have to wander over to the computer desk, sit in a more often than not comfy chair, and double click on a little icon. The internet brings the whole world to anyone and everyone as long as they have a computer and an internet connection which nowadays is very rare for people not to have in the United States. The information age and the internet have allowed for people to access all the information they could ever need or want easily and efficiently. However, many people are wary of this change and wonder if the internet and everything it offers are really helping us as much as it seems. Or is the reverse happening to us? By having access to anything and everything are we losing the ability to read and write as effectively as we once did? Are we using the internet in a way where we are slowly becoming less literate and more slothful or are we the Columbus drifting slowly towards an America of the literary world?

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There are many naysayers against the use of the internet and the technology we have available to us. Many people can speak of personal experience from where they have noticed a change in their reading and writing habits since the internet started getting popular. Since the internet has shown up people like Nicholas Carr mention on how their concentration lasts a fraction of the time that it used to (Carr). Because everything on the internet is so fast paced and action packed, some people’s reading skills have taken such a toll that long essays and novels have become bothersome to read. The internet is used by a majority of the people in the United States, and it has been affecting many people. Everyone from the average person to literature majors is having difficulty. I can even notice this myself. School text books are not the most exciting thing, but I used to be able to sit down, focus, and plow through twenty or thirty pages with little effort. Now I am constantly moving around and having to refocus myself as my mind drifts to thoughts of video games and internet sites. Even as I agree that it has been affecting me, I also realize that I still can read through books and have a functional literacy. Some people like Chris Hedges will go so far as to say that our society is taking a turn for the worse because he believes our literacy problem is so injurious that we are becoming an illiterate mob of unintelligent zombies that can be controlled by those in power (Hedges). He mentions also how the internet is affecting things such as newspapers as writers on the internet are taking their place. He criticizes all the changes that are happening to our society and is blaming the internet as one of the many causes of this. However, much of the support he uses is not supported by scientific studies or proof at all. He makes some good points, but those points alone are not enough to prove anything about technology affecting our literacy.
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While Hedges makes some good points in his article, he has little proof of anything. However, Nicholas Carr provides many examples as to possibly how and why we are changing. He mentions studies from University College London that show people hardly ever read full articles or entries on the internet (Carr). He points out that we may read more today than we ever have, but the type of reading and writing that we are doing is changing from the time before the internet was around. Carr also quotes other scholars who say that we aren’t just changing the way we read and write but also the way we think. Our mind is literally changing with the internet constantly bombarding us with information and ads and everything else. One scholar Carr quotes, Maryanne Wolf, explains that writing and reading are not natural processes for people, so if we do not practice them or practice them in a different way or mind will actually shift to accommodate the changes (Carr). While this is not necessarily going to turn us illiterate, these critics point out that there are going to be some massive changes besides the ones that have already been popping up because of this new information age. Some of them are against it completely while others are just suggesting we should be careful since we are going into a new age.
However, there are some people who think that the critics are just being a little bit too paranoid. Even Carr, who is wary of the changes of the internet, says that he might be acting a little paranoid. He says that like many changes in the world, the internet may change some things but could ultimately help us out in the long run. One author who does not share the same views with the internet critics is Clive Thompson. In his article he explains how we are not becoming illiterate; we are in the midst of a literary revolution (Thompson). Things are changing
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completely. Ideals and opinions are being turned upside down as the world is changing. His article goes on to explain how people are writing so much more now than they ever did. Not only that, the arena in which we are writing is completely different. People used to always write to teachers for assignments and that was pretty much it. Nowadays people write for classes, but also they write a significant amount for things on the internet such as social networks like Facebook and MySpace, or through the exchange of emails. Also because of this his article explains how we have a much better sense of the audience we are writing for than the generations before us. We can write a lot of different styles from completely formal academic texts to the other end of the spectrum where we exclude half the letters in chatting and texting. Also many people think that texting is degrading to academic writing. Thompson cites research by Andrea Lunsford to disprove many myths about new technology hurting young writers and readers. She studied thousands of pieces of work from students at Stanford University and in all the academic writings she studied did not find any text language in them. Students today know when they need to write formally and when it is acceptable to use informal things such as texting abbreviations and emoticons (Thompson). Also in an article by Tara Brabazon, Brabazon explains how technology is treated as something new to the classroom when at one time every technique and tool was new. She says that we have to fully integrate the technology into our school and other systems and make sure that we are using it right (Brabazon).
Anything can be detrimental to peoples or societies if they are overused or used wrongly. The internet is no exception to this rule. It brings to mind when people use the saying, “everything in moderation.” We need to find a balance between the use of our technology and
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the limiting of all the new technologies; we can not become mindless addicts to the web. So I think the question is not whether there are going to be changes. There have been quite a few changes as many people have already noticed. The internet has been around in different forms for a while , and everyone is now realizing it is affecting us. The real question is what are we going to do with these changes. If we are able to find ways to integrate all the new technologies into our society in a useful manner that limits the amount of detrimental side effects we will be able to realize new things and explore uncharted waters to unlock many new technologies, ideals, and other positive things. Technology is not something that will inherently cripple our abilities. It is only if we let it control and degrade us that it will destroy what we value as literacy today. Technology can be used either as a tool to further what we already have or to replace what we have. The internet is changing the way we do things significantly in all aspects of our life.


 
Works Cited
Brabazon, Tara. "Bonfire of the Literacies? The Internet and Challenges to Literacy." EBSCO Publishing. Print.
Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid." Atlantic Monthly. Print.
Hedges, Chris. "Bad Days for Newsrooms." Truthdig. Print.
Thompson, Clive. "Clive Thompson on the New Literacy." People Magazine (2008). Print.