Final Thoughts

Early in this class I had come to an assumption that online media, vast and hugely accessible by many, tends to be unreliable.  I came to this conclusion without stating that Wikipedia is one of the sources I was referring to as an unreliable source.  I also look at the accessibility the population has to blogs.  I, of all people, have access to a blog in which I can post my own thoughts and opinions whether they are backed by sources or not.

What I did not do when making this assumption was examine ethics.  Ethics is what keeps reliable news sources, and other writers in check.  This is why online journalism works, and is very broad.  The move from paper to server is a great step thanks to ethical practice and technological advances.

I expected to gain knowledge about the journalism side of broadcasting.  I gained much, I learned the process in telling a story with pictures, podcast, and interview.  Although I did have some of the knowledge previously, I was able to fine tune my skills and knowledge in this process.  The other aspect I learned was with in print media and learning balance assists me in future work involving graphics, video, and web building.

Elec Tech has certainly not been a waste of time in my senior year.  It wasn’t like a few of my classes in which were pointless, and only needed to achieve a credit.  I did require the class, but it wasn’t a burden on me like much of the other classes were.  The class allowed me to practice techniques I would not have practiced.  I enjoyed this class and it was a good experience to conclude my college education.

The Bottom Line Effect

Bottom line has affected many organizations.  Starting with new broadcast it has changed the way in which news journalists have gone out and captured their stories.  In print journalism, which I don’t have as much knowledge of, seems to have changed in the last 10 years as well.  It seems that ethical approaches have evolved.

First, I’ll begin with print journalism, because I know the least about it.  First, I have found that the stories that matter have changed.  If you look back 10 years you will see stories of pollution, family qualities, etc.  Today we see scandal after scandal, and we also see threat after threat.  It seems that Print has chosen to tell the stories in which they make the most revenue off of.

Second, I will go into what I know best, which is TV.  10 years ago there was a team of 3 who would go out and capture the news stories around town.  Today they are dividing those teams by a factor of 3.  Now there are 1 man teams seeking out the stories.  So now they have more teams looking for content, which I find pluses and minuses to.  First, you have more stories coming in, so you can choose from an abundant list of pieces.  The negative side is that you wind up getting pieces that aren’t well done.  You also see the same in TV News as you see in print, you see stories of scandal vs family matters for revenue matters.

I mentioned a small amount about ethics.  Ethics, again not my best bit of knowledge, has changed in both print and TV.  We see pieces that are more revealing than what we were seeing years ago.  It seems that certain approaches to tell a story can be subject to opinion when it comes to ethics.

This may all be due to the the evolution of the media.  TV and Radio has only been in the workings for 100 years.  Things change with the time, and TV and print are a market, as with any market, it adjusts to demand, and society seems to demand those stories.

SD and HD

Converting to Digital was a big move for the media (Radio and Television).  It was also a slow move, the dates were moved back several time to adjust for the production of the converter boxes.  I’m not here to talk about the move though, I am here to talk about SD (standard Definition) and HD (High Definition).  Really it is concentrating on the issues I have run into when you look at standards.

SD was effective over the past 40 years because there was one format.  525 lines (480 truly) and it was 4:3 with a normal pixel ratio.  Everything you shot, whether it was with a home consumer camera or a high-end industry camera they all shoot the same aspect ratio and the same number of lines of resolution.

HD has had the privileged to have a variety of formats: 1080P/I, 720P/I, 30fps, 24pfs, 60I, 30I, there are so many more that are not mentioned here.  The Problem with HD is that it has so many formats.  There is no standard to what  format to use.

So what format should we use?  We first should look at what tv’s are being used.  Many of the TV’s sold today are HD TV’s.  Some are 1080I, 1080P, 720P, and then we also see LCD tv’s which still use standard definition.  As a broadcaster I look to create a project with the highest quality, so why not make 1080P the standard.  1080P is the highest quality because it has 1080 lines of resolution and the P, means progressive scanning meaning it goes from top to bottom when displaying these lines of resolution.  Interlaced Scanning skips a line from top to bottom then goes over it again and displaying the other set of lines.  Progressive scanning creates a smoother picture when motion is displayed on the screen.

Today’s TV’s have HD tuners built into them.  These tuners can adjust to the different formats, so a 720P TV can convert a 1080P signal into a 720P signal.  You don’t lose the quality or any of the picture size, but you don’t get the full resolution of the 1080P.  The same goes for the reverse, 720 converted to 1080 is a loss of quality also.

To conclude my rambling and to make sense of this information if your not broadcasting savvy, HD doesn’t have a standard, so why not make a standard for broadcasters to follow.  I suggest 1080P for the HD standard.  The reason for the suggestion is because it is the highest quality, and TV’s can down convert if needed with the built in tuners.

Future Journalist

There is one trait that all journalists, in fact all rising career searchers should have, and that trait is multis-killed.  This trait sort of sums up the rest of this article.  The best thing to know is a little of everything because you never know where you might end up.  You may be shooting for one job type but you might have to settle for another.  At this time it is more likely to happen then it used to.  Knowing a little about computers, writing, technology, different ways to reach an audience, how to cook, how to take care of the elderly, how to eat right, and even how to exercise are skills that can land you a job in the future.  Just knowing a little about everything gives you that wiggle room you will need to be able to land a job, and then learn more about that particular something.

Knowing how to work with websites and how they work can be beneficial.  I look back at my abilities.  I know a lot about broadcasting ( not all, but quite a bit)  There are so many things to know in broadcasting, and I know a little about everything, and I hope knowing a little will help me when it comes to the time to learn a lot about that specific job.  Websites can tie into this job.  Now a days we look toward the internet to find out more information, it’s quick and easy, and not too much of a hassle.  So knowing some web building skills, and understanding how it works can greatly benefit me when looking for a job.  It might even be that grain of salt that tips the scale in my favor when deciding between two candidates.

Web Building is just one of many of my skills that I know enough of (a little) to get by.  Others include skills like basic computer skills, reading, file types, editing programs, Office programs, and I even have the skill to learn.

You wouldn’t think that learning is a skill, but it is.  I was told a couple years ago by a professor that going to college and graduating shows that you have the ability to be taught, and I have remembered that since then.  I have the ability to learn new skills.  I have the ability to change and adapt to new situations or ways of doing things.  I have the ability to do anything, and I have proof of that with graduating.

It’s good to be multi- skilled and to know a little about everything, that wide range of knowledge can really help you out.

New Technology compatibility

When reading Etaoin shrdlu’s post I came up with a topic that I thought to be an irritating but surprisingly, but true problem.  Shrdlu (http://editor.blogspot.com/2010/04/salvation-forget-devices-and-work-on.html)  talks about how there are different mediums like DVD, VHS, and Film and how they can change, but the people who create the media will always make money.

I looked at how new technology, especially computers, and more specifically Operating systems, are not compatible with older hardware.  You would think that a device would compatible with the newest versions of technology.

Let’s look at Windows XP to Windows vista.  You would think that with all the devices that were compatible (including software) with windows XP would be compatible with Vista.  You would think that XP would have a long laundry list of peripherals and that same list would be transferred and then added to for windows vista.  But this didn’t happen.  The same idea applies to shrdlu’s thoughts on the Ipad, no matter how you make new technology it will be in and out in a few years.  The constant is the media creator.  I think that let’s say “computer builders” (including: code writers, Operating system writers, peripheral manufacturers, etc.)  should be media builders rather than new technology builders.  They should stick to the core of the system rather than the fancy look of it.

Far Fetched but to sum it up, they need to make a good product, and throw away the trash.

computer science and Journalism

I’ll agree with Dave Winer in his opinion about computer science in 1970 and the parallel effect that we see with journalism in 2010.  It is the beginning of advancing technology in which we see news papers, and interactive blogging through the internet.  The two-way interactive ability of the internet allows for instant comments to the publisher from the readers, instant printing, instant viewing.  There is no wait to view printed material and there is no delay when the story is written, sent to be printed, and then is viewed by the reader.  New technology like readers are now developed to view books as well.

Although we have new technology, I also see that technology like the Ipad are there to make larger profit.  I am not well versed with the Ipad, but I would imagine there is a subscription fee to view all the various sources of content, like news papers and what not.  I see the web service in which you subscribe to USA today or The New York Times will cost more per content than it does to purchase a news paper.  In retrospect you will have access to more content and choose what content you would like to see.  So there are ups and downs to new technology, but where has there ever been a complete positive gain in new innovations.

Future News

The future of news still lies within the news paper and television.  Although there are other news sources like on the web, with RSS feeds and many other sources in which news is brought to us.  There may be different mediums in which we obtain our news.  For instance we may have personal holographic interfaces in which the user can arrange which news source he/she most wants to view.

This doesn’t seem very different from the current situation when we look at websites where we can arrange how we want to see our news on RSS feeds.  In this we get to choose which sources are more valuable, and which kind of news we want to view: Weather, Top News, etc.  The future could go either way though.  It could be sensored even more than it is now, or you could have access to information that is hidden away from reporters these days: Top Secret information, private data, etc.

The future is up in the air, the medium may change, but the way we can sort and choose what we want to see is up to us at users.  Access may also change in the end.  We may not see as much as we see now, or we may see more.  I guess we will see…