Four communication experts and their moderator hotly debated the pros and cons of Internet communication. Susan Jacoby says the world wide web is a time-sucker taking place of more creative, intellectual activities like reading and conversation.
Andy Carvin and Josh Hatch say their wives have made friends and companions they would have never met otherwise through online "Mom" networks.
Is the Internet like how Jimmy Buffet describes it in his song, "Holiday:"
"You're caught up in the Internet.
You think it's such a great asset.
But you're wrong, wrong, wrong.
All that fiber-optic gear
Still cannot take away the fear like an island song..."
Or is our relationship with this tool more beneficial, like how the band, Bad Religion, sees it in their song, "I Love My Computer:"
"I love my computer.
You make me feel alright,
Every waking hour
and every lonely night.
I love my computer for all you give to me
Predictable errors and no identity.
And it's never been quite so easy
I've never been quite so happy..."
Read on and find out more...
(The panelists bios are at the bottom of the page.)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Hop In To the DeLorean...A Look to the Future
Carvin:
Tools are fusing: text-messaging to Twitter.
Jacoby:
Predicts newspapers have a 10-year lifespan. New York Times and Washington Post will survive but only for a small audience....
Unless we find a business model for the future of journalism.
Montgomery:
Online advertising will become increasingly personal. Advertisers will track your medical history, etc. and target you appropriately.
Hatch:
Clay Shirky report: check it out.
Tools are fusing: text-messaging to Twitter.
Jacoby:
Predicts newspapers have a 10-year lifespan. New York Times and Washington Post will survive but only for a small audience....
Unless we find a business model for the future of journalism.
Montgomery:
Online advertising will become increasingly personal. Advertisers will track your medical history, etc. and target you appropriately.
Hatch:
Clay Shirky report: check it out.
Jacoby: Crusader for Intellect
Jacoby:
She is a crusader for intellect, conversation, friendship, bringing a dish to a sick friend, offering a shoulder to cry on.
E-mail, Twitter, Internet, Text-messaging is less personal and more lazy of an interaction tool.
She is a crusader for intellect, conversation, friendship, bringing a dish to a sick friend, offering a shoulder to cry on.
E-mail, Twitter, Internet, Text-messaging is less personal and more lazy of an interaction tool.
Internet: Distraction OR Discovery?
We make the mistake when we treat the Internet as a "God-like source of knowledge," Jacoby said.
But it's just information...
"The internet is not making us smarter...Garbage in, garbage out" applies to everything - the Internet included.
Montgomery:
"Instant gratification" makes us lazy researchers because we stop at the topical level.
Carvin:
We should train people to effectively use the Internet.
It can be all-encompassing, what he dubbed a "Jeffersonian panacea."
People should be taught to be "constructive" citizens online.
Jacoby:
"There is no such thing as an agnostic tool."
Online reading is nothing like traditional reading.
"The Internet is designed to distract you."
Online research becomes a turkey hunt from Wikipedia.org to jean sales at Nordstrom, to the Sarah Palin turkey killing video on Youtube.org.
Hatch:
The internet is agnostic because it has "no motivation." It is a tool.
Carvin rebutes:
The Internet is not a distraction but a discovery. You can research anything!
Jacoby:
Still a distraction. "Time is finite." Both television and the Internet steal time and focus away from creative thinking and reading. Novels versus video games; which is a more valuable use of your time and brainwaves? Clearly novels, she says.
But it's just information...
"The internet is not making us smarter...Garbage in, garbage out" applies to everything - the Internet included.
Montgomery:
"Instant gratification" makes us lazy researchers because we stop at the topical level.
Carvin:
We should train people to effectively use the Internet.
It can be all-encompassing, what he dubbed a "Jeffersonian panacea."
People should be taught to be "constructive" citizens online.
Jacoby:
"There is no such thing as an agnostic tool."
Online reading is nothing like traditional reading.
"The Internet is designed to distract you."
Online research becomes a turkey hunt from Wikipedia.org to jean sales at Nordstrom, to the Sarah Palin turkey killing video on Youtube.org.
Hatch:
The internet is agnostic because it has "no motivation." It is a tool.
Carvin rebutes:
The Internet is not a distraction but a discovery. You can research anything!
Jacoby:
Still a distraction. "Time is finite." Both television and the Internet steal time and focus away from creative thinking and reading. Novels versus video games; which is a more valuable use of your time and brainwaves? Clearly novels, she says.
Danna Walker: Americans "laugh at our own dumbness" but we laugh together...
"Do 40% of Americans really believe people and dinosaurs lived together?" Walker asks. Yes.
Television show: Are you Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
Book: Does Google Make Us Dumb?
"Digital media alienates us from each other...
We have become "intellectual slackers, self-absorbed...[and] dim."
Television show: Are you Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
Book: Does Google Make Us Dumb?
"Digital media alienates us from each other...
We have become "intellectual slackers, self-absorbed...[and] dim."
Who's Who on the Panel
Panelists:
Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason.
In her book, Jacoby argues when politicians and pundits refer to the American public as "folks," and not ladies and gentlemen or "people," they underscore "the seriousness of whatever ... is being debated." She says the familiarization between professionals and laymen lacks intellectualism and analysis.
Professor Kathryn Montgomery, author of Generation Digital: Politics, Commerce, and Childhood in the Age of the Internet
Montgomery has tracked media's influence on youth, especially advertising campaigns targeted at children.
Andy Carvin, senior strategist for online communities at National Public Radio
Carvin has noted the growing block of American parents and grandparents on Internet social-networking sites.
Josh Hatch, multimedia producer, USA Today
In an interview with International Center for Journalists' Digital Media Consultant, Amy Webb, Hatch said:
"I think the foundation of a good multimedia producer starts with a solid journalism understanding and background. Add to that a penchant for creative storytelling, a comfort with technology, a willingness to be flexible, the ability to be diplomatic and basic project management skills and you've got the makings of a pretty good multimedia journalist."
Moderator: Dr. Danna Walker, James B. Simpson Fellow, American University School of Communication
Tuesday, March 31, 6:30 p.m.
Ward 1, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.
Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason.
In her book, Jacoby argues when politicians and pundits refer to the American public as "folks," and not ladies and gentlemen or "people," they underscore "the seriousness of whatever ... is being debated." She says the familiarization between professionals and laymen lacks intellectualism and analysis.
Professor Kathryn Montgomery, author of Generation Digital: Politics, Commerce, and Childhood in the Age of the Internet
Montgomery has tracked media's influence on youth, especially advertising campaigns targeted at children.
Andy Carvin, senior strategist for online communities at National Public Radio
Carvin has noted the growing block of American parents and grandparents on Internet social-networking sites.
Josh Hatch, multimedia producer, USA Today
In an interview with International Center for Journalists' Digital Media Consultant, Amy Webb, Hatch said:
"I think the foundation of a good multimedia producer starts with a solid journalism understanding and background. Add to that a penchant for creative storytelling, a comfort with technology, a willingness to be flexible, the ability to be diplomatic and basic project management skills and you've got the makings of a pretty good multimedia journalist."
Moderator: Dr. Danna Walker, James B. Simpson Fellow, American University School of Communication
Tuesday, March 31, 6:30 p.m.
Ward 1, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.
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