ebooks- The New Way of the Library

The innovative technology behind electronic or e-books is something that has revitalized many people's interest in reading. In our culture, many people have slowed down on the amount of reading they were doing. They simply lost interest or were tired of the same old boring format of the conventional book. With the introduction of the smart phone, people have gained an insatiable appetite for all things technology. People began to spend more time checking their stocks and reading articles on their iPhones than picking up a newspaper or buying and reading a book.

The introduction of the Amazon Kindle has totally changed reading for the 21st century person. Instead of browsing the shelves of your public library, how about thumbing through some e-books online in a matter of seconds, pay a small fee, and own your own e copy of your favorite book for as long as you like? Now you can. Gadgets like the Kindle and Sony Reader have made this possible.

Teens may find ebooks interesting for a few reasons. They can download their current assigned books and take them anywhere and read them on the bus, at the beach, or in the car. They are new, and that is something teens like (I know, I am one).

The Demise of the Paperback- Technology and Its Side Effects

As someone who surrounds themselves with books, the topic of ebooks and the demise of the paperback seemed to be a poignant topic. Technology plays such a pivotal role in today's society and economy. Great technological advances such as encoding hard copies of books and transcripts on the computer have become part of the norm.

The digital age is here and it is important for everyone to be able to adapt to the changes that are being made. Google is one of the main companies that is helping consumers adapt to the 21st century. They are putting rare copies of books and various texts online for the public to read for free. Amazon is also making headway by providing digital books on the Kindle. News sources like CNN and New York Times also provide many current articles on the subject of technology and digital books.

BLAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGG!

Blogging has become revolutionary in the way we as a technology based world communicate with one another and share our ideas. Anything that pops into our heads can be instantaneously put up on the Internet for the whole world (theoretically) to see, a crazy, mind-blowing concept.

A concept that 10, or even 5 years ago, was very foreign to us all.

Blogging in the classroom is a cool concept in itself, an innovation that has become quite popular throughout the country in recent years for a few reasons. Teachers and students now have the ability to communicate with each other over a topic discussed in class. Blogs are also a way for teachers and students to collaborate on a common blog where every one's ideas can be compiled on one blog.

For example, if a class is discussing the Yale incident(1) in class, students can, on their individual blogs, write about their reaction to the incident and maybe hyperlink to news stories about it/ on incidents like it. A very interesting pro to blogging.

With all of this new technology there are bound to be some drawbacks. With having a blog, there is the issue of privacy. You may not want EVERYONE to read your blog, just some. It's difficult to control your readers. Also, people feel free to write whatever comes to their minds. This power could be abused and opinions may be found offensive to certain readers.

Footnotes:

1. Hyperlinking is another unique feature of blogging. Bloggers are able to connect something from the Internet (pics, videos, articles) into their blog posts like I've done here.

Pic from Google.com

Hyperlinking 101-- A beginner's guide

The most important thing I have learned so far in journalism class is how to physically set up a news story. By putting the summary of the whole story in the first sentence, the reader has an idea of what they will be reading. I also have learned that there are different types or styles of news stories that a journalist can report. The most popular, I have noticed, are the kinds of news stories that somehow relate to the reader whether it be by geography or by a person.

I learned about web 2.0 and how websites like Twitter and Blogger are used to present the news to people in an appetizing way. I've learned that more people are likely to read a blog entry (someones personal take on a news story) rather than the hard facts written in plain format.

I would like to learn more about how to organize my writing and where to put certain facts (who, what, when, where, why, how).

Job losses ebb, but unemployment up

http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/04/news/economy/jobs_august/index.htm?postversion=2009090408

In the U.S., the economy has been suffering for some time now and people all over the country have been suffering along with it.

The amount of layoffs and job losses in the U.S. have decreased in the past month or so, a sign of relief perhaps?

Unfourtunatly, the unemployment rate has still increased, says CNN furthering the amount of financial stress in our country. In a time of economic crisis, we need to see more people finding jobs instead of losing them/ not having them at all.

This article is newsworthy for a few reasons. It presents prominence, it deals with an issue that affects everyone in America somehow. Job losses and unemployment are two issues that 1. go hand in hand and 2. has consequence, another factor that makes it newsworthy. Timeliness is also a factor. This article wouldn't really be relevant in about 2 weeks.