Filed under: Journalism, Philosophy | Tags: Blogging, citizen journalism, internet, Media, Newspapers, Talkback
Blogging is the internet version of newspaper’s letters to the editor and radio’s talkback. Rather than the media dictate what comments and opinions are aired or published, these formats allow for feedback from the general public. But who is talking? Who is it that writes to the editor? Who rings up the radio station? Who keeps an active blog?
At our community paper with a readership of around 25,000, we get a steady stream of letters to the editor. A vast amount, however, are from familiar names. Typically, but not always, these people have a lot of time on their hands as they are retired. Their gripes are usually with council, many are valid, many are the products of idle minds.
The same people get on the phone calling up late night talkback, complaining about anything and everything.
So who’s blogging? Who are the people behind the most active blogs, many updated as often as daily?
My last post was a month ago, and even then it was a book review. As a reporter I spend most of the day in front of the computer either writing the news or reading the news. In my spare time, doing the same thing but for my blog is hardly appealing. It has to be something I want to get off my chest or something on my mind I want to put online that spurs me to put up another post. Last year as a student I could put up as many as a post a day. Readership skyrocketed! But now I simply do not have the time nor the energy. So who does? And why do they?
I’m not quitting my blog. I’m just writing when I want to, not writing to keep the weekly ratings above 300. Next post might be some time away!
Filed under: Life, Philosophy, Quotes | Tags: Auckland, Coromandel, internet, Life, Lifestyle, Renting, Technology, Thames
It’s hard to run a blog when you haven’t got internet at home. In fact I haven’t got a lot of things at my new house. Ever since moving to Thames, a small Coromandel town with a population in the tens of thousands, from Auckland, which has over a million residents, I have had to live without a few things.
Some things you only appreciate when you have to go without it. Standing in the shower with my clothes on, I imagine how convenient a washing machine would be. Still, washing my boxers in the shower was marginally better than standing under the house in my flat’s outdoor laundry, washing my clothes with dishwashing liquid like I did the night before. You can’t get grass off cricket pants with dishwashing liquid no matter how hard you try. Still I’d go without a washing machine rather than a fridge. A week of buying ice every day to go into a chilly bin has me yearning for the luxury of a fridge freezer.
The lack of some luxuries allows you to experience life not plugged into the electronic grid. When you don’t have a tv you have so much more time to read. Without internet you find time to enjoy nature, or good company.
Perhaps being deprived of household luxuries is exactly what this 24-year-old needed. Having lived at home with my parents all my short life, I have become accustomed to the luxuries of wireless internet on my laptop and Sky TV on a plasma screen. Leaving the home finally and living outside of Auckland for the first time in my life, I am loving the change of scenery in Thames. Despite its lack of some electronic necessities, my house is a nice wee little set up.
There is a lot to learn and I’m learning it. I made the mistake of leaping into the shower immediately after the power got turned on. I’m learning about bills and the price of milk. I’m learning about how people in small towns are so much nicer than in Auckland. I’ve never said “hi” to so many strangers.
Eventually I’ve caught up with the 21st century. The fridge is running smoothly – no more food poisoning. And the TV I’ve borrowed off my brother works well, apart from the fact we are only getting one channel. Still, the Playstation One plays okay. And I’ve finally got the internet at home. Dial up though!
Still got to get myself a washing machine though…
Filed under: Journalism | Tags: Advertisements, Advertising, Gmail, Google, internet, Thomas Friedman
Having just started up a google email account, I was pleased to notice the lack of flashing advertisements blaring across the screen For you see, on my little laptop those adverts practically freeze my computer. I have to scroll down the screen in order to get the ad out of view so other pages can load. Otherwise I’m stuck. News sites often have these moving adverts in the middle of the news story, rendering the story unreadable on my laptop (hint: if you have this problem, read story in print mode!). The worst site for this, however, is the hotmail inbox page. Recent changes have prompted my move to Gmail, as one can no longer scroll down to remove the advert from view.
I was pleased to see no such adverts on the Gmail inbox page, and can now read my emails without fear of an epileptic seizure or risk not being able to view another page for ten minutes whilst I wait for a computer to come out of its own seizure. The adverts are much more subtle, in fact it was a few days till I actually noticed any.
Emailing an journalism lecturer about Thomas Friedman’s book Hot, Flat and Crowded (does anyone recommend it, it looks good), these adverts came up next to the email reply. Continue reading
Filed under: Journalism, Music | Tags: anti flag, bad religion, internet, mainstream, myspace, pennywise, punk, punkas, underground
Perhaps the best place to gauge how fans feel about a recent album release is the band’s myspace page. The message board posts comprise of either the positive “love your new album” “please come to our city”, “your band inspires me” comments or the negative “that’s not punk”, “you’ve sold out”, “I used to like you guys”, “you’ve gone emo” comments, reflecting fans discontentment of their favourite bands new release. Continue reading
Undergroundnetwork 