Always Think.

Chapter 9 is all about data. There is something else built around data, oh yeah, life. As the chapter illustrates, data has been around for a very long time. Data s gathered anytime news is gathered. News, then, could be described as ‘new’ data.

Newspapers of old, you know, the paper sort, couldn’t truly take advantage of data because there was simply too much to list on a page. Confined within margins, newspapers just didn’t contain the amount of physical real estate required to put so much information forward at a time.

With the advent of the Internet as a medium in which to disperse information, data has come to the forefront of good journalism. Say there was a fire during a parade, and that a fire had broken out at the parade in the years past. Well, using data in the form of a map, you could plot the points where certain fires had been reported, and even relay other facts that would simply go missing in a traditional newspaper. You can plot a nearly infinite amount of points and never think twice.

The Internet allows for more storage and gathering of data than any other medium, which we have all come to accept.

It is important, however, to not only use data to make our stories or coverage better, but as journalists we are responsible for creating new content and data with which to contribute to the growth of more current data. Our credit as journalists and our responsibilities can stay the same, as long as we treat the collection and dispersion of digital data with the same respect we treated newspapers with.

Quality vs. Quantity.

Video is as good as gold. This chapter does a wonderful job of explaining the importance of videos, and some of the pitfalls related to them. While newspapers started as text-only documents and were run as such for hundreds of years, the introduction of video has changed the realm of news forever. Sure, the medium arrived in the same period of time as the television, but more recently other responsibilities have come along when dealing with video.

The internet, as Briggs explains, offers journalists the chance to upload and disperse video instantly.

Paul Tenorio, sports writer for The Washington Post, stopped by a class of mine earlier in the week and shared some very interesting tips for reporting. In this social media driven news platform, video needs to happen fast. Tenorio explained to us that he will often have three things with him while covering an event. His Smartphone, Video Camera, and his laptop. All three of these things share one major quality. They come together to create the new journalist’s back pack.

Tenorio went on to tell us how a typical breaking news story might occur. First, you have to be ready. Second, the event happens. And third, you put your video online before anyone else.

What is most clear about video in breaking news is that its honest. If you capture video of a breaking story and upload it quickly, you are truly giving your audience what no one else has, the eye-witness point of view. Briggs explains that it is not necessarily the quality of the video, but the quantity, or speed in which the video is dispersed.

Quality does play an important role, however, and if you want to be a credited journalists, you should strive for video that can not be questioned. Many devices that capture video do so with a low resolution camera. This can create a serious problem when uploading the video to a larger screen format because the picture can and will be blurry.

Yesterday, March 19, Apple shared their new plan to implement stock buy backs and dividends for their investors. The tech goliath has recently found its net worth climbing to almost 100 billion dollars, making it the most profitable publicly traded company in the world.

National Public Radio reported yesterday that Apple plans to move nearly 60 percent of its revenues to off shore accounts in the year. This move, NPR says, keeps Apple from having to pay out large amounts of taxes to the United States Government.

The Star Press reported that the company will pay nearly 10 billion back to its investors in the first year, but with a projected 70 to 85 billion dollars being added throughout the rest of the year, Apple can afford it.

Former CEO Steve Jobs had continually halted the possibility of a major dividend in the past. He had instead suggested using the excess of wealth to acquire companies and materials needed to continue innovating new products. The proposed plan, green lighted by the new CEO Tim Cook, marks a new business strategy for the company. Cook feels it will only strengthen bonds between the company and its investors.

“On Monday, Cook said that, with as much cash as Apple has on hand, a dividend won’t restrain the company’s options.” Reports the Star Press.

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While we’re on the subject of thinking, why not take a moment to delve into the psychology of Daniel Kahneman, psychologist and the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics.

We often here of Nobel laureates and collect small tidbits of their contributions to humanity, but in Kahneman’s case, we might be encouraged to look further. In a Charlie Rose interview held Tuesday night on PBS, Kahneman sat down with Rose to share the ideas illustrated in his new book, “Thinking, Fast and Slow.” In Kahneman’s new book, he describes three ways in which people come to decisions and the sometimes lacking thought processes that come from them.

Collaborating with long time associate Amos Tversky beginning the 70’s, the two psychologists discovered several fascinating truths about the way people think.

*More to come.

“There deadline is always the same: right now.”

“Journalism Next” was published in 2010. The introduction to this chapter, which focuses on mobile journalism, describes the camera phone as the newest form of immediate news.

Well, two years have gone by, and new innovations in the technical world have truly catered to the idea that news needs to be published: right now.

Take the Apple iPad. In the last couple of semesters I have noticed something truly remarkable about this device. It can be found in the hands of every aspiring journalist and veteran journalist alike. The advent of the iPad brings connectivity to the roaming journalist, and allows its’ user to write the story, add video, edit video, and publish: professionally.

The chapter illustrates what a ‘gearhead’ might take on their journalistic expeditions. A laptop, internet connection, camera, video camera, tripod, audio recorder, headphones, microphone, and of course the cell phone all find their way into the ‘gearhead’s’ pack.

If you add up the costs of these items you’d be well into the thousands (several), however, an iPad with the right amount of memory and connectivity might set you back 800 bucks, and it can do it all.

Reporting on an iPad is only one way in which to take advantage of the new technology. Having the compact notebook size tablet allows you to bring it everywhere, and use it for everything. From blogging, tweeting, and taking notes, the iPad essentially replaces the laptop.

As with any technology, there is always room for improvement, but when it comes to the iPad, theres little space to deal with. The battery lasts for 10 hours, and the device can store hundreds of hours of audio and several dozens of video, and comes with Apple’s very accommodating AppleCare (if you so chose to add the $79.99 feature) which will land you with 2 full years of worry free operation.

The only direction is up for the iPad, which is now in its second generation of production, with a third on the way.

Save your money and consider the iPad your all-in-one.. everything.

I started to read John Paton’s dialogue, and then I stopped.

It’s hard to read, at least the first couple of pages: they’re scary. I read this and felt terrified, and then I kept reading and became enlightened.

Paton outlined the demise.

“Or worse still, mediocre journalists, wrapping themselves in the flag of long-form journalism, to deride the value of social media as a reporting tool. A tool they don’t understand or care to understand.”

Paton goes on to say that he cant believe the same mediocre journalists are complaining that 140 characters aren’t enough. He wishes he could go back and start in 140 character increments. He knows its a more efficient way to practice journalism, and that he could have done much more if he were limited to fewer words.

I hope I have a dream tonight where I see into a present time in which 140 character stories emerged as early as the 1990’s. Where would we be when it comes to getting/giving information? What kind of information would we value?

“Rome burns.” Paton said.

The newspaper model is totally broken, and we have to replace it.

Take the car I drive. After 200,000 miles, it doesn’t matter how much I love or care for my Acura Legend, it is on the decline, and it will die. It is also an it. There is no mending because cars aren’t people, and only organic things can come back from this kind of disease.

I could spend hundreds and thousands of dollars to repair my car as it ages, but eventually I will have to buy a new car, and what will I think of the money I spent trying to keep a broken car alive?

After it has burned to nothing, what is left?

Paton’s advice is to start over. He illustrates a future for the stubborn journalist, and for the enlightened journalist.

We are not the gate keepers of information anymore, but we are still journalists. It doesn’t matter if millions of people have a twitter account, it matters that we continue to expand on the real context of the story.

The only criticism I have of Paton’s words is that he doesn’t seem to see any negative side to the digital news revolution. I believe transparency is important, and I agree that we should look to those in the digital field to help us reinvent journalism as a business, but this revolution is still very new, and I am still quite afraid.

Just as easily as the internet killed print journalism, and given the increasingly rapid growth of all things digital, what is going to happen next?