Internet ends traditional journalism?

It seems that as people are increasingly engage in the wired world, journalism falls to its death. Does the Internet really kill journalists? Though no one can predict what will happen in the future, but it is a growing trend that news organizations like newspapers and television news can no longer provide the same value to their customers as before. Journalists see their career paths die right before their eyes. There are even websites like Newspaper Death Watch and a Google Maps project that track job layoffs at newspapers across the United States. Because the Internet trains readers to consume news in ever-smaller bites with the rise of micro-blogging. This means the death of journalism as the Internet capture audience's attention and stop people from looking to newspapers and television for news. In addition, local newspapers have also been deeply weakened by the availability of free information on the Internet.

To top it up, the Internet is slowly taking over the role of "see it here first" journalism. 24-hour news station do not have the ability to cover all aspects of news. However, the Internet does. In a way, the Internet is like filling the blind corner of traditional journalism.

Furthermore, advertisers are not longer willing to waste money on a mass produced product. The technology revolution has allowed markerters to target advertising by gathering information about potential customers and then matching a product to customers' needs or desires. The Internet can do this, but newspapers and television can't. In all industries, high profit and low cost matters the most. Advertising on the Internet makes 10 times less revenue than in paper for the same audience.

Is this really the end of traditional journalism? Take into consideration this: Journalism is living a deep crisis. Internet is part of the problem. It destroys value. Google, and other web search engines are "stealing" content from online newspapers and index them in their databases, republishing without asking for consent and gain revenue by putting advertisers below them. Journalists who have went through all the hard work are not paid for this new support. It is as plain as it is. Their work is used but no new revenue is coming.

Youths and Politics

It seems in general that youths are experiencing a disengagement from the world of politics. There's growing apathy towards political activites and politicians from the youths these days. I am unable to speak on behalf of all youths around the world, but based on what I gather (given I am a youth myself living in Singapore), this rising trend stems out from the education system in Singapore as well as the media.

Why do I state the education system in Singapore as a reason? Our education system focuses largely on results and academic accomplishment. One is viewed as a successful youth only if s/he gets good grades in school as a student. Due to the lack of proper motivation to gather knowledge, youths drag their feet to school everyday trying their best to cramp as much information provided to them by their teachers.

Because youths view reading and learning as something dry and boring, they prefer not to dabble with political issues during their free hours. Parents also discourgae their kids from doing anything else which is not related to their academics. With the increasing stress and pressure faced by youths, it is no wonder they would choose to veer away from politics.

Media also plays an important role in the growing apathy in youths towards politics. Youth channels or news which is directed to youths are usually not about politics, but about music videos, wannabe stars and tips on becoming beautiful or sexually attractive. Seeing that the media portrays youth as uniterested in politics, it becomes unfashionable for youngsters to be intellectual and/or dabble in political issues.

This objectification of youths pressurises them to conforms to a social stereotype of being 'cool, young and happening'. In addition, with materialism being the main aim of most youths, youths are becoming vested in its interest. Values like patriotism and interest in knowing more about countries decline as youth are turning towards MTV, McDonalds and money making.

Besides, the media portrays politics as something which is so complex and far away. Seeing that it is associated with so many negative factors including riots, violence and death, young adults may choose to divert their attention to something more positive and 'hip'. The mindset of many youths also evolve the idea that political issues are not for them and it only concerns the adults or those old and mature enough to handle.

Knowing that the media can bring about such indifference towards politics in the youths; the media can play a great role in motivating the youth to join politics as well. Attitundinal changes need to be brought about by reporting positive changes and developments in politics and not just negative or cynical news stories. By covering events where youths has helped in shaping the course of important political issues also help to change the stereotype that being involve in politics is not cool. In summary, by changing the focus of politics to the younger generation, the media may be able to compel changes in the existing mindsets as politics would no longer be deem as dry and/or boring.

Multimedia on the Internet

Multimedia, being a computer-based interactive communication process incorporates text, graphics, sound, animation, and video. As it is interactive, this type of communication process enhances communication and aids in transmitting messages across to audiences. Therefore, multimedia has become the latest marketing tool in recent years.

No matter what sort of industry one is in, what service or product one is promoting, multimedia always comes in handy. Taking the sale of music products as an example; how does the use of multimedia promote great music products?
I chanced upon the webpage of Nevada music (http://www.nevadamusic.co.uk/) and thought they cleverly utilize technology and bring music and the visitors of their site to a higher level of multi-sensory experience. Nevada music, located in Portsmouth on the South coast, stocks a massive range of guitars, keyboards, drums, amplifiers etc... Nevada has great products and the design and layout of their website reflects this. In addition, their webpage gives visitor the same kind of rich and immersive experience as if they were actually walking into the store itself.

The site is full of interactivity and its content feature-rich. The site uses targerted search using the familiar keyword route and the results presented by 'price', 'category', and 'brand'. This ensures that users find content which is absolutely relevant to them and avoids running through endless pages of search results. As customers, users will usually want to learn more about the brand, manufacture, and history of the product in addition to savouring the beautiful images of the product outlook. This was clearly thought for, as the webpage as a 'focus on' section that presents the background and key facts behind a brand.

On all product pages, there is also a 'customer product review' feature. This ensures that potential customers will be aware of what's good and what's not about each product. The 'related products' feature in the basket page and 'gig stig' feature, an independent review of all products sold by Nevada, also helps to create knowledge connection and promote an individualized experience.

What I find interesting about the use of multimedia for Nevada music is the fact that for this particular online site, many multimedia disadvantages have been overcome. There is a clear structure, and is not text intensive. Furthermore, feedback can be given, hence it is nowhere near non-interactive. Lastly, visiting this site does not make me feel overwhelmed by the information provided, thus I would say it does not promote cognitive overload. All in all, the use of multimedia by Nevada music for marketing and promotion impressed me greatly.

Low Crime Doesn't Mean No Crime

The overall crime rate in Singapore is low and the reported numbers for crimes such as murders, rape, rioting, vehicle theft, housebreaking etc... continue to decrease. Indeed, physical crimes against people are on a decrease, however, cyber crimes are on a rise. Reports have indicated that computer attacks can be classified as either active or passive. Active referring to an attack which involve modification of the data stream or attempts to gain unauthorized access to computer and networking systems. Passive, would then mean monitoring others data and eavesdropping on a transmission.

Because infocomm technology has become the nerve centre of Singapore's economy and an intricate componenet of infrastructure, hence Singapore has become a prime target for cyber crimes. As identified in a audit firm, KPMG Singapore, within 3 years from 2004 to 2007, computer related fraud has increased from 19% to 59%.

The top ten types of attacks would be as followed:

- Insider abuse of net access
- Virus
- Laptop/mobile device theft
- Phishing
- Instant messaging misuse
- Denial of service
- Unauthorized access to information
- Bots within the organization
- Theft of customer employee data
- Abuse of wireless network

Don't you think all these sound too difficult and technical? I wonder, how ever is it possible to break through a highly protected computer system such as that of an organization? In order to manipulate computer records, modify programs, engage in software piracy and identity theft etc... it seems that one have to go through endless technical training before one can be equipped with such knowledge to process these crimes. However, it seemed as though majority of cyber criminals are merely young adults and students. How astonishing! Unbelievable? Here are some examples:

1) Fraud: Two undergraduate students convicted of running a credit-card cloning syndicate.
2) Spamming: A 15 years old boy (Primary 6) hacked into a portal system for electronic learning services and sent out 161, 064 e-mail messages to one of his teachers, slowing down the e-mail service provided by the portal system
3) Hacking: A Polytechnic student piggybacked on neighbour's network and first to be charged with unauthorized wireless net access.
4) Harassment: An undergraduate student stole the passwords to several women's Internet Messenger accounts and told one of them that he would distribute doctored photographs of her unless she sent him her naked picture
5) Identity theft: A 27 years old man illegally accessed his former girlfriend's personal e-mail accounts and changed her password.

All in all, it illustrates that most cyber criminals are highly educated and are within the young adult age group. With the rise of cyber crimes, it is really hard to detect criminals. Becuase they do not resemble the stereotypical kind of "bad guys" we learn to identify when we were younger.