Let’s start with a non-ARTS2090 introduction to myself, huh?
Firstly, I should point out that I do not in fact know Latin. But rather my first thoughts of ‘publications’ are that of Latin scripts although I now figure that the idea of publishing goes much further back.
Now, I feel as though a good place to start my first blog is going through the main publications that surround my life:
The above are the current mass-media subscriptions that I currently hold all of which get delivered straight to my iPad. The last of which are via an app called Zinio – an ereader of sorts. Newsweek and SMH deliver a PDF of their print versions* while Nat Geo for iPad is a whole different experience to the print edition. Then there’s twitter…
As for non-news books, I am still big on hardcopy books especially with the whole free delivery thing from Book Depository. But where/what do I publish? I am a bit of a political centrist and serial #auspol-ite (funnily there’s nothing pol-ite about #auspol) on twitter. I have previously published political blogs and vlogs which are ‘no longer available’ to your average internet user.
Being the type of gadget guy that I am, it was inevitable that the iPad would become the one and only ‘magazine’ in my backpack. Also, I could not have ever imagined myself with a broadsheet Sydney Morning Herald and must admit I haven’t held a physical copy of the SMH many times in my life and in the absence of a digital copy I read the Daily RagTelegraph which now that the Fairfax have transformed and downsized I hopefully will never have to touch again. Sorry, Uncle Rupert.
I used to be a big magazine man but my inner hippie stopped to think of all the ink and paper that went into a product which had no value after a day or two. Where would I be without the iPad as an invention? Samsung Galaxy Tab most probably. But, in all seriousness it’s quite amazing how this small device can hold the multitude the magazines I once carried around with me. I imagine you’re asking but why haven’t you adopted iBooks or e-readers like Kindle? Quite simply, there’s nothing quite like holding a book. And I don’t think books have that same disposability as a magazine or a newspaper.
In short, I have no qualms in saying that these changes to the publication industry are nothing short of revolutionary and should be embraced with open arms. I leave you with a video of the May 2012 ad for National Geographic Interactive Magazine which showcases it’s capabilities that far reach that of the printed edition.
*Of course, Newsweek is no longer available in print editions but it’s design has not been digitised in the slightest.
the transition from traditional journalism to modern media journalism has been very painful. The overall effect was a demolition of peer journalism through redundancy and has left a knowledge and experience gap that in all likelihood will never return. Although it would seem to point to the demise of journalistic standards, it in fact has & will be forever changed for the better. Access to information and the art of discerning fact from fiction will in time way outstrip the 50′s journalist’s skills of word-smithing & story telling (which also not extinct), as well the speed with which the public can effect the quality of information is a multiple of the number of scrutineers perusing publications & the interactivity of like minded individuals. Cheers to the new electronic ‘town square’ for the discussions will only accelerate the development of human rights and the common understanding there of, DCM