Media - Old & New

Information, data, news and lies now sleep together.

It's probably most appropriate that I launch my new blog with a few short thoughts on the evolution of media.

As an avid technology buff (albeit as a hobby) I believe in using the advancing techniques of information dispersal to our maximum benefit. However, the foundation blocks of the art must be strong in order to build... simple lessons like correct grammar and proper idiom, to sensibilities concerning libel and defamation must not be forgotten.

In fact, they may be more applicable along the route of the information superhighway, as every bit is ultimately stored on a server somewhere, ready to be recalled if need be. It's been calculated that in 2010, human beings will generate 4 exabytes of new data... more than the combined total of all the earth's libraries, if they were digitized.

So much of our world - and very lives - is being documented today (sometimes without permission) that it becomes even more important that this archiving be done the right way... so that the present cannot be misunderstood or misrepresented in the future. Also, that the messages we want to send don't get lost in translation between our minds and our mouths.

Despite the advent of New Media, I believe that the art of journalism will not die a complete death, but will rise again, a la Phoenix. And like that resurrection, present day practitioners must remember that we will need or our very special wings to soar out of the fire and into the future.