Change

Having a big discussion lately about the future of journalism (you know: is there one?), and what we, as journalism educators, should do to ensure that some part of the New New Really New Journalism, includes some critical thnking, best practices, etc.

But, the problem isn't that the key elements (ethics, writing, thinking, etc.) have changed. They haven't. The prrblem is how the inforrmation (presented as knowledge) is communicated. We don't have that old sender - message- receiver rubric to fall back on (except if we want to be stubborn). We have, instead, something that really hasn't shaken out. Unless you are selling something, the future of the web is a very unpredictable thing. Sadly, in about a week, I will be telling very impressible students (the others just sleep) what the future of the web might be. Just educated guesses. I have, at least, the assurance that I'll probably be wrong, and this will not be a terrible thing. After all, Negroponte wasn't even in the same galaxy with his predications in 1996. And he's a genius.

So, I might posit the idea that the web will be largely A/V, with fewer and fewer words.

Maybe it will be sliced up into turf owned by various mega-mega-corporations.

Maybe it will be reinvented, cleaned up, run faster, and share data easily (Semantic).

Maybe it will be storing all data seemlessly and without ownership.

Maybe it will be regulated so forcefully as to render it useless as an information sharing tool.

Maybe all applications will migrate to the center, leaving the edges more akin to the "dumb monitors" of the 1970s anf 80s.

Maybe all of todays web will be built exclusively for hand-helds, with larger desktops simply going away.

Maybe those desktops will melt into the household/business landscape, becoming parts of the furniture/cabinets/devices we already use (toasters?).

Maybe all interaction with a computer will be verbal (as in Scotty talking to the computer in one of those Star Trek flicks).

And, maybe we will finally see the concepts of creativity and ownership as being less at odds and that the common good is at least as important as the individual's profit from the common good.

Then again, maybe not.

10 reasons why we won't go back.

1. You spent our grandchildren's money like it was water.
2. You spilled our children's blood like it was water.
3. You gave our money to your friends and cohorts.
4. You lied to us.
5. You tried to cover yourr tracks by scaring us, stirring up social hatred, and changing the subject.
6. You tried to make some bizarre interpretation of Revealations come true.
7. You played the race card.
8. You played the "liberals are traitors" card.
9. You bullied.
10. You cheated.

Fear and Loathing in the bins

Okay, so newspapers will change. Maybe we'll figure out how to do what we talked about doing 20 years ago: craft in-home delivery without someone throwing a bundle containing the other 90% we don't want on our front lawn. Consumers have made it clear: we want what we want, when we want it and only what we want and not a bunch of other stuff we don't want. Get it? And if you persist in refusing to listen to us, we'll walk away and get what we want how we want it from someone else.

The sale of the Chi Trib has opened the conversation again. What will we do about our newspapers? We can start with accepting that what can be done will have to happen online. I know, I know. Some people like to read a paper that's on paper, like I do with coffee in one hand and the newspaper in the other. That's great. But there's just not enough of us and fewer every day. So, just accept that you and I are just as likely to be reading a newspaper in 10? 5? years as we are to ride a horse to work. Yes, some people do ride a horse to work. And therre a little cafes in Kansas that even provide a hitching post for their customers coming in by way of Trigger. But not enough do that to convince Mickie D to do that. Anywhere.

So we (99% without horses) will get our news from a site and read it on our hand-held whatever. The point is not the delivery form, but the content that matters. If all we are about is whether we are on paper or in bytes, we've missed the point. If it is relavant, well-written, concise, and readable, it will be read.