There's little question concerning the efficacy of the internet as a medium for the relay of media to the masses. Mr. Briggs and his company, Serra Media appear to share the same perspective. I guess this doesn't surprise me, as Mr. Briggs's background is with the Tacoma News Tribune and as I had mentioned in a prior post, Newspaper publishers would take advantage of the World Wide Web.
Being a business major, it was rather interesting to listen to some of the strategies revolving around his services and innovative technology. There was one thing that stayed in the forefront of my mind, it was the real time social mapping software they had developed for several newspaper publishers. The highlights of the product that Mr. Briggs brought up so many different potentials in my mind.
By the way, in this post, I admit ignorance for a previous post. I had never realized the newspaper publishing companies were having such difficulties and uncertainties within their industry. Yet, with this technology, it almost seems like a trump card for these "publications" to become the informational hub of their respective communities once again, solidifying their position as a primary conveyor of news to the public.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Just like yesterday.... I think?
HTML coding. It's been a while since I last seriously got into creating source code for a web page, almost seven years to be more precise. I must say that now that I take a look at the some of the additional parameters that have been added to the HTML universe, I feel a little outmoded. That's what I get for stepping away from the high tech industry for so long.
The main subject of this post, though, is concerning my first experience of HTML coding. I want to say that my first experience with creating and publishing web pages was back around 1995. I was basically a self taught computer geek (minus some of my former programming knowledge I gained when I was even younger...... yeah, BASIC! Yeah, Apple IIe's! Hell, want to know when I first started messing with coding? Remember Apple II+'s? Commodore 64's? How about an Amiga? Tandy anyone?) then. I was well immersed into the local BBS'es, i.e. Masterpiece, Prostar, Aurora, etc., etc. (these were well before AOL was even a notion on the minds of anyone, man this makes me feel old). This whole concept of the Internet/World Wide Web was greatly accepted and favored amongst the technophiles and we were all hungry for the knowledge that would allow us to manipulate and exploit this new technology. After all, we knew it was going to be BIG, but I don't think we could have necessarily foreseen that it was going to get THIS BIG.
Unfortunately, being able to procure the information, parameters, and specifications of this new coding language was a bit harder than one would imagine. After all, HTML was only developed a few years prior and you couldn't just look things up as easily as you can now. Luckily for me, I had a friend and a business partner (yeah, I was only 15 at the time but I had a business partner, now if we only knew how to run a business rather than being hardcore computer geeks) that had quite a bit more resources than I. It was he that turned me on to HTML coding.
Coming into this venue with an understanding of coding languages, it didn't take long to understand the basics of HTML coding. Instead of being stuck doing something like:
10 REM This program......
20 ? "Welcome to blah, blah"
.
.
.
2600 End
the more dynamic and evolved computing language was a quantum leap for me. The transition wasn't too difficult since the linear logic that most coding languages entail, existed as well with HTML. I must admit, just like any other coding language, it was a pain in the .... you know, when you would delve into doing something of a larger scale than getting mere texts to simply appear on a browser. But I digress as this is only about my first experience.
Ultimately, my first experience of coding some lines of text to appear on a web browser (The original Netscape, Yeah!) through HTML was more of an eye opener and in a sense, a catalyst for the eventual epiphany that would change my perspective of future realities. HTML itself was not difficult. And knowing what I had known about computers prior to then and seeing what they were like in 1996, only affirmed what I had believed. The evolution of computer technology would never stop and that the progress behind them would go at an exponential rate.
I know I got a little long winded on this blog, but hey, this is a nostalgic trip down memory lane for me.
The main subject of this post, though, is concerning my first experience of HTML coding. I want to say that my first experience with creating and publishing web pages was back around 1995. I was basically a self taught computer geek (minus some of my former programming knowledge I gained when I was even younger...... yeah, BASIC! Yeah, Apple IIe's! Hell, want to know when I first started messing with coding? Remember Apple II+'s? Commodore 64's? How about an Amiga? Tandy anyone?) then. I was well immersed into the local BBS'es, i.e. Masterpiece, Prostar, Aurora, etc., etc. (these were well before AOL was even a notion on the minds of anyone, man this makes me feel old). This whole concept of the Internet/World Wide Web was greatly accepted and favored amongst the technophiles and we were all hungry for the knowledge that would allow us to manipulate and exploit this new technology. After all, we knew it was going to be BIG, but I don't think we could have necessarily foreseen that it was going to get THIS BIG.
Unfortunately, being able to procure the information, parameters, and specifications of this new coding language was a bit harder than one would imagine. After all, HTML was only developed a few years prior and you couldn't just look things up as easily as you can now. Luckily for me, I had a friend and a business partner (yeah, I was only 15 at the time but I had a business partner, now if we only knew how to run a business rather than being hardcore computer geeks) that had quite a bit more resources than I. It was he that turned me on to HTML coding.
Coming into this venue with an understanding of coding languages, it didn't take long to understand the basics of HTML coding. Instead of being stuck doing something like:
10 REM This program......
20 ? "Welcome to blah, blah"
.
.
.
2600 End
the more dynamic and evolved computing language was a quantum leap for me. The transition wasn't too difficult since the linear logic that most coding languages entail, existed as well with HTML. I must admit, just like any other coding language, it was a pain in the .... you know, when you would delve into doing something of a larger scale than getting mere texts to simply appear on a browser. But I digress as this is only about my first experience.
Ultimately, my first experience of coding some lines of text to appear on a web browser (The original Netscape, Yeah!) through HTML was more of an eye opener and in a sense, a catalyst for the eventual epiphany that would change my perspective of future realities. HTML itself was not difficult. And knowing what I had known about computers prior to then and seeing what they were like in 1996, only affirmed what I had believed. The evolution of computer technology would never stop and that the progress behind them would go at an exponential rate.
I know I got a little long winded on this blog, but hey, this is a nostalgic trip down memory lane for me.
Monday, October 19, 2009
What about the paper?
Originally posted on 10/07/09
The press appears to have gotten a new medium to exploit. It's no surprise that newspapers have utilized the internet in this day and age. After all, isn't the screen of a computer or some web accessible computer device nothing more than a blank page that can be manipulated?
I've noticed a lot of different newspapers offering online versions of their printed papers. Some have even gone to the extreme of being purely online such as the Seattle P-I. But other than this form of change in venue of mediums, I can't say that I've noticed any other significant change in newspaper publishers' behaviors. I can definitely see the potential that was seen in the film in class, but I don't know if the publishers are really reacting in this fashion. I've read several papers online and the journalism doesn't appear to have been influenced by this change. Granted the formats are changed and perhaps, like in the case of the Wall Street Journal, the news that is presented are more geared towards specific areas of interest to the viewers' profiles which may distort the news that is received, but that is only speculative at best. Perhaps some more ads since it seems that most publishing sites gain the majority of their revenue from sales of ad space but nothing all to different.
But then again, maybe I'm oblivious and there are changes going on.
The press appears to have gotten a new medium to exploit. It's no surprise that newspapers have utilized the internet in this day and age. After all, isn't the screen of a computer or some web accessible computer device nothing more than a blank page that can be manipulated?
I've noticed a lot of different newspapers offering online versions of their printed papers. Some have even gone to the extreme of being purely online such as the Seattle P-I. But other than this form of change in venue of mediums, I can't say that I've noticed any other significant change in newspaper publishers' behaviors. I can definitely see the potential that was seen in the film in class, but I don't know if the publishers are really reacting in this fashion. I've read several papers online and the journalism doesn't appear to have been influenced by this change. Granted the formats are changed and perhaps, like in the case of the Wall Street Journal, the news that is presented are more geared towards specific areas of interest to the viewers' profiles which may distort the news that is received, but that is only speculative at best. Perhaps some more ads since it seems that most publishing sites gain the majority of their revenue from sales of ad space but nothing all to different.
But then again, maybe I'm oblivious and there are changes going on.
So what's going to last?
Originally posted on 10/7/09
I guess this debate will be outmoded within the next couple of years. It's my perspective that with the constant evolution of technology, our current lifestyles will reflect the constant stream of change. Our reception of correspondence will be no different. The evidence is all around us.
The only aspect of old postal correspondence that will exist is parcel deliveries. Web based delivery systems can currently only facilitate documents and various forms of media. Though the knowledge and information can traverse this world near light speed, the sending and receiving of solid matter will be at a much slower rate.
I guess this debate will be outmoded within the next couple of years. It's my perspective that with the constant evolution of technology, our current lifestyles will reflect the constant stream of change. Our reception of correspondence will be no different. The evidence is all around us.
The only aspect of old postal correspondence that will exist is parcel deliveries. Web based delivery systems can currently only facilitate documents and various forms of media. Though the knowledge and information can traverse this world near light speed, the sending and receiving of solid matter will be at a much slower rate.
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