Mark Briggs presentation

Marks Briggs presentation was very thorough and insightful. It'll be interesting to really see what the future holds in terms of the battle between traditional acquisition of news, and the ever developing online news medium. As Briggs said there certainly will be a major transformation, yet this does not mean that newspapers as a whole will be eliminated, just slimmed down (i.e. less sections in the paper).
As the online news medium develops even more, it'll be interesting to see exactly which sites become popular, and if they can truly fill the news "gap" set to be underway during the transformation. Certainly the ones that do become popular will be do so by building their credibility and also by incorporating links within their site to another news outlets to give the reader a more comprehensive understanding of they days developments.
All in all, I appreciate the fact that Briggs was able to present to our class. After all, he not only runs his own site/business, but has written a widely accepted book in Journalism 2.0. Thus it's always good to hear those who have experience in the field.

Online Newspapers

The widespread acceptance and use of online newspapers has had a profound impact on my life. For one, it's much easier to access a wide array of useful information given the fact that every news bit is only a click away. The internet also offers me additional flexibility in that I'm able to browse a wide range of different news outlets, thus giving me a better understanding and grasp of the days events.
Given my age, I've never been one to buy physical newspapers and actually read them, at least not here. However, having been born in Turkey and spent a substantial amount of my life there, I did tend to read physical newspapers much more often (it's more of the norm there; going to tea-shops reading the paper in the morning, etc). When I did read newspapers there, they were mainly sports newspapers (i.e. Fanatik, which means Fanatic in Turkish).
While in Washington State, the only time I honestly went out of my way to pick up newspapers was my Junior (last) year at UWT as we were allowed free access to The Seattle Times & The New York Times (which I loved). Reading them, especially during class breaks was a great way to relax in my opinion. Unfortunately, due to widespread budget cuts, we no longer have access to such a valuable and free resource, which is really a shame.

Email vs. The Postal Service

There are certainly many similarities and differences between the use of emails and the postal service (i.e. sending traditional mail). As we discussed in class, the use of email certainly does offer many advantages over the previously mentioned traditional alternative. For instance, communicating with others via email is exponentially quicker than using traditional mail, and you can forward multiple copies of the same document to other parties (i.e. clients) who may be interested with the document at hand. Unfortunately, using emails does have some drawbacks including but not limited to, the acquisition of viruses and the often times headache inducing overload of spam sent out by various entities across the globe for the sole purpose to annoy you.
In terms of highlighting similarities, both options obviously allow us to communicate with each other and stay connected to our loved ones and/or business clientele. However, the use of emails has seemingly connected us to the broader world and is truly one of the primary catalysts for the rapid globalization, spread of information, and economic expansion taking place today. Without email, our world and our lifestyles would be completely different.