The topic I would like to explore for my research paper is about how the use of the Internet changes the way people think in terms of how they find, read and process information.
The Internet is a good example of convergence between many mediums. Through the Internet people are able to access other mediums, engage in a participitative culture, access content, take part in collective intelligence and more. It is believed that by using the Internet consumers have changed their habits and thinking processes in how they access and gain information.
The article “Misunderstanding Media: A blurry Vision of Students Today” speaks to the way college students understand and interpret content and research they are doing on the Internet. Many students do not discern what source their information is coming from. For example, if information is quoted in an article, students do not make the differentiation between the article they are reading and the work being quoted. Journalism students were also found to use the Internet almost exclusively as apposed to going out and interviewing people for their stories. Students were also found to use the Internet over text books and other written sources. (Mielo 2008)
The article “How do we read online” looks at how people read and interpret content online versus in print. It was found that people who read news online versus news in print look at graphics almost as equally according to the Standford Poynter Project. The article goes on to talk about what news people are interested in accessing through the Internet. Most people were interested in reading specialized, issue specific news as apposed to local news. Consumers were attracted to article headlines and tended to read 75% of an article online regardless of length. Readers also were able to adapt to scrolling reading plains with longer articles. (Johnson 2001)
The way that people consume media through the Internet says a lot about how the information is taken in, processed and applied. It is believe that the different ways that content is displayed and accessed, affects the way people interpret and use the content. Local news can now been accessed online and continually updated. Yet, this local news may look different as the younger generation of journalism professionals consume Internet media and use it’s content, re-packaged instead of pounding the pavement for original content, when on a deadline. What is produced is a news story that could have looked drastically different without the use of the Internet. The cycle continues as the article is then put online for people to read on their local news website. This can change what people think as they read converging content. The Internet brings together content over space and time making the print world smaller as it becomes more accessible.
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