The future of traditional PR is in
flux. Like so many other professions, new technology has affected the
traditional way of public relations. With so many new technologies it is harder
to relay your message in the best way possible. Now instead of going through
another media source to relay your brand, people have direct aces to said
brand. This problem in PR is very similar to other communication professions.
This is a similar problem in
newspapers. People have direct access to the news, which has cased issues in
the news business. Newspapers like PR firms are no longer the facilitators of
news or the brand.
This change in traditional PR is
just the next major transition of any communications profession in the modern
age. Technology has forced people to reinvent traditional ways of working.
Oh did hear the leak for the new (insert album here)? This
is a normal question I ask anyone of my music friends almost daily. For
artists, this seems to be a problem. With the invention of napster, LimeWire,
and FrostWire one could download the discography of any artists within hours.
For people in the industry and artists it has caused so many problems. It has
forced both to find new and more creative ways to make money. In my opinion
illegally downloading, music, while not ethical has made music more popular
than ever.
Starting off it has forced much more artists to focus on the
live performance. This in my opinion is one of the great causes of illegal
downloading. More people have access to as much music as they desire. Take for
example Chicago’s own Lollapalooza. I dare you to name a better place to enjoy
music then the first weekend in August for Lollapalooza. It not only introduced
me to many different bands but gave me access to see bands that I love dearly.
Below is a video of a classic song Everlong by the Foo Fighters.
As you can see this performance is much more vibrant and alive than a recorded version. It is people alive and kicking performing a adored song. Plus, it starts raining during, which makes for an awesome scene to end Lollapalooza 2011.
The last key aspect artists need to adopt is by branding
yourself. This means going across social networks and being active. Let’s look
at an example from my favorite rap collective, Odd Future. As a group who are
all 25 and under they take advantage of all the new technologies. First, to
promote their album they excessively tweet and promote through social networks.
With Odd Future so large and a cult following they are able to garner much
attention for new projects. Plus they make videos for singles instead of
through the radio. Also the leader Tyler the Creator designs all the clothing
and items on sale on the Odd Future Website and is responsible for the Odd
Future store in Los Angeles.
Moving forward artists and people in the music business just
need to learn to come up with new ways to attract fans. Just like a lot of
forms of media, technology is making the music better, not worse.
If the downward trend of print journalism continues, people
can look forward to the demise of print newspapers.
You may ask: Why does the death of print newspapers matter?
While there isn’t one distinct reason why this event matters, there are several
important things to keep in mind.
First, let’s pay some attention to the significance of the
Internet in this topic. In 2013, people can gather news whenever and wherever
they want. People can quickly get updates on twitter or scan several different
news sources. This obviously caused problems for newspapers as many only
produce daily. The problem with new technology is that anybody can be a
journalist or reporter. With many of these blogs, there is no credibility
behind what is being said. Also, they may not even have the proper experience
to write certain stories or articles. All of this has lead not only to the
decline of newspapers, but the decline of journalism.
The decline of newspapers has also in my opinion led to much
less educated citizens. In the past many people just simply read a newspaper
from top to bottom to be informed. Now, people to pick and choose what kind of
news they want. People can vary from credible websites like the New York Times
to less credible such as TMZ. If people choose to get news from less credible
websites how can we expect them to properly vote for our presidents or even
fulfill their civic duties?
I hope as a future journalist that print newspapers don’t
fully fade away. They are too important in my opinion to disappear from the
public. Time will tell where newspapers end up in the coming years.
What is it about books that are so appealing? Is it the
feeling one gets from turning the pages or is this something unexplainable?
These are the questions that I struggle with when thinking
of books. In the modern age books are going through a moment of transition.
With the invention of e-books, literature isn’t just bound to hard copy. Any
ordinary citizen can purchase a copy of The
Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemmingway, for example within seconds.
This is the root of the problem for the protectors of
hard-copy books. It is changing the standard that has been unchanged for
centuries. It forces people to rethink the whole idea of books.
In my opinion, e-books just represent another change in our
society. We are gradually seeing a transition of technology taking over many
facets of our life. Newspapers are facing similar problems in the 21st
century. People are starting to gradually prefer non-physical copies of books
when reading. Less and less people read newspapers in hard copy and instead
choose to go to websites to gather news.
This is the gradual transition that will need to
take place among books. As technology continues to evolve we will see e-books
become more common and physical copies will become less common
Aaron Swartz, who cofounded Reddit, committed suicide on
January 11th, 2013. It his
highly suspected that Swartz’s prosecution for stealing articles on JSTOR
contributed to his suicide.
An article by Kate Knibbs called “Was Aaron Swartz’s Data Activism Ethical?” explores this topic very
carefully. From what I gather Swartz’s action was an act of civil disobedience
if anything. The goal of stealing the JSTOR database for Swartz’s was to make
academic journals readily available to anyone.
This case represents a basic problem among the Internet
today. Who decides who gets access to what on the Internet? Through Swartz’s
actions we can reach a basic answer. Anybody should have access to the
resources of the Internet. JSTOR, for example is only available to small
selection of people. By releasing JSTOR articles to the general public, he is
allowing for a much wider range of people to take advantage of this resource.
As time begins to pass I believe Swartz’s actions will be
seen in a more positive light. What Swartz has done for the Internet is
massively important. BY copying articles from JSTOR, Swartz is continuing to
make progress towards making resources available for the everyday person. While
Swartz may be long deceased his actions will be remembered forever.
