Media Blog

The CMRC is pleased to announce the release of The New Journalist: Roles, Skills, and Critical Thinking, a new book from Emond Montgomery Publications that looks at a wide range of topics in media, including new journalism skills, the state of journalism, and news models. It features a chapter co-authored by CMRC President Donna Logan and Research Manager Darryl Korell entitled Sustainable News Models for a Digital Age. It looks at the current state of the media in Canada, and which news business models will thrive in the future. The chapter is part of the CMRC’s State of the Media in Canada project.

The revolutionary changes under way in the world of journalism require a new kind of student resource. The New Journalist offers a broad overview for introductory-level students in journalism and multimedia courses. With a critical thinking approach taken throughout, it covers everything from an introduction to the essential practical skills that today’s journalists require, to “think pieces” on the state of journalism today, to an overview of emerging business models.

While emphasizing the changing technology at the heart of journalism’s reinvention, the book does not overlook the need to address the perennially important elements that excellent journalism requires, such as solid interviewing and research skills, ethical considerations, proper story structure, and more.

[Emond Montgomery Publications]

Tags: Future of News, Job losses, New Media, New Models, Research, Trends

The newly released Social Media and Young Adults study from the US Pew Research Center finds that blogging is loosing popularity among US youth. Instead, they are moving towards short, instant communication.

“Two Pew Internet Project surveys of teens and adults reveal a decline in blogging among teens and young adults and a modest rise among adults 30 and older. Even as blogging declines among those under 30, wireless connectivity continues to rise in this age group, as does social network use. Teens ages 12-17 do not use Twitter in large numbers, though high school-aged girls show the greatest enthusiasm for the application.”

PEW: Social Media and Young Adults

Tags: New Media, Research, Trends

It is increasingly hard to focus on the task at hand when computers and mobile devices offer so many entertaining distractions. While today’s technology has rendered many former tasks obsolete, more people find it difficult to handle all the applications that are supposed to save time, such as e-mail, social networks, mobile devices, and web search.

Last year’s report from the Canadian Internet Project finds that over three-quarters of Canadian Internet users (76%) multitask while online. Young adults in the 18-to-29 age group are the most frequent multi-taskers, especially students (91%).

Three recent articles look at how an abundance of information and applications can affect our professional and personal lives; moreover, how they alter our concept of knowledge.

A recent article in Wired looks at how multitasking hinders work performance. For instance, technology juggling university students perform worse than their non-multitasking peers; watching television while doing homework hurts the academic performance of children; not checking e-mail every five minutes helps office workers perform better.

But what about people who multitask all of the time? In a study published by the National Academy of Sciences, psychologists surveyed 262 students on their media consumption behaviours. In each test, those who spent less time multitasking performed best. No matter how adept at multitasking, users cannot expect to take part in more than one activity without consequence.

Peter Nicholson, president of the Council of Canadian Academies, wrote an fascinating piece for the Globe and Mail that looks at how the recent overabundance of data and information has created a new scarcity for time and attention. This in turn alters our understanding of knowledge, which Nicholson says, the “primary consequence is the growing emphasis on speed at the expense of depth.”

What to do?

New York Times Reporter Farhad Manjoo provides some amusing and informative solutions for those addicted to multitasking. A program called RescueTime keeps track of everything that users do on a computer, and then provides a detailed report, so they can see how much time they truly spend on needless activities. Another program from Firefox is called LeechBlock. This application allows users to block certain websites during specific times, eliminating foreseen distractions.

Image from williamhartz/Flickr

Tags: New Media, Research, Uncategorized

In the Globe and Mail’s technology blog, Matt Hartley looks into how Canadians use Twitter, a popular social network where participants tell each other what they are doing, in 140 characters or less. According to an Ipsos Reid poll, only 1.45 percent of online Canadians are frequent users. There are not many who “tweet” regularly.

“The study, which polled 824 Canadian adults online, found that that 26 per cent of respondents are aware of Twitter, and that only 6 per cent of them had actually spent some time coming up with witty 140-character messages.”

On the other hand, Hartley says that three of five online Canadians are on Facebook.

Canadians between the age of 18 and 34 are much more likely to use Twitter. The article says 32 percent are aware of the service, and university graduates are “nearly twice as likely to be aware of Twitter compared to those folks with a high school education or less.”

This is interesting when compared to our research. Here are two figures from the Canadian Internet Project’s most recent report, Canada Online!.

As mentioned in the Ipsos Reid poll, it is not surprising to see that social networking is an important part of the daily communication routines for younger Canadians. However, as figure 10-2 shows, it is interesting to note that online Canadians between the age of 30 and 44 contribute slightly more to social networking sites than Canadians between the age of 18 and 29.

Social networking is not only for the young. Whether older Canadians will join Twitter is another question.

Putting Twitter use in perspective

Tags: Research

With the recent turmoil that the Canadian media is suffering, it an especially fitting time to look into the shape of Canada’s news media and what its future holds. In response, The Canadian Media Research Consortium will present The State of the News in Canada at Ink and Beyond, a conference hosted by the Canadian Community Newspapers Association (CCNA) and the Canadian Newspaper Association (CNA). The presentation will look into advancing technologies, changing consumer habits, and new business models.

Date: May 21, 2009

Time: 8:30 a.m.
– Breakfast Seminar

Location: Le Centre Sheraton, Montreal, Quebec

Speakers: Donna Logan, President of The Canadian Media Research Consortium and Founding Director of The UBC School of Journalism; Kenneth J. Goldstein, President, Communications Inc.; Florian Sauvageau, Université Laval; and Fred Fletcher, York University.

Tags: Events, Research