"This rising expectation about news delivery is significant in terms of understanding what is happening to news sources in the Internet Age." So begins an interview I did in 2009 with the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication faculty Nora Paul and Kathy Hansen. Libraries try to keep up with access to news information for our research communities - but it's getting harder to find, access and maintain critical resources. And, no, it isn't all on the web.
Harvard's Richard Darnton, in one of his New York Review of Books blogs recently suggested the need to establish a "Digital Public Library of America" as a way to "a general transformation of the landscape in what we now call the information society. Rather than better business plans (not that they don't matter), we need a new ecology, one based on the public good instead of private gain." His comments are certainly resonating in the information community. You might want to give it a read.
Here is the interview that I did with Nora and Kathy and was published as:
"If the News is That Important, It Will Find Me," SEARCHER 17(4): 22-32, April, 2009.Future News.Interview.Final copy.pdf
News is changing and access is a problem. Blogs and other media can provide information, but as a journalism student, I can see the issue from your perspective. Doing research in the future will only get more difficult as time goes by. I liked the Darnton piece, I'm guessing he must be a librarian or researcher. Journalists are taught to meet the need for information and meet potential readers where they are, I guess we aren't getting a lot on the research aspects. Food for thought. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThis article was done a few years ago. Have things improved? Is Google News making things easier to find information? I don't understand why it's hard for news companies to be more upfront. But I can see that I'm not paying and I really resent a lot of ads.
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