How About Those Mets?
Aired February 12 and 13, 2000
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This is Internet on the Air. I'm Joan Silvi. Chatting about the news
online. Details coming up.
Funding Credit: Internet On The Air is a production of the University of Michigan School
of Information and Michigan radio, made possible by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation.
Whether you get your news from the newspaper, radio, or television, what do you do when a
news story leaves you angry or concerned? Do you discuss it with friends or co-workers, or
do you register your opinion on-line? For many people, the answer is to hop on the Web and
share their thoughts with others. Most major newspapers and television stations host Web
forums to satisfy consumers’ cravings for on-line discussion. These forums feature
citizens debating subjects ranging from terrorist threats to genetically-engineered foods.
According to Pablo Boczkowski, Mellon Fellow at Columbia University, discussion forums are
changing the way that news is both delivered and received. People have discussed news
since the beginning of time, but the Internet takes these discussions to a new level.
Instead of passively reading or listening to the news, we engage in lively, online
interactions, which can influence how the media covers the issues.
Although these services can be expensive to maintain, media outlets believe these services
are critical to keeping their audiences. The competition for people’s attention on
the Web increases everyday, and news providers want to meet consumers’ demands for
on-line services, in order to keep them coming back for more.
The IOTA website is a perfect example of this trend. Find out more about online news
forums and hear an interview with Pablo Boczkowski, by visiting www.iota.org. For Internet on the
Air, I’m Joan Silvi.
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Related Links
For further information, try these Web sites:
- Wondering what usenet
groups are doing on-line? This site is will link you to on-line discussion forums
based on subject, author, and category.
- Want to post a message right now? Visit these forums hosted by major media outlets:
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The Interview
IOTA interviewed Pablo Boczkowski, Mellon Fellow at Columbia University,
in January 2000.
Dr. Boczkowski is now Assistant Professor of Organizational Studies at MIT.
1. News production is increasingly decentralized.
2. How discussion forums affect media outlets.
3. Audience competition drives news outlets to
develop "one-stop shopping" web sites.
4. Why media outlets support these services.
5. How open source software relates to this trend.
6. Economic and social practices are changing as a
result of the way that news is delivered and consumed.
Please direct questions or comments to iota.webmaster@umich.edu.
Last Updated February 12, 2000
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