Subscription based media – Podcasts and RSS Feeds

Do you have a favorite website, blogger, or internet radio program? Are you tired of checking their website everyday to see if there is something new? Then you need to check to see if your favorite website offers an RSS feed. An RSS feed enables large amounts of people to simultaneously receive information. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is at its base, a subscription based news source. Every time a site updates its content it sends notification via RSS. The end user receives a link that takes them to the new information.

People can receive their RSS feeds through their web browsers, email applications or even their homepage from some internet service providers, such as Yahoo.

According to the 2005 Yahoo white paper “RSS – Crossing into the Mainstream” out of all internet users 4% knowingly use RSS feeds. Surprisingly 25% of users unknowingly use RSS feeds. Many times this is how the information on the homepage is updated.

Similarly, you can subscribe to audio or video blogs called podcasts. Podcasts are programs that you can listen to on your own terms via the internet. The term podcast comes from combining broadcasting and iPod. Examples of podcasts include national radio and television shows, public radio broadcasts, and specialized shows that would not make their way onto mainstream media.

The beauty of podcasts is that they are extremely portable. As long as you have an iPod or some other type of mp3 player you can take your podcast with you wherever you want and listen at your convenience. They also give a voice to people who may not get airtime on a more traditional broadcast set-up. Podcasts are similar to magazines in the way that they are designed for niche markets, not for the general public. For example, if your hobby is poker, you will have a hard time finding a radio or television show outside of Las Vegas or Atlantic City discussing strategy and poker news. However, thanks to podcasting, there are multiple shows discussing game theory, strategy, tips, techniques, and news about the sport.

June 2005 Apple comes into the podcast market and starts the podcasting boom. This gave credibility to the genre. By having Apple join the fray, the technology got a boost of name recognition and consumer confidence. The easiest way to find the most popular podcasts is to go iTunes and search through their lists.

Generally podcasts are made up of digital media. This makes them easy to convert into the mp3 format that is required for the portability feature.

Both podcasts and RSS feeds allow users to keep current on their favorite sites with very little effort.

The Blogging Revolution

At the forefront of the Web 2.0 experience is blogging. Blogs are generally more personal than traditional media outlets. Many times the author is not writing to deliver information, but merely to state their views. With the creation of the web and specifically open source programming making your point of view known has become extremely easy.

Blogging has become a pastime for many want to be journalists. A blog is basically an online diary, sometimes public, sometimes private. The term “blog” is generally considered to have been coined by Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune in an article making fun of another writer in a competing paper.

Anyone can have a blog. All that is required of you generally is a username, password, and an email address. Within minutes you will be blogging. Most blog sites are free, giving just about anyone with an internet connection a voice.

This voice is main point of controversy about blogging in general. Since there is no censorship on the internet, unless you are professionally blogging for a news outlet or other business means that anyone can say anything about anyone or anything else. Many political activists feel that the opposing parties use blogs to either bash their views or corrupt the truth. Blogs that are “amateur” by nature many times do not take the time to check their facts. They simply post their own views and that is where the point of contention comes from. Many opponents of a given blog will cite incorrect information as their main defense.

Blogs have also started to creep into office politics. Some employers are now writing amendments to their employee handbooks stating that among other things that using company emails in personal blogs are an offense punishable up to and including termination.

Blogs have many everyday uses. Teachers can use them to keep students up to date on class scheduling. Dad’s Club and Little League can use them to keep everyone in the league informed of standings, results and rule changes. Families that are separated by large distances can use blogs to keep other members of the family updated on current events. Business can capitalize on blogs to keep employees current on rapidly changing situations, or post job openings. Of course, people can also use them as diaries, a place to vent their personal feelings about many particular subjects, or work on their skills as a writer.

Many media outlets are also using blogs as editorial pieces. This allows reporters to give more of their own personal opinions about stories than they would be afforded either on the newscast or in an article. It also allows more reporters to give opinions on current events.

Blogs have been around since the mid-1990s. Justin Hall of Pennsylvania is generally regarded as one of the earliest bloggers. In July of 1999 Andrew Smales launched the first blog site Pitas.com. Then in August of 1999 Blogger.com was developed by Evan Williams, Paul Bausch, and Meg Houriham.

In 1999 there were mere dozens of bloggers on the internet, while today there are several million. Blogging’s popularity has mushroomed recently thanks to sites like Myspace and Blogger. Blogs are not just limited to a computer either. Blogger.com now offers a service that allow you to keep up with you blog through your cell phone.

Written blogs are merely one way people record their thoughts. Video blogs, such as YouTube allow people who are more visually oriented the same type of expressive freedom. Audio blogs, known as podcasts are also widely available. Podcasts will be discussed more at length in next week’s article.

The Changing Face of The Web

A revolution is starting to happen. There is a movement starting to grow that will forever change how we share information. It is Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 is not a new internet. It is not the latest software fad from Microsoft. It is how people will access and process information in the future. Web 2.0 is a phrase that was coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004 during a conference discussing upcoming technologies.

The point of Web 2.0 is to allow a great multitude of users to effect the current technology. Web 2.0 relies upon creativity and peer response to heighten one’s productivity and experiences. It gives everyone input into how the product is developed. This is known as open source technology. Open source is a program that is able to be manipulated by anyone. The most famous example of an open source website is Wikipedia. There, users not only can read the article for each subject, but edit them as well. It has become highly successful and leading Web 2.0 company. No longer will programmers guess at what will be features consumers desire, the consumers will drive the programmers in the proper direction. The purpose of Web 2.0 is to no longer force customers to purchase pre-packaged software and continually install updates. The websites become the program and it becomes the job of the site’s host to keep it current. There are those among the leading authorities though that thinks that by allowing everyone to have access causes a “too many cooks spoil the broth” syndrome. While they welcome extra sets of eyes to look for possible weak security points, they worry that control can quickly become lost.

The web’s nature is that of change. It changed how quickly we could receive information. It changed business practices, teaching methods, and opened avenues thought either dead or impossible. It changed not only the way we purchase goods and services it changed the way we communicate and the way we learn. It has made our planet extremely small. It used to be thought of as unsafe to shop online, but seemingly everybody has purchased something off of EBay at one point or another. Instant messaging, email, and social networks such as Myspace and Facebook have ripped away boundaries and have re-allowed people to use the written word to share their thoughts and feelings with the world instantly.

Speaking of EBay, it is another great example of an early Web 2.0 pioneer. A Web 2.0 company delivers a service that people are in need of. It does not give them a dead-end program; instead it offers them a way to connect with other people with similar interests. In EBay’s case, they don’t actually sell any products themselves. They offer a “community site” that allows searchers to interact with one another. They are simply the go-between, in much the same way that a delivery truck delivers stock from warehouse to store.

Another key Web 2.0 feature is called Tagging. Tagging is the process of placing websites into personally defined categories to make searching easier. The study of this is known as a Folksonomy. Each time someone tags a site it is grouped with other sites with the same or similar tags. This allows a more “personal” approach to keyword searching as opposed to “cold” technical keywords. Sites like del.icio.us allow people to save their searches and access them from any internet interface in the world. No longer are people chained to their own computer. They can get to their saved sites from their cell phone, blackberry, PDA, anything that can get online with.

Other popular Web 2.0 sites include Digg.com, Shoutwire, Technorati, and BitTorrent.

Web 2.0 is not just for the internet though. Chris Anderson, Editor of Wired magazine and author of The Long Tail believes that business models will change because of this revolution. “We are moving form mass markets to millions of niche markets” he states in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.

He goes on to say “In the old model, markets have limited shelf space. You only have room to stock the things that are most popular. Now we have markets that have infinite shelf space that don't have to discriminate between the conventionally good or the things that predictably sell well. We can offer everything and then measure what's actually popular. As a result, you can access the whole curve, and what you find is that the long tail, or niche item, is a big and growing market.”

Only time will tell if Web 2.0 is the next step in the evolution of technology or merely a crossroads where it a makes a turn. One thing is certain though, whatever it is it is bound to change where we are now.

Next week: Blogs

(Blogger's note)

Due to the overwhelming amount of information on this week's topic, I have decided to run a multi-part series on new and upcoming technology. What started out as a simple history of blogs, has turned into an giant undertaking. I found that I did not understand the terminology and processes involved with the technology behind them and in order to write a competent story I needed to research those areas. What I found was so enveloping, that I had to change my topic.

So, for this week I will be making a post about Web 2.0, what it is, where it came from, who are the major players, when it started, and why is this important to everyone. The following week I will discuss blogs, who uses them, what kinds there are, when were they created, why they are changing the way we discuss things, and how this relates to Web 2.o and the web in the future. The following week I will finish up with the next generation of web technology.

Thank you for your patience.

Doug

Bears Dismantle Bills

In a completely dominant performance the Chicago Bears defeated the Buffalo Bills 40-7. Chicago's much maligned running game reeled off 155 yards and a 4.9 yard average. The game was never in doubt after the Bear's first possession. Chicago scored on it's first five possession and held a 27-0 lead at the half.

It was a milestone day with streaks broken, records set, and one player finding the endzone for the first time in his career.

Robbie Gould set the Bears all-time record for consecutive Field Goals to start a season, with 17. The old record was held by Kevin Butler with 16 straight in 1996.

Buffalo quarterback J. P. Losman, who had only 1 interception in his first four games, was picked off three times by Chicago's defense. He was also sacked three times.

Losman threw the first touchdown pass allowed by Chicago since September of 2005. The last time the Bears allowed a score through the air was to the Cincinnati Bengals, Carson Palmer to Chad Johnson. Losman's TD toss came with 1:06 left in the fourth quarter. The score was aided by a fumble by Cedric Benson.

Benson scored his first two NFL touchdowns in this game. He also rushed for 48 yards on 14 carries.

The only other bright spot for the Bills was punter Brian Moorman. He had a 57.8 average and booted several over 60 yards.

Lovie Smith pulled Rex Grossman after three quarters with the score 30-0. He finished the game 15/27 for 182 yards and two touchdowns. Brian Griese relieved Grossman and finished 4 for 4 and led the Bears on a scoring drive of almost nine minutes capped off with Benson's second touchdown of the game.


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