Journalism and American Democracy

Just over a week ago, I parted with the iPad for the semester. I originally thought that the sorrowful goodbye would be more difficult than it actually was. In the seven days since returning the iPad to its proper owner, my life has remained mostly unchanged. I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss the convenience, didn’t miss the sleek touch screen, or didn’t miss the Twitter interface. But really, the iPad had not made a huge impact on my daily life.

When I first received the iPad, I was hesitant to acknowledge its value. I was worried that it would become an inseparable part of me and that and that I would be judged for using it in public. I quickly got over each of those fears and hesitations. I found the iPad to be tremendously helpful in classes and in life (using it for course readings and calendar organizing). But at the same time, the iPad was a mere convenience and did not really serve many unique functions that can’t be found elsewhere. After the first few weeks of having the iPad, its novelties wore off and I ended up using it a lot less than I thought I would. I’m worried how easy it became for me to use the iPad in public, both in class and around campus. Before having an iPad, I looked down on people who used them all the time- I thought they were just another pretentious use of technology. But I quickly got comfortable using it anywhere and overcame the fact that others might look down upon me for doing that.

Although I’ve stated that the iPad didn’t change my life, it did have its advantages. I’ve learned since not having it how easy it was to tote it around for checking email, Twitter, Facebook, or ESPN. I now understand why they are so trendy. The iPad, and other tablets, are definitely the future of personal technology. Being so easy to integrate into daily life, tablets will likely continue to gain popularity. While I would probably not purchase an iPad for myself, if given another opportunity to use one for an extended period of time, I would not turn it down.

And since you probably can’t get the song out of your head…

And so I recede back into the technological darkness from whence I came, disconnected from the world and alone. Or so that’s how I feel….
Yes today we reluctantly return our iPads. The too-close-to-magic machines have reached the end of their journey with us as we complete our class. As I reminisce on the endless hours I spent studying, reading, exploring and generally messing around on the iPad, I realize how quickly it integrated itself into my day-to-day life. I used the thing at every possible moment, whether it be in class for a reading or to study news stories or to play numerous mind-numbing games while on a long car trip.
And as much as I kid, I am sincere when I say that this iPad really changed how I read the news. The Flipboard app simulated an infinitely interactive newspaper and helped me maintain a strong connection to stories I would have never discovered otherwise. Our Twitter page was only a button away. Within seconds I was able to scan the big stories of the day, just by looking at our Twitter feed. And the user-friendliness (sp?) made all other computers seem like an old western telegraph machine. Jumping from web browser to news story to blog post to twitter was as easy as can be.
I am even more sad when I realize how much more as left to be discovered. I only recently found out how to take screenshots and every day I find another news app that I want to check out. I have a weird guttural feeling that despite all the wonderful experiences I had with the iPad that I still have left so many possibilities out on the table. I guess the ipad can do that – it makes you feel as if the information at your hands is infinite and that no matter how much time you spend on the darn thing you’re always going to find new efficient tricks or apps that open up another world to connect to. I understand now why Apple is sometimes considered a cult – and I’m chugging the kool-aid.
I have even considered getting an iPad for myself for Christmas….or at least an iPhone for Christ’s sake. I need something to satisfy my fix. And that’s the way things are going now, news has become a 24/7 ordeal and the public is constantly connected. Whether it be an iPad, an iPhone or some sort of other lesser smartphone (I kid, again), the source for news has become the palm of our hand, it is at our fingertips. As soon as I discovered the vastness of news media on the iPad the problem wasn’t staying connected or keeping on top of it all, the problem was disconnecting. Surprisingly, the endless information was not overwhelming – it was fluid, easy to find and constantly available. Having the iPad was a peek into what journalism has become and how it connects a multitude of publics – something we have never seen on such a large scale. With the advent of internet and now devices like the smartphone or tablet the news has become personalized. As Michael Schudson claims, traditional lines within journalism have become blurred. The distinction between writer and reader has disappeared, as has the difference between a blog post or a newspaper article or a tweet. Everything has meshed together and this seems to be for the betterment of the informed citizen. As a class, we became part of the future and participated in a new system of news-reading. Having to remove myself from that world feels like being sent back to the 5th grade. GoodbiPad

As our semester comes to a close, so does our time as iPad owners. I will admit, I am sad to see them go.

This iPad is the first and only Apple product I’ve ever owned, and I will say I was impressed. And, I understood the theory behind why our class received them for free this semester. However, I am not quite sure I took full advantage of owning one for a brief time.

I’m not saying that these aren’t amazing tools, because they are. They made my life and things I did incredibly efficient, and using them in other classes in order to go paperless was huge. However, that’s just about all I used mine for, aside from a couple of apps, which I could have just as easily downloaded to my smartphone (which is even more convenient due to its size) or accessed on my laptop (which is, for me, more user-friendly due to the ease of typing). Plus, nobody wants to be “that person” who carries an iPad everywhere and uses it for everything. It’s a silly stigma, but I will admit that I sometimes hesitated to use it even just to access readings in other classes because I didn’t want my classmates to judge me as the girl with the iPad who flaunted it everyday.

I do understand that the underlying reasoning for having iPads this semester was to use it to explore different publics and to identify now means of communication and journalism, and I think it was successful to this end. Like I said before, I’m kind of disappointed in myself for not taking the time to fiddle around with mine a little more and see what other neat things I could take advantage of for the semester, but, who knows — maybe someday I’ll have a tablet that’s mine forever (but not an iPad. As long as I’m my father’s daughter, Apple products are off-limits. Samsung Galaxy Note anyone?).

Please excuse the bad pun or whatever you can call a term like “goodbiPad”, I just can’t resist a good play on words.

Alas, the time has come to bid thee farewell, loveliest iPad.  Although I never named you, I feel as though we knew each other so well.  We shared laughs, memories, stressful moments – even though we’ve only been together for a semester, you came home with me for every single break.  That says something about us, ok?  That meant something!

Admittedly, dear iPad, I did doubt you in the beginning.  You were so new and exciting, but also seemingly frivolous.  I had my macbook and my iPhone, so I doubted that you would bring anything new to my life.  I was locked into my old ways.

But then you opened my eyes to things like Flipboard – customizable, interactive news like I had never experienced.  And what about Storify? With this app, you gave me the tools to express myself in ways I had never known existed!  Together, we navigated the muddy waters of political ads, presidential debates, and campaign spin in this tough election year.  You were instrumental to my discernment during this period of inquiry in which I questioned the political conventions that I had always held.

iPad, this is where I leave you.  Although you have shown me many things, I must send you back from whence you came.  I don’t know that I may ever see the likes of you again, but it was grand while it lasted.

Alright, alright…I guess I’ll take the free iPad you’re throwing at me.  Admittedly, I was not the first person to jump on the iPad bandwagon.  It seems like a lighter computer with a more annoying keyboard.  I sound like an old grouchy man, but it’s true – these are my feelings.

After messing around with all of the cool apps that the iPad has to offer, I consider myself mistaken – they’re awesome.  And addicting.  I’ve found that after discovering and personalizing Flipboard, I get annoyed with your plain ol’ newspaper over breakfast.  Why?  Because all the sudden newspapers are a hassle.  They unfold into huge spreads, they are not really visually appealing, and I find myself zoning out  while skimming over headlines of news I don’t really want to read, now that I know what personalized news is like.

That is not to say that I’m going to start purging my shelves of physical books, only to amass a gigantic library of e-books on the iPad.  Nor does it mean that I will reach for my iPad when I need to write a 5 page paper.  There are some limitations to this amazing little machine, and I don’t want to get too carried away here.

In the end, receiving iPads in this class offers a unique experience for us students: we can get a real feel for all that iPads have to offer.  This extends beyond the classroom and beyond class content, and that, my technologically equipped friends, is something very exciting indeed.

Our class’s work on the iPad this semester has been both enjoyable and beneficial to our examination of journalism and democracy in America. With the continuing expansion of technology, news can be delivered and consumed on a huge variety of platforms, and the iPad gives users a mobile, user-friendly device with access to countless media and applications. The iPad introduced me to many useful apps that expanded my ability and options for news consumption, with Flipboard probably being one of the most useful in its function as a news conglomeration program. Flipboard allowed me to access a wide range of news stories from a variety of topics and sources, and fit perfectly with the touch screen page-turning presentation that the iPad allows. Our discovery of the “news-creation” app Storify also showed us some of the great possibilities for utilizing different media to share stories, and the iPad is a great platform to access the social media, videos, and text sources that can combine to make a unique and powerful presentation. Overall, the iPad’s combination of a user-friendly interface with access to a multitude of forms of media made it a useful and enriching tool for our class and for our overall news consumption.

On the other hand, one personal trend I did notice with the iPad was that I probably did not use it as much as I should or could have for all sorts of tasks, largely because I normally and habitually do so much news consumption on my laptop. I have not gotten into the habit of reading news while “on the go,” and I never developed the habit of frequently taking my iPad out and using it while away from my room. While the iPad is a great and innovative device, ultimately I feel like it does not offer many large-scale capabilities that are not available on a laptop. This observation likely occurs to me largely because of my own technology-use and news consumption habits, and there is no doubt that the iPad’s portability and combination of technology and media capabilities make it a very useful device. I very much enjoyed my introduction to the iPad this semester, and I feel that there is a high probability that I will be using a tablet again extensively in the future, whether professionally, leisurely, or both.

Using the iPad this semester has revolutionized the way that I interact with social media, technology, the Internet and the news. I have become an informed citizen, motivated to stay updated on the important events happening in America and around the world. While I know the ambition to get involved with the news comes in part from my interest in the topics we discuss in class, I think the deciding factor was the iPad, which offered convenience and ease to consume news within my daily schedule. As David Carr said in the Page One documentary, we now have the ability to get updated on the news in the time it takes to wait in line for a cup of coffee. I use the iPad to check Twitter, Flipboard, and The New York Times regularly, if not constantly, throughout the day.

Not only has the news become an integral part of my daily routine, but the iPad has also changed the way that I do homework. Having the ability to open, download, read, annotate, save, and refer back to articles on a single device is great for an American Studies student, who has no shortage of reading assignments. I bring the iPad with me everywhere and love that everything I need is stored in one place.

Over the semester, I have been no stranger to other students making fun of me for having an iPad. The frequent response I get when students find out the University provided iPads to our class is: what? Why? Okay, it’s super convenient. That’s great. But why? Why did the Notre Dame sink money into giving the newest gadget to a group of journalism students? The undeniable fact is that iPads, or tablets in general, represent the future of how the public is going to obtain news. As we have studied this semester, print journalism is gradually fading out and tablets embody the technology that will replace it. Though many people remain sentimental and long for the old ways of doing things, as we saw with Kathleen Parkers anti-Twitter speech, technology is advancing quickly. As students with an interest in entering the journalism field, our futures depend on our ability to stay updated on the technology with which our stories will be made available to the public. I feel that, as journalists, we were given a great opportunity to embrace technology this semester; we created intellectual Twitter feeds, set up personal blogs, observed the way that other journalists embrace social media (Brian Stelter, anyone?) and familiarized ourselves with the growing world of online news.  The opportunity to use the iPad put us ahead of the game in the journalism world. Because of the familiarity I have gained with the technology, I know I am better prepared to work as a journalist because I have a better handle on where the future of news is heading.

So, while the iPad has done great things to change my life this semester, it has also been hard at work changing the way that the media operates in America.  Though it is sad to say goodbiPad, I know that this is not the last I will see of tablet technology, and the iPad will grow to be a widespread fixture in the lives of many Americans quite soon.

As my time with the iPad is quickly coming to an end, I realize how attached I have grown to a technology that I never thought I needed. Getting the opportunity to use the iPad was such a great experience, because it was like a technology test drive, where I got to try out the iPad and all its capabilities for the semester. Prior to this class, my mom would often call or text me, asking me if I had heard about a particular news story or event. More often than not, my response would be something along the lines of “No, I don’t really watch the news. I live in the Notre Dame bubble.” During the course of this semester, though, I found that I was much more connected to the world outside of Notre Dame, as a result of the class discussions we had, as well as the convenience of the iPad.

Although I do not necessarily see myself continuing with the use of Twitter after this semester, it was interesting to see what it was all about after having been encouraged by my friends to join for ages. I still do not love Twitter, because I feel it is used by many people in a manner that is less than productive, it was interesting to learn about what a major asset it is becoming for journalists. While it was initially challenging for me to find a story to tweet everyday, I eventually found myself checking Twitter and finding stories to tweet without deliberately having to search for one. Admittedly, prior to this semester, the “news source” I most commonly read was probably people.com. Through the use of Twitter, I have been able to read headlines and stories more quickly and easily from a greater variety of sources.  This is the same reason I also love the Flipboard app, because I was able to follow all the news sources I was interested in, as well as my social media networks, in one easy place. In fact, I think I like Flipboard more than Twitter, because I particularly like how visual it is, with the bold headlines and photos being more engaging.

It is going to be a sad day on Thursday when I have to return my iPad (I always have called it “my” iPad in denial of the that I would not be able to keep it…), but I really enjoyed having it for the semester in order to more completely immerse myself in the relationship between journalism and democracy. As a non-journalism student, this class was a great introduction of sorts. The use of the iPad allowed us to really immerse ourselves in the new technologies associated with the journalism profession. So not only were we learning about journalism and its conventions, but also acting as mini journalists as we also employed these technologies. So after a wonderful semester together, on Thursday I will fondly say “goodbiPad.”

While the debate is always interesting to watch, this time around I had a much different experience because I chose to simultaneously look at my Twitter feed while watching the debate. Because I use my twitter account to follow mostly political news organizations and journalists, the feed blew up during the debate—everyone had a comment to share and Twitter is the perfect outlet on which to do so. In 140 characters or less people shared opinions, reactions, corrections to the many facts spewed off by candidates, and cracked humorous jokes. Using Twitter transformed my experience of watching the debate. While I still had my own personal reactions to what the candidates were saying, I was also reacting to the things other people were constantly posting on Twitter, and it became a little bit of a political overload.

I was most surprised at the speed in which people’s reactions were posted. Live tweeting was taken to a whole new level—quotes by Obama seemed to be shared before he even finished talking! Forget minute-by-minute journalism, this was news second by second. The benefit was that no part of the debate went uncovered. The downside: the information was hard to keep up with and quickly became overwhelming. Because there were such a multitude of organizations and individuals throwing in their two cents the commentary piled up and quickly became out of control.

However, following organizations such as politifact allowed me to look at the debate in a different light. Instead of taking the candidates words and facts at face value, I really learned how they were framing the issues and at times giving impressions of their positions on issues that didn’t necessarily reflect the truth.

Overall, making use of Twitter during the debate enhanced my understanding of what the politicians were talking about and inspired me to come up with my own opinions about the things they were saying.

My take? Romney clearly dominated, coming in from the beginning with strong answers and relentless support for his position. He did not back down but rather overwhelmed the incumbent president with his background knowledge, statistics, and zingers. Obama’s performance was disappointing; he failed to present his point of view with the confidence that Americans want to see in their leader.  However, the one area where he dominated was that he talked straight to the American people while Romney sometimes lost the audience with strings of facts and history that confused more than they helped. Obama was able to give clear answers and plans that outline success for the future. I would have liked to see him bring up more of the positive progress he has made in the last four years and touch on the issues that could have challenged Romney a little bit more. Unfortunately, he stumbled over his words and seemed to lack a clear train of thought. Romney’s performance showed America that he is still a viable candidate for the 2012 race.

One thing is for sure: the debate shook things up and made for a much more interesting race in the months ahead. Watching it with the iPad in front of me made for a much clearer understanding of the issues and positions of the candidates. I look forward to watching the next debates and seeing how they factor into the results of November’s presidential election.

What has the iPad done for me?

When the device first emerged, only jokes came to mind. I’m sure we’ve all heard them. But little did I realize the convenience it would bring to my life as a university student.
Even before I received it I bragged about being in one of the few classes at ND that gets an iPad. “Guess what? I get an iPad for one of my classes!” My friends were jealous. But my excitement was merely because of the brand, not necessarily the device. Then the day came where I received my first pad – or tablet device, you decide what to call it. I was like a kid again opening my new Power Ranger toy – being that I was poor growing up I always got the knock-off, so you can imagine my excitement when I got this name-brand item.

After receiving it, I immediately searched for any app that even remotely interested me. From angry birds to PDF Notes, each app I could apply to school work, if not leisure. Since receiving it I have essentially transferred my being as a student into this device. My environmentalist side appreciates the paperless annotations; my nurturing side appreciates the Skype sessions with friends and family; my [Notre Dame] student side appreciates that I don’t have to look like the hunchback – pun intended – every time I walk with my backpack on because of my laptop. My back appreciates the latter as well.

Above the convenience, it has allowed me to be an overall better student. I am more organized and efficient with my time and work. It will be a shame when I have to return the iPad at the end of he semester. I might just have to save up to buy my own.

As someone who has never used an iPad before this semester, I am still trying to figure out exactly how a tablet device fits into my daily schedule, habits for media interaction, and means for consuming news and information. The iPad is very useful in that it packages many significant capabilities into an easily portable device, yet at the same time I have not solidly identified distinct ways and times in which I would use my iPad instead of my laptop. I feel at times like I am experiencing “technology overload” with so many means and sources by which to access news and information.

I want to first make clear, however, that I really enjoy having an iPad at my disposal. “Apps” can be really cool and useful in that they let you jump quickly to a specific source, utility, or category of information, and many apps pull stories and features from a variety of media outlets, which allows you to obtain an overview of relevant news in a minimal search time. The number and variety of apps available for download is tremendous, and I have found some apps related to personal interests that are often fun and helpful to have handy. The iPad also has fairly high-quality camera and film features, and these can be nice to have in a portable device. Aside from the nice leisure features, the apps on the iPad do allow me to access news in a sometimes quicker, more direct, and comprehensive fashion.

At the same time, I feel that the majority of the basic functions I perform on my iPad can also easily be done on my laptop. While apps on the iPad are often useful in that they are quicker to access and use, the information itself can still be accessed fairly easily on my computer, and sometimes I feel like I have two devices that serve largely the same purpose. With a portable device like the iPad, I think it has the potential to set an internal expectation for the consumer to constantly be looking up and taking in news and information. Similar to how Lippmann expressed concern that the amount of news was becoming too big for the public to absorb and interpret, the iPad presents so many capabilities and so much news that it can be a bit overwhelming to try to harness its full potential. The iPad has a wonderful interface and presents many terrific opportunities, but sometimes it feels like there is just not enough time in a day to utilize the iPad to a great extent. The iPad does present me with many great new ways to access news, but it sometimes feels like it is a bit unnecessary for me as well.

An iPad is time. It’s the time between classes, the time waiting for class to start, the time waiting in line, the time that is normally wasted on some activity that requires virtually no attention, that is merely a buffer, a loading screen. This is when I reach for a phone, or an iPad, and make use of the time which would have been wasted, and in this sense an iPad brings efficiency to life: it makes me better at the expense of nothing valuable. This is perhaps the largest difference modern technology brings: with the advent of easily transportable mobile computers time, whether spent on work or entertainment, is never farther than my pocket. This had made me both more mobile, and more willing to put up with the little annoyances in life since I can retreat into a screen.

I have gotten a surprising range of comments on my iPad, all the more surprising because I already owned an iPad beforehand, and yet it seems as if my iPad is now open for comment. They’ve ranged from the envious to the praising, from the curious to the crucial, and from among these critical comments I select one to rebut. Specifically, that it was a sign of my generation’s need for ‘instant gratification’. Patience is, after all a virtue. But waiting is not. A love of waiting is as ruinous as a hate of it, since the key to patience is the right time, not before, but certainly not after. The iPad, like a cell phone, like indeed a regular phone, like indeed the postal service, like a thousand inventions and devices before it, simply makes things easier, more convenient, and faster.

I like to imagine a man making the same complaints made of us to a telegrapher, or perhaps even a man who prefers heralds complaining about letter writing, “You and your need for ‘one month gratification!”. It has not changed my wants, my desires, or the fact I really hate boredom. It has merely given me the means to alleviate such. It is a tool, and frankly that is all it could ever be, a tool.

At least until the robot takeover begins.

As somebody who has not always paid attention to the news, I know first hand the challenges associated with understanding the news for the first time. After starting college last year, my interest was sparked about the issues going on in the world and I was truly interested in grasping them. However, I struggled greatly to understand the news I was reading and found that I was missing background necessary for comprehending news. Getting informed involves much more than just turning on CNN or flipping through The New York Times. But I couldn’t figure out where to get the background information that would help me understand stories in the news today. Even when I spent time reading the headlines and stories for weeks in a row, I still felt like there was so much I had missed when discussing events going on in the world with others.

Using the iPad has completely changed this feeling. The iPad allows me to become involved with the news and I feel up to date on a wide range important issues and events going on. Apps like Flipboard, Google Reader, and Skygrid incorporate a wealth of news sources so that I can read about issues from many different angles and frames. The iPad has greatly expanded the news sources that I use. I used to be someone who mainly read The Chicago Tribune and occasionally The New York Times, but now am fascinated by Poynter articles, have become a big Politico fan, and my love-hate relationship with Huffington Post continues to develop. The iPad, and especially Twitter, allow me to see articles from each of these sources right next to each other so I can easily compare what they say. This deepens my understanding of the issues greatly; I am not just being fed an opinion by a single source but instead critically analyzing the way the facts are presented differently by each media organization.

My classes in college provide a lot of motivation for me to stay involved with the news and the iPad allows me to follow through on it. In the short time since we received the iPad, I feel that I have been transformed to a “news junkie” and I can’t say that I don’t enjoy it. As someone who believes that all American citizens are born with the obligation to be involved with what is going on around them, I feel lucky to have this resource that allows me to do so with such convenience. The iPad has greatly expanded the breadth of the news that I take in while deepening my interest.

Since receiving an iPad for our class, my relationship with the news has undoubtedly changed. Admittedly, I was skeptical whether I would notice any difference at all – after all, isn’t an iPad basically just a stripped-down version of my computer with a touch screen? Regardless, I think it does make some difference. I definitely feel more ‘connected’ to the news – I’m much more inclined to pull out the iPad for a few minutes and flip through some news stories than I am to surf the web on my computer and go looking for them. Part of this may be my affinity for the pleasing esthetics of certain news apps such as Flipboard or NPR. The sleek look they have/their presentation of the news makes it more appealing (and isn’t presentation everything?), whether or not I’m consciously interested in seeking the news. The actual layout of the device may compel me to engage with the news as well. Having an app right on the home screen, where I can connect with one click, simplifies the process immensely, whereas I would have to navigate through a myriad of web sites on my computer to retrieve the same information. However, aside from the sleek design and functionality of the device, I have to admit that part of my new level of participation is the expectation of my participation in the class. In other words, I am well aware that someone else paid for me to have this device, and now they expect me to use it. Were this sense of obligation not a factor, I am not sure that I would be as active on my iPad…well, aside from Angry Birds. I do appreciate having a piece of technology that allows me to quickly and easily call up information from around the world almost instantly; it certainly makes you feel ‘in the know’. However, I’m still inclined to question whether this level of ‘connectedness’ is a good thing. At what point does it switch from staying informed to becoming too time-consuming? What sorts of effects could these devices have on other types of media? Do those effects even matter? By communicating in cyberspace via sites like Twitter, are we hindering our own ability to think/talk/analyze at length and at a deeper level? I doubt we’ll solve these questions in our class alone, but I suspect it won’t be too much longer before society begins to answer some of them. Hopefully we’ll be comfortable with the answers we find.