Publishing ain't hard...however with all of the different ways to link, post and subscribe being promoted on every website it can be a world that becomes increasingly overwhelming. I have just spent half an hour of precious time (I should otherwise be dedicating to reading) on researching the different ways in which I can attach a Twitter widget to a blog...and may I tell you it was NOT a successful mission. I currently publish my thoughts and innermost feelings (not really) on three different platforms on the internet all of which are widely accessible to me. I have multiple advanced publishing networks through 3G network on my iPhone, my home wireless connection on my Macbook Air and through the temperamental Uniwide access at Uni. I can constantly be updating and publishing and for me this is becoming so second nature I forget at the end of the day where the distinction lies between the dissemination of my information publicly and privately.
Given the advancement of technology, publishing has embarked on an interesting journey over the years from the early days, printing press to the bulk production of daily newspapers. Yet today, the news industry is faced with another challenge. How do they compete with the growing online world of alternative and often international news sources?
A major response from newspapers around the world is to offer an alternative method of accessing their newspapers, in a digital format. Yet in order to encourage growth as a business, consumers can only access the e-news through a pay-wall.
One major advancement Australia is making in the next few years in regards to technology is the development of the National Broadband Network which the government is rolling out billions of dollars for. In the long run, the government claim that the benefits will make the extortionate initial spend worthwhile, however at the rate that technology is developing, my guess is that the need for a NBN will end up being redundant as there will probably be some sort of satellite internet connection available worldwide which will inevitably solve all of our problems ("tech-y" language is clearly not my strongest suit). Regardless, given that the government is going ahead with this project, the NBN will provide people who could not originally access the internet so easily with chances and opportunities to keep up to date with the online world and have access to the latest technologies to help them in daily life. The online world of publishing will yet again continue its changing course as new users inundate the forums and begin to access their online 'voices'. The NBN is aiming to be a non-exclusive device to give everyone no matter where they are situated access to the online world.
Given the advancement of technology, publishing has embarked on an interesting journey over the years from the early days, printing press to the bulk production of daily newspapers. Yet today, the news industry is faced with another challenge. How do they compete with the growing online world of alternative and often international news sources?
A major response from newspapers around the world is to offer an alternative method of accessing their newspapers, in a digital format. Yet in order to encourage growth as a business, consumers can only access the e-news through a pay-wall.
A pay wall essentially works through restricting some or all sections of a website until the customer contributes a payment to the paper.
There are multiple opinions on pay walls and many papers who originally were against them are continuously turning to implementing them in light of plummeting numbers of their readership. Felix Salmon (2011) shed light on one of the most notable papers in the world, “The New York Times is taking a more open-door approach, on the theory that the pleasure of reading its content will be enough to persuade a large number of people to pay.” Dan Gilmore further explains, “The Times’s paywall…doesn’t put up a firm blockade the way, say, the Times of London has done. Non-subscribers can read up to a certain number of articles before being asked to pay, and there are numerous ways to get around what is already not an onerous system.” Dan Gilmore (2011).
Given the multiple news scouring sites and blogs at our disposal over the internet, I find it difficult to understand specifically how paywalls are resulting in a gain in profit for businesses. Personally, I would be deterred from a website asking for me to pay, not because I am unethical, only because I know that through a platform such as Twitter I can receive links to alternate news sources. As Steve Busfield (2010) states “If you erect a universal pay wall around your content then it follows you, (you) are turning away from a world of openly shared content".
One major advancement Australia is making in the next few years in regards to technology is the development of the National Broadband Network which the government is rolling out billions of dollars for. In the long run, the government claim that the benefits will make the extortionate initial spend worthwhile, however at the rate that technology is developing, my guess is that the need for a NBN will end up being redundant as there will probably be some sort of satellite internet connection available worldwide which will inevitably solve all of our problems ("tech-y" language is clearly not my strongest suit). Regardless, given that the government is going ahead with this project, the NBN will provide people who could not originally access the internet so easily with chances and opportunities to keep up to date with the online world and have access to the latest technologies to help them in daily life. The online world of publishing will yet again continue its changing course as new users inundate the forums and begin to access their online 'voices'. The NBN is aiming to be a non-exclusive device to give everyone no matter where they are situated access to the online world.
Dan Gillmor (2011) ‘The New York Times paywall: the faint smell of success’, The Guardian, August 3, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/aug/03/new-york-times-paywall>
Salmon, Felix (2011) ‘How The New York Times Paywall is Working’, Wired, August 14, <http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/08/new-york-times-paywall/>
Busfield, Steve (2010) ‘Guardian editor hits back at paywalls’, The Guardian, January 25, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jan/25/guardian-editor-paywalls> (The Editor of The Guardian, against paywalls).
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