New Media

The article "New Media and the Slow Death of the Written Word" talks about two significant views based on the issue of new media, which is the internet. Some people feel that the new media is destroying the old ways of printed literature. They think the traditional printed literature will slowly fade away. Mark Zeltner who is the author of this article favor’s print on paper over a computer screen. He says "computer screens are hard on the eyes," I agree with what he is saying that the computer is the cause of many peoples having eye problems and been on that computer for a long time is harmful for your eyes. On the other hand I also disagree with his statement "I note that you couldn’t fold a computer screen up and carry it in your book bag," but with today’s technology we have laptops that many carry around, with wireless connection everywhere, and we can log onto the web at anytime.

I personally feel that the new media is a better more efficient and faster way of reading and interpreting text. Just because we used to spend hours and hours researching using books, dictionaries, and encyclopedias do not mean we lack intelligence it simply mean, we now have the technology to get researching done faster. We are known in the age where technology is advancing and it is there for us to use to our advantage, but yet we cannot be lazy and have it do all the work for us. The new technology also allows us to make reading more fun, by using videos, pictures, and other new exciting ways, instead of the boring old ways of printed text. This new idea can help us comprehend the works of writers better. Will printed text ever fade away though? In my opinion I don’t printed text will ever be gone. Just like how radios did not go away after televisions were created, printed text will still be around even if the new media is the new printed text.

Mark Zeltner created ten rules for students who are learning to write for the new-media. For the most part I agree with all of Mark Zeltner rules. Im not saying that a writer should follow his ten rules, all I’m saying that it is a good guide for anyone who is writing for the new-media. Today new-media writers should write in shorter articles for people to read, which Zeltner talks about in his first and second rule. But the shorter is not always better, a new-media writer should try to put the essential points needed to be addressed, of whatever he or she is writing about and make it short so that readers do not get bored. When a person scrolls down a page and looks at a piece of work he or she is reading, if text is too long it can affect the "reader’s ability to comprehend and understand what is written."

Rules four, five and six talks about the usage of pictures, sounds, and video clips. I don’t quite agree that sounds and video clips are more important than words, I just think it is more exciting ways of writing and it is a more entertaining way of reading. With rules eight and nine I could understand hyperlinks could be helpful to the writer, but it can’t also side track a reader from understanding what the point is that the writer is trying to make. I don’t agree with rule ten, I don’t see why a new media writer is any different from a person who is writing for printed media. For my views I think writing is writing no matter where it is, if on a paper or a screen, it doesn’t matter, once the writing finishes his or hers point that they are trying to make and the reader can understand what the writer is writing about.