The television series Lost and its revolutionary use of the latest media formats is discussed in this week’s Time (October 2, 2006). “Why the Future of Television is Lost” explores the use of the Internet, ipods, Tivo and DVDs to enhance the viewer’s experience. Author James Poniewozik also explore the economic benefits to the networks in committing to this new type of entertainment.

Like Chicken Little’s claims, the end is being predicted–this time for the newspaper. Since the dawn of television many Media experts have predicticted the demise of the daily newspaper. In Michael Kinsley’s article “Do Newspapers Have a Future?” in the October 2, 2006 edition of Time once again the issue is discussed, this time with some interesting potential business models.

This last week has seen a series of interesting article of the website MySpace. I have included links to the articles, however you might need to go via the CCNY proxy.
First, check out the September 16, 2006 New York Times article concerning the people behind My Space. The article covers a controversial report that alleges that the founders of the website came from companies involved with three evils of the web: spam, spyware and adware.

What’s Online: The Story Behind MySpace

U.S. News & World Reports’ Cover Story for September 18, 2006 was a series of articles: “What Parents Need to Know About MySpace.” Besides the usual panic button approach, there are also some facinating insight concerning the culture of MySpace. If you get a paper edition of the magazine, be sure to check out ‘Profiles Encouraged,’ which deconstructs a MySpace page for the nonuser. Four of the articles are linked below:

How To Invade Their Space

Decoding MySpace

Click Notes

Make It Predator-Proof

****A special thanks to our CCNY Library Intern Kathleen for her assistance with HTML coding.****

Steve Foster from Dr. Keller’s Class has recommended an interesting Media Blog–DocBug. DocBug tackles: ‘intelligence, media technologies, intellectual property, and the occasional politics.’

      By now you have been attempting to create your research question. Frankly this is one of the most challenging aspects of your project. I strongly suggest you view the Empire State College’s webpage concerning formulating a research question. In particular, focus on the eight steps of evaluating your question which are reprinted here.

1. Does the question deal with a topic or issue that interests me enough to spark my own thoughts and opinions?

2. Is the question easily and fully researchable?

3. What type of information do I need to answer the research question?
e.g., The research question, “What impact has deregulation had on commercial airline safety?,” will obviously require certain types of information:
—statistics on airline crashes before and after
—statistics on other safety problems before and after
—information about maintenance practices before and after
—information about government safety requirements before and after

4. Is the scope of this information reasonable? (e.g., can I really research 30 on-line writing programs developed over a span of 10 years?)

5. Given the type and scope of the information that I need, is my question too broad, too narrow, or o.k.?

6. What sources will have the type of information that I need to answer the research question (journals, books, internet resources, government documents, people)?

7. Can I access these sources?

8. Given my answers to the above questions, do I have a good quality research question that I actually will be able to answer by doing research?

    Reporters sans frontieres/Reporters Without Borders is a Media/Human Righs group that monitors the issue of freedom of the press globally. An outstanding source.
According to their website: “Reporters Without Borders’ maintains this trilingual (French, English and Spanish) website in order to keep a daily tally of attacks on press freedom as they occur throughout the world. Updated several times a day, it functions like a press-freedom news agency. It gives Internet users an opportunity to act as a group to demand the release of jailed journalists by signing on-line petitions. To circumvent censorship, it presents occasionally articles that have been banned in their country of origin, hosts newspapers that have been closed down in their homeland and serves as a forum where journalists who have been “silenced” by authorities can voice their opinions. This website, which welcomes 150,000 to 200,000 visitors per month, also provides complete reports on cases covered in the press, as well as a daily “barometer” summarising the most recent attacks on press freedom.”

      Check out this particular blog:TMZ.com . This site might have been a minor player on the web until the recent Mel Gibson incident. Media outlet around the country were scooped by this site. In fact many media sources cited it as their main source.
For covering the entertainment field, it is unique and worth your attention.