Decline of the Newspaper?

          According to Brian Carroll, author of Writing for Digital Media, there is a "long-term decline in newspaper readership" (25). While this may be true for the majority of the world, my father proves them wrong. He saves up newspapers when he does not have time to read them, sets aside a Sunday, and thoroughly reads all of them all day. He picks out articles that he thinks apply to the various members of our family, cuts them out, and gives them to us when we pass by. I personally like the ability to hold the physical paper in my hand. I'm the same way when it comes to books. I've read a few books on my iPad, but its not the same as physically flipping the page and seeing your progress. Another example would be CDs. Most people seem to like downloading music or videos digitally, but I really like to have the album in my hand and the ability to play it in my car. Jeff Jarvis, an American journalist, professor, public speaker, and former television critic speaks in the video to the left about how newspapers are declining.

          Contrary to my past statements, I do agree with Carroll on his point that "the medium can deliver more" (25). I thoroughly believe that the Internet and digital media can deliver a much larger amount to an even larger amount of people. Products that are in print have to be individually purchased after a trip to a store, while digital media can we watched from the comfort of home with much less effort. Do you think that the internet and digital media are superior to print? Why? In what ways?

          Carroll later talks about HTML formatting and for me, it was like reading another language. I'm loving Blogger because I know how to manage it. If I had to put together a blog based completely on my ability to process computer coding, you would not be reading this right now. 

          In chapter 3 of his book, Carrol speaks mostly about how to improve a blogger's style and technique online. I found his case study on Google to be very interesting. Carroll points out that Google has kept its simplicity throughout the years and it made me think about whether or not there was a limit on simplicity. Yes, Google is simple, but they also change it up every once in a while. They change the design of the Google picture on their page to match up with a holiday or special occasion. I think that this is a good thing, but some websites or even blogs can reach a level of being too simple. When that happens, users are confused because they have no idea how to navigate the site without options of where to go. Where do you think the limit would be on the complexity of a site? Should there be hard rules, like a word limit? Should people be allowed to do what they want with their own sites? Google is a special exception in my opinion that has been able to stick to its simple roots.