By: Leilani Bruce
This week I read an article by Teesem and Oie titled “Locative Journalism-Designing a Location-Dependent News Medium for Smartphones.” This article dives deep into the connection between journalism and the invention of GPS on phones. This was a very interesting article to read since I am a journalism major myself and it was interesting to see the connection between the two.
The article starts off explaining how journalism was the frontier and main source with the newest news and events. In an ideal world, a journalist only reports on information that is true and reliable. To be a good journalist, is to refrain from bias, and ensure that the information you are giving the public is trustworthy and accurate as they can get it. I remember taking so many classes that focused on traits of a good journalist, but I also remember learning that some corporations have/will pay journalists to write stories in their favor, so it is best you have a reliable source getting your information form.
In this article, they talked about how journalists would use cartography, which is the skill one has to draw a map and turn it into ‘graphical representations’ that show the understanding of concepts, conditions, things, processes, or major events in the world. This is what these journalists did in order to turn these maps into GPS systems that could be used on smart devices.
This location-based media has made many things possible through the directness to the user of a mobile device, depending on location. There are a lot of factors this technology takes into account including audio, images, video and text. This development has made life for everyone easier and the way that it all started through journalists, was very interesting to hear.
When thinking about Locative Journalism, we hear a lot about GPS. GPS in my life is extremely important, I personally cannot drive down the street I have lived on all my life without a GPS system guiding me through. I think these systems have made it easier on our generation, and maybe older generations who need step-by-step instructions on where they are going.
Going back to journalists and location-dependent news mediums, there is another connection between the two that I thought really helped shed light on what it is they aim to do. A journalist's goal is to record what has happened in the world, and interpret what has happened, or what could happen to the community. This is a lot like what a GPS system does as well. GPS’s are used to record things around us and interpret where one is supposed to go. These two go hand-and-hand, and I can truly see the connection between the two.
Overall, I think it was very interesting to see the connection between journalists and location-dependent news mediums. Being a Journalism major myself, I am surprised I have not learned about this sooner, but I am looking forward to seeing the many more connections journalism has to offer in everyday technology.
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