With or without you ... app

With or Without You - apps

 Groenkloof Nature Reserve, Pretoria South Africa, Dec 2022
This is the technology melody that whispers to me all of the time. Technology is going to rule my world with or without me.  I took this picture last month in South Africa.  I think it is a perfect reflection with  my relationship with technology. We are definitely connected and have grown together over time, we are family.  I started a large portion of my professional career in 1997 at Borders.com.  Some technologies are in different development stages much like a lion pride.  When you are near lions you must proceed with caution, know your surroundings, and be careful not to rudely awake the sleeping giant.
Both Private and Public Sectors are interacting, developing, and investing with apps for employees and their customers.  As the world becomes ever more connected, next generation 5G and 6G promises to fuel a new wave of digital technologies and services that will change the way people live, work, and communicate. I am fortunate that I live in part of the country that has options for Broadband, several Cell data plans, and Starlink.  I live part time in rural Montana, but I have the means to purchase very reliable internet.  My cell service can be a bit patchy, in fact, I have a stretch of 16 miles on the way home that gets zero signal. However, I can still get the satellite radio.  Not all rural areas have this but there is an increased push to ensure rural , tribal, and low economic areas have digital equity.  The gap is slowly closing but some demographics are still behind.
Last month there was much to do about Chat GPT.  I have not tried it but it does make me curious.  Chat GPT – developed by open AI.  The programming is capable of human like conversations even having normal conversations. Open AI. developed a free AI chat bot that can answer anything from basic questions to writing a love song.  It has massive amount of data and creates a response. 

The Play Store on my Android is full of apps like  the Fluid Simulation app.  It allows users to spend time scrolling with colors of liquid even allowing you to add a live wallpaper on your phone.  It is science, entertainment, and a social discussion topic.   It reminds me of when you spill oil on a surface and oozes different colors based on the surface and light.  An app can allow you to turn your phone into the track pad/mouse for your laptop.  And for the military and law enforcement personnel or those that want to play one at home you can use the night eyes app to turn your phone into night vision goggles.  And that is very cool technology. You can take the skills from Call of Duty right into your cell phone in your back yard.  

AI was once for the Computer Scientists but now the average person can learn and master these apps. One can control a buildings HVAC, view you Ring security camera, and control your television with just a few swipes.  Your phone can be your homes central nervous system.  My step dad uses it to see in any stray animals are in the porch during the night.  One of the first things he does in the morning while drinking coffee is to look for activity from the app. Deep down he is looking for some cool animal sighting but it is typically very boring.

Just keep it charged so the apps can perform well. Apps are very sophisticated and sometimes require often updates and significant memory storage.. You can file your taxes, diagnosis the symptoms of a vehicle issue, and order dinner all within just a few minutes.

Today I only want to focus on the good.  Yes good apps. One's that promote something positive or help solve problems.

The use of medical apps amazes me.  Medical Apps

Apps can save lives. You can monitor insulin and blood pressure but I just read a fascinating article that people with behavioral health issues are using.

Amwell launched a new digital  tool that will help in delivering the Cognitive Behavioral Health interventions across the spectrum of the mental illness. The new digital tool will help users get individual determinations and receive the self-guided and coach supported care referred to virtual therapy and psychiatry as needed. (Amwell, https://business.amwell.com/)  This is very empowering for those that need to get the help wherever they find themselves.  If you struggle to with mental health driving to appointment or showing up could be very difficult.  Creating healthy habits like checking in on apps can be a very positive step.

Telehealth practices soared during COVID.  Everyone can agree that what some of the families went through during the periods of isolation were absolutely horrible. Technology was used to fill some of those gaps.  Nothing can ever beat the importance of a physical hug but virtual hugs helped. 

Last week on January 20, 2023 the NASDAQ OMX's News Release Distribution Channel announced that According to the latest research study, the demand of global Virtual Care Market size & share in terms of revenue was valued at USD 2982.40 million in 2021 and it is expected to surpass around USD 6934.54 million mark by 2028, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 15.10% during the forecast period 2022 to 2028.  The business involved in this technology is simply amazing. Businesses must get on board to thrive and survive.

As a huge Anti-Human Trafficking advocate the use of technology and apps is scary. It can be very helpful but one also understands that apps can be used for exploitation.

Human trafficking non-profits use apps to help identify and rescue victims and build cases against criminals. "Human Trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises on the earth. In order to put an end to it, we need individuals like these to rise up and use their own talents to help put an end to this horrific plague. Apps can be a great tool that will make a major impact in the fight against human trafficking and exploitation," Operation Underground Railroad  They use technology to fight technology.  

“Scholars who study anti-trafficking efforts are just beginning to catch up to the role that technology can play in consumption-based strategies, in part because many initiatives are relatively recent,11 and perhaps in part because of the transient nature of some of the earliest experiments” (Limoncelli, 2020).

One can only hope that success prevails or at least keeps up with the adversaries.

Farming Apps can help with food insecurities and maximize weather, fertilizer, soil, and feed.

“Smart Farming is a digital farming development effort to produce superior, precise, efficient and sustainable products. The success of this activity requires the support of conducive conditions in the transitional era. One of the supportive conditions is the learning process of digital agriculture for agricultural actors” (Wahyudi et al. 2021, p.1).  Technology is changing agriculture.  Farmers can use apps to prepare and predict harvest outcomes.   They can run their business more efficiently and collaborate with others in the market. 

And no we are not even going to discuss the farmers dating app.

Apps are tools.  Your phone is a virtual Hardware Store, Hospital, and Chapel.  I have to be grateful as it is the future our world and a part of my day to day work. 

References

Limoncelli, Stephanie A. 2020. "There's an App for that? Ethical Consumption in the Fight Against Trafficking for Labour Exploitation." Anti - Trafficking Review (14) (04): 33-46. doi:https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.201220143. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/theres-app-that-ethical-consumption-fight-against/docview/2432563225/se-2.

Wahyudi, D., M. Ubaidilah, D. Ratnawati, W. Sholihah, and T. Tresnawati. 2021. "Development of Mobile-Based Apps Towards Smart Farming Technology in Agro Innovation Park (Tagrinov) Management." IOP Conference Series.Earth and Environmental Science 756 (1) (05). doi:https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/756/1/012059.

Operation Underground Railroad

21 January - Media - required

 Influence, Infleunced, or Influencer

As we move into week two of the course, the assigned reading material suggests that it is all about the change. Everyone is going digital, and all things can be sourced from your smart phone.

My family was early adopter of the computer. My brother and I had the Radio Shack TRS 80. We were very lucky. In high school I was the editor of the Jefferson Bear Facts and we used a very early Apple product. 

Computers were  funded and created for  military government projects.  In the 1960’s you could find room sized computers running. Personal computers began to surface in the late 60s and early 70s. Email was invented in 1971.  California's Silicon Valley began to take shape building microprocessors and eventually launched web browsers in 1990.  The dotcom book surfaced in the mid 1990s and the rest is history.

The world started to see technology come together to share tasks and resources.  Tech has shaped all formats of the written word. One can find electronic books, audio recordings, podcasts, journals, texts, and podcasts virtually.  You can read the same virtual edition of a newspaper at any location in the world and at any time.  The publishing business has capitalized on this creating content crosses many platforms.  It truly is an exciting time and if you have the time, you have access to TBs of data at the click of a button.  Consumers of the media demand one click articles and a journalist can publish their article on a new site, printer, blog, YouTube channel, Twitter account, IG account, Tik Tock, and podcast all at the same time. (I am sure I left something off).  Tech is toted as green and it also empowers those with disabilities making it easier for them to access information. 

Many content websites have paid advertisements that generate revenue.  To date Google is the most profitable media and data platform but they are not the content creators. They are a delivery and distribution site.  By selling ads and paid search programs one can raise search engine visibility.

Since 2005, more than a quarter of the country’s newspapers have closed. (Polgreen, 2022). This is a sad fact. But it is also the reality of business.  Coloradoans mourned when the Rocky Mountain  News shut their doors in 2009 just shy of the 150th Anniversary of the paper.

The ideology of a journalist purely printing the facts and letting readers make their own decisions has gone out the window. Most media companies have been bought by the rich or consumed my large media companies.  These companies typically have a bias.  Even the pure news media like NPR, National Public Radio and VOA Voice of America have leaning trends.

In 1839 Edward Bulwer-Lytton authored the popular phrase "The pen is mightier than the sword"   

He believed the the written word is more effective than violence as a means of social or political change.  That still remains true but the world has certainly gotten a bit complicated. As we have seen in recent years with a smart phone anyone can quickly become a journalist or at least trend on social media.

Substack

One of the most interesting developments for online content was the launch of Substack. 

Taken from their About page

Building a better future for writing

We started Substack because we believe that what you read matters and that good writing is valuable.

We believe that writers, bloggers, thinkers, and creatives of every background should be able to pursue their curiosity, generating income directly from their own audiences and on their own terms.

When readers pay writers directly, writers can focus on doing the work they care about most. A few hundred paid subscribers can support a livelihood. A few thousand makes it lucrative.

Readers win, too. By opting into direct relationships with writers, we can be more selective with how we consume information, homing in on the ideas, people, and places we find most meaningful.

The company was created in 2017 by three tech friends Chris Best, Jairaj Sethi, and Hamish McKenzie in San Francisco. They believed in the mission of creating valuable writing and content but also understood the politics of modern day journalism.  Co-creator Chris Best explained on the Joe Rogan show that Substack is an online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription newsletters. It allows writers to send digital newsletters directly to subscribers. This momentum picked up during COVID and writers grew their audiences and brands on the platform.  It is a clean and tidy version of grass roots journalism. 

Possible Substack interests:

Molly Wizenberg - Writer, teacher, person living in Seattle. I've written three memoirs: The Fixed Stars, A Homemade Life, and Delancey. mollywizenberg.com

Marian Bull - Writer and potter. Here talking about cooking.

Kelly Maher - Life is basically magic and urban farming can remind us of that fact. Cheese is amazing. Stories from the tiny farm and life more broadly.

In order to influence online readership you have to have your own brand.  There are courses and podcasts that focus on just that.  Creating brand loyalty is a niche and required market.

Realities

We demand instantaneous news and sometimes the journalist makes the sacrifice. 

Just after sunset February 10, two men in a white Dodge Ram pickup pulled up in front of  Heber Lopez Vasquez's small radio studio in southern Mexico. One man got out, walked inside and shot the 42-year-old journalist dead. Lopez's 12-year-old son, Oscar, the only person with him, hid, Lopez's brother told Reuters.  He was one the 13 journalist killed in Mexico in the last 12 months.

There is a price for the demand. The news has been filled with journalists deaths.  Notably, this summer on May 11, 2022 Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, was killed while reporting from the West Bank. 

At the same time on the May 11, 2022  -  Pillars of Democracy: The Media  Online Discussion was held focusing on media.  If you have an extra 90 minutes, give it a listen as the panel looks at the health of media and journalism. 

Key thoughts from the panel:

Journalism is in a troubled place and looking for a new identity.  “The technology of the internet, to be precise, has completely transformed journalism” (Pillars of Democracy, May 11, 2022).

Journalists must flatter their audiences to keep up the numbers and this makes it virtually impossible to have a normal conversation. Journalism has been a part of the democratic system since day one.  

Journalism must appeal to an audience vs just covering the news. In early democracy the importance of journalism was essential; however,  it has been grossly watered down.  One may believe that the press is part of the political warfare in this country. Advocacy journalism – you have to give them what they want.  The panel cited the face that 54% Americans can only read at 6 grade level.  The statistics is up for debate but the premise of keeping journalism pure is not.

We will never have slow reporting ever again. The consumers demand more. The advertisers demand more. The technology gives more.

PS - A really huge inforgraphic from Hewlett Packard with some cool history. 

References

(2022) Pillars of Democracy: The Media. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-10267/.

Polgreen, Lydia. "Protect our Democracy. Support Local News." The New York Times, Dec 13, 2022. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/protect-our-democracy-support-local-news/docview/2754256162/se-2.

15 January - Update and Discussion

Happy New Year,

Note* This blog is taking on a new twist for the next few months as I explore the graduate course COM 6630, Strategic Communication and Emerging Media. I will be posting weekly updates about topics relevant to changing media and class discussions.  It is my desire to learn, grow, and share what I am discovering during this semester. Technology is driving the landscape of media and news and how individuals consume it.

I am student at Troy University pursuing my masters.  This is an online program and requires the usage of a blog for communication.  My life experiences have allowed me to see many different countries, cultures, and meet amazing people.  I have blogged along the way, but this will have a new strategic focus.  

News, What is changing?

Nearly, all things.  The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.  Early 2021, they published a piece that highlighted eight-in-ten Americans get their news from digital devices.  I knew that this would be a significant number but was surprised how the high digital usage was.  The pandemic created a shift in many aspects, and this is one of them. For nearly 14 months, we were not running out pick up daily newspapers or grab the latest edition from the magazine shelves. We leaned into daily updates from television, radio, and digital outlets.  Did environmental circumstances help fast-forward the use of technology as the primary source for news?  Senior Researcher, Elisa Shearer reported most Americans under fifty are using technology as a primary means to access the news.  Rather than grab the newspaper from the front porch or flip the remote to a news channel they are grabbing a digital device.  Advertisers, political campaigns, and federal, state and local governments are recognizing the change.

Over the last year while I was deployed, I used podcasts for my daily news. I downloaded and then listened on the treadmill or at the gym. I could bulk episodes together and listen to a weeks’ worth of news in relative short amount of time.

Recommendations:

The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

Ukraine the Latest

NPR News Hour -updated hourly

Technology has made digital media very accessible.  The shows themselves make it easy to get news highlights in 5-10 minutes and if I needed more information on a topic, I could research it on other platforms. Digital media is relatively inexpensive to produce and just about anyone can create a podcast or YouTube program. Yes, there are some outrageous podcasters but ignore those you do not agree with. The First Amendment gives us the freedom of speech.

One may be a bit concerned that a large amount of people gets their news from Facebook. Consumers need to research their news sources. Recognizing that media outlets can have bias, but one needs to understand that up front.  Programs are dedicated to fact checking and keeping the integrity of content.

Americans over 65 are still primarily getting their news from the television. Which makes sense if you have watched a syndicated news hour, most of the advertisements are targeted towards that age market.  Sadly, much of this comes down to money and influence.

Staying up to date on news and being personally informed about matters that impact you and your family is important.  Personal ownership is key, you cannot stick your head in the sand and ignore all matters.  However, everything in moderation. There are many reports published on the harm and obsession with all things digital.   In fact, just this week Seattle Public Schools  a lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court. The 91-page complaint says the social media companies have created a public nuisance by targeting their products to children.  From the school district website, “This case is not about eliminating social media, but it is about changing how social media companies operate. The objective is to force these companies to take responsibility for the harm caused by their business practices” (Seattle Public Schools website, 2023). 

My idea would be to create safe spaces where we can get the best news information possible. Not fueled by advertisers and agendas.  Adopting a “leave no trace” principle for media and news would be helpful. We should protect and preserve news and media spaces allowing for responsible readers and consumers. 

Join me next week as we look at the future of news and learn about 5G networks.

#wheredoyougetyournews #keepreading #supportyourfavoritenewssource

References

Seattle Public Schools https://www.seattleschools.org/news/social-media-case/  8 Jan 2023.

Shearer, E. 2021. More than eight-in-ten Americans get news from digital devices.  Pew Research Center (blog), https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/01/12/more-than-eight-in-ten-americans-get-news-from-digital-devices/