GOOGLING NEWS AND VIEWS ONLINE

GOOGLING NEWS AND VIEWS ONLINE By Dr. D. R. Gupta Sr. Reprography Officer Kalanidhi Division Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts 11, Mansingh Road, New Delhi Email: drg_ignca@yahoo.co.in mailto_drg@rediffmail.com Ph. 09868235928, 09868106769

TOPICS COVERED • INTRODUCTION • GROWTH OF ONLINE NEWSPAPERS • ONLINE NEWS IN THE PRESENT INFORMATION AGE • PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE OF THE ONLINE MEDIA • FINANCIAL ASPECTS • ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES • CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION • The primary task of every library has always been to provide the reader with a source of information. Until recently it was mostly in the form of books, magazines and newspapers. Nowadays, the most important things for library users are: quick service, full collection, quick information on the required material as well as getting access to world information resources. The Internet now offers the capability to find information on everything that man has created and put on the network, and it offers unlimited access to a huge amount of information resources. • Information Technology is the backbone of today's information society. The advent of digital technology has effectively changed the nature of global communications, amplifying the interaction between populations and massively expanding the information load. With the introduction of World Wide Web many a newspapers and news magazines have started to publish their editions online. This helps a reader to access the newspapers and gather views of the world’s public. This trend, in real sense, has helped to develop an ‘Information Democracy’ among the users world over.

GROWTH OF ONLINE NEWSPAPERS..(1) • Prior to 1940’s, some radio stations in US used to send newspapers using facsimile at home. • Efforts were also made to deliver them over phone lines to the user's home TV sets. • First online newspapers is said to be appeared in the 1940's. • However, electronic editions of national newspapers were offered in the 1980's. • Some posted their newspapers on Bulletin Board Services. • Advancement in hardware and software technology and the advent of Internet during mid 1990's was a boon to the print media. Since then they started to publish their online editions. • When the World Wide Web became popular, new breeds of information providers, such as AT&T and Microsoft’s Slate, started providing online news.

GROWTH OF ONLINE NEWSPAPERS..(2) • In 1995, many of the newspapers in Europe and US began to publish their online editions on political, social and sport events and thus, competing with TV and radio. • According to American Journalism Review News Link, the number of online newspapers increased from very few to 1,300 in 1996. • In June 1997, there were 3,622 online newspapers worldwide. They published more contents, including an index, a package of articles and photos that could rival broadcaster’s work. • Scientific journals were the first to get published online in 1995. Then the general interest magazines followed their footsteps.

GROWTH OF ONLINE NEWSPAPERS..(3) • When considering the trends in newspaper websites from 2000 to 2008, it is evident from the graph that the Internet users have increased rapidly in India. • In, 2009, India has been ranked fourth among the top 10 nations in the world, in terms of Internet usage, with 81 million Internet users. United States leads the chart with 220 million Internet users followed by China (210 million) and Japan (88.1 million).

GROWTH OF ONLINE NEWSPAPERS..(4) • With the increasing quality, Broadband and Wi-Fi services on very nominal prices or sometimes even absolutely free, have been provided by various service providers. The number of internet users worldwide is expected to touch 2.2 billion by 2013 and India is projected to have the third largest online population.

ONLINE NEWS IN THE PRESENT INFORMATION AGE The following factors have greatly contributed to the emergence of the online newspapers and other e-material. • On-line newspapers bring to the reader’s desktop the global information by overcoming all geographical limits and make them aware of all current news. • The software and telecommunications industries, and also the television industry co-operate with online newspapers on different levels. • The World Wide Web is providing more choice and control of content, and enables individuals to produce and distribute information. • The transfer of digitized information in digital age from the source to the destination is easy and less complicated when compared to the printed matter. • The effort and time needed for the transportation to get the information has minimized to a great extent in this digital era.

PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE • Hundreds of traditional media outlets - newspapers, magazines, and radio and television stations – are now producing Web versions of their publications. Many of them highlight the key words in blue colour and provide links to the matter on the same subject. • Online news gives its readers an alternate route to respond to particular columns or information. • Various forums, chat rooms, Facebook and Buzz optionsalso help the journalists to get the feedback and queries from their users. • Since there are millions of pages of information on the Net, online newspapers are collecting, filtering, recording and distributing information at many levels and many places around the world. • Online newspapers are obligatory resources. They act as a community encyclopedia. • The online newspapers have to compete with other traditional as well as other online newspapers and have to update information 24x7.

FINANCIAL ASPECTS • Advertisements can now be put on free communication services, on search engines and directory services, on free homepage and on e-commerce sites. • Yet, many e-commerce companies spent lot of amount per year each on its e-advertisements. • The entire publishing industry is turning to a database model, by which generated information or contents can be marketed and sold in different formats. • This offers interesting new opportunities for the printed media, which has many advantages in terms of a high trust quotient of its content, a well-organized news production model, and access to both readers and advertisers. • Long-term strategies and large financial commitments are needed, which may be hard to come by for small individual newspapers. • There being low barriers to entry, it offers publishers the opportunity to develop additional revenue streams based on their core product.

ADVANTAGES • The advantages resulting from hypertext, automated searching and the availability of back issues are rated highly. • An online publication allows the publishers to get the information to the reader much more quickly than the print newspaper. • A text can be as long as it can be, and features, related articles, maps and charts can be linked to it. • They can also add full screen photos, videos, forums and polls that users can participate in and deliver their views and vote accordingly. • There is possibility to update and upgrade the news or having even multiple hyperlinks which are linked with full screen photo and video. • The sites of online newspapers also allow the users to browse and select news and advertisements at their own time and place. Some online newspapers attract users to allow them to create a series of web sites themselves.

DISADVANTAGES • One disadvantage cited by many users are that online newspapers can not provide the same experience of reading as a print newspaper. • There seem to be few technical problems connected with reading online newspapers and the cost of Internet access. • Searching for something on the online newspaper or magazine’s site could harm the privacy of the users. This is because of the cookies. • Since it is very difficult to assess the user needs, the presentation style does not impress all users. • Unlike the printed media, which is operated by commercial enterprises, the Internet is decentralized, open, autonomous in nature. • To read an online newspaper or a magazine, a user has to turn on a computer, connect to the Internet, google for the newspaper. • Local advertisers are afraid to put their product online because they do not require their publicity through out the world. • During access of online information we get various undue links to vague and vulgar web sites including porn sites which are serious problem as they give wrong impression to younger generation and sometimes, even to children.

CONCLUSION • On-line newspapers have emerged as a new source for the current information in the last few years. • The Internet and digital technologies offer the promise of greater dissemination of information. • Googling news and views over the Internet by many user groups including academic fraternity, governmental and commercial institutions and general public is the new trend worldwide. • Online newspapers and magazines have brought the whole world at reader's doorsteps. These online editions fulfill the law, 'Information for all' by their universal availability and access. • This technology has made a deep impact on all information-related products and services including the newspapers and other relevant publication. • The increasing user population in the Net has attracted the traditional newspapers and magazines to publish their online editions. • However, It should be designed in such a way that users of all age get attracted and get benefited.

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GOOGLING NEWS AND VIEWS ONLINE