irp post3

This article poses several questions about the different ways people can communicate or receive news. The author, Paul Ford, begins by listing these mediums and their purposes in terms of the media they provide. Ford describes the movies as a place to get out of the house and have an experience; the television is a way to distract yourself without leaving the house; radio as a way to make a mundane thing more interesting; and the newspaper as a way to find out what is going on locally, at length. Each medium serves a specific purpose and has its own specific niche. Many think that the web is something that encompasses all of these different mediums, able to be applied to everything. However, Ford suggests that the internet is its own separate thing.

Ford says that each medium poses the same question: Why wasn’t I consulted (WWIC)? He wrote, “Humans have a fundamental need to be consulted, engaged, to exercise their knowledge (and thus power), and no other medium that came before has been able to tap into that as effectively.”

So, the internet is a way to get many people engaged in different topics. It has become a major way of spreading news. According to Ford, if you visit sites like Facebook or Youtube more than you do sites like ESPN and the New York Times, then the web is your native medium.

The author concludes by saying there are many mediums through which people entertain themselves, but the internet is the place where people discuss it and best answers the question: “Why wasn’t I consulted?”

 I agree that the internet is where a vast majority of the population receive their day to day news. I also agree that each type of medium fulfills its own specific purposes. The internet is not another form of each of these mediums, but rather an entirely separate thing. So many people are stubbornly unyielding about their preferred medium and refuse to accept any other. But it’s clear that the internet is the best way to consult the most people. It serves its purpose as well as any other medium serves theirs.

Ford, Paul. "The Web Is a Customer Service Medium (Ftrain.com)." Ftrain.com. 6 Jan. 2011. Web. <http://www.ftrain.com/wwic.html>.