write up for final project

1. Group 5 Members ­ Kaitlyn Whiting, Sasha Jackson, Zakiya Muhammad, Nayssa Devora Davis,
David Thiel
DML Digital Impact Group Write Up
1. News is the sector our group chose to analyze. The news has had a major transformation
of their forms of getting information out because of the development of digital media.
Moving from Newspapers to the Internet has been to its benefit but has also been a major
difficulty. The news’ main source of distribution used to be through newspapers, print
magazines, and television news stations. However, now the many websites and forms of
social media are used as sources for news. Mainly because this is where people come to
get news, leaving newspaper to fail. Digital media is used to connect with viewers in the
most simple way possible. The main Social Media sites used include Twitter, Facebook,
and Youtube.
2. Digital technology is important to news because it allows citizens to observe an event and
immediately report the event. Mainstream news outlets have shifted from the traditional
broadcaster communicating information to many to a more inclusive form of
communication where the audience has a platform to speak. News sources like BBC and
The Guardian have implemented blogging into their sites to allow citizens to comment,
respond, and share. Other mainstream news sources like CNN and NBC have created
accounts on social media sites such as Twitter and Instagram to allow for immediate
access to information on current events. Digital technology has impacted the news
negatively because the public has developed such an immediate need for access which
forces reporters to get information out faster than the other sources. Reporters are no
longing trying to make deadlines and are trying to get news out all the time. Producers
and editors have acquired video and photography skills because the technology is simple,
lessening the need for actual videographers and photographers and other job titles. On the
positive side, digital technology is a great research tool because of the immediate and free
access to the public. There are no longer gatekeepers to the current events happening in
the world and the public is allowed to acquire as much knowledge as they’d like to.
3. With the advancement of digital technology there is no longer that much room for
privacy, in 2012 ITU released a statement saying there was officially 1 BILLION users
on social media (mostly on mobile). It is now 2016 and the use of digital technology is
still increasing and the impact is visible through the use of social media. The steady
increase of the use of digital technology has direct correlation to the increase of social
media, these sites can be helpful in society but can also cause issues with personal affairs.
With the more pronounced use of social media people are able to go online and express

2. their thoughts on topics and what they believe needs to be changed. The
#BlackLivesMatter movement gained momentum because of being on Twitter, a social
media site, and continued to make a great impact on the public. While social media can
benefit society it can also harm individuals when in the workplace and school setting,
people have been known to get fired or not hired simply because of a post on social
media and students have lost scholarships or have been expelled. Social media can help
or hurt people, it can help raise awareness to important causes but it can also dismantle
someone's credibility in a professional setting. Digital technology is more than just social
media but the impact is the most visible when looking to see how the public has changed
and how people are affected. The news has also been able to integrate with social media,
from including hashtags in headlines to having main news stations create social media
accounts. This allows the public to be able to receive new information on a platform that
is more accessible to them. The evolution of digital technology has made it possible for
the news to provide information on many different platforms, making it easier for society
to have the most recent news stories and not even have to turn on the TV. The impact this
has on the people is that the younger generations are becoming more involved with
movements because they are the ones on social media the most and use social media as a
platform to voice their opinions.
4. Websites to look at:
http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/survey/2015/social­networks­and­their­role­in­news­20
15/
http://www.theguardian.com/help/insideguardian/2010/apr/14/journalism­trends­tools­tec
hnologies
http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/14/itu­there­are­now­over­1­billion­users­of­social­media
­worldwide­most­on­mobile/