The "Mashup Man" Review

            Traditionally journalism has served its purpose via print and television and radio broadcast. But mass communication companies and major newspapers are quickly realizing the benefits of using the internet to disseminate information. Adrian Holovaty is one of the individuals helping to drive that technology.

            Holovaty may be creating the blueprint for future news websites. By creating sites that are easily useable with practical information, the site users can access the information they want quickly and the retention rate of the user increases.

            However, I think it’s difficult to suggest that Holovaty is a journalist. The whole idea of a mashup is to take existing resources and manipulate them in a way that provides news and other information in a user friendly way. On the surface this appears as journalism but it really isn’t because mashup “creators” are not creating any of the content. Nevertheless, I would argue that what Holovaty is doing is still beneficial in terms of online journalism.

            I think creating resources that will benefit internet users, most of which have an incredibly short attention span, will provide more traffic to news websites. The newspaper industry seems to fear change to a large extent. This was evident when newspaper subscriptions begin to plummet and the industry failed to adapt to new technology, and embrace the internet with its infinite benefits. The newspaper industry needs to remain open to change and accept the benefits of new technology.  

            With that said, I think it’s also important to note that Washingtonpost. Newsweek Interactive, where Holovaty was the editor of editorial innovations, no longer exists. The site ceased in 2010, three years after Holovaty left his position at washingtonpost.com to explore other endeavors. For this reason it’s hard to suggest that news websites should embrace this type of technology. Should all news websites have a well-crafted website on the internet? Absolutely, but should they provide a website similar to Chicagocrime.org? Not necessarily.