New Media and the Slow Death of the Written Word

In the article “New Media and the Slow Death of the Written Word”, by Mark Zeliner is arguing that “we can no longer depend on words alone to carry our messages to the new technically sophisticated audiences of the twenty-first century.” He begins his article mentioning how much he loves everything about the newspaper and how much younger people don’t. Zeliner tries to convince his students that the good old newspaper is nothing like the “new media” that a “Computer screens are hard on the eyes” and “you couldn't fold a computer screen up and carry it in your book bag.” When he realized that no students were convinced he began to realize that the “new media” is the new way. He became excited on all the possibilities of the “new media.” Like the ability to “use hypertext links to break down the traditional narrative styles”, with this ability there would be new types of storytelling.
Other critics, like Neil Postman and Sven Birkert, believe that the “new media” is destroying the traditional style of the “old media”. Zeliner points out that the “new-media opens an untold number of new methods of reaching and communicating with an audience.” With the “new media”, journalists have the ability to grab the attention of his audience by inserting audio and video, which shows the tone of the journalist. He relates to the “old media” by saying that the “the new-media is not truly a "new" media. It is a compilation of many aspects of all the old traditional mediums.”
He then introduces ten- rules to learn on how to write in the “new media”. This rule “serve as a guide for beginning new-media writers and producers.” Rule one was “keep it tight, short paragraphs, simple active sentences, treat every word as a rare and valuable jewel.” I agree with this rule because you want to keep it straight forward, you don’t want your reader to read nonsense stuff that has nothing to do with the topic. Also, as a reader I wouldn’t want to read a long article, I like to keep it short and basic. Rule two was “break your text into appropriate "chunks" for reading, be aware of content when deciding between click or scroll.” This rule was basically trying to keep your reader interested as they go on reading. If you make them scroll down or click somewhere to keep on reading, slowly they will lose interest, I know I would. I don’t think this should be a rule since you have rule one. In rule one, if you have to keep everything tight and short, then why would you need to make the reader scroll or click to keep on going.
He then goes on with rule three which is “think in modules, preplan possible paths for your reader, insure that important information is difficult or impossible to miss.” This rule is somewhat important since your don’t want your reader to look all over the place looking for what they want. The important information should be in the middle of the article since many people just skim, they know where it the information is. Rule four goes on to say “use images to convey messages that you cannot convey with words, don't just scatter images around as window dressing, use thumbnails linked to higher-resolution images.” This rule is very important, since images say a lot more then words. An example of this rule, instead of writing about how the war in Afghanistan is going, a picture would show the audience more. With rule five he say “use audio clips judiciously, don't distract your reader but use clips to add to their experience.” This rule is not as important as some of them, unless you are trying to get a point across from what an important person, like the president, has said. You can also manipulate this rule and use it as an advantage for viewers to look at your page. If you play cool music on your page, viewers would explore your page to see what it is about.
In rule six, Zeliner says “use desktop video sparingly, use primarily to convey a mood or present a person's style or demeanor--not for content.” I don’t agree with this rule, I believe that you should use video all the time, if it has something to do with the topic. With a video, you can show the tone and mood in the person in the video and more information is put across through a video. In rule seven, he goes on and says to “link all footnotes, create your own definition and description pages, don’t hyperlink off your document.” I disagree with this rule; there is no point on making another page for the reader to go to just to get a definition. I would replace this rule, and make a rule on no tough words to jumble up your reader, use words of every day life.
For rule eight and nine, I believe that there is no put for these rules. In rule eight, he says “use hyperlinks off your document sparingly, gather your related links in the appendix of your document.” The only thing this rule does is take the reader away from the article and they are most likely not to return. Rule nine mentions to “use sidebars for supplemental information or narratives make it easy for the reader to return to the main document.” This rule would pretty much do the same thing as rule eight and drag the reader away from the article and they are most likely not to return to the same page. The last rule, rule ten is somewhat important, he says “think about form and how it works with your content, don't distract but add to the mood and meaning of what you are writing.” This rule is comparing the author to a producer. You have to think about the form of your article, you don’t want to make it too flashy but not to plan if you want to be good in the “new media.”

Mark Zeliner believes that these ten rules would allow you to write in the “new media.” I believe that some of the rules are important but, some are just nonsense. To write in the “new media” you have to make it simple and straight up. Place audio, video and image, because the audience loves entertainment. I would rather watch a video on the article then actually read it. I would also add another rule, to make your article colorful. Every article is usually the standard font with the color black. If you make it different color and different font, the words would stand out more.