It’s one thing to joke about living in a world without the Web, but the truth is most of us don’t realize how much we depend on technology.
Tai Freligh, a producer for New Hampshire Public Radio, writes in to tell about an enlightening experience:
Your recent articles on reporting the “old fashioned” way caused me to think of an experience that really highlighted this dependence on technology. Long story short, the power went out in the newsroom. It was amazing how many people were practically frozen to inaction. No Google to find sources, no contacts because they were all online, and practically no idea how to find out information without the use of the Internet. It was a real eye opener. I’d be curious to see how different newsrooms would react to the same scenario — power is out and you have news to produce. What do you do?
Thankfully for us it was only a few minutes so it didn’t affect the broadcast, but it was long enough to get that pit-in-your-stomach feeling of not knowing what to do without the ‘Net.
Personally, I’m young enough to have grown up with the ‘Net being the main source of information. So all my reporting and producing is done with the computer and the phone. I don’t really know any other way because it wasn’t taught that way to me. I’m probably one of those people that old-school journalists scoff at, but what can you do? When the power goes out and your lifeline is disconnected, it’s a little unnerving.
What can you do? This struck me as worth writing about, but when I ran the idea past a friend, she rolled her eyes and said it was too obvious.
Well, the next day the Internet went down at my friend’s office. She quickly apologized:
Well, I am sorry for mocking you about the whole technology-dependent thing. Our e-mail and Internet are down and I have nothing to do!
My problem now is, I could do some phone interviews, but before I do that I need information about this project — information I can only get from my e-mail or from the Internet. And I could start researching other story ideas, but I would need to do that — you guessed it — on the Internet.
I can’t stand this. There’s nothing I can do. I can’t even waste time, because I do that on the Internet, too! Grrrr.
So what can you do?
- Back up all of your computer data — especially source lists. Not just on a disk or PDA, but print them out in case the Internet or your power goes down. Sounds obvious, but when I thought of it, I realized I hadn’t even done it.
- If you’re stuck in a situtation like my friend above was — unable to work on your story in progress — use the time to reconnect with old sources (whose numbers you’ve already printed out!).
- Go get a coffee and talk to some random people in your community about what’s on their minds.
- To “waste time,” try keeping around a good book and read a chapter every now and then. And no, e-books don’t count.
- Don’t ever, ever scoff at a Web Tips columnist’s ideas … or you, too, may find yourself cut off from the Internet.
SUBMIT YOUR TIPS FOR PUBLICATION
- What websites do you find handy for finding local information? Send them to:
poynter (at) jondube.com
SUBMIT YOUR TIPS FOR PUBLICATION
- What websites do you find handy for finding information?
Have you used the Web recently for a story? Send me the Website and the story and I may print them.
E-mail me at: poynter (at) jondube.com
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