Blogging About Blogging

I think blogs are the way to go for journalists for several reasons, and I think blogging will become more and more prevalent in the coming years.  The two largest advantages blogs have over traditional newspaper and magazine articles are the abilities to post the latest information and to have communication between the writer and the readers.  Blogs can also conveniently share links to relevant websites so that readers can find the information they are interested in quickly.  Many people are connected to the Internet at all times and are easily able to keep up with a blog.  Another advantage of blogs is the ability to display videos and audio.  Personal blogs also have value for both the writers and readers.  Writing one's thoughts to a anonymous audience and getting feedback for some, and some people simply enjoy reading about the everyday events of others.
Some blogs that I enjoy reading are http://blog.redskins.com/ and http://blog.phish.net/.  They cover subjects of interest to me and have good presentation.
In respect to my potential field of criminal justice, blogs are another way in which information can be communicated quickly with a mass audience.  Police departments use blogs to post information about crimes and suspects.  Here is the link to the Los Angeles Police Department Blog http://lapdblog.typepad.com/.

Mental Floss

Mental Floss is a bi-monthly American magazine, which started in 2001 in Birmingham, Alabama.  The main focus of the magazine is to present information and trivia in a humorous way.  Mentalfloss.com's popular blog contains additional trivia and news articles.  The magazine was co-founded by William E. Pearson and Mangesh Hattikudur while they were student at Duke University.  Mental Floss first appeared as a newsletter on Duke's campus in the Spring of 2000 with a distribution of 3,000 issues.  The newsletter was very successful, and the co-founders began to think of a national magazine.  Pearson and Hattikudur began searching for investors and staff members while raising funds to print the first issue, which was released in May, 2001.  Over the following summer, 8,000 copies were distributed, and 60% sold out on newsstands.  The magazine was promoted by word of mouth through partnering with fellow content providers, such as howstuffworks.com.  This gave the magazine a platform for free cross-promotion.  Mental Floss soon gained partnerships with Discovery Channel, CNN, and Reader's Digest, as well.  The company continued to grow, putting out a board game and a reference book called Condensed Knowledge.  Mentalfloss.com was also a big step for the company, which brought in more readers and supplies additional facts, quizzes, and blogs separate from the magazine.  
In 2007, the company's revenue was $2.1 million.  In 2010, the revenue was $3.1 million.  The company's 3-year growth was 52%.  
Mental Floss has responded to the digital world by developing a highly interactive website, which receives 2.5 million unique visitors monthly.  In addition to reading the magazine online and offering digital subscriptions, users can take many quizzes, read blogs, watch videos, and use the "Amazing Fact Generator." Users can comment on the material and contact the editors online, as well.  Another aspect of Mental Floss's digital portfolio is its online store.  Mental Floss also stays relevant online through youtube and twitter accounts.   

Blog Intro

My name is Andrew Stavely and I am currently in Letters and Sciences, with my possible major being Criminology and Criminal Justice.  Both mass communication and technology play major roles in the criminal justice system.

In the criminal justice system, mass communication is used in a number of ways to relay important messages concerning public safety.  Mass communication is used to locate lost persons and criminals at large.  Also, messages about weather events and other emergencies are used by those in the criminal justice system to inform the public.  Periodicals, television, and the internet are some of the ways this information is spread.  

Technology is vital to the criminal justice system.  Some of the many ways in which it is used include the following: using forensic science to identify culprits, weapons and metal detectors, security cameras, equipment used by police officers, and the computerized records system used by law enforcement.  

This bulletin from the U.S. department of Justice is entitled "High-Priority Criminal Justice Technology Needs" and describes the areas in which technology is required to maintain justice. 

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/225375.pdf

From our discussion of mass communication this semester, I hope to gain a better understanding of  using mass communication to help me in my interdisciplinary studies and potentially for use in a career in the field of criminal justice.