Mark E. Briggs provided an introduction to the importance digital resources and applications are to journalists in chapter one of Journalism Next. Chapter two focused on how the blog became an important tool in journalism and what makes a good blog. Chapter one focused on a lot of technological terminology.
Briggs spent a lot of pages on Really Simple Syndication (RSS). He believed it was very relevant for people to access news through RSS. He focused most of the chapter on RSS. Readers were given an introduction to basic computer terms like megabyte, gigabyte, and terabyte. Briggs explained what the internet was and how it worked. The chapter later goes into things to know when wanting to set up a website. Briggs believed journalists should have a little knowledge on computer programming.
Chapter one provided step-by-step instructions on creating an HTML and other important parts of a webpage. Blogging was the focus of chapter two. Briggs provided information about news organizations and journalists using blogs to connect with readers. He said it was important for student journalists to start a blog.
The chapter provided a look at the two main blog sites available, blogger.com and newspress.com. Instructions were provided in creating a successful blog. It began with creating a name, something catchy, and went through the process of customizing the font and background. According to the book, the computer programming knowledge would help with customizing the blog. At the end of the chapter, Briggs listed tips to keep the blog running and what should be done to gain and keep readers. I found the chapters interesting and informative.