I am not a journalist. Or am I? Keep that question in mind as you read through this.

Dave attended BlogWorld Expo this year, and one of the things he noted is that Leo Laporte stated in so many words that new media will be the new standard in journalism soon enough.

"New Media" is a very overhyped term, but is the only one that accurately defines the difference between traditional news outlets and the newer ways of getting news and events. In other words, it’s the difference between print (old) and internet (new).

As a writer for PCMech, I make my best effort to follow the tenets of traditional journalism. In that vein, reports are to be as factually accurate as possible, opinions (editorials) are to foster meaningful discussion, humor is to be inoffensive to the reading audience, and so on.

A journalist in strict definition is, "a writer for newspapers and magazines." I don’t think that definition accurately applies any longer. It should be changed to, "a writer for media outlets", meaning print and/or internet. If a traditional journalist has an online column or authors one exclusively but used to have a print column, does that mean a journalist doesn’t classify as one any longer? I don’t think so.

Definitions aside, something that I’ve always been aware of is that for whatever I write here, I’m responsible for it. This is another tenet of journalism. You, the reader, expect that whatever is written here is true, be it a report, documentation or otherwise. With the increased readership to PCMech as well as a ton of other web sites, that responsibility is something to be taken seriously.

Authors of blogs with wide readership understand this responsibility. We understand it to the tune of, "Wow, there’s a lot of people reading what I write, so I’d better not steer them wrong."

What makes New Media differ from Old Media the most?

1. Instant delivery.

You don’t go to the store and buy what you read here. It’s delivered instantly any time you want, for free, simply by typing in the web address.

2. Two-way communication.

Old Media has always hated this. The old way was the (in)famous "Letters to the Editor" section of whatever publication you were reading. Out of the hundreds of letters received, only a scant few would ever appear in print. The rest were all tossed and would never see the light of day.

New Media has reader discussion right on the article itself, and if you want to contribute, you can do so easily.

The reason I say Old Media hates two-way communication is because they’ve never been able to handle it properly. As most know, Old Media was pulled into the internet kicking and screaming all the way. They labeled it as simply a fad that would go away. It didn’t. Instead it steamrolled right over them and they were forced to go online. But they still don’t know how to handle two-way communication and struggle with it consistently. I don’t believe this is going to change any time soon.

3. Edge.

Traditional journalism is not edgy and is best described as sober – almost to a fault. It’s bland reading that has no bite whatsoever. In other words, boring.

Edge in this context is not meant to imply gimmicky, sell-your-soul type of garbage. Rather it means that the author has to be willing to (gasp!) have an opinion and stick by it. With Old Media this is almost nonexistent, hence the blandness.

New Media more or less dictates, "It’s OK to have an opinion. Do it."

4. A chance for others to write and contribute their voice.

Something that everybody takes for granted is the ability to link web pages. At any time, you could start up your own blog for free (Windows Live Spaces, LiveJournal, Blogger, WordPress, TypePad, etc.), write up your own article and link back to this one as a reference. Or maybe you want to post a rebuttal article against this one. Or whatever. It doesn’t matter what it is. What matters is that you can do it. You can’t do that with print because you don’t have the circulation. With internet, your circulation is the world.

Is Old Media scared?

Yes, and has been for a while now. Print media readership has been dropping like a brick. All of them missed the boat with internet, and even though they’re all online now, they’re still not doing it right. New Media continues on its path of ushering in a new era of journalism.

I want to make clear that I do not want print media to go away. Newspapers and magazine are established and well-respected sources of news and information. I do not wish even for a second that they vanish into obscurity, as it would be very sad if that happened.

What Old Media needs to do is to stop treating New Media as "something we deal with only because we have to." Instead of rowing against the stream they should simply go with it. Otherwise they will be stomped out. Yes, stomped.

Are internet-only writers journalists?

The only person qualified to answer this question is you.

Do you feel that you get the same level of news and information online as you do with print?

Do you consider online content to have inferior, on par, or superior quality compared to print?

Does personality (with edge mentioned above) in content matter to you, or just the facts and only the facts?

If we added a comics section and a daily crossword puzzle, would PCMech be a "tech newspaper?"

Interesting questions, to be sure.

Chances are there’s a local computer exposition that takes places a few times a year near where you live. I’ve attended several of these over the years and I can honestly say that yes, you should go to one if you haven’t.

There’s usually only one reason to go to one of these: To buy computer stuff.

What type of stuff will you see at an expo? For the better ones, anything and everything computer.

Is it true you’ll save a few bucks buying stuff from an expo? It depends what you’re looking to buy. More often than not the answer is yes because you’re usually buying things "direct" at a discounted rate.

Tip 1. Never buy RAM from a vendor that doesn’t have a RAM tester at the booth.

Any good vendor who sells computer memory always has a RAM tester right there to test it before purchase. This is only way of knowing the RAM you bought is good or not.

Tip 2. Beware of boxes with damaged corners.

Whether it’s a new video card, motherboard or anything that comes in a box, if the corners are crunched a bit, give the box right back and get one that’s completely undamaged. Ones that have perfect boxes haven’t been dropped.

Tip 3. Always call the return center phone number before purchasing.

Better vendors will explain to you that if you want to return a product for a refund to call a certain number listed on the receipt or in the documentation. CALL that number right there at the expo with your cell phone to see if anyone actually picks up. If there’s no answer, don’t buy because if it breaks you’ll never get your money back.

Tip 4. Always buy in cash.

When you buy in cash you can wheel’n'deal a bit and get the price knocked down for some vendors desperate enough to sell stuff. On credit you can’t do that.

Tip 5. Prices will change depending on when you go.

At the beginning of an expo everything is listed at full price. But at the near-end of the expo vendors are desperately looking to get rid of stuff even if it means selling at a loss. Granted, there won’t be as much selection but you’ll notice the prices have magically dropped at that point.

(click image to enlarge)

Hey, it’s that great service Windows Live Expo! Everyone’s using it, right? RIGHT?! Actually no. No one’s using it and you probably never heard of it either.

This site like many others is now gracing the pages of Ghost Sites because it’s more or less dead as a doorknob. The particular article Steve wrote about Expo is here.

An excerpt from that article basically nails it:

MSFT keeps demonstrating a failure to master the simplest principles of Internet Marketing 101, including the principle stating that you must have a catchy name whose meaning bears some close resemblance to what the function of your property is. The name “Live Expo” sounds like some kind of virtual trade show, not a classified site. “Live Marketplace” or “Live Classified” would have been a far better choice, but even the word “Live” (used by its flagship search engine, “Live Search”) is practically meaningless, unless what you’re selling is longevity products.

You’ve got to admit, “Expo” doesn’t sound like anything to do with classifieds, does it? Right. But that’s what Expo is about.

Go figure.