There's Text Everywhere! (Lecture 3)

The third episode of the first season of the smash hit series Introduction to Journalism and Communication was really very interesting. Guest lecturer Skye Doherty made an appearance to give us all a rundown on text. We looked into what text specifically is, and how crucial it is to the role of the journalist. "Crucial" is prbably an understatement, really. Text is not just the bread and butter of the journalistic craft; it's the entire sandwich, complete with lettuce, cheese, tomato, bacon, and whatever else makes a sandwich good. That is, of course, the most useless metaphor in history, but it establishes just how important text is. Text is not just the article itself; in journalistic terms, text is any and all blogs, emails, Facebook updates, tweets, hypertext, metadata, headlines, standfirst (the line of text directly following the headline that further explains the story), captions, pull quotes... you get the drift. A journalist does need to have mastered the art of the written word. If there was any simply means of describing this lecture, it is that text is in absolutely everything that a journalist does.

"Text is fast, flexible, complete control, portable, searchable and online dominating."

Yes, these are the words of Skye Doherty. Gone are the days where text was simply the very words I am typing. Being able to punctuate a sentence does not equate to having a firm grasp of text. I was informed that writing is craft, and therefore the only real way you can master text is through practice. I understand that this is particularly accurate for headline writing. It's no where near as simple as one would assume. It turns out that one may have to write upwards of three different headlines for one story nowadays because news has a very large audience to appeal to. People picking up the paper in the morning want to see something catchy, maybe even humourous and pun-ridden. People searching online, however, are never going to be able to find an ambiguously titled story, no matter how darn funny it is. Keywords are necessary for online headlines; not broad terms. The vast amount of mediums for news today really does require journalists to approach the same stories in a variety of ways. In this way, I can easily think of journalism as being a very on-your-feet career path. You need to be able to think flexibly to get your audience reading.

Metadata and hypertext are two terms that were introduced to me in this lecture. Text can be both of these things as well. It's to my understanding that metadata is basically data about other data, much like metacontent, which is content about other content. I know, right? Mindblowing. Online, web pages contain metadata in the form of meta-tags. These generally contain keywords and overviews of the content on that page, primarily to "draw people in" to that page. Search engines, such as Google, naturally consist of truckloads of these. That said, if Google holds the metadata for every website out there, who holds the metadata for Google? A deep philosphical question indeed, although it could probably be answered by a quick Google search. While you're at that, have a look at the metatags that "promote" certain webpages with the answer to that question. In a way, you're looking at metadata guiding you to metadata about Google's metadata. I will gladly point out that your jaw just dropped in sheer fascination.

Hypertext is where things get messy. Where metadata is data about data, hypertext is text linking you to more text. Hypertext is non-linear. There's really no discernible sequence to it. You can be looking up the Australian legal system and "hypertext" (of course that's not meant to be a verb!) your way to an article about how to a make a really mouthwatering batch of spaghetti bolognese. Maybe that will never happen to you. Maybe it will. Who knows?

Yes, I've just been hypertexting you. Much like I used the term "hypertext" as a verb in the previous paragraph, I used it again with a different meaning. Just because you're interested, they are as follows.

Hypertext [verb]: 

1. To click through many textual, online links and end up reading a page completely unrelated to the original source material. (Example: You can be looking up the Australian legal system and hypertext your way to an article about how to a make a really mouthwatering batch of spaghetti bolognese.) 
2. To force others to read a variety of unnecessary textual links in the hope that at least one person will click on one of them. (Example: Billy hypertexted the email accounts of Jane and her friends so frequently that Jane irritably slapped him across the face.)