My previous post ended with the question “So what does the digital medium give us?” Based on the continuum Okrent proposes, I believe it gives you a pulse on reality.

I think this becomes clearer when we try to answer the other question cited, “What’s the definition of the news they want?”

Basically, news is recent historical information that contains two components: facts and analysis. The facts are descriptions of events: gang violence leaves 4 dead, Les Habs win the Cup, President speaks at global forum etc. Facts are the basic ingredients; analysis is what gives each recipe its unique flavour. Analysis addresses the age-old question: “Why?” Connections between the facts uncovers a deeper meaning. Motivations of the actors involved laid bare provides perspective.

The traditional model to deliver news relied on a broadcast system where the flow of information went from the select few to the mass public. The newspapers & magazines, TV & radio stations controlled the information we consumed. They provide just one perspective - their analysis of the facts.

What’s important to understand is that analysis is the means to comprehend reality. Facts + Analysis = Understanding; understanding of the world, of the way people are, of what makes us tick. And the very act of consuming the “news” is an act of analysis itself. By accepting their analysis as another piece of information, it transforms into a fact, which becomes a part of my personal analysis. I can draw my conclusions based on the conclusions of the reporter.

Furthermore, what the Internet and digital media has done is eliminated the barrier between the few who possessed the means to provide news, and the many who wanted to consume. All of sudden, the facts are being collected via cellphone cameras, Twitter, and Google Earth, while anyone can provide analysis (this blog is proof enough).

Consequently, there’s a smorgasbord of information available for each of us to paint a picture of how we perceive reality. I’m continually constructing a paradigm to understand the world, modifying my equation with new pieces of information that challenge or confirm. Each of us doing this: creating our understanding of reality. Mine is no more right than yours, because my analysis is based on all of the facts I have encountered, which are different from all of the facts you have encountered.

Reality is the collective analysis that we’re conducting. Information is the blood that circulates the system of human experience, capturing our knowledge and understanding, and when digitized is stored in the ether of the Internet.

That’s the pulse of reality. It’s the heartbeat of the system called society.