Binary Report arrived online in late 2002. The media outlet, at first, focused on technology and science news. In the spring of 2003 it changed its focus and began covering the Iraq War and general news stories. In June 2003 the site was recieving about 120 unique hits per day. In late July of 2003 the site had extensive coverage of the rape allegations against Kobe Bryant. The number of visitiors sky rocketed to astronomical proportions (close to 1 million hits per day) and the operator of the site was the focus of media attention and critics. Lycos reported that the Kobe Bryant story was one of the most searched topics of all time. Several screen captures of the site were displayed (blurred out) on almost all mainstream cable news channels. The segments usually showed the site being scrolled down on a computer screen.

The New News Media

Binary Report is an example of a new type of news media that has taken the Internet by storm. It involves finding stories of interest from various online sources and posting the ones that the author feels will get the most visitor reaction. It is not similar to blogging, which involves posting a short paragraph blurb about something the author finds interesting, mainly because the site provides the relevant information and lets the reader decide what to think. A typical newspaper might have a certain bias because they might habitually hire journalists who lean to a certain cause. This type of media allows for a more balanced approach if the poster links to a variety of sites which may have varying point of views.

Internet Information Age

The information published on Binary Report brought up several critical issues facing the internet community as a whole. As more information on individual people becomes available online, how much is too much? Can I prevent my personal data from being indexed on these sites? What constitutes defamation or libel? Sites as of writing this article (2005) provide a wealth of data including satellite photos of the entire world at unusually high resolutions (.25 meters), public data, postings, family history, life history, financial information, traffic tickets, judgements, and almost any other data you want. Search engines in general have also become very powerful tools. They now scour the internet to such an extent that if you post anything anywhere you should expect it to be indexed (unless it is a login based site or set by the site administrator to not be indexed).

Data Quality and Usefulness

The internet has created a new mantra for people who surf online. Although many polls have shown that most people are skeptical about the information they are presented with online they still believe most of what they read after playing a game of give and take while at the same time deeming what is even worthwhile to analyze given its merits. People online usually go by the mantra of "I will believe what I want to believe" or "It has to be believed to be seen" or "News isn't necessarily news. It could be a falsity but if alot of people are talking about it as if it is true then it surely is news." Many skeptics claim that the internet does not operate in the same way as lets say a book works. They claim that to write a book with a quality publisher you have to have a particular set of credentials to be taken seriously. In the online world usually no such standard exists. But does this standard really mean anything? It is likely that no such standard exists in any other medium at such a level skeptics claim because neither where something is published nor by whom it is written guarantees its quality. In any medium we become decision makers along with being readers.

External links

Binary Report