University of Westiminster intro to Citizen Journalism

The University of Westminster has a website about Citizen Journalism, it's called “A brief history of Broadcast Journalism”. It covers the rise of Citizen Journalism, it's future, how it's changing things and key people involved.

This site will explore the What, When, Why, Where and How of Citizen Journalism. The following pages will discuss the impact of citizen journalism, and answer questions such as: Will trained journalists be needed in the future? What makes a professional journalist any different from a citizen journalist?

Posted by Bob Toovey on 26 April 2007
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Revenue falling for newspapers

Newspapers are feeling the pinch all over at the moment. Just when they sought refuge via the internet, it's seems they are having a problem competing with websites from TV stations and magazines who are adding 'social media' functions.

Reading an article from Search Marketing Guru, it seems that search engines like Yahoo are trying to strike deals with newspapers, they have signed a deal with 250 newspapers to provide advertising and classified listings.

Some insight from Search Marketing Guru, Newspapers Online - With Revenue Falling What's Next?

Posted by Bob Toovey on 24 April 2007
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Citizen Scoop on UK podcasting scene

Podcasting is becoming an important part of the blogosphere and used by many Citizen Journalism websites. So it's good to find a healthy and active poscasting scene in the UK. Citizen Scoop is run by J.H.W Buckley in the UK and covers much of the podcasting activities in the UK. His tag line for his website is, “don't just see the media, be the media!”

His site covered the Pod Cast Con 2006 with videos, pictures and interviews. If you are in the UK and looking to find out more about Podcasting then this site is worth taking a look.

Posted by Bob Toovey on 23 April 2007
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Reuters chief on trust in the Citizen Journalist age

Tom Glocer is the Chief Executive Officer of Reuters and has his own blog. One entry is the text of his speech given at the Globes Media Conference in Tel Aviv on Monday 11 December 2006.

I have talked before about gaining trust where traditional news sources are loosing it. Snip from Tom Glocer's blog entry

What does the future look like in a world in which the consumer has taken over the printing press, the dark room, the television studio? What does the result of a mash-up of professional and “amateur” actually look like?

And more importantly – is trust the victim in a world of millions of news sources – will we live in a world where truth is passed through a sieve of opinion and commentary?

Link to the posting, Trust in the Age of Citizen Journalism

 

 

Posted by Bob Toovey on 23 April 2007
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Freedom of information blog from the BBC

The freedom of information act in the UK is supposed to make UK government more transparent. Of course sensitive information should be withheld but the public interest is foremost in the act. So it was with interest that I found on the BBC website a blog by Martin Rosenbaum discussing this very thing.

This blog is about freedom of information, or FOI as we know it in the trade. FOI laws which came into force in 2005 give everyone the right to see information held by the government or public authorities, unless there’s a good reason (supposedly) for not releasing it. It even applies to the BBC – partly, anyway. If you want to know more about FOI, click here.

He says further on that the act is a valuable tool for journalists, so I guess for citizen journalists as well.

Even Tony Blair's Christmas card list is covered by the act, Downing Street wants to keep the list of those who get a card secret, while the information minister has said that 'public interest' favours making the list publicly available.

Link to the BBC Open Secrets blog

Posted by Bob Toovey on 20 April 2007
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WikiNews created by users for users

Using the same idea as Wikipedia, where users create the content then it gets edited/updated/corrected by visitors to that site, WikiNews allows the creation of news stories. A newspaper created by the very people who read it.

At the time of writing this, the lead story is about the shootings at Virgina Tech. What makes this interesting from a citizen journalism point of view is that as new information comes to light the story can be updated and corrected. So eventually when all the facts are know, an article that can be trusted will be formed.

The article, Candlelight vigil for victims of Virginia Tech shootings, contains links to WikiPedia for explanations and a list of sources that contributed to the article.

Newspapers can publish many stories related to the same item of news but will they ever be corrected to include new facts? As the article is open for editing as per Wikipedia, it would be difficult for there to be any hidden agendas or to put any political spin on it. Could this be a possible future for news reporting?

(WikiNews has been added our Search Engine)

Posted by Bob Toovey on 19 April 2007
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Community project from Putney

It's always nice to see community websites thrive because of the local community involvement. One such site is iPutney.com in the USA. Like all good sites of this type, it's full of content from the local people, local adverts and town hall information. But what really caught my eye was the Putney Stories Project.

This project is an attempt to document the town's history from the people who live there. Once collected, it open to all - teachers, students and community members. From the site...

PUTNEY STORIES PROJECT
Collecting and sharing stories of people, places and events

Join an on-going project to collect stories of people, places, and events -big & small- in Putney

• Open to anyone interested in oral history; as a teacher, student, community member.
• Receive training and share experiences in interviewing and editing using digital equipment.
• The project will share collected stories in a public event a few times a year.
• Add to Putney Historical Society’s collection of oral history, and create materials to use in the library.

This is a great way of getting everyone involved, old or young. Putting the focus back on the town and the people who have lived there. Giving the inhabitants a feeling of the history of the place they call home.

Posted by Bob Toovey on 14 April 2007
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Epic 2014, is this the future?

When I found out about CitizenTube on SplashCast, Marshall Kirkpatrick mentions a video called Epic 2014. This video traces media history from Tim Berners Lee all the way to 2014 when Googlezon takes over all media! Is this going to be the future?

Posted by Bob Toovey on 06 April 2007
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YouTube creates CitizenTube

YouTube is entering the Citizen Journalism and political arena with CitizenTube. Just announced formally, this new feature aggregates selected political videos already appearing on the rest of YouTube. It is edited by Steve Grove, which will be an awesome job considering the heated arguments that politics can create..

I will leave Steve to introduce what CitizenTube is all about...

Found via SplashCast, YouTube Launches CitizenTube - Official Political Vlog

Posted by Bob Toovey on 06 April 2007
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Guardian newspapers considers video future

It seems most newspapers are feeling the pressure these days. The Guardian's deputy commercial director Adam Freeman has said that the future for his paper is probably video. He was speaking at a fringe meeting held at the Media Guardian Changing Media Summit.

"We fundamentally believe in multimedia — we renamed our business Guardian News and Media — and we will give our audience content in whatever form the want whenever they want it.

"Today that means giving them 2,000 words on a piece of paper but in the future it will probably be in video. It's about changing our outlook to meet our consumers‚ needs.”

Newspapers are going to have to change with the times if they want to stay in business. But the newspaper of the future is going to be a lot different from what we have now.

More details on Adam Freemans comments from Online Press and Gazette, Guardian future 'probably in video'

Posted by Bob Toovey on 03 April 2007
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