Citizen Journalism

Citizen Journalism
Bob Uva http://bobdotnet.wordpress.com/

* what is it?
* where is it happening?
* programmers and citizen journalism

What is it?

• Playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information
  
• Wikipedia plays an interesting role, not exactly "journalism," but often with breaking news, aggregating, structuring, and digesting news reports.
  
• When people think "journalism" they think of big media disseminating information. Media isn't worth paying attention to because of overwhelming corporate influence
  
• Web offers opportunity to get out smaller, more local news.
  
• N4N.net -- a good model, but it went out of business.
  
• "Citizen journalism" term creates a separation, makes it seem opposed to "corporate journalism." Another term might be good as far as developing a unified approach to improving journalism.
  
• "Journalism as we know it today is becoming less confined by traditions."
  
• Idea Lab: "press room" and "blog-tropolis" at a conference. Press room quiet, "like a wake." Blog room, lots more interaction. The excitement is starting to infuse/affect mainstream media.
  
• Is journalism on the whole "getting better" or "getting worse" overall?

Where is it happening?

• Dan Gillmor: Center for Citizen Media
  
• EveryBlock "a news feed for your block" chicagocrime.org was the original. Scrapes info from gov't sites, database. Getting "public info" into the public sphere. Restaurant inspection results. Provides data that could be useful to citizen journalists.
  
• Minnesota Public Radio: Public Insight Network. People can contribute to stories, according to their expertise.
  
• MainStreamMedia loves to focus on "personal interest" stories that miss the point/content of what they're covering.
  
• Editing aspect of MSM is a vital element; tempers bias.
  
• short films: how social media enhance and help build community. (Twitter, etc.) Letting the general public know what's available.
  
• Corporate "belittling" of citizen journalists (CNN's iReporter...)
  
• investigative journalism is expensive to do. Most blogs don't do it, TV stations don't do it anymore.

• Medill at Northwestern University
  
• EveryBlock.com holovaty.com
  
• Open Government Data Principles: resource.org/8_principles.html (How can govt data be made * available in ways that are useful to web developers?)
  
• State of Oregon claims copyright over its published version of Oregon Revised Statutes. Write a letter to your legislator! (see this blog post on Our New Mind) (email will follow)
  
• IGOtf.org Independent Government Observers Task Force
  
• State gov't preference for open source software: bill killed in leg. by special interests. We have a governor who claims to be an open source advocate, but doesn't get it.
  
• Publicly funded scientific studies: handed over to corporations, not avail. to public.
  
• If you don't like how a MSM outlet is reporting something, stop reading it! Go somewhere else!
  
• rising.globalvoicesonline.org
  
• portland.indymedia.org (tin foil hats)
  
• in Zambia: 70 languages are spoken, radio broadcasts only in 4 or 6 languages. (imperialism, convenience...)
  
• ethnocentrism