Bill Doskoch: Media, BPS*, Film, Minutiae :: Citizen Journalism, or an experiment in open-source journalism

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Citizen Journalism, or an experiment in open-source journalism

by Bill Doskoch on Tue 17 May 2005 01:16 AM EDT | Permanent Link | Cosmos

I'm writing an article for Digital Journal magazine on the ethereal concept of "citizen journalism."

To boil it down, it means enlisting the help of citizens in reporting the news, making them producers as well as consumers of news. Some have also used the metaphor of news as conversation.

As an experiment, I put the article up as I was writing it to see what kind of feedback I could generate.

One source of feedback was DJ editor Chris Hogg, whose head exploded when he saw it. I think this experiment was a little too open-source for him. Sorry, Chris. :)

Since I've basically finished the finished the piece, I've decided to take it down -- which was the plan all along. It will also help my conscience, knowing I've saved Chris from a nervous breakdown. :)

But if you’re interested in the subject, here are some readings until the next issue of DJ hits the stands, hopefully with my piece in it -- playfully mocking one's editor in public usually isn't a fast ticket to getting published. :)

Online book: We the media: Grassroots journalism by the people, by Dan Gillmor

Dan Gillmor's citizen journalism project: Bayosphere

World's first citizen-journalism online newspaper: Ohmynews

Challenges facing newspapers: The vanishing newspaper, by Philip Meyer (book)

Articles about the book:

American Journalism Review - Which came first?
TimPorter.com - The Vanishing Newspaper
Nieman Watchdog - The Vanishing Newspaper
PJNet - Interview with Meyer

An archived webinar on citizen journalism: The Vanishing Newspaper: Survival and public service in the age of We media

Some OJR articles:

Some other related books:

Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam
The Wisdom of Crowds, by James Surowiecki
Smart Mobs, by Howard Rheingold

Keywords: journalism, citizen

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Re: An experiment in open-source journalism

by Sarah M. on Tue 17 May 2005 02:14 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

I like the idea of realtime feedback. Sorry I can't really give you any incisive feedback of my own. I've read your article (in progress) about three times and still can't quite wrap my head around the concept of "citizen journalism." To be honest, I've never heard of citizen journalism and still don't quite understand how it would work.

I assume the readers of Digital Journal are probably more immersed in this topic so they may not need a more basic citizen journalism 101.

When you write: Gillmor ties it into a number of trends that have emerged: Open-source code, the read-write web, peer-to-peer networks and more. I don't actually know what that means. But like I said, your audience probably knows all of that. Don't know if any of this feedback is at all useful or relevant to you :)

Sarah

Re: Re: An experiment in open-source journalism

by Bill Doskoch on Tue 17 May 2005 02:59 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

Well, the reason I'm writing about citizen journalism is because it's a growing trend that no one seems to know anything about.

The fact you could read my article three times and still not understand it means I have some work to do! :)

Actually, I wouldn't assume DJ readers know that much more about some of the terms I tossed off there, so I might go back and re-work that.

All your feedback was both useful and relevant!

Thanks
Bill D.

Re: An experiment in open-source journalism

by dave l on Tue 17 May 2005 02:38 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

Hey Bill,
Probably just a defence mechanism on my part (and, like Sarah, i'm having trouble wrapping my head around the concept), but I question whether such a media 'format' will ever become completely viable and mainstream. I question whether the true values and priorities of "journalism" are recognized by the average citizen (as flawed, misused and tainted as they may be). Reporting on a story involves substantially more than creating connections between producers and consumers. And I think it's far to predicted that citizen journalism will evolve into an even more problematic means of reporting than already exists. (if that makes any sense at all).

dave

Re: Re: An experiment in open-source journalism

by Bill Doskoch on Tue 17 May 2005 03:25 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

It kind of, sort of does.

I think some of the visionaries see this more as a parallel model to the existing MSM rather than a replacement.

Frankly, if we tear the old one down, we'd have to build a mass media back up.

What people like Gillmor and Meyer argue in their books, however, is that the industry's need to maintain the same high profit margins they did in a pre-Internet era will eventually kill it. Meyer argues some executives know this, but they still think they can make more money in the medium term by squeezing the cow's udders really hard than making bets on the future.

As a (figurative) card-carrying member of the MSM myself, I agree with your assessment of the gulf between the public's and the journalists' view of the world.

Journalism has to be more than just pictures of donation grip-and-grins and soccer tournaments.

If citizens and communities, however, really don't want to know about the bad, they will suffer for it. We can't collectively act on stuff that affects us if we don't know about it.

But at the same time, newspaper readership continues to decline. That can't go on indefinitely.

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