OhmyNews citizen reporters meet in Seoul, Korea - Wikinews

Wikinews stories about the Citizen Reporter Forum. OhmyNews citizen reporters meet in Seoul, Korea - Wikinews Here is a posting from editorandpublisher that notes the first English versions of Ohmynews.com. At that time, the stories centered on Korea. The international version of Ohmynews was rolled out about a year later in 2005.

Blogs and journalism. A perspective from Canada.

CBC News - Viewpoint: Greg Hughes: "Citizen journalists exist because there's a gap between the credibility of Mainstream Media and the blogging community; the more quickly mainstream journalism embraces blogs and other digital technology, the better the quality of journalism. "

For a fee, some blogs boost firms - The Boston Globe - Boston.com - Technology - Business

I talked about WOM (word of mouth) marketing and bzzz agents in March. My students and I had a discussion of the ethics of this, and I asked them to tell me if they had encountered it. Several students that work in bars reported on cigarette campaigns where individuals spend an evening in the bar, talking and just being like a regular person, but they are handing out packs of cigarettes while they act like a bar habitué. I think shilling is shilling. This stuff about bloggers is shilling, too, and I'd consider anyone who blogged that way to be inauthentic. For a fee, some blogs boost firms - The Boston Globe - Boston.com - Technology - Business

Wired News: Broadband Fight Heads to Congress

The status of the telephone lines as "common carriers" has been essential to the development of the communications infrastructure that set the USA apart and often ahead of other nations during the 20th century and the age of Industrial Production. Now in the 21st century, our government seems poised to send us back a century and position us poorly in the global move to a wired world in the age of Information and Communication. Coupled with the Grokster case, Grokster: Why You Should Care | Bayosphere> we see the lobbying power of big money and big business working for its profit at the expense of our economy and the future of our country. The USA is falling further behind many other nations in the percentage of its population with access to broadband communication. In the effort to placate corporations, our legislators and courts are headed backwards. By charging too much and limiting access to Internet, our nation will suffer educationally, economically, and our "brain drain" as described by Richard Florida in Flight of the Creative Class will begin in earnest. By paying attention to what the FCC is doing and writing to them (they are very influenced by citizen comment) and by writing to your senators and congresmen, you can help stop this move to hold our techno-social development back in the name of short-term profit.Wired News: Broadband Fight Heads to Congress: the legislative/judicial hand is on the "the trigger that reversed a century of communications policy and undermines the bedrock principle of democratic media, which is nondiscriminatory access for all.' The Grokster decision warrants a close watch. Is it going to be used simply to fight illegal taking of copyrighted material or will it be used to stifle new technologies and open source kind of initiatives? The new economic models that tap into the collective wisdom could be crippled by measures that confuse the physical manifestation of an idea with the idea and its use.

EFF: Legal Guide for Bloggers

I have just returned from Ohmynews.com forum in South Korea and I am jet-lagged, but I needed to post this. More (probably much more_ about the trip and citizen journalism soon. EFF: Legal Guide for Bloggers

Ohmynews Citizen Forum Update

ohmynewsforum05 The sessions and speakers are very good, but the day is packed with events. To post, I have to use blogger.com in Korean, and my memory of which command is where is not perfect. The citizen journalists are remarkably similar across all of their national or ethnic differences and I find that encouraging. The whole idea of the global village seems much more real when you talk to people from all over the world who share a vision of what communication can be. Ohmynews has been a wonderful host. When you read the Ohmynews site, you can see the proliferation of stories about the forum. At Blognashville, the bloggers used flicker.com as a virtual hangout around the photos they posted. Here, the various participants are doing their stories about the conference and they are being posted to the Ohmynews site in a similar way. Well, we are going on another tour, so I have to sign off. More later, and when I can get to an ethernet connection, I will download the photos. The iRiver MP3 recorder is way-cool and working better than expected.

Ohmynews Citizen Reporter Conference

Yesterday was certainly packed with activities. Seoul is old and new, winding, beckoning alleys and large boulevards packed with cars. Like Chicago, it is a river city, so I have been nabbing photos of the bridges. They don't raise up like ours, but they are quite striking. I arrived from New York at Incheon airport at 6:30 a.m. and had no problems at the airlines. The limo ride to the hotel took more than an hour, though, so when I arrived I had 10 minutes to run to my room, change clothes (no time for a shower) and be on the bus for our tours. Whew. The ubiquitous Dream Hall was a hit with all. It is a model home and the ubiquitous is the term they use for what I have seen called "zigbee" in the States. I think I have posted here and on phonecamnews.com about "zigbee" which is the name for the protocol that will enable chip-embedded devices to talk to one another and to you and me. In plain language, that means that your phone will be able to call the fridge and ask if there is any milk and then provide with a map of where the traffic is bad so you can get to the grocery and buy milk. The "magic mirror" was a nice implementation. It was like a closet door with a mirror that turned into a screen which could show you the weather, your appointments and thus help you dress for the day. They had the auto vacuum, and that robot that's been around for years that can bring you a drink, but now the robot can also greet you when you get home, and connect to the Internet and get your email. From Dream Hall (not to be confused with NYC's Dream House, fine musical installation) we saw the restoration of the river (I will get back to you on how to spell the river's name later) project where we met the Mayor of Seoul. The project is going to combine the natural water of the stream which dries up in summer, with water they have to pump out of the subways to create a wide green and water swatch down through the city. It is hot here, so with the water and some landscaping that should really be a noticeable improvement. This mayor has been behind a revamping of the bus system, too. Well, we also saw the Ohmynews headquarters (I have a photo of editor Todd Cameron Thacker and myself that I will post later) and had a tour of the huge and impressive Samsung factory. That's enough for now, I think I can post today from the meeting hall.

Introducing the AO/Technorati Open Media 100 :: AO

Geek list supreme. Introducing the AO/Technorati Open Media 100 :: AO

L.A. Times "now we wiki, now we don't"

Media The best commentary on the L.A. Times "now you wiki now you don't" episode comes from Jeff Jarvis' "buzzmachine."

"All communities need attention. The Times should have gone to Jimbo and, he said today, he would have had a few good Wikipedians watch over their foray. You don't build a town without cops. You don't build a community site -- a town online -- without a clean-up crew, either. He also would have explained how to use wikis, since he knows. But the paper thought they knew best and this leads to be biggest mistake:"

From the L.A. Times itself

But Dan Gillmor, previously a technology writer for the San Jose Mercury News, said in his Internet blog that The Times deserved "credit for trying." He blamed the "bottom feeders" for polluting the experiment and said the newspaper should try again because "in the end, there are more good people than bad — and eventually the good folks would have made the vandalism a pointless exercise."

Future of the Book site comments on LA Times brief foray into Wiki land. I think the essential issue here is control and command. Wikis work from the ground up. LA Times is hierarchical and needs to keep control. The idea of taking LA Times content and dropping it into a Wiki that isn't on their site is a good one. New York Times weighs in

"We were taking stuff down as soon as it went up and staving them off. Finally we had to go to bed. Someone called the newsroom a little bit before 4 a.m. and said there's something bad on your Web site, and so we just took the whole site down."

OhmyNews International Citizen Forum

ohmynewsforum05On Wednesday, I leave for New York and then Seoul, Korea to attend the Ohmynews International Citizen Forum and I can't wait. What an opportunity! The participants are coming from every continent. We will get to see the "ubiquitous Dream Hall," meet the mayor of Seoul, meet the founder of Ohmynews.com and more. I am bringing a laptop and a plug that is supposed to be for Korean power, so I hope to blog while on the road. It may seem a bit off topic at times, but since our purpose is to discuss the role of citizen reporters and directions for the future of journalism, it seems appropriate for currentbuzz.org. I will try and get lots of photos of electronics and cool tech.

MDN: Special

Blogs, citizen reporting and censored stories is something to consider. Here is amazing news coverage of something that really was news, but it was censored by Gen. Douglas McArthur. In today's connected world, would that happen? If the story had run in 1945, would it have had any policy implications? MDN: Special

Britain, UK news from The Times and The Sunday Times - Times Online

Britain, UK news from The Times and The Sunday Times - Times Online

new web-based media for %u201Cparanoid fantasy, self-indulgent nonsense and dangerous bigotry%u201D. He described the atmosphere on the world wide web as a free-for-all that was %u201Cclose to that of unpoliced conversation%u201D.

EFF: Legal Guide for Bloggers

Media Bloggers Association has been telling its members about this guide. It is a useful resource.EFF: Legal Guide for Bloggers

Netscape co-founder eyes video blogs | CNET News.com

If you could see me now. Video blogging? I still think it has a ways to go. With video being linear, how many times can you watch the same clip? I have found clips that I thought were funny or striking and then sent the URL to other people so we could share the laugh. But viewing a blogger? The old webcam thing has that covered, doesn't it, if you want to watch someone walking around in their underwear or be a voyeur? Netscape co-founder eyes video blogs | CNET News.com

The Japan Times Online

The Japan Times Online : "Meanwhile, in South Korea the Internet has hosted public reaction to the territorial and textbooks disputes. South Korea has the highest broadband penetration rate in the world. Sites like the popular Daum Web portal and its bulletin boards are a venue for debate and protest. 'There can't be many Korean (Internet users) who have never sent a message to a Daum cafe,' says Isa Ducke, a political scientist at the German Institute of Japan studies in Tokyo. Even the American Embassy has set up a page on Daum to provide information about visa applications."

OhmyNews International : an explanation of just what it is.

Why is yours truly going to South Korea next week? To attend an international forum on citizen journalism organized by Ohmynews.com which is a hybrid--see meaning below From The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism: The hybrid: Professional-citizen journalism The next step up the ladder creates a news organization that combines citizen journalism with the work of professionals. South Korean site OhmyNews is the best example of this approach. It has recruited, to date, some 38,000 'citizen reporters,' who contribute articles for review by OhmyNews' editorial staff. A small team of professional reporters also create content for the site. Citizen reports account for about 70 percent of the site's content, and pro reporters create the rest, so the emphasis clearly is on the citizen. Not everything submitted by the citizen reporters is accepted for publication on OhmyNews. And some of the contributors who submit quality content are paid modest fees for their writing and/or photography. This is a different approach than is taken by most U.S. citizen-journalism sites, which rarely pay for submissions. OhmyNews treats its citizen reporters as though they are journalists (albeit low-paid ones). This approach appears to be potentially profitable. OhmyNews, which is five years old, says that it made about US$400,000 in 2004, two-thirds of which from advertising. While it started out as a Korean media venture, the company has created an international edition and recruits citizen journalists from around the world to participate. It's possible that OhmyNews represents a new kind of media organization that will rival traditional 'pro-only' news outlets." by Steve Outing.

Poynter Online - The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism

Wow, and I just completed a draft of my typology of blogging. I think the two can be linked, so as to provide a model of "publishing" along a continuum of professional to non-professional, that includes the various kinds of blogs and journalistic output formats. More on this as I have time to think it out. Poynter Online - The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism

Computer Innovator Still Inventing Future

Here is a link to my latest journalistic effort. It is about Dr. Alan Kay's speech at commencement, an interview I had with him, and how Columbia College Chicago and Kay's Squeakland.org are working together.OhmyNews International

Can Google News robot rival the newspapermen? - Industry sectors - Times Online

Can Google News robot rival the newspapermen? - Industry sectors - Times Online

Even after Time 's cover story, you still don't ... [Media Matters for America]

Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center and here is there point by point critique of a recent Time magazine story about Ann Coulter. Hmmm, is Time practicing journalism or just practiciing? Even after Time 's cover story, you still don't ... [Media Matters for America]

Commons Sense - 99% Live by the New Media Lab

This is one of the reasons I argue that we need a content management system, so we could do what these students did in South Africa. Commons Sense - 99% Live by the New Media Lab

Convergence or at least a move toward it in the right direction, but notice that the newspaper still wants to schedule when the interactions between reporters and viewer/users take place. "It's about me" -- don't they get this yet? The radio scheduling is like 15 years too late. "It's about me" viewer/users want to interact when they choose. We just don't live in a pre-scheduled, news at the top of the hour kind of environment these days. The article notes that "I've been surprised that the willingness and ability to adapt to this is going across all age-groups," she told E&P. "And some of my most interested people are at the upper end of the age-groups." Would that were so in academe....Reporters are going to upload pictures that don't make it into print. 'Inquirer' Will Introduce 'Radio-Style' Programming Online

Convergence or at least a move toward it in the right direction, but notice that the newspaper still wants to schedule when the interactions between reporters and viewer/users take place. "It's about me" -- don't they get this yet? The radio scheduling is like 15 years too late. "It's about me" viewer/users want to interact when they choose. We just don't live in a pre-scheduled, news at the top of the hour kind of environment these days. The article notes that "I've been surprised that the willingness and ability to adapt to this is going across all age-groups," she told E&P. "And some of my most interested people are at the upper end of the age-groups." Would that were so in academe....Reporters are going to upload pictures that don't make it into print. 'Inquirer' Will Introduce 'Radio-Style' Programming Online

Where is citizen journalism today?

Citizen journalism is on my mind as I have begun writing for Ohmynews.com and am planning to attend the international conference. This article sums up what is happening in citizen journalism today, and mentions most of the major players, at least in the U.S.A. I am posting a link for my own benefit so I can find it and hand it out when someone gives me a blank look when I mention this kind of reporting, which I think is going to be a part of the future look of mainstream jouralism.

Citizen journalism takes root online / Just plain folks can create their own news sites

Multi-Media Tune-Out: Ignoring Female Expertise

Ditto for women bloggers. Multi-Media Tune-Out: Ignoring Female Expertise

Alan C. Kay and Squeak are coming to town in August

Squeak is the name for the newest of the Smalltalk dialects. Dr. Alan C. Kay, visionary whose Dynabook presaged new media today and inventor of the computer mouse is going to address Columbia College Chicago's commencement. Dr. Kay has always sought to develop computing as an educational mode and for 30 years has been interested in how kids learn, or could learn with the right tools. I'll be interviewing Kay today, and writing about for Ohmynews.com. Oh, and not to forget, good luck to all the graduates.

Rocky Mountain News: Columnists

What is social network analysis and why should you care? Linda Seebach of the Rocky Mountain News does a good job simplifying and explaining the answer in her recent article.Rocky Mountain News: Columnists

Grade the News

Here is a cautionary tale. This is very true about the young people I come in contact with in my college teaching. I end up doing impromtu civics lessons all the time. Grade the News

Panelists: How Weblogs are Transforming the Media Landscape

Read about "blogging about blogs" which was silly. The panel discussions were serious, however, and there's nothing wrong with mixing play and work.

Panelists: How Weblogs are Transforming the Media Landscape
Originally uploaded by Andrew Huff.

We would have kept going on the panel, but we had to get home and start blogging about it LOL.

FT.com / Baltimore politics and press

What does our culture war look like from the outside?FT.com / Arts & Weekend - Drowned out: "Yet while these men and women struggle in the toils of this new cultural battle, they might also be the means for peace. Their position forces them to think through the preconditions for a truly fair journalism - preconditions whose existence both liberal and conservative news organisations often don%u2019t care to ensure. They may be the pioneers in discovering if such journalism is possible, and what form it might take."

Listen: NPR on podcasts and newspapers

Podcasting

Friendster, LinkedIn In Trouble?

Social networksMolly Wood, of CNET asks

Is it really true that free services can't be effective business plans? Or is it possible that--gasp!--social networking isn't really that tenable an idea after all?

I think the issue of what are you going to "do" there is central to social networking software. If I sign up for Orkut (did that in the past, but haven't been there in ages), Tribenet, Friendster, FaceBook or any of those kind of communities, I do end up spending lots of time maintaining my account there, but that's all. With flickr, furl, or del.ici.ous the networking is part of doing something else that is worth doing. Maybe that is the key.

Show and Tell

How and Why to Blog? Learn how major institutions and successful organizations are using web-blogs to enhance their communications and Internet presence. Should your organization start a blog? Barbara Iverson teaches at Columbia College in the Journalism Dept. and blogs at currentbuzz.org. Roula Amire is the editor of PR Reporter, a monthly newsletter that covers news and trends in the public relations industry. Blog typology/Interactivity/Feedback/Blogrolls, other automatic content How many blogs are there? The number of blogs Technorati tracks doubled every 5 months for the last 20 months. Technorati should be tracking 15 million blogs by August, 30 million by January (2005)

	Filter blog	k-blog	News blog	Meta-blog
Personal blogs
Business blogs
Organizational blogs
Professional blogs
Community (portal)

What is RSS? Real simple syndication, like a "newsfeed" that comes to your Newsreader software when you ask for it. RSS that automatically shows up on your blog is called a "blogroll." Examples corporate/marketing blogs: http://www.thenewpr.com/wiki/pmwiki.php/Resources/CEOBlogsList Bl Ochman's http://www.whatsnextblog.com/ Blogging software information

Netimperative - Will blogging change everything?

Blogs and blogging. Here is a perspective on blogs from online businees peoples' point of view. It is from the UK so it offers a bit wider perspective than we sometimes think about. For the UK publishers, Rupert Murdoch's recent acknowledgement of the importance of blogs is noteworthy. Read more.Netimperative - Will blogging change everything?

Adriana Cronin-Lukas of Samizdata and the Big Blog Company pointed out that "Blogging undermines any industry that comes between the originator of the message and the audience. Blogging is eating away at those audiences.