University of Southern California’s Professor Henry Jenkins discusses the future of media with citizen journalism advocate Dan Gillmor. It’s a two-part discussion. Here’s the first part.
Shanghaiist has on-the-ground coverage of a rear end collision of commuter trains.
I’ve been on a silly news kick lately. I have a new site that is great for news and entertainment, Metro Zimbabwe. One of their writers posted a list of strange acts committed by North Korea’s little dictator. Some of these on the list may be old news to use North Korea watchers. They’re timeless in their amusement, nonetheless.
Shanghaiist (yeah, I really like their site) has posted an amusing time killer on odd arrests related to Facebook.
“People have actually gone to jail because of things they do on Facebook.”
Congratulations are due to a Connecticut newspaper and some mainstream editors for recognizing the importance of including citizens in the news-gathering process.
At a meeting in Denver, Colo., last week, the Associated Press Media Editors awarded their annual innovation award to the Register Citizen of Torrington, Conn., for its Open Newsroom Project.
While the newspaper deserves major kudos, the mainstream editors also should be applauded for their acceptance of the Register Citizen’s pioneering efforts to encourage citizen journalists and bloggers, and open the paper’s doors to the community.
Among the innovative concepts incorporated into Open Newsroom Project are a community media lab with workstations for local bloggers, a community classroom, a newsroom Café and open archives. The paper actually encourages community participation and even offers a live-stream of its daily editorial meetings.
As a promoter of citizen journalism and citizen journalism training, my two favorite parts of the project, launched in December 2010, are the community media lab and community classroom.
According to its write-up of the lab, “The difference between our approach and similar efforts in the past is that we do not seek to ‘own’ or control their content. We are just linking to and helping promote the work bloggers are doing on topics or in neighborhoods that we don’t have the resources to cover.
“They get the ‘fire hose’ of our audience traffic directed at their site, and we get to offer a more comprehensive package of local news and information to our readers via aggregation and curation of outside work.”
The Register Citizen also has a full-time editor who works with and trains local bloggers.
But the paper has done even more. It has built a classroom in its newsroom, where it holds classes and workshops on technology, writing and journalism – all of which are open to the public and live-streamed on the web.
Again, according to its write-up, members of the newspaper’s staff were sitting alongside local bloggers, residents and even local public officials at a series of classes on the Freedom of Information Act.
How cool is that?
So, I’d like to add my congratulations to the Register Citizen for a job well done. I look forward to hearing about its continued success and hope similar open newsroom projects start popping up across the country.
Susan Cormier is the co-author of the “Handbook for Citizen Journalists” (http://www.citizenjournalistnow.com/om).
The JIA Hotel in Shanghai caught fire Thursday when government workers ruptured a gas main. According to JIA representatives, no one was injured. Citizen journalism outlet Shanghaiist gave live reports on the fire.
I stumbled upon this great resource for citizen news in video form. CitizenTube curates YouTube videos shot by citizen journalists around the world. They also do a weekly round up of top stories on YouTube. From their website:
CitizenTube is YouTube’s News and Politics Blog. Here you’ll find important breaking news videos from citizens; developing trends in the use of YouTube by news organizations, activists, politicians, and governments; and lots of other YouTube goodness
Shanghaiist reports that this year’s nominees for its peace prize, which include (get ready for it) Vladimir Putin. Bill Gates and Angela Merkel are on the list. Merkel is on to “remind her to pay attention to Eastern values.”
I don’t think subtlety is one of them.
