citizens media

Citizens’ media gets richer

September 7, 2005 by JD Lasica

Photos, video and audio are becoming part of the user-generated palette

This article contains some broken links but we’ll keep them intact as a snapshot in time.

By J.D. Lasica
Online Journalism Review

Not long ago, online news sites discovered that users wanted to become part of the media conversation. Begrudgingly, many news sites added group blogs and other devices that cracked open the palace doors and allowed readers to become writers. Turns out the barbarians at the gates were adept at slinging words. Who knew?

Now we’re seeing the next stage take hold in the citizens’ media movement. People are beginning to contribute rich media — photos, video and audio — to news sites.

“If news organizations don’t embrace this, it will embrace them, and they’ll become less and less relevant,” says Michael Tippett, founder of NowPublic.com. “Citizen journalism is not the future, it’s the present.” [Read more…] about Citizens’ media gets richer

Summary of 2005 Citizens Media Summit

May 15, 2005 by JD Lasica

Given the rise of citizens’ media and the burgeoning grassroots publishing movement, author-technologist J.D. Lasica — with the encouragement of Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle — convened a Citizens Media Summit at the Internet Archive headquarters in San Francisco on May 14, 2005. The goal was to begin a conversation, make connections and set down a rough roadmap for how to nurture grassroots media in the years ahead.

Thirty-six people turned out for the strategy session on May 14, 2005, beginning at the Rob Hill campground in the Presidio before we retreated to the warmth of the Archive’s offices.

Attendees of the Summit

We were surprised by the robust turnout. People came not just from the Bay Area but from as far away as Boston, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis and Vancouver. Attending were: [Read more…] about Summary of 2005 Citizens Media Summit

Personal video journalism hits the Net

August 7, 2003 by JD Lasica

A camera, firewire, Internet connection and some gumption are all you need to Webcast

By J.D. Lasica
Online Journalism Review

By night, Raven — the name everyone uses for 47-year-old Harold Kionka — works as a janitor, mopping the floors and cleaning the grease traps in TGIFriday’s in Daytona Beach, Fla.

By day, he operates almost single-handedly a 24-hour Internet TV station, serving as owner, station manager, producer and on-air personality. Daytonabeach-live brings live coverage of events in the Florida resort town to as many as 17,000 viewers a day.

Raven and a handful of others are at the vanguard of a new breed of journalism: personal broadcasting. Using equipment that is now relatively inexpensive and simple to use, these video pioneers are claiming a stake in territory that was once the exclusive province of big media.

But let Raven tell it. “I consider a lot of what I do real reporting with no strings attached. When a major event comes to town, I’m there with my camcorder to record everything that goes down while adding some color commentary. On slower days, I still capture the city’s day-to-day life.” [Read more…] about Personal video journalism hits the Net

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