The following resources provide information about new forms of personal journalism — including weblogs, collaborative news sites, personal broadcasting, and more — as well as pointers to examples of each genre.
• The New Media Resources collection at the University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism has published an earlier version of this page.
The published articles are presented, weblog-like, with the most recent articles first.
Note: I’ve left the dead links intact below to show how much link rot has occurred since 2003:
Weblogs
Introduction to blogging:
Blogging for Beginners: What You Need to Know to Start a Weblog
Jeremy Wagstaff
Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2002
Introduction to weblogging.
Blog Nation
James Wolcott
Business 2.0, May 2002
Random musings on the addictive nature of weblogs.
Business pros flock to Weblogs
Martin Wolk
MSNBC, April 15, 2002
Smart look at how businesses have begun to incorporate weblogs.
Targeted serendipity
Anni Layne Rodgers
Fast Company, March 2002
A timely and intelligent look at weblogging.
Blogging
Jeremy Wagstaff
Loosewire blog, February 2002
A general look at weblogging.
A Day-by-Day In the Life
Leslie Walker
Washington Post, May 16, 2001
An accessible beginner’s guide to weblogs, with a good sidebar on weblog resources.
Been ‘blogging’? Web discourse hits higher level
Glenn Fleishman
Seattle Times, April 1, 2001
A good primer on the weblog phenomenon by a blogging tech journalist.
Invasion of the ‘Blog’: A Parallel Web of Personal Journals
David F. Gallagher
New York Times, Dec. 28, 2000
Well-done piece that interviews the founders of Pyra and Blogger.
You’ve got blog: You’ve Got Blog How to put your business, your boyfriend, and your life on-line
Rebecca Mead
The New Yorker, Nov. 13, 2000
Piece does a wonderful job of explaining the culture of personal weblogs to folks who aren’t especially tech-savvy. And don’t miss the Deconstruction of ‘You’ve Got Blog’ on Fawny.org.
It’s as easy as falling off a weblog
Chris Alden
(London) Guardian, Oct. 5, 2000
Solid introduction to the form by the editor of the Guardian Unlimited’s weblog.
Staying afloat on Weblogs
Jim Higgins
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 14, 2000
For newbies, a good introduction to the genre, with links to resources and Hall of Fame weblogs.
What the Hell Is a Weblog (and why won’t they leave me alone?)
Derek M. Powazek
Powazek.com, Feb. 17, 2000
A witty first-person account of how weblogging affected one writer’s life.
Anatomy of a Weblog
Cameron Barrett
Camworld, Jan. 26, 1999
One of the earliest discussions of the weblog phenomenon. Plus a May 11, 1999 update, More About WebLogs.
LarkFarm
Undated
A large collection of links to articles written about weblogs in print and online publications.
Aaronland: Weblogs, Theory and Practice
Undated
An even larger collection.
Ten Tips for Building a Bionic Weblog
Undated
Metascene
A how-to guide for wanna-be bloggers.
The intersection of weblogs and journalism:
Will the Blogs Kill Old Media?
Steven Levy
Newsweek, May 20, 2002
Levy predicts that traditional media will coopt weblogs.
Much ado about blogging
Scott Rosenberg
Salon, May 10, 2002
The author makes the point that weblogs complement traditional journalism and expand the media universe.
Use the Blog, Luke
Steve Johnson
Salon, May 10, 2002
The co-creator of Feed says the future of blogs lies not in dethroning the New York Times but in becoming a force that can make sense of the Web’s infinity of links.
Let Slip the Blogs of War
Tim Cavanaugh
Online Journalism Review, January 2002
“The War On Terrorism … has combined with the relentless drive of the bloggers to create an explosion of unfathomed energy, vitality and pure wind.”
A Technological Reformation
Glenn Reynolds
Tech Central Station, Jan. 9, 2002
The creator of InstaPundit writes about Old Media’s fear of weblogs. And a followup, All Tomorrow’s Media, April 10, 2002.
The utter failure of weblogs as journalism: A response
Rusty Foster
Kuro5hin, Oct. 11, 2001
The founder of Kuro5hin examines a blogger’s complaint about the failure of weblogs to authenticate fact from fiction, and offers an analysis of blogs’ strengths and shortcomings.
Webloggers offer views media can’t
Dan Gillmor
San Jose Mercury News eJournal, Sept. 29, 2001
In the days following the terrorist attacks, through personal Web journals and other non-standard news sources, people received valuable context that the major American media couldn’t, or wouldn’t, provide.
Second sight: The atrocity through the eyes of weblogs
Nick Denton
Guardian Unlimited, Sept. 20, 2001
A commentary on the significant role played by weblogs in relating personal stories after the terrorist strikes.
Me-Zine journalism for fun and (sometimes) profit
Alex Kuczynski
New York Times, July 9, 2001
Instead of Salon and Slate, are Mickey Kaus, Andrew Sullivan and other one-person news operations the true future of independent journalism online?
Blogging as a form of journalism
JD Lasica
Online Journalism Review, May 24, 2001
Weblogs offer a vital, creative outlet for alternative voices. Interviews with three journalists who publish blogs: Deborah Branscum, Paul Andrews and Glenn Fleishman. Part one of two.
Weblogs: A new source of news
JD Lasica
Online Journalism Review, May 31, 2001
A look at amateur journalism and the increasing reliance that journalists will place upon expert webloggers as a source of news and information. Interviews with Dan Gillmor, Doc Searls and Dave Winer. Part two of two.
The News According to Blogs
Rob Walker
Slate, March 7, 2001
Weblogs as a news medium for niche audiences.
Web sites begin to self-organize
Katie Hafner
New York Times, Jan. 18, 2001
Interesting look at the phenomenon of self-organization Web sites that are largely run by its members and intended to promote the most noteworthy articles or services as rated by the site’s users. Unfortunately, three of the four sites cited here have already folded.
An open-source model for the news media
Jon Katz
Freedom Forum, Oct. 19, 1999
A look at the interactive journalism practices of publications like Jane’s and Slashdot, which see their readers as potential information contributors and critics.
Fear of links
Scott Rosenberg
Salon, May 28, 1999
What are weblogs, and why do professional journalists sniff at them?
Here Come The Weblogs
Jon Katz
Slashdot.org, May 24, 1999
Weblogs are “a new, personal, and determinedly non-hostile evolution of the electric community. They are also the freshest example of how people use the Net to make their own, radically different new media.”
Nothing quite like Slashdot.org – experience it!
Jon Katz
Freedom Forum, Nov. 6, 1998
A look at Slashdot, “a teeming, intensely interactive new generation Website, … one of the radical new media environments that are transforming the content and nature of information.”
Baring your soul to the Web
Simon Firth
Salon, July 3, 1998
An early report on the weblog phenomenon.
Weblogs sampler:
eJournal
Daily weblog by San Jose Mercury News tech columnist Dan Gillmor
Doc Searls
Senior editor at Linux Journal
JD Lasica: New Media Musings
Commentary on online news and current events
Scripting News
Silicon Valley entrepreneur Dave Winer’s take on current events
Eric Alterman
MSNBC weblog by columnist Alterman.
Rebecca’s Pocket
Veteran blogger Rebecca Blood of San Francisco
Crikey
Lone-wolf renegade journalism out of Australia
Andrew Sullivan
Right-of-center political columnist with The New Republic
Kausfiles
Political commentary from former Newsweek reporter Mickey Kaus
Talking Points
Left-of-center political commentary from Joshua Micah Marshall
Peter Maas
Weblog by the frequent contributor to the New York Times Sunday Magazine
NetRunner
A weblog from the Providence Journal.
Subterranean Homepage News
Another weblog from the Providence Journal, this one about music and stuff, by Sheila Lennon.
Kottke.org
Weblog of news and culture from Jason Kottke
Megnut
Pyra co-founder Meg Hourihan
Virtual Acquisition Shelf & News Desk
Terrific resource from research librarian Gary Price
Tomalak’s Realm
Lawrence Lee, based in Vancouver, Canada, offers pointers to stories about tech news and Web design.
CyberJournalist.net: Journalists who keep weblogs
A good roundup of journalists’ weblogs.
Media and news weblogs:
Guardian Unlimited
London
Opinion Journal
Quite a bit more lively than the Wall Street Journal’s troglodyte op-ed pages
Jim Romenesko’s Media News
Daily dish from inside the media industry, from the Poynter Institute
E-Media Tidbits
Group weblog run by the Poynter’s Steve Outing
Spike Report
Daily pointers to media reports, from OJR
OnlineJournalism.com
Daily news briefs, from OJR
Weblog directories and search engines:
Daypop (search 5,800 weblogs and news sites for current events)
Rebecca’s Pocket: Webloggia
Yahoo’s directory of Web Logs (selected by Yahoo’s editorial staff, but rarely updated so it’s fairly lame)
MeZine Central (links to political weblog commentaries, from Slate)
Blogdex (top links to articles and Web sites from personal weblogs)
The Bloggies (no, not really a directory, but the First Annual Weblog Awards point to a host of interesting blogs and articles on the subject)
Books on weblogs:
We’ve Got Blog: How Weblogs are Changing Our Culture
by Editors of Perseus Publishing (Introduction), Rebecca Blood (Introduction), June 2002.
The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog
by Rebecca Blood, June 2002.
Collaborative news sites
aka Group weblogs, peer-to-peer news portals, community news sites, open blogs, distributed news networks, et al.
Metafilter
Unfiltered threaded discussions of news topics and everything under the sun, from tech to politics to culture. Attracts 85,000 unique visitors and 1 million page views per month.
Slashdot
News for nerds: programming, open source and Linux news. The granddaddy of collaborative news sites, its content is generated by users but edited by an online staff of editors. Media critic Jon Katz is now a columnist there. The site draws more than 300,000 unique visitors a month.
Kuro5hin (pronounced Corrosion)
Tech, politics, culture and more. Content is generated and programmed by users and leans to short essays and original writings rather than “mindless link promulgation.” The site attracts 100,000 unique visitors and 2.5 million page views per month.
Sci-Fi Today
A fairly new addition to the blogosphere, Sci-Fi today uses its users to create content around the subjects of science/technology and science fiction.
Everything2
A sort of self-organizing Web site, Everything2 relies on its users to steer discussions and filter up the most interesting postings and commentaries on a wide range of topics.
Personal broadcasting networks
Ken Radio Daily Tech News Roundup
Technology insider Ken Rutkowski broadcasts live every weekday from his studios in Marina del Rey, Calif.
Humancasting
A people-powered next-gen streaming-video network by blogger Oliver Willis.
Alternative online news sites
The following online publications are not affiliated with a traditional or mainstream news organization. This brief list is not intended to be a comprehensive list of alternative newspapers or independent Web sites.
Women’s Enews
The news service, run by a small staff of professional journalists, was launched in June 2000 by the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund and became a self-supporting independent news agency on Jan. 1, 2002. Read a profile of Women’s Enews.
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
Run by the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, DC, about 100 investigative journalists from reputable news organizations share resources and publish stories that serve the public interest around the globe.
AlterNet
Launched on the Web in 1998, it’s a branch of the Independent Media Institute, a not-for-profit public interest media company in San Francisco. See my profile of AlterNet in OJR.
Independent Media Center
A left-of-center collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage.
I Want Media
A professionally designed media site, daily newsletter and database of resources, all crafted by independent online journalist Patrick Phillips.
Conferences
Online News Association Annual Conference, Berkeley, Calif., Oct. 26-27, 2001, with panel on “Journalism’s New Life Forms: Community Publishing, Weblogging, Self-Broadcasting & More.” See a transcript of the session.
The O’Reilly Peer-to-Peer and Web Services Conference, Washington, D.C., Nov. 5-8, 2001, with panels on “Collaborative Journalism” and “Weblogs as Peer-to-Peer Journalism: Subverting Traditional Media.” An outline of Meg Hourihan’s presentation can be found here.
Wizards of OS (Open Cultures and Free Knowledge), Berlin, Germany, Oct. 11-13, 2001, with panel on “P2P: Collaborative Writing.”
