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Citizen Journalism
A year ago, Dan Gillmor was in a plum position. He had been a technology journalist and columnist for the San Jose Mercury News, in the heart of Silicon Valley. He had written the Bible of grassroots journalism, We the Media, describing how weblogs and other new media forms were democratizing media and giving power to the "former audience"...
more »AdvertisingShift
Rocketboom Auctions Ad to the Highest Bidder
In the beginning, when the web first became popular, everyone talked about disintermediation, the idea that the Internet would help eliminate the middleman or intermediary. You could buy books without going to a bookstore, read newspapers without going to a newsstand, and communicate with like-minded folks without going to group therapy. And that was good. And yet, book stores...
more »Online Video
Soldier Videos Don't Violate Policy
Last week, I wrote about the video-sharing site YouTube and discussed some videos there that appeared to be shot by soldiers in Iraq. The videos are well produced, and show soldiers in the field of combat, with gunfights, explosions and the like all edited to heavy metal and rap music. I had contacted the military and was awaiting their...
more »NewspaperShift
Washingtonpost.com Walks the Line
The people who run the website for the Washington Post newspaper, washingtonpost.com, really want to empower their readers and give them more online. They offer live online chats with reporters and editors, online forums for readers to discuss Post articles, and a slew of blogs including the Post.Blog, in which "The Editors Discuss Site Policies, Design and Goals." Ah,...
more »Your Take Roundup
What to Watch on the Small Screen? It's Situational
I was sitting on a panel recently in Pasadena for the TV critics press tour, and someone in the audience asked about what people would really watch on the small screen of a cell phone or video iPod. I mentioned what Chris McQueen said on this very weblog, that if you're in a line somewhere, you'll watch anything. That...
more »Your Take
How much oversight do online forums, blog comments need?
The online journalism world has been atwitter about comments on blogs, following on the Washington Post website's decision to stop accepting comments to its Post.Blog. That happened after the Post's ombudswoman Deborah Howell didn't come clean on her comment about indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff giving money to Democrats as well as Republicans. Washingtonpost.com even convened an online panel to discuss...
more »Digging Deeper
YouTube Offers Soldier's Eye View of Iraq War
The American public's interest in the War in Iraq has waxed and waned over the years, from intense debate to complete disconnection. So too has the media's interest, as Iraq goes from the front page of the newspaper to someplace buried deep within. But there's one viewpoint of the war that has never diminished: that of the soldier. If...
more »Open Source Reporting
Can Video Search Engines Find What You Want?
Video search engines are based on a simple premise: Type in a few key words, and voila! you can see the video you have described. The problem is that the main video search engines haven't figured out how to match key words to content, and they don't have all the commercial and amateur video you might want. In other...
more »NewspaperShift
USA Today Rules the Travel World
PressThink blogger and NYU professor Jay Rosen asks a good question of me: "If there's a Media Shift, what is it shifting from and what is it shifting to?" In the case of newspapers, it's easy to say that the shift is from costly newsprint to less costly Internet and new media delivery options such as email newsletters, mobile devices...
more »Social Media
Blogging is a funny thing. Weblogs, those online diaries that run in reverse chronological order, are just like any other new technological advance: more people have heard of them than have actually read them or written them. My Aunt Bobby, when she heard that I was writing about blogs, would say, "Gosh, those conservative bloggers are sure stirring up a...
more »Philosophy
The Revolution Will Not Be Advertised
It's a hot, muggy day in the Not-So-Deep South, unusual for the winter time. They're packed in to the rafters at the First Community Gospel Church of Interdenominational Mumbo-Jumbo. After a few opening hymns, a hush goes over the congregation, as mothers sternly "shush" their squirming children, while waving fans rapidly to keep the sweat off their faces. The...
more »Culture
What kind of video would you watch on a small portable screen?
The video iPod has sent shudders through the media business, because it offers a new way to watch TV, video and movies. You can download video onto the iPod and then watch it on your own clock as you travel. Plus, new cellular phones are adding the capability to watch video and TV as well. While techie types get excited...
more »Tags
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