Experiments in citizen journalism

Posted by Martin Stabe on 14 February 2006 at 13:34
Tags: International, Online

BusinessWeek has an feature on citizen journalism, pointing out some of the grassroots citizen journalism sites that are working, and some of the more successful experiements being done by established news organisations.

Dan Gillmor — the US journalist who is “perhaps the preeminent guru of grassroots media” — who recently caused a stir in the online media world when he published an open letter on his blog explaining why his own citizen journalism project, Bayosphere, had failed.

Gillmor found that what he describes as the “former audience” is far less interested in producing content than he had expected. The lessons Gillmor learned from his venture are important for all news organisations trying to foster online communities:

…community members need clear guidance and direction, collaboration tools are no substitute for good old-fashioned community outreach, and people need to feel motivated to stay involved.

What’s most interesting about the developments in citizen journalism in the United States is that despite the potential of creating vast national or global audiences online,  the major attempts to build communities have been at the very local level. Is this really wise?

Tags: International, Online