Citizen Journalism- Quality Evaluation

How do communities evaluate quality?


It has to be said that this questions can be answered on many different platforms and in a million different ways. For the purpose of this blog, the question will focus on 'citizen journalism' with regards to community quality evaluation. Citizen journalism is an act that has turned into a horse-race between 'little' bloggers and 'big' media.

Citizen Journalism is generally known as 'participatory' journalism', the act of citizens playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing and distributing news and information. Best classified as journalism created by non-journalists. The 'act' generally includes DIY media content such as stories, images and video sources, open publishing and public discussions where commenting plays a very strong and important role (Bruns, 2008). As Axel Bruns explains, "citizen journalism and its allied forms of open news coverage (including news-related blogs) have developed a sophisticated array of processes, tools, and technologies for doing so, which are in place in different configurations across the Websites of the movement" (70).

Citizen journalism is an extension of a long-term trend, started from hard-copy/printing media, the activity has increased with the upsurge of Web 2.0. Personally, I celebrate the practice as it challenges mainstream media and brings real issues into light. It also allows 'us' citizens to bypass media governing bodies and red-tape to express ourselves in full form. As Bruns (2007) explains, "this dearth of alternative perspectives in the mainstream media (snidely abbreviated as 'MSM' by many citizen journalists and news bloggers) has become one of the major motivating factors for the establishment of prodused alternatives to industrial modes of news production" (71).

The question of credibility and quality often comes into consideration because of its sources- the 'citizen' journalism. Sourcing and credibility is often the underlying factor for community insecurity and open source unreliability. Katty S sums this up perfectly in some of her findings as she explains that, "The quality of any citizen journalism project reflects the contributions of those who choose to participate, and such projects can be havens for triviality or unreliable content. At the same time, many users are inclined to trust material they find online, particularly if it is called “news”. Look at examples such as Indymedia and Wikipedia, who are often questioned and critised for 'poor quality' content, but are still considered some of the most used, quoted and researched information sources on the Internet. When evaluating 'content quality' it is important not to police the system, otherwise the 'collaborative processes' often become like their controlled mainstream counterparts.

Overall, citizen journalism has both its strengths and weaknesses and I believe that it is an individuals choice to decide what sources to trust, read, believe or take-in. Mainstream media is often 'controlled' and misrepresents the truth or 'plays-around' with the story to adhere to audiences and regulatory bodies. All in all, I believe it is vital to have a variety of sources to help distinguish proper news and current events in all perspectives.

I know that I would be lost without my healthy daily dose of perezhilton!!

Gaming Culture & Web 2.0

The electronic gaming culture is a growing phenomenon of a new media that has been inspired by video and computer games. The gaming industry has increased in popularity over the years it has resulted in a frenzy of enthusiasm that has escalated in a passionate gaming sub-culture. Today, the impact of the gaming culture of video and computer games has influences television, politics, Hollywood and even popular music. As the gaming culture has exploded it has often endured many skeptic theories and negative attention.

Electronic gaming is a media sensation that has been completely influenced large masses of individuals all interested and influenced by computer and video games. The expansion of technology and the upgrades in electronic material have caused a mountain of popularity and ultimately picked-up many social fads and consumer created content. The gaming culture has expanded with the introduction of new technologies such as Web 2.0 and has impacted most societal groups with its’ large ability to interact and socialize worldwide, resulting in an upsurge in gaming social networks and user-created content.

As Jenkins states, "much video game play is social", funnily enough this is contrary to most popular belief. Almost sixty percent of frequent gamers play with friends. Thirty-three percent play with siblings and twenty-five percent play with spouses and parents. Even games designed for single players are often played socially, with one person giving advice to another holding a joystick. A growing number of games are designed for multiple players — for either cooperative play in the same space or online play with distributed players. Gaming researchers have invested many hours observing online communities interact with and react to violent video games, concluding that meta-gaming (conversation about game content) provides a context for thinking about rules and rule-breaking (Jenkins, Undated). It is evident through the information above that ‘normal’ social interaction is governed and practiced through gaming cultures even with the lapsed fantasies presented on the gaming console.


Jenkins, H. (Undated)."Reality Bytes: Eight Myths about Video Games Debunked." PBS,
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html.
(accessed, May 8, 2008).

Web 2.0

How is Web 2.0 different from Web 1.0?

The vast change from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 has not only changed the face of business but has completely altered the online environment. Tom O'Riely perflectly outlines his view of Web 2.0 as 'the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as platform and an attempt to understand the rules of success on the new platform'. Web 2.0 technology is a modern trend throughout the World Wide Web and web design that provides a platform for collaborative technologies and information sharing that not only facilitates creativity but also provides a home for online communitites that ultimately promotes content creation and collaboration among it's users. These collaborative technologies and concepts have ultimately led to an evolutionary generation and palimpsestic development of collaverative online communities and the growth of social software such as wiki's which collect, connect, share knowledge.

Web 2.0 websites enable users to interact, unlike Web 1.0 which is just used as a platform from retrieving information. 'Produsers' can now build on the interactive facilities of 'Web 1.0' to present 'online networking' computer technology. Web 2.0 websites generally characterise a user-friendly interface, where most sites include the social-networking perspective. Web 2.0 is now classified as the 'particpatory web' whereas Web 1.0 is characterised as a information source.

O'Riely exhibits the following rules of Web 2.0 as...

1. Don't treat software as an artifact, but as a process of engagement with your users.

2. Open your data and services for re-use, but others, and re-use data and services of others whenever possible.

3. Don't think of applications that reside on either client or server, but build applications that reside in the space between devices.

Overall, the emergence of Web 2.0 technology has greatly impacted on a new societal change preferably seen as DIY communitites. The growth, evolution and development of various domains include bases such as open source software, online publishing (blogs, open news), media sharing and creative practice ( YouTube, Flikr), knowledge management (Wikipedia, del.icio.us), geotagging and viral marketing which are changing the face of not only online technologies but offline culture as well.