Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Monday, July 22, 2013
An Exploration of Citizen Journalism
In their article entitled "Blogs, Twitter, and breaking news: The produsage of citizen journalism," Bruns & Highfield define the term 'citizen journalism' as "an assemblage of broadly journalistic activities which are characterized by specific practical and distributed network of self-selected participants rather than on the paid work of a core team of professional staff, and they utilize Internet technologies to coordinate the process and share its results."
Citizen journalism is important for several reasons, including the immediacy of information and the switch from media concentration to a more democratic distribution of news. Most importantly, citizen journalism allows for an increase in media watchdogs, as news is being viewed, edited, and redistributed by millions of people at any given moment.
With the increase in smart phone technology and social media, individuals have the ability to capture news stories as they happen, and distribute them almost instantly on a number of different platforms even before many news stations. One of the most recent examples is that of the Boston Marathon bombing, where video footage of the event was filmed and uploaded by citizens before any news station could even reach the scene of the attack.
Citizen journalism also allows for a larger variety of sources when distributing news stories. Alfred Hermida describes the way that social media questions the "individualistic, top-down ideology of traditional journalism, subverting journalism's claim to a monopoly on the provision of everyday public knowledge."
Rather than have a handful of media outlets select and distribute news stories, we now have hundreds of thousands of individuals capturing and uploading a variety of news content from all over the world.
Social media also ensures that "no one voice can speak with unquestioned authority." (Jenkins & Thorburn.) As information is distributed through sources that are viewed by millions of people, facts are constantly being checked for validity. Thus, any false information that is distributed is often questioned by citizens.
Sources:
Bruns, A. & T. Highfield. (2012). Blogs, Twitter, and breaking news: The produsage of citizen journalism. pre-publication draft on personal site [Snurb.info]. Published in: Lind, R. A. ed. (2012). Produsing Theory in a Digital World: The Intersection of Audiences and Production. New York: Peter Lang. p15-32.
Hermida, A. (2012). TWEETS AND TRUTH: Journalism as a discipline of collaborative verification. Journalism Practice. 6:5-6, p659-668.
Jenkins, H. & D. Thorburn. Introduction: The Digital Revolution, the Informed Citizen, and the Culture of Democracy. in Jenkins, H. & D. Thorburn eds. (2003). Democracy and New Media. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. p1-17. NOTE: this link takes you to the entire book (online). You only need to read the introduction.
Citizen journalism is important for several reasons, including the immediacy of information and the switch from media concentration to a more democratic distribution of news. Most importantly, citizen journalism allows for an increase in media watchdogs, as news is being viewed, edited, and redistributed by millions of people at any given moment.
With the increase in smart phone technology and social media, individuals have the ability to capture news stories as they happen, and distribute them almost instantly on a number of different platforms even before many news stations. One of the most recent examples is that of the Boston Marathon bombing, where video footage of the event was filmed and uploaded by citizens before any news station could even reach the scene of the attack.
Citizen journalism also allows for a larger variety of sources when distributing news stories. Alfred Hermida describes the way that social media questions the "individualistic, top-down ideology of traditional journalism, subverting journalism's claim to a monopoly on the provision of everyday public knowledge."
Rather than have a handful of media outlets select and distribute news stories, we now have hundreds of thousands of individuals capturing and uploading a variety of news content from all over the world.
Social media also ensures that "no one voice can speak with unquestioned authority." (Jenkins & Thorburn.) As information is distributed through sources that are viewed by millions of people, facts are constantly being checked for validity. Thus, any false information that is distributed is often questioned by citizens.
Sources:
Bruns, A. & T. Highfield. (2012). Blogs, Twitter, and breaking news: The produsage of citizen journalism. pre-publication draft on personal site [Snurb.info]. Published in: Lind, R. A. ed. (2012). Produsing Theory in a Digital World: The Intersection of Audiences and Production. New York: Peter Lang. p15-32.
Hermida, A. (2012). TWEETS AND TRUTH: Journalism as a discipline of collaborative verification. Journalism Practice. 6:5-6, p659-668.
Jenkins, H. & D. Thorburn. Introduction: The Digital Revolution, the Informed Citizen, and the Culture of Democracy. in Jenkins, H. & D. Thorburn eds. (2003). Democracy and New Media. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. p1-17. NOTE: this link takes you to the entire book (online). You only need to read the introduction.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Competition & Commercial Media Bias
Today I am going to be podcasting my comments on a quick excerpt from an article I found on advertising bias in the news. The article is entitled "Competition and Commercial Media Bias" and was written by Andrea Blasco and Francesco Sobbrio.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Revisiting 'Examining the subculture behind piracy: Sharing is Caring'
Piracy is a very difficult term to define. In "Under the Pixelated Jolly Roger: A story of Online Pirates," Tunnel and Steinmetz give us the visualization of the term "pirate" used to describe a bunch of one-eyed swashbucklers, attacking ships and stealing gold.
As stated in your comments, the reasons for downloading content illegally because it is comfortable and convenient. Not only is the content inexpensive (and often free), but we are able to retrieve said content at fast rates without having to leave the comfort of our homes.While a majority of us do recognize online-piracy to be an illegal act, many of us simply do not care. We are apathetic to the fact that piracy is a crime, and that we are stealing from artists who typically make millions of dollars regardless of how much their content gets stolen.
While there are ways to counter-act piracy, through ways such as "inexpensive" downloads by Apple, or having artists promote digital downloads and exclusive content with the purchase of an album, the rate that pirated content is distributed will continue to grow. As we live in the information society, one that is based on the sharing of knowledge and information, we will continue to fight for our right for free access to information and content.
As the government continues to shut down downloading sites and increase copyright infringement laws, the only way to truly stop piracy would be to shut down the Internet -an impossibility in today's society.
As stated in your comments, the reasons for downloading content illegally because it is comfortable and convenient. Not only is the content inexpensive (and often free), but we are able to retrieve said content at fast rates without having to leave the comfort of our homes.While a majority of us do recognize online-piracy to be an illegal act, many of us simply do not care. We are apathetic to the fact that piracy is a crime, and that we are stealing from artists who typically make millions of dollars regardless of how much their content gets stolen.
While there are ways to counter-act piracy, through ways such as "inexpensive" downloads by Apple, or having artists promote digital downloads and exclusive content with the purchase of an album, the rate that pirated content is distributed will continue to grow. As we live in the information society, one that is based on the sharing of knowledge and information, we will continue to fight for our right for free access to information and content.
As the government continues to shut down downloading sites and increase copyright infringement laws, the only way to truly stop piracy would be to shut down the Internet -an impossibility in today's society.
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