Jul 5th, 2007 | Citizen Media, Media 2.0 | No Comments
The local “citizen journalism” entity Backfence is closing the doors on its network of 13 sites, according to a post at PaidContent. Backfence CEO Mark Potts told PaidContent’s Rafat Ali in an e-mail that the investors are “continuing to talk to potential buyers or new investors, but have decided for business and operational reasons to shut down the sites rather than operate them without sufficient support.”
PaidContent also links to a long piece in the American Journalism Review about local online journalism and Backfence, which has a troubled history. I last wrote about it in this post entitled “Backfence around a ghost town.” Peter Krasilovsky at The Kelsey Group has some thoughts about the closure, and so does my pal Kent Newsome. And Ashkan at HipMojo wonders whether it wouldn’t be better if newspapers took a stab at some citizen journalism themselves — but admits that would be a difficult mix of cultures (and I would have a tendency to agree).
Pete Cashmore says Backfence marks the death of citizen journalism, but gets taken to task in the comments section of his post. And one of those commenters — a former employee at Backfence — puts forward an interesting idea: what if Craigslist.org started adding some aspects of “citizen journalism” to its local sites? A very interesting idea indeed. Any comment on that, Mr. Newmark? And Jeff Jarvis makes some good points in this post.
Jul 4th, 2007 | Citizen Media, Media 2.0 | No Comments
This is fascinating: from BoingBoing.net via Sean Bonner comes a link to a blog in Islamabad that has been reporting live on the capture of a radical Islamic leader who tried to escape — disguised as a female relative of some young women — after the bloody siege of a mosque:
Update: 2:40
1. 600+ Students (male and female) came out of jameya and surrendered. Parents are outside Lal masjid in a huge number and are not willing to give 20-24 years of their upbringing in hands of the admin of lal Masjid. 2. Ghazi brothers are thought to be fled away from the Lal masjid - They cannot be contacted; neither any students who have come out could give an indication of their presence inside. Their families can’t be seen in as well, including Um e Hasan (Principal of Jameya and Wife of Ghazi Abdur Rasheed). 3. Deadline extended to 3 PM - relaxation given to have maximum number of students out from the Lal Masjid, before the REAL OPERATION.
3:00
1. 750+ Students come out and surrenders.
2. Dr. Amir Liaquat resigns (??)
3:15
APC’s are in action again; Media asked to get away as far as possible from the site. Deadline is extended till 4 PM. The Ghazi Brothers may be inside premises of lal masjid.
Jul 4th, 2007 | Citizen Media, Media 2.0 | No Comments
Rory O’Connor of Alternet has a good summary of a recent international gathering of “citizen journalists” organized by OhMyNews.com, the pioneering Korean open-source journalism effort. As O’Connor puts it:
In the wake of such recent citizen-mediated news events as the Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the London train bombings, Senator George Allen’s political suicide, the Virginia Tech massacre, et al, the real question is why anyone would still wonder about the possibility, much less the efficacy, of so-called ‘citizen journalism.’
In addition to Dan Gillmor — whose own attempt at local citizen journalism, Bayosphere, didn’t quite work out and eventually had to be shut down — Vancouver’s own Michael Tippett of NowPublic.com spoke at the conference (O’Connor misspells Michael’s name as Tippit). And the founder of OhMyNews.com said in his opening address:
“The question looming large is increasingly less about ‘digital opportunity’ and more about how we can best manage the abundance of content, Web platforms and user participation”
Indeed.
May 8th, 2007 | Citizen Media, Social Media | No Comments
Valleywag says that Natalie Portman is working on a “lifecast” of her personal and working life, a la Justin.tv’s 24-hour streaming EdTV experiment. Said news, apparently, was leaked via a Twitter message by someone whose firm had been approached to fund her new venture (allegedly Silicon Valley VC oufit Charles River Ventures). This wouldn’t be the only time that Silicon Valley has met Silicone Valley, of course, but it still seems a little far-fetched to me — but then, so did Justin.tv. And Natalie has shown that she is happy to mess around with her public image from time to time, as you can see from this hilarious video clip from Saturday Night Live.
And why not stream video yourself? If you’re Brittany or Lindsay or Paris, you either spend all of your time trying to get on TV or in the newspaper, or you find yourself hounded by photographers and video-cameras trying to put you there anyway. Why not take control of the process? And if you think no one would subscribe to an all-Natalie channel, I expect that you are quite wrong. I think my friend Steve Bryant agrees with me.
Apr 26th, 2007 | Citizen Media, Media 2.0 | No Comments
Ethan Kaplan at blackrimglasses.com has written something approaching a manifesto for a new age of creativity driven by cheap and accessible technology — something he distinguishes from “user-generated content,” because I think he feels that’s a marketing buzzword used primarily by big corporations, in order to try and co-opt people’s desire to contribute. As he puts it:
“The whole concept behind “User Generated Content” as a means of describing content created by and for the People is flawed in that it simultaneously is presupposing a hierarchal difference — subjugating the “User” as a different class — [and] maintaining this hierarchy by virtue of a disingenuous altruistic elevation of said content to that of Corporate under the guise of Marketing.”
Can you tell that Ethan (the director of technology at Warner Brothers Records) has a degree in fine art and cultural theory? I thought you probably could. But he is right, in the sense that things like the Modest Mouse video contest are an attempt to give fans the illusion that they are actually interacting with the band when they are doing anything but. Ethan goes on to say:
“Here’s the thing: the best of what we now call UGC, and I choose to call GOOD FILM/VIDEO came from subversive desire and goals, as well as the desire for uninhibited creative expression outside of the confines of economics and hierarchy which define the media industry.”
“Take back the media! Do not partake in systems meant to enforce hierarchy, and instead embrace those that seek to diminish and eliminate it.”
A call to arms indeed. Creative artists of the world, unite! Take up the cellphone and the video camera — you have nothing to lose but your media chains.
