Activists and Journalists

I'd first like to reflect upon my use of the Storify, the web based application my course required me to use for an assignment. I was quite impressed with the simplicity of the software allowing the less computer savvy individuals to find Storiify easy to use and navigate; A key hurdle for web developers of today. My Storify article was called my google glass exploration. The glass project by google has been gaining more media coverage lately and my interest in it continued to grow, so it was only fair that I chose to "explore" it. There seemed to be news about google glass popping up daily, from Sergey Brin's wife testing the device on a TMZ reporter, to articles about google glass in the workplace. Storify made it possible for me to bring all the updates about google glass together in one place almost instantaneously. These updates include tweets, Facebook posts, youtube video, hyperlinks, images, and audio sound clips; all the components of citizen journalism in one place.

 It is safe to say that Storify gives individuals like me the opportunity to participate in citizen journalism. Almost instantaneously I was able to comment on any news about google glass, although it was more of second hand reporting if anything. Although If I did happen to be the first or one of the first to hear about any google glass related news, social media applications such as Storify would makes it possible for me to report it to an audience (depending on how many people I have following me). Now even before reading the Hermida (2012) article, I recognize the problem with this sort of power (as I like to see it). Hermida talks about the opportunity that twitter affords to eyewitnesses of breaking news, mentioning "tweets by eyewitnesses help fill the new vacuum that often occurs after breaking news". The article then goes on to talk about the problem with this affordance being the process of verification. Journalism, a profession that is based on verification of information, has to compete with social media, which in no shape or form needs to be verified. It is for that reason l think it is a good reason that major news networks have their own twitter accounts that provide a brief summary of breaking news. I strongly agree with the news vacuum filler, because there are times during breaking news when news outlets shy away from giving details about what is going on. I also understand that speculation can be very dangerous in our world.

 The article by Bruns and Highfield (2012) gives us an example of how social media gives individuals opportunities to be social activists. The article talks about the protest against the WTO in Seattle, where the website indymedia.org was used as a clearing house for protestors. In anticipation that mainstream media coverage would paint them as anarchists and hooligans, protestors took to the website to share first person reports, photographs, sound recordings and video footage. This serves as a great example of the opportunities that social media gives the general public. The Jenkins ad Thorburn (2003) article also gives a great example of the opportunities social media provides for social activism. Jesse Ventura a former wrestler won the election for governor of Minnesota. His website created a community for his supporters to follow his campaign and communicate with one another.

 Both the above-mentioned articles show us how members/citizens have used social media as a tool to inspire change. It is difficult to say that these new opportunities have encouraged me to participate in citizen journalism/ or social activism. The very few times that I use social media to express myself are usually through second hand updates. I see something somewhere else that sparks my interests and I decide to share it with who ever cares to view. I cannot remember any time that I have used social media as a tool to inspire some sort of change. If I was to do so I can imagine how difficult it can be if you do not have a large audience, because the most popular social media applications restrict our reach to our followers/friends. I wonder if it is a way to controls the reach of some of us, or simply an organization mechanism. I sure the latter seems much more practical.

 Hermida, A. (2012). TWEETS AND TRUTH: Journalism as a discipline of collaborative verification. Journalism Practice. 6:5-6, p659-668

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.

 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.

courtesy of: http://rwconnect.esomar.org/2011/06/16/we-are-all-citizen-journalists-now/