1. T H I N K I N G PA P E R
We Media
How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
By Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis
2. T H I N K I N G PA P E R
We Media
How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
By Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis
Edited by J.D. Lasica
Commissioned by The Media Center at The American Press Institute.
Published July 2003 online in PDF and HTML: www.hypergene.net/wemedia/
Cover illustration by Campbell Laird, www.campbelllaird.com
4. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
Table of Contents
Introduction by Dale Peskin v
Foreword by Dan Gillmor vi
1. Introduction to participatory journalism 7
2. Behind the explosion of participatory media 15
3. How participatory journalism is taking form 21
4. The rules of participation 38
5. Implications for media and journalism 47
6. Potential benefits of adopting We Media 53
7. How media might respond 58
Appendix: Additional bibliography 62
| iii
5. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
iv |
6. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
Introduction
T
here are three ways to look at how society society help shape it? How does the world look
is informed. when news and information are part of a shared
The first is that people are gullible and experience?
will read, listen to, or watch just about anything. For more than 15 years, NDN and The Media
The second is that most people require an in- Center have provided prescient insights about
formed intermediary to tell them what is good, the changes confronting news, information and
important or meaningful. The third is that people media. We commissioned We Media as a way
are pretty smart; given the means, they can sort to begin to understand how ordinary citizens,
things out for themselves, find their own version empowered by digital technologies that connect
of the truth. knowledge throughout the globe, are contribut-
The means have arrived. The truth is out ing to and participating in their own truths, their
there. own kind of news. We asked seasoned, vision-
Throughout history, access to news and infor- ary journalists — innovators like Dan Gillmor,
mation has been a privilege accorded to powerful technology columnist for The San Jose Mercury
institutions with the authority or wealth to domi- News, and news media editor-author JD Lasica
nate distribution. For the past two centuries, an — to help frame a conversation about the prom-
independent press has served as advocate for ise and pitfalls of citizen-based, digital media in
society and its right to know — an essential role an open society.
during an era of democratic enlightenment. The conversation is just beginning. I have al-
It feels like a new era has been thrust upon us ways believed that a good story gets around.
— an era of enlightened anxiety. We now know At some level, We Media will reveal something
more than ever before, but our knowledge cre- about society and the way people learn from each
ates anxiety over harsh truths and puzzling other.
paradoxes. What is the role of the storyteller in — Dale Peskin
this epoch? How will an informed, connected Co-Director, The Media Center
| v
7. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
Foreword
I
n March 2002, at the annual PC Forum This is all about decentralization. Traditionally
conference in suburban Phoenix, a telecom- centralized news-gathering and distribution
munications chief executive found himself on is being augmented (and some cases will be
the receiving end of acerbic commentary from replaced) by what’s happening at the edges of
a pair of weblog writers who found his on-stage increasingly ubiquitous networks. People are
comments wanting. Joe Nacchio, then the head combining powerful technological tools and
of Qwest Communications, was complaining innovative ideas, fundamentally altering the
about the travails of running his monopoly. Doc nature of journalism in this new century. There
Searls, a magazine writer, and I were posting on are new possibilities for everyone in the process:
our blogs via the wireless conference network. journalist, newsmaker and the active “consumer”
A lawyer and software developer named Buzz of news who isn’t satisfied with today’s product
Bruggeman, “watching” the proceedings from his — or who wants to make some news, too. One
office in Florida, e-mailed both of us a note point- of the most exciting examples of a newsmaker’s
ing to a Web page showing Nacchio’s enormous understanding of the possibilities has been the
cash-in of Qwest stock while the share price was presidential campaign of Howard Dean, the first
heading downhill. We noted this in our blogs, serious blogger-candidate, who has embraced
and offered virtual tips of the hat to Bruggeman. decentralization to the massive benefit of his
Many in the audience were online, and some were nomination drive.
amusing themselves reading our comments. The Participatory journalism is a healthy trend,
mood toward Nacchio chilled. however disruptive it may be for those whose
Were we somehow responsible for turning the roles are changing. Some of the journalism
audience against Nacchio? Perhaps the blogging from the edges will make us all distinctly un-
played a small role, though I’m fairly sure he was comfortable, raising new questions of trust and
more than capable of annoying the crowd all by veracity. We’ll need, collectively, to develop new
himself. But the incident was a wakeup call. It re- standards of trust and verification; of course, the
flected the power of blogs, a form of participatory lawyers will make some of those new rules. And
journalism that has exploded into popularity in today’s dominant media organizations — led by
recent years. And it showed how these techniques Hollywood — are abusing copyright laws to shut
are irrevocably changing the nature of journal- down some of the most useful technologies for
ism, because they’re giving enormous new power this new era, while governments increasingly
to what had been a mostly passive audience in shield their activities from public sight and make
the past. rules that effectively decide who’s a journalist. In
I’ve been lucky enough to be an early par- a worst-case scenario, participatory journalism
ticipant in participatory journalism, having been could someday require the permission of Big
urged almost four years ago by one of the weblog Media and Big Government.
software pioneers to start my own blog. Writing But I’m optimistic, largely because the technol-
about technology in Silicon Valley, I used the ogy will be difficult to control in the long run, and
blog to generate even more feedback from my because people like to tell stories. The new audi-
audience. ence will be fragmented beyond anything we’ve
That audience, never shy to let me know when seen so far, but news will be more relevant than
I get something wrong, made me realize some- ever.
thing: My readers know more than I do. This NDN and The Media Center have put together
has become almost a mantra in my work. It is an excellent overview on a topic that is only be-
by definition the reality for every journalist, no ginning to be understood. Participatory journal-
matter what his or her beat. And it’s a great op- ism is a big piece of our information future. We’re
portunity, not a threat, because when we ask our all in for a fascinating, and turbulent, ride in the
readers for their help and knowledge, they are years ahead. Welcome aboard.
willing to share it — and we can all benefit. If — Dan Gillmor
modern American journalism has been a lecture, The San Jose Mercury News
it’s evolving into something that incorporates a July 2003
conversation and seminar.
vi |
8. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
CHAPTER 1
Introduction to participatory journalism
I
n his 1995 book Being Digital, Nicholas And what will they be doing in the future?
Negroponte predicted that in the future, on- To understand that, Wacker advises, you must
line news would give readers the ability to seek out people from the future today and study
choose only the topics and sources that inter- them.3 How do you find people from the future?
ested them. Locate early adopters — people who are using
“The Daily Me,” as Negroponte called it, wor- and appropriating technology in new ways.
ried many guardians of traditional journalism. In South Korea, it looks like one future of on-
To actively allow a reader to narrow the scope line news has arrived a few years early.
of coverage, observed some, could undermine OhmyNews.com is the most influential online
the “philosophical underpinnings of traditional news site in that country, attracting an estimated
media.”1 2 million readers a day. What’s unusual about
The vision that seemed cutting edge and worri- OhmyNews.com is that readers not only can pick
some eight years ago seems to have come partly and choose the news they want to read – they also
true. The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com, The write it.
Washington Post and CNN, to name a few, all With the help of more than 26,000 registered
offer readers some degree of personalization on citizen journalists, this collaborative online
the front pages of their sites. newspaper has emerged as a direct challenge to
Millions of Yahoo members customize their established media outlets in just four years.4
MyYahoo personal news portal with the same Unlike its competitors, OhmyNews has em-
news wire reports that editors use in daily news- braced the speed, responsiveness and commu-
papers across the globe. Google’s news page uses nity-oriented nature of the Web.
a computer algorithm to select headlines from Now, it appears, the vision of “The Daily Me” is
thousands of news sites — creating a global news- being replaced by the idea of “The Daily We.”
stand, of sorts.
And media outlets from Fox News and the The rise of “we media”
Drudge Report to individual weblogs offer The venerable profession of journalism finds
the kind of opinionated slant to the news that itself at a rare moment in history where, for the
Negroponte envisioned. first time, its hegemony as gatekeeper of the
But is the future of online news simply a con- news is threatened by not just new technology
tinued extrapolation of this trend – news a la and competitors but, potentially, by the audience
carte? Does greater personalization necessarily it serves. Armed with easy-to-use Web publishing
mean greater understanding for a democracy? tools, always-on connections and increasingly
In the view of futurist and author Watts powerful mobile devices, the online audience has
Wacker, the question is not about greater per- the means to become an active participant in the
sonalization but about greater perspectives. creation and dissemination of news and informa-
According to Wacker, the world is moving faster tion. And it’s doing just that on the Internet:
than people can keep up with it. As a result, there • According to the Pew Internet Project, the ter-
are fewer common cultural references that can be rorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, generated the
agreed upon. Ideas, styles, products and mores most traffic to traditional news sites in the his-
accelerate their way from the fringe to the main- tory of the Web. Many large news sites buckled
stream with increasing speed. under the immense demand and people turned
To combat the confusion, consumers are seek- to e-mail, weblogs and forums “as conduits for
ing more perspectives, Wacker says.2 They re- information, commentary, and action related
search an automobile for purchase by spending to 9/11 events.”5 The response on the Internet
time online and reading both professional and gave rise to a new proliferation of “do-it-your-
amateur reviews alike. self journalism.” Everything from eyewitness
But what are they doing when it comes to news? accounts and photo galleries to commentary
Introduction to participatory journalism | 7
9. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
and personal storytelling emerged to help demands of readers and viewers, online com-
people collectively grasp the confusion, anger munities and personal news and information
and loss felt in the wake of the tragedy. sites are participating in an increasingly diverse
• During the first few days of the war in Iraq, and important role that, until recently, has oper-
Pew found that 17 percent of online Americans ated without significant notice from mainstream
used the Internet as their principal source of media.
information about the war, a level more than While there are many ways that the audience
five times greater than those who got their is now participating in the journalistic process,
news online immediately after the Sept. 11 which we will address in this report, weblogs
terrorist attacks (3 percent). The report also have received the most attention from main-
noted that “weblogs (were) gaining a follow- stream media in the past year.
ing among a small number of Internet users Weblogs, or blogs as they are commonly
(4 percent).”6 known, are the most active and surprising form
• Immediately after the Columbia shuttle di- of this participation. These personal publishing
saster, news and government organizations, systems have given rise to a phenomenon that
in particular The Dallas Morning News and shows the markings of a revolution — giving any-
NASA, called upon the public to submit eye- one with the right talent and energy the ability to
witness accounts and photographs that might be heard far and wide on the Web.
lead to clues to the cause of the spacecraft’s Weblogs are frequently updated online jour-
disintegration.7 nals, with reverse-chronological entries and
• ABCNews.com’s The Note covers 2004 politi- numerous links, that provide up-to-the-minute
cal candidates and gives each an individual we- takes on the writer’s life, the news, or on a specific
blog to comment back on what was reported.8 subject of interest. Often riddled with opinion-
In addition, presidential candidate Howard ated commentary, they can be personally reveal-
Dean guest-blogged on Larry Lessig’s weblog ing (such as a college student’s ruminations on
for a week in July 2003. (A future president dorm life) or straightforward and fairly objective
of the United States might be chosen not only (Romenesko). (We discuss weblogs in greater
on his or her merits, charisma, experience or detail in Chapter 3.)
voting record but on the basis of how well he The growth of weblogs has been largely fueled
or she blogs.) by greater access to bandwidth and low-cost,
• College coaches, players and sports media often free software. These simple easy-to-use
outlets keep constant vigil on numerous fan tools have enabled new kinds of collaboration
forum sites, which have been credited with unrestricted by time or geography. The result
everything from breaking and making news is an advance of new social patterns and means
to rumor-mongering. “You can’t go anywhere for self-expression. Blog-like communities like
or do anything and expect not to be seen, be- Slashdot.org have allowed a multitude of voices
cause everyone is a reporter now,” says Steve to participate while managing a social order and
Patterson, who operates ugasports.com, a Web providing a useful filter on discussion.
site devoted to University of Georgia sports.9 Weblogs have expanded their influence by
• Before the Iraq war, the BBC knew it couldn’t attracting larger circles of readers while at the
possibly deploy enough photojournalists same time appealing to more targeted audiences.
to cover the millions of people worldwide “Blogs are in some ways a new form of journal-
who marched in anti-war demonstrations. ism, open to anyone who can establish and main-
Reaching out to its audience, the BBC News tain a Web site, and they have exploded in the
asked readers to send in images taken with past year,” writes Walter Mossberg, technology
digital cameras and cell phones with built-in columnist for the Wall Street Journal.
cameras, and it published the best ones on its “The good thing about them is that they intro-
Web site.10 duce fresh voices into the national discourse on
various topics, and help build communities of
Weblogs come of age interest through their collections of links. For
The Internet, as a medium for news, is matur- instance, bloggers are credited with helping to
ing. With every major news event, online media get the mainstream news media interested in the
evolve. And while news sites have become more racially insensitive remarks by Sen. Trent Lott
responsive and better able to handle the growing (R.-Miss.) that led to his resignation as Senate
8 | Introduction to participatory journalism
10. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
majority leader.”11 papers sought to involve communities in major
Mossberg’s description of weblogs as a new deliberations on public problems such as race,
kind of journalism might trouble established, development and crime.
traditionally trained journalists. But it is a jour- According to a report from the Pew Center for
nalism of a different sort, one not tightly confined Civic Journalism, at least 20 percent of the 1,500
by the traditions and standards adhered to by the daily U.S. newspapers practiced some form of
traditional profession. civic journalism between 1994 and 2001. Nearly
These acts of citizen engaging in journalism are all said it had a positive effect on the commu-
not just limited to weblogs. They can be found in nity.12
newsgroups, forums, chat rooms, collaborative Civic journalism has a somewhat controversial
publishing systems and peer-to-peer applica- reputation, and not everyone is convinced of its
tions like instant messaging. As new forms of benefits. While civic journalism actively tries to
participation have emerged through new tech- encourage participation, the news organization
nologies, many have struggled to name them. maintains a high degree of control by setting the
As a default, the name is usually borrowed from agenda, choosing the participants and moderat-
the enabling technology (i.e., weblogging, forums ing the conversation. Some feel that civic journal-
and usenets). ism is often too broad, focusing on large issues
The term we use — participatory journalism such as crime and politics, and not highly respon-
— is meant to describe the content and the intent sive to the day-to-day needs of the audience.13
of online communication that often occurs in col- Yet, the seed from which civic journalism
laborative and social media. Here’s the working grows is dialogue and conversation. Similarly, a
definition that we have adopted: defining characteristic of participatory journal-
ism is conversation. However, there is no central
Participatory journalism: The act news organization controlling the exchange of
of a citizen, or group of citizens, playing information. Conversation is the mechanism
an active role in the process of collecting, that turns the tables on the traditional roles of
reporting, analyzing and disseminating journalism and creates a dynamic, egalitarian
news and information. The intent of this give-and-take ethic.
participation is to provide independent, The fluidity of this approach puts more empha-
reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and sis on the publishing of information rather than
relevant information that a democracy the filtering. Conversations happen in the com-
requires. munity for all to see. In contrast, traditional news
organizations are set up to filter information
Participatory journalism is a bottom-up, emer- before they publish it. It might be collaborative
gent phenomenon in which there is little or no among the editors and reporters, but the debates
editorial oversight or formal journalistic work- are not open to public scrutiny or involvement.
flow dictating the decisions of a staff. Instead, it John Seely Brown, chief scientist of Xerox
is the result of many simultaneous, distributed Corp., further elaborates on participatory jour-
conversations that either blossom or quickly at- nalism in the book The Elements of Journalism:
rophy in the Web’s social network (see Figure 1.1 “In an era when anyone can be a reporter or com-
– Top-down vs. Bottom-up). mentator on the Web, ‘you move to a two-way
While the explosion of weblogs is a recent journalism.’ The journalist becomes a ‘forum
phenomenon, the idea of tapping into your au- leader,’ or a mediator rather than simply a teach-
dience for new perspectives or turning readers er or lecturer. The audience becomes not con-
into reporters or commentators is not. Many sumers, but ‘pro-sumers,’ a hybrid of consumer
news organizations have a long history of tapping and producer.”14
into their communities and experimenting with Seely Brown’s description suggests a symbiotic
turning readers into reporters or commentators. relationship, which we are already seeing. But
In the early 1990s, newspapers experimented participatory journalism does not show evidence
with the idea of civic journalism, which sought of needing a classically trained “journalist” to be
participation from readers and communities in the mediator or facilitator. Plenty of weblogs, fo-
the form of focus groups, polls and reaction to rums and online communities appear to function
daily news stories. Most of these early projects effectively without one.
centered around election coverage. Later, news- This raises some important questions: If par-
Introduction to participatory journalism | 9
11. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
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ticipatory journalism has risen without the direct Tribune publisher Jack Fuller summed it up well:
help of trained journalists or news industry ini- “The new interactive medium both threatens the
tiatives, what role will mainstream media play? status quo and promises an exciting new way of
And are mainstream media willing to relinquish learning about the world.” This deftly describes
some control and actively collaborate with their both camps of opinion concerning participation
audiences? Or will an informed and empowered by the audience in journalism.15
consumer begin to frame the news agenda from It’s not just the Internet that threatens the sta-
the grassroots? And, will journalism’s values tus quo of the news business. In their 2001 book
endure? The Elements of Journalism, Bill Kovach and
Tom Rosenstiel make a compelling argument
Journalism at a crossroads that the news business is undergoing “a momen-
In his 1996 book News Values, former Chicago tous transition.”
10 | Introduction to participatory journalism
12. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
OhmyNews is the
most influential
online news site
in South Korea,
attracting an
estimated 2
million readers
a day. It is
produced by
more than 26,000
registered citizen
journalists.
According to the authors, each time there has is worthwhile, and is clearly needed, it prevents
been a period of significant, social, economic the discussion from advancing to any analysis
and technological change, a transformation in about the greater good that can be gained from
news occurred. This happened in the 1830s-40s audience participation in news. Furthermore, the
with the advent of the telegraph; the 1880s with debate often exacerbates the differences primar-
a drop in paper prices and a wave of immigration; ily in processes, overlooking obvious similarities.
the 1920s with radio and the rise of gossip and ce- If we take a closer look at the basic tasks and
lebrity culture; the 1950s at the onset of the Cold values of traditional journalism, the differences
War and television. become less striking.
The arrival of cable, followed by the Internet From a task perspective, journalism is seen
and mobile technologies, has brought the lat- as “the profession of gathering, editing, and
est upheaval in news. And this time, the change publishing news reports and related articles for
in news may be even more dramatic. Kovach newspapers, magazines, television, or radio.”17
and Rosenstiel explain, “For the first time in In terms of journalism’s key values, there
our history, the news increasingly is produced is much debate. After extensive interviews
by companies outside journalism, and this new with hundreds of U.S. journalists, Kovach and
economic organization is important. We are fac- Rosenstiel say that terms such as fairness, bal-
ing the possibility that independent news will be ance and objectivity are too vague to rise to es-
replaced by self-interested commercialism pos- sential elements of this profession. From their
ing as news.”16 research, they distilled this value: “The primary
Kovach and Rosenstiel argue that new technol- purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with
ogy, along with globalization and the conglom- the information they need to be free and self-gov-
eration of media, is causing a shift away from erning.”18
journalism that is connected to citizen building In the case of the aforementioned South Korean
and one that supports a healthy democracy. news site, we see that traditional journalism’s
Clearly, journalism is in the process of redefin- basic tasks and values are central to its ethos.
ing itself, adjusting to the disruptive forces sur- The difference essentially boils down to a redis-
rounding it. So it’s no surprise that discussions tribution of control – a democratization of media.
about forms of participatory journalism, such as “With OhmyNews, we wanted to say goodbye to
weblogs, are frequently consumed by defensive 20th-century journalism where people only saw
debates about what is journalism and who can things through the eyes of the mainstream, con-
legitimately call themselves a journalist. servative media,” said Oh Yeon-ho, editor and
While debating what makes for good journalism founder of South Korea’s Ohmynews.com.19
Introduction to participatory journalism | 11
13. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
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“The main concept is that every citizen can be anism over profitability.
a reporter,” Yeon-ho says. “A reporter is the one Clay Shirky, an adjunct professor at New York
who has the news and who is trying to inform University who has consulted on the social and
others.”20 economic effects of Internet technologies, sees
the difference this way: “The order of things in
The new evolving media ecosystem broadcast is ‘filter, then publish.’ The order in
The most obvious difference between participa- communities is ‘publish, then filter.’ If you go
tory journalism and traditional journalism is the to a dinner party, you don’t submit your poten-
different structure and organization that produce tial comments to the hosts, so that they can tell
them. you which ones are good enough to air before
Traditional media are created by hierarchical the group, but this is how broadcast works every
organizations that are built for commerce. Their day. Writers submit their stories in advance, to
business models are broadcast and advertising be edited or rejected before the public ever sees
focused. They value rigorous editorial workflow, them. Participants in a community, by contrast,
profitability and integrity. Participatory journal- say what they have to say, and the good is sorted
ism is created by networked communities that from the mediocre after the fact.”21
value conversation, collaboration and egalitari- Many traditional journalists are dismissive of
12 | Introduction to participatory journalism
14. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
participatory journalism, particularly weblog- universe. They are a media life-form that is native
gers, characterizing them as self-interested or to the Web, and they add something new to our
unskilled amateurs. Conversely, many weblog- mix, something valuable, something that couldn’t
gers look upon mainstream media as an arro- have existed before the Web.
gant, exclusive club that puts its own version of “It should be obvious that weblogs aren’t com-
self-interest and economic survival above the peting with the work of the professional journal-
societal responsibility of a free press. ism establishment, but rather complementing
According to Shirky, what the mainstream it. If the pros are criticized as being cautious,
media fail to understand is that despite a par- impersonal, corporate and herdlike, the bloggers
ticipant’s lack of skill or journalistic training, the are the opposite in, well, almost every respect:
Internet itself acts as editing mechanism, with They’re reckless, confessional, funky — and herd-
the difference that “editorial judgment is applied like.”24
at the edges … after the fact, not in advance.”22 Dan Gillmor, one of weblogging’s most vocal
In The Elements of Journalism, Kovach and defenders and a technology journalist and we-
Rosenstiel take a similar view: “This kind of blogger for the San Jose Mecury News, describes
high-tech interaction is a journalism that resem- this ecosystem as “journalism’s next wave.” In a
bles conversation again, much like the original post to his weblog on March 27, 2002, Gillmor
journalism occurring in the publick houses and described the principles that define the current
coffeehouses four hundred years ago. Seen in this “we media” movement:
light, journalism’s function is not fundamentally • My readers know more than I do.
changed by the digital age. The techniques may • That is not a threat, but rather an
be different, but the underlying principles are the opportunity.
same.”23 • We can use this together to create something
What is emerging is a new media ecosystem between a seminar and a conversation,
(See Figure 1.2), where online communities educating all of us.
discuss and extend the stories created by main- • Interactivity and communications technology
stream media. These communities also produce — in the form of e-mail, weblogs, discussion
participatory journalism, grassroots reporting, boards, web sites and more — make it
annotative reporting, commentary and fact- happen.25
checking, which the mainstream media feed
upon, developing them as a pool of tips, sources In the next chapter, Cultural context: Behind the
and story ideas. explosion of participatory media, we explore the
Scott Rosenberg, managing editor of reasons behind the social forces that are reshap-
Salon.com, explains, “Weblogs expand the media ing the public’s relationship to media.
Introduction to participatory journalism | 13
15. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
Endnotes
1
Nicholas Negroponte, Being Digital (Vintage Books, 1996). Also referenced in “The Promise of the Daily Me,” by J.D. Lasica,
Online Journalism Review (www.ojr.org), April 4, 2002. http://www.ojr.org/ojr/technology/1017778824.php
2
Watts Wacker speech at New Directions for News conference. “The News Business in Transition: Forces Shaping the Future,”
Austin, Texas, Oct. 31, 2002. For more, read Wacker’s book The Deviant’s Advantage (New York: Crown Business, 2002).
3
Watts Wacker, The Deviant’s Advantage (Crown Publishing, 2002).
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0609609580/
4
Leander Kahney, “Citizen Reporters Make the News,” Wired News, May 17, 2003.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,58856,00.html
5
Pew Internet & American Life Project, One year later: September 11 and the Internet (Sept. 5, 2002).
http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=69
6
Pew Internet & American Life Project, The Internet and the Iraq war: How online Americans have used the Internet to learn
war news, understand events, and promote their views (April 1, 2003).
http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=87
7
John Schwartz, “3,000 Amateurs Offer NASA Photos of Columbia’s Demise,” The New York Times, April 19, 2003. http://
www.nytimes.com/2003/04/22/science/space/22NASA.html
Also see: “Tragedy Over Texas,” The Dallas Morning News Web site, Dallasnews.com.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/specialreports/2003/columbia/index.html
8
ABCNews.com, The Note: Direct From the Campaigns.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote.html
9
Tim Layden, “Caught in the Net,” Sports Illustrated, May 19, 2003, p. 46.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/03/0519/
10
Steve Outing, “Photo Phones Portend Visual Revolution” from his EditorandPublisher.com column, “Stop The Presses,”
March 12, 2003.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/features_columns/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1835539
See BBC News anti-war protest photo gallery at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/2763101.stm
11
Walter Mossberg, “Mossberg’s Mailbox,” Wall Street Journal, March 13, 2003.
12
Pew Center for Civic Journalism, Community Impact, Journalism Shifts Cited in New Civic Journalism Study, Nov. 4,
2002. http://www.pewcenter.org/doingcj/spotlight/index.php
13
Pew Center for Civic Journalism.
14
Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should
Expect (Three Rivers Press, 2001), 24.
15
Jack Fuller, News Values: Ideas for an Information Age (University of Chicago Press, 1997), 231.
16
Kovach, et al. Pg. 13.
17
Encarta World English Dictionary, North American Edition, Microsoft Corporation, 2003.
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?search=journalism
18
Kovach, et al. Pg. 17
19
Kahney.
20
Dan Gillmor, “A new brand of journalism is taking root in South Korea,” The San Jose Mercury News, May 18, 2003.
Business Section.
21
Clay Shirky, “The Music Business and the Big Flip.” First published Jan. 21, 2003, on the Networks, Economics, and Culture
mailing list.
http://www.shirky.com/writings/music_flip.html
22
Clay Shirky, “Broadcast Institutions, Community Values.” First published Sept. 9, 2002, on the Networks, Economics, and
Culture mailing list.
http://www.shirky.com/writings/broadcast_and_community.html
23
Kovach, et al. Pg. 24.
24
Scott Rosenberg, “Much Ado About Blogging,” Salon.com, May 10, 2002.
http://www.salon.com/tech/col/rose/2002/05/10/blogs/
25
Dan Gillmor, “Journalistic Pivot Points” in his weblog eJournal on SiliconValley.com, March 27, 2002.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/dan_gillmor/ejournal/2946748.htm
14 | Introduction to participatory journalism
16. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
CHAPTER 2
Cultural context: Behind the explosion
of participatory media
“Have you any news?” tural factors that have provided the fuel for this
— The second message transmitted by explosion of participatory media. We’ll also look
Samuel B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph.1 at how information technologies are changing
the traditional roles of consumers.
N
ewspapermen of the Victorian era feared
the telegraph would spell their doom. Extending social networks
“The mere newspapers must submit to People are inherently social creatures. We de-
destiny and go out of existence,” wrote one news- velop and maintain complex social networks of
paper executive.2 Yet, just the opposite occurred. friends, family and acquaintances through vari-
Despite fears of their obsolescence, newspapers ous means of communication.
were able to thwart a major technological threat Regardless of technology, human “relation-
by adopting it as a business advantage. ships will naturally continue to rely on face-to-
The telegraph was speedier than mail and en- face and physical contact, on shared experience
abled newspapers to publish more timely news. and values, on acts of generosity and thoughtful-
Other newspapers joined together to set up wire ness, and on trust, understanding and empathy,”
services such as the Associated Press. And the according to a whitepaper for Groove, the col-
concern that a telegraph transmission might be laboration software created by Lotus developer
cut short gave rise to the familiar writing style Ray Ozzie.
called the inverted pyramid, which places impor- “Nevertheless, (Internet and mobile) technolo-
tant news first followed by less critical details. gies do have the potential to have significant, fun-
Journalism has always had to respond to tech- damental impact on the types of relationships we
nological and social changes. The Information maintain, on where we live and work, on when
Age brought about a tremendous expansion of and how we are educated, on how we entertain
media — cable television, growing numbers of ourselves and spend our leisure time, on our poli-
niche print publications, Internet Web sites, tics, and on how we conceive of time.”4
mobile telephony. Media have become nearly In the 10 years since its mass adoption, the Web
ubiquitous, and journalism again finds itself at has quickly become a reflection of our elaborate
a crossroads as the media landscape becomes social networks. It has evolved into a powerful
more fragmented and filled with competition medium for communication and collaboration,
from nontraditional sources. as evidenced by the hypertext links of more than
“The way we get news has gone through mo- 10 billion documents authored by millions of
mentous transition,” Kovach and Rosenstiel people and organizations around the world.5
write in The Elements of Journalism. “It has hap- It is the greatest publishing system ever known,
pened each time there is a period of significant and it keeps growing. In May 2003, there were
social, economic and technological change. It is at least 40.4 million Web sites6 with thousands
occurring now with the advent of cable followed being added, moved or removed every day. It’s a
by the Internet. The collision this time may be phenomenally extraordinary achievement, which
more dramatic.”3 has emerged without central planning and with-
Unlike the telegraph, the Internet is far more out government regulation, censor or sanction
pervasive and accessible by just about anyone. If — an emergent, bottom-up process.
history is any guide, journalism will change, al- “Self-organization is an irrepressible human
though how dramatic that change will be remains drive, and the Internet is a toolkit for self-orga-
uncertain. nizing,” according to Howard Rheingold, author
This chapter attempts to shed light on the cul- of Smart Mobs. “The role of voluntary coop-
Cultural context: Behind the explosion of participatory media | 15
17. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
eration is the most important and least known from scratch.”10
story is the history of personal computers and Years before the advent of the Web and Mosaic,
networks.”7 e-mail, bulletin boards and Usenet were the pop-
Indeed, the architecture of the Internet was ular means of communication and collaboration
the result of a decentralized philosophy, free on the Internet. Bulletin boards and Usenet, a
software and collaboration. In 1962, Paul Baran stockpile of millions of e-mail postings arranged
of the RAND corporation was commissioned by into “newsgroups,” changed radically and became
the U.S. Air Force to design a computer network more popular as forums. The browser-based
able to survive a nuclear attack to any part of it. graphic interface, which allowed participants to
His insightful solution required that there be no explore and contribute more readily, changed the
master or central computer running the network. practical nature of the Usenet idea into some-
Instead, computers could be connected to many thing more open, accessible and interesting to
other computers in a mesh–like pattern. the masses.
In a sense, Baran wanted to create a social The Internet had become a massive repository
network of mainframes that routed packets of in- of publicly accessible, linked documents. This
formation through a variable maze of connectors. doesn’t sound like a breeding ground for social
The benefit was that the network could grow, or activity, but according to John Seely Brown and
handle a loss of computers, without having to be Paul Duguid, it is inherently so.
redesigned. “Documents do not merely carry information,
As brilliant as Baran’s idea was, it was rejected. they help make it, structure it and validate it.
AT&T, the telephone monopoly designated to More intriguing, perhaps, documents also help
maintain the network for the U.S. government, structure society, enabling social groups to form,
saw the “digital packet” approach as too costly develop, and maintain a sense of shared identi-
to deploy and a threat to its monopoly position ty,” they write in The Social Life of Information.
because it could allow for competition.8 “Shared and circulating documents, it seems,
But several years later, the Advanced Research have long provided interesting social glue.”
Project Agency stumbled upon the same solution
and created a network called ARPANET, the pre-
cursor to today’s Internet. The network was built Figure 2.1
to allow military facilities to connect computers. Internet Backbone Traffic
By 1973, just three years after ARPANET went Chart shows estimated traffic in terabytes
online, something unexpected happened. E-mail, on Internet backbones in U.S. during
which began as a novelty, accounted for 75 per- December of that year.
cent of all network traffic.9
Throughout the 1980s, the Internet grew Year Terabytes/month
steadily but remained mostly unnoticed behind
1990 1.0
the walls of academic and scientific institutions.
In the early ’90s, two events turned the Internet 1991 2.0
into the greatest publishing system in history by 1992 4.4
making it more accessible to the masses. 1993 8.3
First, Tim Berners-Lee, a researcher at CERN, 1994 16.3
substituted the impossible-to-remember nu- 1995 NA
merical addressing system of the Internet with
1996 1,500
the URL (uniform resource locator) for use as
electronic addresses. Soon after, students at the 1997 2,500 - 4,000
University of Illinois, led by Marc Andreessen, 1998 5,000 - 8,000
created Mosaic, the first browser to display docu- 1999 10,000 - 16,000
ments on the Web. This graphic, rather than text- 2000 20,000 - 35,000
based, interface resulted in an explosion of the 2001 40,000 - 70,000
Internet’s popularity.
2002 80,000 - 140,000
In December 1993, a New York Times business
section article concluded that Mosaic was per- Source: K. G. Coffman and A. M. Odlyzko, “Growth of the
haps “an application program so different and so Internet,” AT&T Labs - Research, July 6, 2001
obviously useful that it can create a new industry
16 | Cultural context: Behind the explosion of participatory media
18. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
Today, we see a new phenomenon. Given tech- this function. There is evidence that people are
nological innovations in open source software, actively seeking new perspectives beyond those
everyone has access to robust tools for publishing provided by mainstream media. Researchers
and collaborating easily on the Web. Weblogging have begun to categorize an individual’s media
tools are in many ways easier to use than most e- diet as a more dependable method of segment-
mail applications. It is this ease that accounts for ing audiences, as opposed to demographic and
their increasing popularity.11 pyschographic criteria.18
Estimates of the number of active weblogs vary We are now beginning to lead what futurist
widely from 500,000 to as high as 1 million. 12 Wacker calls “media-centric life,” where all of our
According to the Pew Internet & American Life information is mediated, coming to us second or
Project, more than 8 million U.S. Internet users third hand. Media, he says, are how we define
(7 percent) have created a weblog13 and 90 mil- ourselves and our relationships.
lion (84 percent) have participated in online This media-centric life requires a large amount
groups.14 of assimilation of information, most of it com-
ing second-hand. Objectivity is one casualty of
The Post-Information Age this massive abundance of viewpoints, Wacker
In a way, the Internet was destined to be a social argues.
medium from the start — open, unregulated, Even traditionalists are questioning the
extensible and unpredictable. Like the telephone, practicality of objectivity. In The Elements of
it removes one of the critical barriers to main- Journalism, Kovach and Rosenstiel write: “The
taining social networks: geography. In doing so, concept of objectivity is so mangled it now is
the Internet enables a vibrant social universe to usually used to describe the very problem it was
emerge powered by the passions of millions. conceived to correct.”
Moreover, this medium has empowered mil- But whether the demise of objectivity will give
lions to express their ideas and perspectives rise to a social environment governed by interests
in many ways, which, according to futurist and relationships is debatable. What is clear is
Watts Wacker, feeds a great hunger in the Post- that the Internet provides more opportunity for
Information Age. people to share information among communi-
In his 2002 book The Deviant’s Advantage, ties, thereby circumventing traditional media’s
Wacker suggests that our current society is un- role as privileged, trusted and informed interme-
dergoing relentless, all-encompassing change, diaries of the news.
which will do nothing but accelerate. This con- In their report “Online Communities: Networks
stant change results in an “Abolition of Context” that nurture long-distance relationships and local
— the inability of business and society to find ties,” the Pew Internet & American Life Project
commonly agreed upon reference points. 15 found that not only are people becoming more
“Context is the framework, the structure, the social online, they are forming vibrant communi-
collective common understanding that allows us ties and integrating them into their lives.19
to live our lives and run our businesses,” Wacker Some of their findings:
writes in his book. “Take it away and it’s all but • 90 million Americans (84 percent of Internet
impossible to know what’s the right or wrong ac- users) have participated in online groups; 26
tion to take.” percent have used the Internet to deepen their
Such a situation makes it more difficult for ties to their local communities.
companies to create commercially viable, long- • Use of the Internet often prompts Americans to
lasting goods and services. This environment join groups. More than half of the aforemen-
also creates stress, anxiety and confusion for the tioned 90 million say they joined an online
individual. With social mores constantly shifting, group after they began participating over the
people seek a “proliferation of perspectives” to Internet.
make sense of the world.16 • Online communities bring about greater con-
Credibility, a traditionally reliable context as it tact with different people. Participants say that
has been viewed until now, is dead, Wacker says. online communities have spurred connections
“Knowing what other people think news means, to strangers and to people of different racial,
in many layers, is more important.”17 ethnic and economic backgrounds.
It appears that the many forms of participatory • Online communities foster lively chatter and
journalism on the Web are ideally suited to serve connection. People exchange e-mails, hash
Cultural context: Behind the explosion of participatory media | 17
19. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
out issues, find out about group activities, and
meet face to face as a result of online commu- When Customer Innovation
nities. About 23 million Americans are very Makes Sense
active in online communities, meaning that
Harvard Business Review identified three
they e-mail their principal online group sev-
major signs that an industry may soon
eral times a week.
migrate to a customers-as-innovators
• Online communities draw civic involvement
approach:
from the young, a segment of the population
that has not typically been drawn to civic ac- 1. Your market segments are shrinking,
tivities. and customers are increasingly asking for
Sociologist Barry Wellman argues that many customized products. As you try to respond
new social arrangements are being formed to those demands, your costs increase,
through “glocalization” — the capacity of the and it is difficult to pass those costs on to
Internet to expand people’s social worlds to far- customers.
away people and simultaneously connect them 2. You and your customers need many
more deeply to the place they live.20 iterations before you find a solution.
More than just connecting, people are increas- Some customers complain that you have
ingly collaborating. The bottom-up nature of the gotten the product wrong or that you are
Internet and several technological innovations responding too slowly. You are tempted to
— such as digital still and video cameras, mobile restrict the degree to which your products
devices and wireless computing platforms — can be customized, and your smaller
have resulted in an explosion of creative activity. customers must make do with standard
products or find a better solution elsewhere.
Customer as innovator As a result, customer loyalty starts to erode.
Just as blogs and forums have turned audiences 3. You or your competitors use high-quality
into participants, other industries have thrived computer-based simulation and rapid-
by developing tools to turn their customers into prototyping tools internally to develop new
creators. As Stefan Thomke and Eric von Hippel products. You also have computer-adjustable
argue in “Customers as Innovators: A New Way production processes that can manufacture
to Create Value,” the pace of change in many custom products. (These technologies
markets is too great and “the cost of understand- could form the foundation of a tool kit that
ing and responding to customers’ needs can customers could use to develop their own
quickly spiral out of control.”21 designs.)
Some industries have already succeeded in
Source: Harvard Business Review (April 1, 2002).
turning their customers into contributors and in-
novators. Knowing they cannot predict the shift-
ing desires of their customers, these companies
have instead created the tools and frameworks to Providing the tools and services to enable cus-
empower their customers to create. tomers to act as their own auctioneers is at the
“Essentially, these companies have abandoned heart of one of the most successful Internet com-
their efforts to understand exactly what products panies, eBay. In 2002, eBay members bought
their customers want and have instead equipped and sold $14.87 billion in annualized gross mer-
them with tools to design and develop their own chandise.23
products, ranging from minor modifications to Perhaps one the most vivid and dramatic ex-
major new innovations,” Thomke and von Hippel amples of customers transforming a business is
wrote. the computer game industry.
A number of industries are succeeding in the In the summer of 2000, on the verge of gradu-
“Customer as Innovator” approach. Nestlé has ating with a computer science degree, 23-year-
built a toolkit that enables its customers to de- old Minh Le built a computer game in his par-
velop their own flavors. GE provides customers ents’ basement called Counter-Strike. In 2002,
with Web-based tools for designing better plastic Counter-Strike was the most popular multiplayer
products. This approach has transformed the action game in the world, with more than 1.7
semiconductor business, bringing the custom- million players spending on average about 23.5
chip market to more than $15 billion.22 hours a month in the game. In addition to its free
18 | Cultural context: Behind the explosion of participatory media
20. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
Internet distribution, Counter-Strike has sold 1.3 will be to persuade their customers to become not
million shrink-wrapped copies at retail, with rev- just innovators but collaborators as well.
enues of more than $40 million.24
What’s remarkable is that Le didn’t have to Power of networks
build the entire game from scratch. Instead he In their book Information Rules, Carl Shapiro
converted or “modded” the game from an exist- and Hal R. Varian suggest an altogether new
ing popular game called Half-Life. The tools to axiom for the news business and its future. “The
modify Half-Life into a completely new game old industrial economy was driven by economies
were downloaded from the manufacturer’s Web of scale; the new information economy is driven
site. by the economics of networks.”28
“Many of the best game companies now count Indeed, our traditional notions of econom-
on modders to show them the way creatively ics are being disrupted and transformed by the
and to ensure their own survival in a savagely power of distributed collaboration through our
competitive market,” says Wagner James Au, computer networks.
in his article Triumph of the Mod. “By fostering More than 2 million people worldwide have
the creativity of their fans, their more agile peers been donating their unused computer down time
in the game industry have not only survived but to help the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
prospered.”25 (SETI) analyze 50 billions bytes of signals from
Even gaming giant Electronic Arts encouraged outer space. The SETI@home project, which
gamers to modify their classic hit The Sims. So began in mid-1999, put distributed computing
far, more than 30,000 different Sims mods are on the map.29
available. About the same time that project began, the
“In a sense, mods also represent the most vis- peer-to-peer file sharing program Napster was
ible success of the free (open-source) software launched to enable the sharing of music between
movement on the larger culture,” Au adds. “For users connected to the Internet. At its height, 70
the millions who play computer games, the same million users were trading 2.7 billion files per
ethos of volunteerism and shared ownership that month. Since Napster was shut down, Gnutella
characterizes free software has helped utterly clients such as Morpheus and Kazaa have stepped
transform the gaming experience and the $8 bil- in, allowing billions of movies, songs, ebooks,
lion-plus gaming industry.”26 software and other digital files to be exchanged
In many ways, the open-source movement among the masses.30
offers a glimpse at the future. In open-source It seems as though the possibilities of distrib-
projects, the community builds the tools for uted collaboration are limitless. “Today, millions
itself motivated by hopes of creating better soft- of people and their PCs are not just looking for
ware through mass collaboration. In the best messages from outer space and trading music,”
case, open-source movements can organize and says Rheingold in Smart Mobs, “but tackling can-
develop industry-leading tools (e.g., Linux and cer research, finding prime numbers, rendering
Apache Web server), which sometimes threaten films, forecasting weather, designing synthetic
multibillion-dollar companies. drugs by running simulations on billions of pos-
According to Dave Winer, weblog guru and sible molecules — taking on computing problems
founder of Userland Software, Google’s acqui- so massive that scientists have not heretofore
sition of Pyra and its Blogger weblogging tool considered them.”31
earlier this year “may signal a change possibly as The network economy and the proliferation
deep as the personal computer revolution, where of media are presenting a tremendous challenge
huge glass palaces controlled by technologists for mainstream media organizations, such as
were routed around, by software and hardware newspapers, radio and television. Not only will
that did the same thing, for a fraction of the cost. they have to adapt organizationally, and perhaps
Today, the same software that Vignette sold a philosophically, but their products, over time,
few years ago for millions of dollars can be had will be transformed in unexpected and unfore-
for hundreds, and it’s much easier to install and seen ways.
use.”27 In the next chapter, How participatory jour-
Access to powerful and inexpensive tools is nalism is taking form, we look at the exciting
turning more people into innovators of all sorts. new forms that are emerging for this new media
The challenge for news organizations, ultimately, construct.
Cultural context: Behind the explosion of participatory media | 19
21. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
Endnotes
1
John. D. Ruley, “Yesterday’s Prejudices Today,” Dr. Dobb’s Electronic Review of Computer Books.
http://www.ercb.com/brief/brief.0246.html
2
Tom Standage, The Victorian Internet (Berkley Books. 1999).
3
Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, The Elements of Journalism (Three Rivers Press, 2001).
4
“The Connection Age,” white paper published on the Internet in 2001 by Groove Networks.
http://www.groove.net/pdf/connectionage.pdf
5
NEC Research Inc.
6
Figure on Netcraft.com on May 13, 2003.
7
Howard Rheingold. Posted on his weblog dedicated to his book, Smart Mobs (Perseus Publishing, October 2002).
http://www.smartmobs.com/book/toc_3.html
8
Albert-László Barabási, Linked: The New Science of Networks (Perseus Publishing, May 2002).
9
Andrew Odlyzko, “Content Is not King,” First Monday, June 2002.
http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue6_2/odlyzko/
10
R.H. Reid, Architects of the Web: 1,000 Days that Built the Future of Business (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1997).
11
Wired.com, “Thanks to new easy-to-use software, the number of weblogs on the Net seems to be growing at an
unprecedented rate,” Feb. 23, 2000. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,34006,00.html
12
Most blogging communities do not publicly report the number of active blogs. Also, there is some debate over what qualifies
as a blog. Just three and a half years old, the popular Blogger software (now owned by Google) has 1.1 million registered users.
Evan Williams, founder of the company that built Blogger, estimates that about 200,000 of them are actively running weblogs
(Dan Gillmor, SiliconValley.com, “Google Buys Pyra: Blogging Goes Big-Time,” Feb. 15, 2003). http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/
column/dangillmor/archives/000802.shtml
Joe Laszlo, a Jupiter Research analyst, estimates that around 500,000 people actively maintain a weblog. (Peter Rojas, “Now Bloggers Can
Hit The Road,” Wired.com, Feb. 20, 2003.
http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,57431,00.html
13
Pew Internet & American Life Project, Internet Activities chart. The statistic on weblogging is dated Sept., 2002.
http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/chart.asp?img=Internet_A8.htm
14
Pew Internet & American Life Project, Online Communities: Networks that nurture long-distance relationships and local
ties, Oct. 31, 2001. http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=47
15
Watts Wacker, The Deviant’s Advantage (Crown Publishing, 2002).
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0609609580/
16
Watts Wacker speech at New Directions for News conference. “The News Business in Transition: Forces Shaping the
Future,” Austin, Texas, Oct. 31, 2002.
17
Wacker, from speech.
18
Wacker, from speech.
19
Pew Internet & American Life Project, Online Communities … http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=47
20
Barry Wellman, “Little Boxes, Glocalization, and Networked Individualism,” online publication, July 12, 2002.
http://link.springer.de/link/service/series/0558/bibs/2362/23620010.htm
21
Stefan Thomke, Eric Von Hippel, “Customers as Innovators: A New Way to Create Value,” Harvard Business Review, April 1,
2002. http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=R0204F
22
Thomke and Von Hippel.
23
eBay.com. About eBay: Company Overview Web page. http://pages.ebay.com/community/aboutebay/overview/index.html
24
Geoff Keighley, “Game Development a la Mod,” Business 2.0, October 2002.
http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/print/0,1643,43489,FF.html
25
Wagner James Au, “Triumph of the mod,” Salon.com, April 16, 2002.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/04/16/modding/
26
Au.
27
Dave Winer, “Comments on the Google-Blogger Deal,” Post on his Dave.net weblog, Feb. 20, 2003.
http://davenet.userland.com/2003/02/20/commentsOnTheGooglebloggerDeal
28
Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian, Information Rules (Harvard Business School Press; 1998).
29
Rheingold.
30
Rheingold.
31
Rheingold.
20 | Cultural context: Behind the explosion of participatory media
22. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
CHAPTER 3
How participatory journalism
is taking form
P
articipation has been a fundamental com- where all participants must be online at the same
ponent of the Internet since its inception. time to communicate. This has the benefit of pro-
Newsgroups, mailing lists and bulletin viding immediacy and can be used effectively for
boards were the early cousins to the forums, business services such as customer support. But
weblogs and collaborative communities flourish- for the most part, chat rooms are more like virtual
ing today. Those early forms are still thriving, a cafes or hangouts, with live, unfiltered discussion.
testament to our need to stay connected to our Forum discussions are probably the most
social networks. familiar discussion group form to the average
Participatory journalism flourishes in social Internet user. Forums are typically arranged
media — the interpersonal communication that into threads in which an initial message or post
takes place through e-mail, chat, message boards, appears at the beginning of a discussion and
forums — and in collaborative media — hybrid responses are attached in a branching manner.
forms of news, discussion and community. When forums are viewed in threads, it’s easy to
This section categorizes the forms in which recognize the branching of conversation that oc-
participatory journalism takes shape. Some of curs, some of which might not be entirely related
these forms continue to evolve and merge and to the original post. Some forums permit the au-
thus overlap. The list, while generalized, is meant dience to sort messages by various means — pop-
to describe the outlines of that participation and ularity, date, ranking. Many forums are archived,
the communities where it resides. turning them into a searchable knowledge base of
Considering the “publish, then filter” model1 community conversation.
that most of these forms follow, we define each Here’s a look at the strengths and weaknesses
form’s self-correcting or filtering mechanism. of various forms of online participation, together
The end goal of filtering is the same in all — to with a description of how they work.
amplify the signal-to-noise ratio, separating the Self-correcting process: In a discussion
meaningful information from the chatter. group, moderators police the content and actions
of participants, sometimes removing and editing
Discussion groups parts of the conversations that violate the stan-
Online discussion groups are the oldest and still the dards of the community. These moderators are
most popular forms for participation. Discussion sometimes appointed by the community; in other
groups run the gamut from bulletin boards and cases they are appointed by the host or owner of
forums to mailing lists and chat rooms. the forums. However, in many discussion com-
Participants might engage a discussion group munities, the participants police each other,
to answer tech support questions, to trade stock- sharing their views of when particular behaviors
trading tips, to argue about a favorite sports or actions are inappropriate.
team, to share experiences about a health care Strengths: Most discussion forms have a
issue, or to join a collaborative work project. relatively low barrier to entry (just create an user
Mailing lists, newsgroups, bulletin boards, and account), with an especially low level of commit-
forums are methods of asynchronous communi- ment. For example, a participant can engage a
cation, meaning that all participants do not have forum only once, or few times, and still have a
to be online at the same time to communicate. meaningful experience.
Sometimes this leads to more thoughtful contri- Weaknesses: Sometimes forums are too
butions, because participants have more time to open, easily garnering flip, reactive comments.
refine their responses. Active, large forums can get noisy, with so many
Chat rooms, on the other hand, are synchronous, posts from so many members, it’s hard to deter-
How participatory journalism is taking form | 21
23. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
Figure 3.1: Discussion forums (top) Lawrence Journal, (bottom) About.com
22 | How participatory journalism is taking form
24. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
mine what information is meaningful or useful. edly may build up over time a reputation among
In addition, some moderated forums require each their peers as an expert on the subject.
post to be pre-approved before it appears online, Weaknesses: The quality of user-generated
slowing down and smothering the conversation. content can be uneven, with participants who
Many online media outlets have abandoned are not trained writers or fact-checkers. As a re-
discussion forums in the past few years, citing sult, some content can require extensive editing.
legal problems as well as lack of sufficient staff to Generally, this type of content relies on the good
moderate and maintain forums. Ultimately, some will of the audience to not exploit the system.
media outlets think forums provide little value to It’s easy, in some cases, to skew polls and other
the audience and to the bottom line (ROI).2 One feedback systems, by voting multiple times. Also,
barrier to effective advertising on these pages is a low volume of participation can limit the value
the lack of content control by either the adver- of feedback systems.
tiser or publisher. See Figure 3.2 for examples.
See Figure 3.1 for examples.
Weblogs
User-generated content Among the newest forms of participatory journal-
Many news sites provide a vehicle – through ism to gain popularity is the weblog. A weblog is
Web-based forms or e-mail – designed to col- a web page made up of usually short, frequently
lect content from the audience and redistribute updated text blocks or entries that are arranged
it. This vehicle can collect full-length articles, in reverse chronological order (most recent to
advice/tips, journals, reviews, calendar events, oldest). The content and purpose of weblogs vary
useful links, photos and more. The content is greatly, ranging from personal diary to journal-
usually text-based, but increasingly we are seeing istic community news to collaborative discussion
the contribution of audio, video and photographs. groups in a corporate setting.
After submission, the content appears online Weblogs can provide links and commentary
with or without editorial review, depending on about content on other Web sites. They can be a
the nature of content and the host policy. form of “latest news” page. Or they can consist of
Ranking is another popular and easy way for project diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, proj-
the audience to participate. Examples include ect updates, even fiction. The quick, short posts
rating a story, a reporter and other users. Ranking on weblogs have been likened to “instant mes-
systems typically provide the best benefit when a sages to the Web.” On other weblogs, the content
sufficient number of users have participated, for can be longer, such as excerpts from a research
example, “4,202 readers give this movie 4 out of paper in progress, with the author seeking com-
5 stars.” ment from peers.
Internet users also provide content through Weblogs fall into the one-to-many (individual
feedback systems, such as polls or mini-forums blogs) or many-to-many (group blogs) model of
attached to story pages. Polls sometimes also media, with some allowing no or little discussion
support comment submissions. by users and others generating robust reader re-
Self-correcting process: Usually, audience sponses. Either way, weblogs inevitably become
submissions go to a traditional editor at the host part of what is now called the “blogosphere.”
site, undergo an editing or approval process, and This is the name given to the intercast of weblogs
then are posted to the Web. Ranking and feedback – the linking to and discussion of what others
mechanisms, however, are typically posted live im- have written or linked to, in essence a distributed
mediately. Communities often police the submis- discussion.
sions, and strong agreement or disagreement with The blogosphere is facilitated by several tech-
a submission may prompt members to submit nologies. First, it is supported by TrackBack3
their own comments. This commonly occurs with – a mechanism that automatically finds other
reviews of products, movies and restaurants. comments about a blog post on a weblog, and
Strengths: Like forums, audience submis- provides excerpts and links to the comments
sions have a relatively low barrier to entry, with alongside the post. It’s like having an editorial
a low level of commitment. A participant can page of commentary on the Web, automatically
submit (usually on topics that meet a special generated to appear alongside a story.
interest) only once, or few times, and still have a Second, the blogosphere is fueled by meta-sites
meaningful experience. Those who post repeat- such as Daypop, MIT’s Blogdex, Technorati and
How participatory journalism is taking form | 23
25. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
Figure 3.2
User-generated content
(Top) Citysearch.com,
the leading provider of
online city guides in the
U.S., enables the audience
to write reviews and
contribute information
about venues and
restaurants.
(Bottom) BabyCenter.com
is a community site for
exchanging stories, tips
and advice, as well as
discussing common
problems facing parents.
24 | How participatory journalism is taking form
26. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
others. Theses sites track what items weblogs Collaborative publishing
are linking to and talking about – news stories, The technology behind many online communi-
weblog posts, new products (movies, books, ties is open source and free. In addition, Web
software), whatever subject is catching their at- publishing tools and content management sys-
tention. Meta-sites provides a popularity ranking tems are becoming easier to install, deploy and
of the most linked-to items, and then indexes all manage. As a result, thousands of Web-based
links to those items. collaborative publishing communities have ap-
The blogosphere is also supported by a third peared in the past five years.
technology, XML or RSS syndication. This allows As open-source tools for forums, weblogs
weblogs to syndicate their content to anyone and content management systems (CMS) have
using a “news reader,” a downloadable program evolved, they have begun to blur into each other.
that creates a peer-to-peer distribution model. This has led to the development of groupware,
With content so easily exchanged, it’s easy to Web- or desktop-based applications designed
know what others in your peer group are talking for the collaborative creation and distribu-
about. (XML Syndication is discussed in detail tion of news and information, file-sharing and
later in this chapter). communication. Weblogs are considered to be
Weblogs are a powerful draw in that they en- groupware, because they can be collaboratively
able the individual participant to play multiple created. But in this section, we are addressing
roles simultaneously – publisher, commentator, systems that are somewhat more complex.
moderator, writer, documentarian. A collaborative publishing environment is de-
Weblogs have also proven to be effective col- signed to enable a group of participants (large or
laborative communication tools. They help small small) to play multiple roles: content creators,
groups (and in a few cases, large) communicate moderators, editors, advertisers and readers.
in a way that is simpler and easier to follow than While the environment may be owned by an in-
e-mail lists or discussion forums. dividual creator or host organization, the goal of
For example, a project team can collaboratively these systems is distributed ownership and deep
produce a weblog, where many individuals can involvement from its community of users.
post information (related Web site links, files, Forums, mailing lists and weblogs can be effec-
quotes, meeting notes or commentary) that tive collaborative publishing environments. But
might be useful or interesting to the group or to what distinguishes this group from other forms
inform others outside the group. A collaborative is the self-correcting process and the rules that
weblog can help keep everyone in the loop, pro- govern participation (see Chapter 4 for more on
moting cohesiveness in the group. rules).
Self-correcting process: Weblogs rely on Forums use moderators and community feed-
audience feedback, through weblog commenting back. Weblogs usually have a feedback feature or,
forms, e-mail or remarks made on other weblogs, more often, other weblogs link back and discuss
as a method of correction. Typically, webloggers posts. However, in complex collaborative publish-
are reliable about correcting their mistakes, and ing environments, the self-correcting processes
a great many frequently link to dissenting view- are more akin to peer review, traditional editing
points on the Web. oversight and meta-moderators, individuals who
Strengths: Weblogs are easy to set up, oper- police moderators to make sure the conversation
ate and maintain. The technology is relatively doesn’t get skewed or diluted.
inexpensive, sometimes even free. This allows The most well-known of these environments is
just about anyone to simultaneously become a Slashdot.org, which resembles a cross between
publisher, creator and distributor of content. a large-scale forum and a collaborative weblog.
Weaknesses: This type of publishing requires Slashdot is driven by a combination of editorial
a higher level of commitment and time from the oversight by its owners, submissions by users, and
creator than other forms. Also, it is difficult for moderation and meta-moderation by the com-
weblogs to attract readers, other than through munity of users. The site attracts more than 10
word of mouth and weblog aggregation and search million unique readers each month, with roughly
engines. Weblogs have also been judged as being a half million audience members (5 percent)
too self-referential, with critics likening them more participating by submitting articles, moderating,
to the “Daily Me” than the “Daily We.” ranking and posting comments. The open-source
See Figures 3.3 and 3.4 for examples. technology behind Slashdot now runs thousands
How participatory journalism is taking form | 25
27. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
Figure 3.3 Weblogs
(Top) InstaPundit is one of
the most well-known and
popular weblogs, written
by Glenn Reynolds, a law
professor at the University
of Tennessee.
(Bottom) Florida Today
uses a weblog format to
chronicle the launch and
landing of space shuttle
missions. This example is
the weblog for Columbia,
which tragically exploded
during re-entry over
the Southwestern US in
February 2003.
26 | How participatory journalism is taking form
28. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information
Figure 3.4 Weblogs
(Top) Gawker, a gossip
weblog for New York
City, made Entertainment
Weekly’s 2003 “It List,”
with the editors noting,
“The cheeky roundup
of gossip, hipster to-do
items, and withering
commentary on pop-
culture news has
become a must-read for
Manhattan’s media elite.”
(Bottom) Leo’s Mob is a
moblog — a mobile weblog
created with a cell phone
digital camera.
How participatory journalism is taking form | 27
