We Media

About "We Media"

Sun, 21 Sep 2003 16:14:41 GMT

We are at the beginning of a Golden Age of journalism — but it is not journalism as we have known it. Media futurists have predicted that by 2021, "citizens will produce 50 percent of the news peer-to-peer." However, mainstream news media have yet to meaningfully adopt or experiment with these new forms. Historically, journalists have been charged with informing the democracy. But their future will depend not on only how well they inform but how well they encourage...

Introduction by Dale Peskin

Sun, 21 Sep 2003 15:18:18 GMT

There are three ways to look at how society is informed. The first is that people are gullible and will read, listen to, or watch just about anything. The second is that most people require an informed intermediary to tell them what is good, important or meaningful. The third is that people are pretty smart; given the means, they can sort things out for themselves, find their own version of the truth. The means have arrived. The truth is out there. Throughout history, access...

Foreword by Dan Gillmor

Sun, 21 Sep 2003 15:17:04 GMT

In March 2002, at the annual PC Forum conference in suburban Phoenix, a telecommunications chief executive found himself on the receiving end of acerbic commentary from a pair of weblog writers who found his on-stage comments wanting. Joe Nacchio, then the head of Qwest Communications, was complaining about the travails of running his monopoly. Doc Searls, a magazine writer, and I were posting on our blogs via the wireless conference network. A lawyer and software developer named...

Chapter 1: Introduction to participatory journalism

Sun, 21 Sep 2003 15:15:09 GMT

In his 1995 book Being Digital, Nicholas Negroponte predicted that in the future, online news would give readers the ability to choose only the topics and sources that interested them. "The Daily Me," as Negroponte called it, worried many guardians of traditional journalism. To actively allow a reader to narrow the scope of coverage, observed some, could undermine...

Chapter 2: Cultural context - Behind the explosion of participatory media

Sun, 21 Sep 2003 15:14:05 GMT

"Have you any news?" — The second message transmitted by Samuel B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph.¹ Newspapermen of the Victorian era feared the telegraph would spell their doom. "The mere newspapers must submit to destiny and go out of existence," wrote one newspaper executive.² Yet, just the opposite...

Chapter 3: How participatory journalism is taking form

Sun, 21 Sep 2003 15:13:13 GMT

Participation has been a fundamental component of the Internet since its inception. Newsgroups, mailing lists and bulletin boards were the early cousins to the forums, weblogs and collaborative communities flourishing today. Those early forms are still thriving, a testament to our need to stay connected to our social networks. Participatory journalism flourishes in social media — the interpersonal communication that takes place through email, chat, message boards,...

Chapter 4: The rules of participation

Sun, 21 Sep 2003 15:11:52 GMT

The abundance and proliferation of virtual communities and collaboration environments provide the opportunity for anyone to play just about any role in the journalistic process. As we discussed in the last chapter, the audience has taken on the roles of publisher, broadcaster, editor, content creator (writer, photographer, videographer, cartoonist), commentator, documentarian, knowledge manager (librarian), journaler and advertiser (buyer and seller). For media organizations...

Chapter 5: Implications for media and journalism

Sun, 21 Sep 2003 15:10:06 GMT

The Internet has grown in a way distinctly different from any medium before it. As a result, it's difficult to predict how the Net will change mainstream media and to what magnitude. To say that media will undergo a "paradigm shift" might be an understatement. Consider that today 1 billion computers are connected to the Internet, most dialing in through telephone lines. By the end of 2010, Intel predicts that more than 1.5 billion computers will be connected via...

Chapter 6: Potential benefits of We Media

Sun, 21 Sep 2003 15:09:35 GMT

Participatory journalism is not going to disappear any time soon. Communication, collaboration and sharing personal passions have been at the heart of the Internet since its inception more than 30 years ago. David Weinberger, author of Small Pieces Loosely Joined, says that this is because the Web is not just a giant marketplace or an information resource. Rather, "it's a social...

Chapter 7: How media might respond

Sun, 21 Sep 2003 15:08:40 GMT

Media organizations will need to rethink some of their basic ideas about journalism, organization and the role of audience if they hope to remain indispensable resources to their readers and viewers. This chapter explores effective ways of integrating participatory journalism into existing media operations.

Connections = Value

Our research suggests a simple proposition for media in the network economy: Connections equal value. There are three types...