Big media has been encouraging contributions from citizen contributors for a while – and the new UK agency for consumer generated pictures and videos, previously mentioned here, gets a mention in Wired magazine this month.
I was reading the magazine on the way to the Portable Media Expo & Podcasting Conference 2005 in Ontario, CA. The conference kicks off today, and the podcasting side of things really seem to be creating a buzz – I’ll be using the event to kick-start my blog again after work and the start of the new university year gave me an excuse to neglect it for too long.
The traditional media has been having an uneasy relationship with bloggers and podcasters who consider themselves true journalists. And yet when there is a good story have been keen to use the best content available from citizen journalists – photos or video clips etc. It was ever thus – eye-witness accounts have always had immediacy and impact. And the big media is also getting into blogging and podcasting itself.
One question already asked of a forum I’m planning to attend is:
“Are there any examples of citizen led podcasting making political or social changes, yet? Or are we still in the gathering phase?”
My initial thoughts are to question whether podcasts are the right forum for political or social change?
Currently blogs seem to achieved the critical mass: they are searchable, easy to access and the ideas are easily assimilated. These qualities mean that a blog which says something with impact can be all over the blogshpere easily.
It is much more difficult for a message from a podcast to promulgate ... although a podcast itself could become influential ... think of Letter from America, or a weekly presidential address. But that requires the author to already be respected or earn respect in their own field.
Anyway, here’s to many more thoughts and entries in the blog over the next couple of days. Greetings from California, where my body clock is all over the place!
Matt
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