Mark Van't Hooft, Kent State University

Slide 1: Citizen Journalism (Post 16 and Adult Learning) Mark van ‘t Hooft, PhD Kent State University Research Center for Educational Technology Kent, OH, USA Handheld Learning Conference London, UK October 2007

Slide 2: A Prediction 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.” (Bowman & Willis, 2004)

Slide 3: A Model for the 21st Century “Newsroom” http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/blasts_mob From: the Online Journalism Blog: http:// http://onlinejournalismblog.wordpress.com/2007/09/17/a-model-for-the-21st-century-newsroom-pt1-the-news-diamond/ youtube.com/results?search_query =kerry+tazer

Slide 4: So … the more reporters the better?...... Maybe

Slide 5: What Is Citizen Journalism? The Good… • Public, participatory form of reporting news, anywhere from local to (inter)national levels. • Importance of digital technology: mobile devices, media sharing sites. • Immediacy of reporting. London, 7/7/2005 • Is 2007 the year of citizen journalism? (link)

Slide 6: … and the Bad • Things can get out of hand: – Power: Citizen journalism as a form of fascism? (link) – Vandalism: LA Times failed Wikitorial project ( link) • How much information is too much? • Issues of verifying origin and reliability of content.

Slide 7: One Example: Moblogging • Mobile Web Log • User-created content on customized website, uploaded from mobile device • Examples: – http://moblog.co.uk/ – http://www.textamerica.com/

Slide 8: But it’s not just about the mobile technology… We can’t forget the user and the context!

Slide 9: Implications for News Creation and Consumption • Speed - How rapidly can the content be captured and shared? • Scalability - How many \"reporters\" are created when you expand the sources of content? • Intensity - In many ways, the video captured on the video phone is way more intense to watch, including the physical reactions of the people holding the phones. • Context Richness - The content has huge context implications, as it comes from people in the midst of a situation. Multiple video phones can provide multiple views of the same incidents. (adapted from: Elliot Masie’s Learning Trends)

Slide 10: Implications for Education ? • Citizenship Education • Information/Data Literacy • “Journalistic” Skills • Ethical Issues

Slide 11: Citizenship Education No one is born a good citizen, no nation is born a democracy. Rather both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Kofi Annan

Slide 12: Information/Data/Media Literacy The need: ... the most important remaining ingredient of a truly democratized electronic newsgathering is neither a kind of hardware nor a variety of software, but a species of literacy ... Rheingold, 2003

Slide 13: Information/Data/Media Literacy The challenge I: We use data every day—to choose medications or health practices, to decide on a place to live, or to make judgments about education policy and practice … but how do you judge the reliability of what you read, see, or hear? This is no trivial skill— and we are not preparing students to make these critical and subtle distinctions Rubin, 2005

Slide 14: Information/Data/Media Literacy • The challenge II: • Although youth are becoming more adept at using media as resources (for creative expression, research, social life, etc.), they often are limited in their ability to examine the media themselves. • Jenkins et al., 2006

Slide 15: “Journalistic” Skills • Finding stories in events • Cultivating and mobilizing networks of sources • Double and triple checking facts • Getting the story right week after week, year after year. But also: • Knowing how to most effectively share your story with an audience (and mix, mesh, revise…) that is increasingly online. • Interacting with your audience. Adapted from Rheingold, 2003

Slide 16: Ethical Issues Copyright (traditional v. CreativeCommons) http://flickr.com/photos/hive/313294937/ Privacy Vandalizing of online spaces

Slide 17: And Finally… • Citizen journalism will not replace traditional forms of news reporting, but become an important supplement. • Education for an informed http://steverubel.typepad.com/micropersuasion/images/blog citizenry as consumers and cartoon.jpg producers of news is critical, or we may end up with …

Slide 18: http://www.cyberjournalist.net/images/WTD130.gif Adapted from: http://schnutinger.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/buergerj http://www.namesatwork.com/blog/2005/11/26/true-not-funny ournalismus-4.gif

Slide 19: http://www.rcet.or g

Slide 20: References Annandale, R. (2005, March 11). Why is it suddenly hot for news to be cool? The Thunderbird. Available online at http://www.journalism.ubc.ca/thunderbird/2005.03/features/dose.html Bowman, S., & Willis C., (2003). We media: How audiences are shaping the future of news and information. Reston, Va: The Media Center. Available online at http://www.hypergene.net/wemedia/download/we_media.pdf) Brown, M. (2005, Spring). Abandoning the news. Carnegie Reporter, 3(2). Available online at http://www.carnegie.org/reporter/10/news/index.html Gillmor, D. (2006, March 9). Technology feeds grassroots media. BBC News. Retrieved April 27, 2006 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4789852.stm Gillmor, D. (2004). We the media: Grassroots journalism by the people, for the people. Cambridge, MA: O’Reilly. Jenkins, H. et al. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Chicago, IL: the MacArthur Foundation. Available at: http://www.digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF Lasica, J. D. (2003, August 7). What is participatory journalism? Online Journalism Review. Retrieved April 27, 2006 from http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1060217106.php Masie, E. (2005). 326 - FLASH REPORT: Cell Phone Video Use in London Terror Coverage. Retrieved September 24, 2007, from http://trends.masie.com/archives/2005/07/326_flash_repor.html Murray, G. (2007). Adapt or die: A 10-step guide for journalism schools stuck in the fourth estate. White paper. Kent, OH: Kent State University. Available at http://stream.kent.edu/gmurray/JMC/Adapt_Or_Die.pdf Oblinger, D., & Oblinger, J. (Eds., 2005). Educating the Net Generation. Educause E-book. Available at http:// www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen#copyright Outing, S. (2005, June 15). The 11 layers of citizen journalism. Poynter Online. Retrieved April 27, 2006 from http:// www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=83126 Rheingold, H. (2003). Smartmobs: The next social revolution. Cambridge, MA: Perseus. Rheingold, H. (2003). Moblogs Seen as a Crystal Ball for a New Era in Online Journalism. Online Journalism Review Retrieved September 24, 2007 from http://www.ojr.org/ojr/technology/1057780670.php Roush, W. (2005). Social machines. Technology Review, 108(8), 45-53. Rubin, A. (2005). Math that matters. Hands On: A Journal for Mathematics and Science Educators, 28(1), 3–7. The Media Center (2005, April). The future of news. Synapse. Available online at http://www.mediacenter.org/mediacenter/synapse/synapse_psp_0405.pdf Twist, J. (2005, July 8). Mobiles capture blast aftermath. BBC News. Retrieved April 27, 2006 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4663561.stm