The BBC’s new Statements of Programme Policy has a revealing snippet about the attitudes of TV to user-generated content. On page 57 of this lengthy document (PDF), the broadcaster says: We will augment our news coverage with video, still images and messages submitted by viewers, where appropriate, in order to offer first-hand accounts and a wide range of views. We aim to make it as simple as possible for audiences
PDF This post is slightly off topic, but it relates to issues of technology, copyright and social media. Go to a gig today and there’ll be dozens of people shooting photos or video on mobile phones or small point and shoot cameras. I am usually one of these people and have never had any trouble. Last night, I was at the Rush gig in Vancouver. Yes, I fess up, I have
I have been at the ICA annual conference in Montreal this week, talking about the research that Neil Thurman and myself have done into “participatory journalism” in Britain. What follows is a shortened version of the talk by Neil Thurman and myself, but it is still on the long side for a blog post. The term participatory journalism is itself rather ill defined. We’ve taken it to mean the technical,
Image by ToastyKen via FlickrResearching honeymoon plans for Thailand, I’ve been using a combination of legacy media in the form of a Lonely Planet guide, and new media, in this case TripAdvisor. The two fulfill very different purposes and illustrate the difference between static and networked media. The Lonely Planet guide is a good place to start. But, of course, it suffers from the limitations of being a paper guide.
The afternoon session at the Online Journalism Symposium focuses on the shift from passive audiences to online communities. Jim Brady, executive editor of the WashingtonPost.com makes a compelling argument for engaging with audiences online. The Post’s strategy is smart – it tries out a lot of different things, from blogs to live discussions to comments on articles, to see what works and what doesn’t. “Out of all the things we’ve
The British comedy duo of Mitchell and Webb make fun of the current trend towards interactivity and user-generated content by broadcasters such as the BBC. The clip is from their BBC show, That Mitchell and Webb Look: Print
Following the resignation of New York Governor Elliot Spitzer, the media turned its attention to the woman before his downfall, 22-year old Ashley Alexandra Dupre, otherwise known as Kristen. Much of the background information on her, as well as photos, have come from social networking sites, such as MySpace. Gawker is looking to satisfy the more voyeuristic among us by producing what it called Kristen: The Definitive Gallery. That MySpace
An interesting take on the US presidential elections produced by my friend Erica Rowell and Michele Chivu, reminiscence in style of The Washington Post’s OnBeing project. Print
Letting the public into the hallowed halls of journalism is a divisive issue among editors. A study by my friend and colleague, Neil Thurman of City University, revealed just how divided the UK news media is over user-generated content. His paper, “Forums for citizen journalists? Adoption of user generated content initiatives by online news media”, published in New Media & Society, examines attitudes to letting audiences contribute to professionally edited
The CBC’s project to revitalise its offering in Vancouver is nearly complete, with a major revamp of its local website and a relaunch of its evening TV news show. Vancouver is the testbed for the myCBC project and this is now been extended to other regional hubs across the country. A key element of the initiative is to build closer ties with the community by offering opportunities for citizen-generated content.