Date post: | 01-Nov-2014 |
Category: |
News & Politics |
Upload: | axel-bruns |
View: | 3,539 times |
Download: | 3 times |
c r e a t i v e n d u s t r i e si
creativeindustries.qut.com
Beyond the Pro/Am SchismOpportunities for Collaboration between Professional and Citizen Journalists under a Produsage Framework
Dr Axel BrunsMedia & Communication
Queensland University of [email protected] – snurb.info
c r e a t i v e n d u s t r i e si
creativeindustries.qut.com
Citizen Journalism
‒ Common themes:• deliberative journalism
∘ greater role for commenting and discussion∘ but: fragmented, inconclusive, easily distracted
• hyperlocal coverage∘ covering themes and places ignored by the mainstream∘ but: interest horizon limits comprehensive coverage
• “Estate 4.5” (Jane Singer)∘ a watchdog for the watchdogs – gatewatching, not gatekeeping∘ but: limited in its effects, despite well-known successes
c r e a t i v e n d u s t r i e si
creativeindustries.qut.com
Industrial Journalism
‒ Common themes:• comprehensive coverage
∘ industry structure supports long-term investigative journalism projects∘ but: decline in funding and staffing, increased reliance on newswires
• professional ethics∘ objectivity and impartiality as key ideals of journalism∘ but: no more than ideals, due to commercial and political pressures
• journalists as dedicated experts∘ quality sources, quality research, quality writing∘ but: routine worldviews, limited insight into complex topics
c r e a t i v e n d u s t r i e si
creativeindustries.qut.com
Experts and Amateurs‒ Case study: Possums Pollytics during the 2007 Australian election
• blogger specialising in psephology (analysis of public opinion polls)• rose to wider recognition in public stoushes with The Australian’s
election analysts (esp. Dennis Shanahan)∘ “sheltered academics and failed journalists who would not get a job on a real
newspaper”; “we understand Newspoll because we own it” (12 July 2007)∘ “statistical bloggers forever complain … and essentially want polls to be
banished from newspapers and public debate except during an election”(21 Feb. 2008)
• Who’s the expert here?∘ cf. Dan Gillmor: “my readers know more than I do” ∘ professional journalists vs. amateur journalists, but also∘ professional psephologists vs. (very) amateur psephologists
scientific expertise (in psephology) trumps expert craftsmanship (in journalism)
c r e a t i v e n d u s t r i e si
creativeindustries.qut.com
Citizens and Journalists
‒ Beyond ‘us vs. them’ mentality• citizens as sources (breadth of coverage):
∘ first-hand witnesses from ‘hyperlocal’ places and fields
• citizens as experts (depth):∘ in-depth knowledge of specialist domains
• citizens as organisers (length over time):∘ ongoing management of information flows
b
d
t
dimensions ofnews coverage
c r e a t i v e n d u s t r i e si
creativeindustries.qut.com
citizenjournalism
Extending News Coverage
b
d
t
industryjournalism
c r e a t i v e n d u s t r i e si
creativeindustries.qut.com
New News Models
‒ Beyond news production – enabling citizen participation:• more space for involvement of users as content creators• more fluid roles of involvement in news processes• “a small cathedral” supporting a large bazaar (Ian Skerrett)• status of contributors determined more by track record than by position
(active participation, not static expertise) equipotential, heterarchical organisation of the news process
‒ Beyond news as product – enabling news extensibility:• news reports flexible, not finished at time publication• discussion and commentary as standard element of any news story• news as product news as process• journalism as profession / craft journalism as capacity / skill
c r e a t i v e n d u s t r i e si
creativeindustries.qut.com
News Produsage
‒ Produsage:• collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing content
in pursuit of further improvement (e.g. open source, Wikipedia, …)• some key principles:
∘ communal evaluation of contributions and contributors∘ fluid heterarchy of participants as determined by ad hoc meritocracy∘ continuing process of content creation with unfinished artefacts
reshaping of news from conflict stories to information dossiers repositioning of journalists from sole authors to community leaders
• early examples: OhmyNews – Youdecide2007 – Off the Bus – myHeimat
c r e a t i v e n d u s t r i e si
creativeindustries.qut.com
Shameless Plug
snurb.infogatewatching.orgprodusage.org