Help, help. Get that citizen journalist out of that box!!!!
Okay. Perhaps the title shouldnâ??t be taken that seriously.
Citizen Journalism in a Box
is a toolkit that will â??provide accessible and effective training
materials on selected free software tools and web applications with a
focus on giving people what they need to know in order to create and
distribute content. The materials will cover print publishing, using
images, online publishing and audio.â?
It comes to us from the Tactical Technology Collective, the makers of â??NGO in a Box.â?
One thing that Iâ??ve written about before is the need for
a citizen network in a box, or what I call â??Community in a Box.â?
Sure, ‘community in a box’ sounds like an oxy-moron, but consider events like Virginia
Tech, the Los Angeles fires, and Katrina. Those arenâ??t just moments for
citizen journalism to shine. They are moments when citizen journalism
and networks of people NEED to form online.
I remember during Katrina when Craigslist played a surprising role.
In the recent LA fires Twitter ended up being a major source for news
and information.
So what are the tools that are needed to form a â??community in a
boxâ?? When disaster strikes and a community or network of citizen
journalists is needed to inform the greater public, what tools do we
turn to? And when will those be packaged?
The Citizen Journalsit in a Box toolkit is due out sometime this month.
Side note of the day: I saw the television writer’s strike coming a long time ago. From December 12th, 2005:
From my conversations I gathered that this call to govern product
placements, specifically in reality television shows, is actually an
attempt to better the WGA’s position when it’s time to renegotiate
their contract with the broadcasters. From their point of view it’s
time that reality television show writers get put into the Writer’s
Guild union.