Archive for category Digi-Dream

Date: March 2nd, 2010
Cate: Digi-Dream
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The Shift Newspapers Use When They Discuss “Citizen Journalism”

The following was originally published on my Posterous blog “Digidave’s Quickies” – where I often collect my brain musings. I thought it was too good to just leave it there and wanted to see if others had thoughts on this conversation.

OJR had an interesting post out today that is making the rounds. But I see a big problem with it.

Their headline: “The pros and cons of newspapers partnering with ‘citizen journalism’ networks.”

The post was an aggregation of quotes from different newspaper people. All the quotes had good points. The basic rundown.

Pro = We can make money off of it.
Con = We still don’t really trust “them.”

And therein lay the problem: This is a one sided (us vs. them) newspaper centric conversation.

The important pros and cons of citizen journalism have much less to do with newspapers and more to do with…. life.

These are the pro/con I see with citizen journalism and the potential partnering with news organizations.

Pro = a healthy and vibrant conversation is good for democracy.
Con = filter failure.

Interesting the role that newspapers play in relation to this broader picture of citizen journalism.

Pro newspaper relation: Newspapers typically played this role and need to continue doing so and newspapers are hurting (although not because of citizen journalism). So the question is if newspapers are losing their prestigious place as the “4th estate” by recognizing that citizens can play that role without “the press” traditionally understood.

Con newspaper relation: newspapers respond to the filter failure by providing an authoritative voice.

Interesting that the relationship of the pro and con that come to my mind are reversed in their relationship to newspapers. The pro of citizen journalism can be interpreted as a con for newspapers and the con of filter failure can be responded to with a strong editorial voice by newspapers.

Just a late night thought.

Date: November 16th, 2009
Cate: Digi-Dream, Journalism Theory/Analysis
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Don’t Save Journalism – Save Honest Communication

(Funny that my last post was on having bloggers block and tonight this is pouring out of me. I guess I needed to clear my throat. I don’t want to be an annoying pontificator. As I said in my last post – I want to be on the front lines of all this. I’m a grunt, at best a squad leader. But to do so – I often need a clear vision of where and why I’m doing Spot.Us. If anything – this is an invocation to myself).

Clay Shirky is a wise sage in this era. If the revolution we are going through is akin to that of Gutenberg’s Clay Shirky is a Martin Luther.

I bring him up because most of what I will write below has been written by him in Twitter form. “The rallying cry isn’t ‘save newspapers’ but ‘save society.’”

Journalism is a loaded term. Defining it at times feels like counting how many angels can stand on the tip of a needle.

Much easier is articulating the goals of journalism. At its best the aim is “to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.” This is one of my favorite quotes on the purpose of journalism. Another is “to speak truth to power.” I’m sure others exist. What’s your favorite?

Journalism as a word is loaded because of the ministry it invokes. The profession that, since Watergate, has laid claim to it. That ministry is now a diaspora. Much like after the Gutenberg revolution the ministry lost its authority in interpreting the bible. Martin Luther showed us how. In reaction many journalists cling even tighter to that word.

But the word needs to be redefined.

I go back to Henry Jenkins who pinpointed why I dislike the term “citizen journalism.”

In some respects I dislike the term “journalism.” (My take on The Rhetoric of Journalism.)

Now before you get your tar and feather – here me out.

I love the idea of speaking truth to power. I love the idea of afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted. I love the idea of communities informing themselves so they can make better decisions.

Journalism does this – but if we didn’t call it “Journalism” (with a big J) would it make any difference? What is at stake here isn’t an industry. Yes, it’s sad to lose an industry. We lost the button making industry when plastic button making machines were made. That was sad. We lost the horse shoe making industry when cars replaced horses. We have probably lost countless industries due to technical innovations.

But did we lose clothes? Did we lose the freedom to travel? Has our general progress as a world been forward towards more freedom and democracy? What is bad for newspapers might be good for the word (Yes – putting content online for free has caused economic problems for newspapers – but it has made mankind better).

And while we may be losing something in terms of robustness of newspapers we are gaining something new with citizen media (there’s that term again?!?).

People wonder if citizen journalism can replace professionals. That’s the WRONG QUESTION.

The silliness of that question: If Major League Baseball stopped tomorrow would all the little leagues in the country be able to replace it? If industrial sweater factories shut down tomorrow would knitting hobbyists be able to replace them?

Nobody would ever ask these questions because the goal of little leagues and knitting groups isn’t to replace their professional counterparts. Instead, they are to create a sense of community, a positive activity for children. If these non-professional activities disappeared could they be replaced? Could professional baseball play the role of the local little league?

So I ask: If citizen journalism activities were to stop tomorrow could professional journalists replace them?

Do I really dislike the term “journalism” – of course not. But it is so incredibly loaded. In another post we could discuss how it needs a re-branded (which is doubly-ironic, I know). We discuss this craft but readers don’t care what we call it. They care about whether it “speaks truth to power, afflicts the comfortable, etc.” That newspaper circulation has been going down since 1972 (well before the Internet) should say something to us all.

What we need to preserve isn’t newspapers. I’d argue it isn’t even “journalism” as we understand it. What we need to save is something else. Something more fundamental. The ability for communities to be informed with honest information and then to mobilize based on that information.

And that’s all I really have to say about that….

Date: November 15th, 2009
Cate: Digi-Dream, Travel

Breaking the Bloggers Block

I’ve had bloggers block lately.

I received several suggestions on how to break it. So here I am, trying to follow up on all of them.

First: Write about something. Lower your standards and just write.

Perhaps the bloggers block also comes from my new Posterous blog aptly subtitled “Digidave’s Quickies: Not exactly a blog post. Too long for Twitter.”

I used to write personal blog posts here. This is space both for my professional thoughts but it is also my personal journal. Something I can use to remember funny moments and sad memories. From my Thanksgiving in Atlantic City to the passing of my grandparents. Obviously my personal life continues but I haven’t really written about any of it here on Digidave.org. When I started this blog I was 23. I am fast approaching 28 (AHHHH!!!!!). I can never tell what is or isn’t appropriate for this space. I look at Jeff Jarvis blogging his cancer and I’m inspired. At the same time – I’m no Jarvis. Nor do I have a life experience has heavy as cancer to share.

The deepest thoughts I might have are those of somebody who still feels as though he is 17 but is fast approaching 30. Laugh all you want – my peers and I have this conversation all the time. I think it is particularly strong for folks my age who are either the youngest of the Gen Xers or the oldest of the Mellenials. I feel stuck in between.

Suggestion 2: Do a round-up of things that have caught your attention.

By this I think most people meant a link-fest. Anyone that knows me should know that I am a big believer in aggregation as a way to serve the reader. But lately I haven’t had time to keep up with everything. So instead of a link to other articles I’m going to do a round-up of things I’ve been doing.

1. Publish2.com. I’m an advisor and it’s on my mind a lot lately. I’m loving the new interface for WordPress (hat tip Daniel) and I think they are about to hit a nice stride with more tools.

2. NewsInnovation.com: I spent last week in New York. The timing was great because Spot.Us freelance Lindsey Hoshaw had a piece in the NYT. I was out there for the third New Business Models for News Conference. I helped to organize the first two with Jeff Jarvis. I helped with this third one as well – albiet a smaller role. I naturally stepped back to focus on Spot.Us. I could do a whole post on this conference, working with Jeff, etc. But intsead I’ll point to Jeff’s post about what was one of the better take aways.

3. Spot.Us launched November 11th 2008. It has been a year. I want to do an epic blog post about it. But I fear this milestone may go unrecognized if I don’t get past this writers block. But it goes without saying that Spot.Us is on my mind all the time. It is certainly #1 in my mind even if it’s #3 in this list. Also – I’m trying to keep focused on the redesign and not get distracted by all the student quiries.

4. That last bit is a handfull. I LOVE j-students. I want to hug them and encourage them in every way I can. I try to make myself availabe and as open/honest as I can. But lately it’s stating to take a toll. It feels as though I spend one full day a week answering questions for j-students (international or otherwise) ph.d students who are studying the future of journalism or doing Skype calls with students. Again, I love it. I want to encourage everyone to do their own startup. But every now and then I reach a limit and just want to put my head down and work. I view my working on Spot.Us akin to being on the front line of a war. I’m a grunt. I like to work like grunt. A big part of how I got to where I am is that I wanted everyone to consider me the hardest working kid in journalism. While working for Jay Rosen on NewAssignment.Net and at Columbia I got that reputation. I intend to keep it. Talking with students does help (me and them) but it is not my main goal.

5. Broowaha: I bet you didn’t know that I am the editor of a citizen journalims site Broowaha.com. Well, I am! I am not exactly on the front lines of this site – but I am a part of the community. It keeps me rooted and honest when I discuss issues about citizen journalism. So no – I’m not just a talker, I’m a doer. And Broowaha is what gives me my experience in pure play citizen journalism stuff.

6. Life. Life is happening all the time. I suppose that is a bit of a reason for the bloggers block. It seems to be happening so fast this past year. Being in NY this last week reminded me of where I’ve been. This could also be a long post. One where I’d go over my fond memories of NY. Conquering certain things – losing others. All my friends who are in NY, which include a ton of my best friends from childhood, etc. I’ll spare you the sentimental dribble right now but a part of me just wants to let it pour all out.

Despite that last sentence, I’m actually going to cut myself here. As you might have guessed from the title of this post – I’m not sure where I was going with this. Then again, it’s nice not to have a destination.

Date: July 19th, 2009
Cate: Digi-Dream, Links and People
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Journalism Bloggers as Bands and Musicians

I love analogies. This is a fun post that has been brewing in my head for a long time. I’ve been incredibly lucky in my young career to have met and exchanged ideas with fascinating journo-bloggers. I try to learn a bit from all of them. This is a fun ode to that.

What band/musician would I be? Or, name drop other journo-bloggers and I’ll add them to the list and come up with more musical analogies (If I am not familiar with them you should suggest what band/musician they might be as well).

Amy Gahran: Janis Joplin

Nobody could wail like Joplin. I often refer to Amy as a “force of nature” and I imagine Joplin was the same. Amy doesn’t hold back punches. She is passionate and will let you know exactly what she thinks.

Suzanne Yada: Alanis Morissette

First: You should hear her play piano, but that is hardly an analogy – she really plays piano beautifully. More importantly – Suzanne will charm the pants off you unassumingly. And when you see her in action, wow. As a practical example – she is a social media boon to The Public Press.

Susan Mernit: Carol King

Susan has given me incredibly wise advice since I first met her in person. Carol King lifts people with her music and gives them a broader sense of the world and what they are doing in it.

Jeff Jarvis: Pete Townshend

Arguable one of the best guitar players ever, Townshend helped usher in the era of MTV. The Who helped pioneer the Rock Opera and it wasn’t really understood at the time. “Talking bout my generation” is still an all time classic.

The CoPress Gang: Green Day

Young, in your face, and too loud for your parents. But that is EXACTLY what I love about this gang. I’m lucky to be on the board of directors for the nonprofit at the moment, but in truth, I only joined so I can keep my eye on all these kids. In a few years I hope they will remember me and hire me. I’ve now met a few of them in person. They are all amazing. Of those I’ve met: Greg Linch = Death Cab for Cutie, Daniel Bachhuber = Dave Grohl and Joey Baker = Sublime

Howard Weaver: James Taylor

Smooth soothing songwriting. I imagine Weaver was one hell-of-a-leader; not by force, but by example.

Howard Owens: Lynyrd Skynyrd

Epic. Epic. Epic. And despite the amazing guitar solo’ing ability – humble, down to earth and practical.

Ryan Sholin: Bob Marley

I had to pick some kind of hippie band. I don’t even think Sholin associates himself as a hippie, but I always picture him in Santa Cruz. Plus – Marley was a living legend. Nobody can ever touch what he did. Plus, Marley just makes you feel good. Whenever I see Ryan I start to crack a smile. This guy gives me warm fuzzies all over.

Scott Karp: U2

An intelligent band that crosses generations. U2 is also at the top of the charts again – after almost 30 years of being part of pop music. Publish2.com also released a WordPress widget, one of the more interesting media-related events this week (disclaimer – I’m on the board of advisors to Publish2.com).

Mathew Ingram: Barenaked Ladies

A Canadian band that kicks ass. You’d be surprised – they have some serious work along with the quirky.. But even when they are producing humorous songs, they tend to be catchy and keep you coming back for more. I hear they are a great band to see live and Matt makes for good conversation.

Leonard Witt: Tom Petty

A living rock and roll legend, Tom Petty never fully embraced rock and roll over-indulgence. Instead, Petty is the rock and roll hall of famer that you can imagine also being your father.

George Kelly: Prince

Prince is relatively shy, but is perhaps one of the most talented musicians of the last three decades. The guy plays every single instrument. A testament to Prince’s brilliance: There is no bass track in “When Dove’s Cry.” I can’t think of another musician that could write a #1 hit without a bass track. Also – if you are ever lucky enough to hear George sing, he has a great voice.

Jay Rosen: Talking Heads

David Byrne and the Talking Heads were lightyears ahead of their time. Their music still captivates me. Byrne was also one of the first musicians to really embrace blogging.

Pat Thornton: The Clash

A punk band with pop appeal. Pat calls it like he sees it. He isn’t afraid of pointing out what is wrong, and despite criticisms isn’t a negative force in the journalism community, but gives it a good positive push in the right direction.

Steve Outing: Bela Fleck

A masterful musician. A bit jazy – Steve has been building a strong niche covering digital advertising and micro-patronage. If you ever have a banjo/jazz thirst, Bela is your boy. If you ever got a question about new online payment systems – check Steve’s blog.

Mindy McAdams: Dolly Parton

Okay – stop laughing. For those that don’t know – Dolly Parton is one of the best singer/songwriters of her genre and generation. Interestingly enough – her work has been a platform for tons of other songs (Ghetto Superstar comes to mind). Mindy is hands down one of the best folk to teach online digital storytelling and she has documented TONS. Much like Dolly, Mindy’s work is a platform that others can build from.

Brian Boyer: Beck

I often argue that Beck is the greatest singer songwriter of my generation. He is always unique. Every album shows his personal growth.

Will Sullivan: Devo

With a blog like Journerdism Will has embraced his inner Geek. No band can touch Devo in their ability to embrace the inner geek and turn that into a cult-like following of nerds.

Dan Gillmor: Bob Dylan

Dylan was a pioneer. He brought the electric guitar to folk. Gillmor brought blogging to journalism. Gillmor is the Ted Williams of journo-blogging in my mind.

Paul Bradshaw: David Bowie

One of the best to come from England Bowie has a style that is unique and commands respect. When you follow Bradshaw you can tell there is something brewing inside of him that he needs to get out. I suspect his new venture Help Me Investigate will be the equivalent of his Ziggy Stardust.

Adrian Holovaty: Django Reinhardt

Do I really need to explain this one?

Scott Rosenberg: Paul Simon

One of the greatest voices ever. Simon’s songs are introspective and enlightening giving us a glimpse into the American pysche.

Mark Glaser: R.E.M.

What started out as an esoteric college band turned into R.E.M. Their songs are beautifully crafted. Night Swimming is still one of my all time favorite mellow songs. Because R.E.M. is such a part of the music world they are often overlooked and taken for granted – as though they will always be around. They don’t just jam, they craft songs. Mark Glaser’s MediaShift is one of the most crafted blogs out there.

Marc Luckie: Pearl Jam

The occasional sensitive rock ballad Pearl Jam became famous for their intense riffs and grunge rock attitude. I grew up on this stuff and I think there is a generation of multi-media journalists growing up on Luckie’s 10,000 words.

Michele McLellan: Annie DiFranco

Having grown up with an older sister who shared a tape deck with me in our car – I learned to appreciate Anni DiFranco. She is one of the most skilled folk with a guitar. More importantly, her lyrics are mezmerizing. They give you pause and make you crack a smile at the same time.

Lisa Williams and the Placeblogger gang: Phish

They already had a cult like following when the time came for them to take the reigns from the Grateful Dead. I myself was a HUGE Phish fan in high school (yea, I was that guy). They jam out hard core but also write simple and beautiful ballads. Lisa Williams is probably the person I quote the most in talking about journalism. Phish, for a long time, was the band whose music I played the most – back when I used to play a lot of music (a future blog post may include old songs I recorded).

Who would these journo-bloggers be?

Date: July 10th, 2009
Cate: Digi-Dream, Uncategorized

Bathroom Reading with Digidave

Hello friends.

As some know I was a pseudo-intellectual in college double majoring in rhetoric and philosophy. In my current situation I am against being too heady or academic. I have a bias towards action. As Matt Waite has put it, I believe in “demos not memos.”

That said, it’s my blog and I can be as hypocritical as I want and the following is a passage I’ve been reading and re-reading because it blows my mind.

So lean back in your armchair. Grab your tobacco pipe and put on your fez hat for a segment I will call: “Bathroom Reading with Digidave.”

Today’s reading comes to us from Jurgen Habermas. It is incredibly related to journalism and begs for rethinking since the advent of the internet. It is just the first section in a larger essay. Perhaps future Bathroom Readings will walk us through the whole essay. It is titled…

The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article

The concept: By “the public sphere” we mean first of all a realm of our social life in which something approaching public opinion can be formed. Access is guaranteed to all citizens. A portion of the public sphere comes into being in every conversation in which private individuals attempt to form a public body. They then behave neither like business or professional people transacting private affairs, nor like members of a constitutional order subject to the legal constraints of a state bureaucracy. Citizens behave as a public body when they confer in an unrestricted fashion — that is, with the guarantee of freedom of assembly and association and the freedom to express and publish their opinions about matters of general interest. In a large public body, this kind of communication requires specific means for transmitting information and influences those who receive it. Today, newspapers and magazines, radio and television are the media of the public sphere [note from Digidave: What does the Internet change about all of this?].

We speak of the political public sphere in contrast, for instance, to the literary one, when public discussion deals with objects connected to the activity of the state. Although state authority is, so to speak, the executor of the political public sphere, it is not a part of it. To be sure, state authority is usually considered “public” authority but it derives its task of caring for the well-being of all citizens primarily from this aspect of the public sphere. Only when the exercise of political control is effectively subordinated to the democratic demand that information be accessible to the public, does the political public sphere win an institutionalized influence over the government through the instrument of law-making bodies. The expression “public opinion” refers to the tasks of criticism and control which a public body of citizens informally — and in periodic elections — formally, as well practices vs-a-vs the ruling structure organized in the form of a state. Regulations demanding that certain proceedings be public for example, those providing for open court hearings – are also related to this function of public opinion.

The public sphere as a sphere which mediates between society and state, in which the public organizes itself as the bearer of public opinion, accords with the principle of the public sphere — that principle of public information which once had to be fought for against the arcane policies of monarchies and which since that time has made possible the democratic control of state activities.

It is no coincidence that these concepts of the public sphere and public opinion arose for the first time only in the eighteenth century [Note from Digidave: Being radically re-thought in how they are organized today]. They acquire their specific meaning from a concrete historical situation. It was at that time that the distinction of opinion from opinion publique and public opinion came about. Though mere opinion (cultural assumptions, normative attitudes, collective prejudices and values) seem to persist unchanged in their natural form as a kind sediment of historically public opinion can by definition come into existence only when a reasoning public is presupposed. Public discussion about the exercise of political power which are both critical in intent and institutionally guaranteed have not always existed — they grew out of specific phase of bourgeois society and could enter into the order of the bourgeois constitutional state only as a result of particular constellation of interests.