A decent size group for this panel discussion on blogging.
Emira starts with a definition of Web logs:
Emira's been blogging for years but says “When I went to describe it I found myself totally stumped.”
First it was “essentially snippets of people's thoughts” is a good starting point. Now it's morphed over time, she says. Now the official definition is “a Web site that gets updated regularly” with entries listed in chronological order.
For journos, blogs have lots of links. The original blogs were really about linking.
“One of the strongest tools on the Web is linking.”
First question is: What is a blog?
Everyone pitches in and tries to answer.
Question: What does blog mean? Alan chips in with “Its short for Web log.”
Rob talks about blogs and journalism. Rob teaches at Loyalist in Belleville, Ontario.
Rob started a blogging experiment this January. He writes a column for some newspapers in Northumberland County. He has an online component for this column.
E-journalism adds interactivity, furthering democratic principles.
Blogging is about two things: identifying resources to share and providing opinion to share.
Alan: Quotes Bob Dylan; You know something's happening but you don't what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?
Important not to get tunnel vision.
Pew says: Just 2 per cent maintain Web logs. Just 10 per cent of surfers read Web logs. But 44 per cent of survey respondents created some of their own online content. Blogging still behind creating Web sites. The important thing to consider is: What does it mean when everyone can publish.
Example: OhmyNews in South Korea and citizen journalists.
Old model for journalism — linear media information flow.
New model: Networked media information flow.
The big implication is that reporters lose some power they once held over information flow. So, the things we do as journalists, have changed. Alan calls for newsroom managers to increase budgets on more resources for collecting and verifying information; more foreign bureaus; a great commitment to the traditional role of a journalist.
Journalists may one day be held accountable for the size of their audience. Audiences/readers will be portable with new kinds of online journalism. Audiences will follow the journalist and employers will fire journalists for the audience they can bring.
Caterina — As Caterina started speaking, I was trying to fiddle getting my laptop to show up on the project. Couldn't do it. Sorry, Caterina. Maybe Caterina will post her thoughts to her site? Who knows what button I have to hit on my Mac (Powerbook G4 17″) to send the video signal out to the projector?
David: What I said is already blogged.
Questions: Note to self: Impossible to blog about a panel discussion when you are one of the panelists! Lots of great questions, though!
David, I recorded the session, so I'll be posting Caterina's comments on my blog sometime in the next couple of weeks.