Citizen Media

The profusion of low-cost media production and distribution has led to the rise of an alternative citizen-led media sector. Is this a passing fad of enthusiastic amateurs or the beginning of a fundamental restructuring of the way media and news are produced and consumed? Will the current trends lead to more information, better information, and better informed people or to an infinite stream of unreliable chatter? Will it lead to a more politically engaged populace or to an increasingly polarized society that picks its sources of information to match its biases and ignorance?

Readings

• Jay Rosen, Open Source Journalism (video)
• We The Media, Dan Gillmor (only the Introduction is required reading)
• Jay Rosen, Bloggers vs. Journalists Is Over
• Keen vs. Weinberger, from the Wall Street Journal

Additional Resources

• Rising Voices, Introduction to Citizen Media
• Dan Farber (CNET), Trying to cure blogorrhea
• Richard Sambrook - Our Audiences, Ourselves: How participatory media has and hasn’t revolutionized the news