We're going very old media on you and cutting to a test pattern until our successors arrive next school year. Thanks for reading, viewing, listening and interacting over the past three months. This concludes our blogcast year. Beeepppppp.
And we're back. Truth is, we're not really signing off. For today's communicators, signing off is not an option. We're just moving to separate channels. The participators of the News rEvolution citizen and participatory news blog are going to continue to participate.
Jaqueta Abbey is planning to keep her eye on the horizon, watching for the next big participatory trend. She will be taking an indefinite hiatus from the world following graduation, during which she will recoup this year's lost sleep. Upon waking, Jaqueta will continue to explore the issue of digital inclusion in the United States, an issue that prevents citizens from being able to contribute.
Marc DeRoberts intends to seek out both freelance and full-time employment in newspapers as a multimedia journalist upon graduation. Looking long term, he hopes to use these experiences to seize consulting opportunities with media and non-profits in order to help them make the most of the digital age.
interactive work by the news industry. As soon as he can afford a data plan, Steve also intends to dive headfirst into the emerging mobile Web, exploring ways it can improve journalism as well as everyday life. Track Steve's observations and updates about his blog on his Twitter stream.
Cathy Freeman will continue to research ways in which small businesses and non-profit organizations can benefit from participatory culture. She will present her findings on her blog, Twitter feed and in her forthcoming book, "Marketing Your Business in an Interactive Age," set for release this summer.
Sean H. Smith will be educating the general public about ecology, the environment and conservation on his EcoActive website. He hopes to conduct his own field research, interview biologists, ecologists and environmental experts and present that information in engaging and interactive ways.
Brynne Tuggle will continue to research participation online as it relates to the journalistic process. She will continue to do research about how citizen participation can be used in the new media landscape and how legacy media organizations can use and benefit from participation by citizen journalists. Look for more blogs and tweets from her about this subject.
We invite you to participate with us and to explore the diverse content published here. We'll leave you with links to six of our favorite posts:
Two topics that were discussed in my classes aroused curiosity for me to seek out the opinions of local experts: bias in the media and concerns with citizen journalism.
I conducted interviews with journalism professors at Elon, who not only are up to date on these issues because of their academic professions, but also have an maintained professional careers in journalism, as well as Lex Alexander, formerly of Greensboro's News and Record, and Scott McCrary, a producer at CBS News.
In the spirit of non-linear formats and interactivity, I arranged their video responses in a panel-like discussion for your viewing pleasure. Here's the link. Be sure to roll-over their names for a bio.
Overall responses were as follows:
Citizen journalism is not legitimate, but has a place to keep media in check as well as alert larger media organizations to bigger issues.
Lex Alexander offered a different opinion on this issue, stating that journalism is an act and people not only commit it all the time, but have a right to do so.
Opinions injected in news can be healthy only if the format provides it.
In larger media outlets bias can be seen by the context of which news is distributed, the voices they include and the amount of time given to these voices over others.
It's been both a pleasure writing to this blog and very inspirational to seek out a career as a multimedia journalist after graduation.
So you’ve decided to compile your articles in a blog on a site like Wordpress or Blogger, but how do you get people to read your work and either come back or subscribe? The following tips should help you out!
Use tags and categories properly. These keywords will be what people search to end up at your blog.
Respond to comments. If a reader has taken the time to log in and leave a comment on one of your posts, the least you can do is respond, even if it is only with a “Thank you”! If you can somehow continue the conversation from the post, do so. It will get your reader thinking about things and coming back to check the comments.
Make your blog a portal. Link it to other sites (as long as they are relevant to whatever you are talking about). If people come to your site and find it useful to get information from other sites, they’ll come back to it! Great examples of sites that do this: Dzine Blog and Smashing Magazine.
Be informative. Why is this important? Why do we need to know this? Tell us before we ask!
Check your sources–double and triple check them! Remember, before posting anything from a source, check its credibility. The last thing any blogger wants is to find information from a random site and use it, only to find out it was written by his/her reader’s 13-year-old brother for a book report!
Keep it brief. Make sure your post is written in short paragraphs or list format; it needs to be easy to read. No one wants to read a novel on their laptop screen! More than likely, if you write a ton, it will be skimmed over or not even read.
Include relevant media. Spice up your blog posts with videos and pictures. Be discriminating; don’t include every YouTube video ever made on the subject. Finally, embed the media, so readers don’t click a link and navigate away from your page.
Update consistently. Let the reader know when you’ll have new material up so they'll check back.
Tweet a link whenever you make a new post. This way your posts are introduced to a whole new audience.
Check your blog statistics. These statistics will show you information about how people are finding your blog and which subjects are most interesting them. You can then tailor your blog to your readers' interests.
Five things news organizations should be doing now
Be social on social media: Converse with your audience on social media platforms it is using. People, not machines, should maintain feeds, and these people should act like people. Don't dump batches of headlines at fixed points during the day. Do conduct an ongoing conversation about the news and your community that extends your content and recognizes others who do the same.
Get moving on mobile: All news organizations should have a basic mobile presence. If you're not establishing your brand on this emerging platform you'll be at a distinct disadvantage when it really takes off — which it will, very soon. A stripped down version of your main site sized for devices' smaller screens will get you started. Even pointing mobile users to RSS feeds is better than nothing.
Here's the scoop: You can't scoop yourself: Stop thinking in terms of print versus Web, us versus them. Start thinking in terms of one multi-platform news organization. To promote this culture, get your print/broadcast and Web staff interacting and crossing over into each other's roles.
"Cover what you do best. Link to the rest.": No one can cover everything, so why break your back trying, especially at a time when journalists are being asked to do more with less? Your audience wants quality information. It doesn't care where it originated. Neither should you.
The UGC 1-2-3: Users are generating content, and, as mobile devices proliferate, they're only going to generate more. Yes, not all user-generated content is exceptionally, um, useful, to news organizations. But, especially in breaking news situations, some of it can be very useful. The news organizations that get their hands on the useful stuff are the ones who have established frameworks for 1) soliciting, 2) reviewing and 3) publishing audience submissions.
Five things news organizations should be doing next
Location, location, location: The mantra increasingly applies to a lot more than real estate. This is a product of the coming mobile revolution. One of the many bellwethers that location's taking off is location-based social network Foursquare, which, like Twitter two years before it, was the darling of South By Southwest this spring. News organizations will need to be geotagging content and thinking about how having news with them all the time changes the way people consume it. The semantic where is becoming the sixth "W."
Dive into data: There is an exorbitant amount of data on the Web. But very little data can talk with other data. If Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, has his way, that's about to change. Berners-Lee is the most prominent but far from the only evangelist for Linked Data, the concept that common identifiers for online datasets can do for data what the hyperlink did for content. Martin Belam, information architect for the Guardian, recently outlined several ways news organizations could leverage Linked Data for both of their external audiences — consumers and advertisers — as well as internal audiences — themselves and other news organizations.
Don't let tethered tie you down: Reaching the growing number of users who access information on tethered devices like the iPhone and iPad requires formatting content for proprietary platforms. No news organization can serve them all, and small organizations might struggle to tailor their product for even just the top one or two devices. Outlets should research what platforms their audiences are using, identify which would be most profitable to develop for, and become comfortable with the fact that some are going to have to be ignored.
Out context the competition: We live in a what's happening now world and a cursory look suggests the news cycle will only continue to compress. But look closer and you'll see audiences starving for context. Anyone with a mobile device can compete with journalists on what's happening now, but journalists are uniquely suited to explain what just happened and what might happen next. They can make time for this important explaining by letting citizen reporters cover the less consequential breaking news — the kind that's news only because it's breaking.
New (much) wider, (much) taller format: News presentation specialists, who until very recently designed exclusively for formats of less than 720 square inches, are starting to design for one that's 196,950,000 square miles. That's right, augmented reality transforms all of Earth into a potential news page. From news content — hold a device up to a building and see news articles and data related to the organizations based there — to advertising content — hold a device (or print product) up to a screen and see yourself inside a 3D commercial — AR offers a world of possibilities.
So, we’ve talked a lot about citizen journalism in the past few months, and what this kind of participation looks like in the world of news and information. And I must admit I’m a supporter of it. I think citizen journalism is a required part of the future of legacy media. But, as I’ve discussed in other posts, conversation is also required.
I am fully aware that legacy media organizations have a lasting place, and they’ve been the mainstay for so many years, it’s hard to imagine anything different. But I also firmly believe that new media practices such as citizen journalism can also find a lasting place. I recently read an article about this issue. The conversation was centered around a ruling by a New Jersey judge two weeks ago that could affect the way people view citizen journalists.
The case went like this. A blogger was being sued for defamation after citing anonymous sources when writing in a comment section of a website, in more of a letter to the editor style than like an actual story. She made disparaging accusations about a company without citing her sources. This was not for a clearly defined media outlet, but for a website that she herself started. So, the problems were that she didn’t take any notes from her interviews, never asked the company she was commenting about for its side of the story, and didn’t provide any details of the facts that she found.
She claimed she was protected from the lawsuit by New Jersey’s media shield law, which covers not only traditional journalists but also online reporters. The judge ruled that some of these legal protections for traditional media people don’t extend to all bloggers who claim to be journalists. He said, “Simply put, new media should not be confused with news media.”
Now, don’t get me wrong. This case, I understand. I’m glad the judge ruled in the way that he did. This blogger wasn’t adhering to certain standards that she should have. But it makes me sad, that one blogger could have the potential to mess it up for everyone else. This comes back to the whole need for conversation. We have to start talking about these things. I believe the judge was right in this case, but I also believe we can’t let these kind of rulings ruin any momentum for citizen journalism that is building as more and more people are encouraged to participate in the news process.
We can't have the belief that we are in a war here, and we're working against each other, traditional versus new media people. We need to work together as we continue into the future. It's when we harness the power of both traditional and new media that we will find an even more powerful future for journalism.
The collapse of a BP Gulf Coast oil rig on April 20 claimed 11 lives and is currently reeking havoc on the environment and coastline economies.
"The oil spill seems to be pretty catastrophic," said Michael Terribilini, Biology Professor at Elon University. "The impact it's going to have on the eco-system is unknown. The area it's going to have the greatest impact on are the wetlands and the marshes in to Louisiana coast area, which is an important stop-over point for several migratory bird species. It's potentially going to devastate their habitat, not to mention all the marine life that is being affected."
The recent spill poses a major threat to the local economy, which coincides with nearby habitats. The slick will not only ruin oyster beds, but also disrupt Bluefin Tuna from mating. The Gulf is one of two locations in the world where they mate.
Louisiana houses 40 percent of coastal wetlands in the lower 48 states.
"The people of the Gulf Coast are gonna be severely impacted," said Jimmy Huffines, Elon community member. "Hurricane Katrina is gonna be a drop in the bucket compared to this."
BP employees and the U.S. government are not the only ones working around-the-clock to clean up the oil spill in order to prevent the slick from hitting the shoreline. "Fishermen are signing release forms for the government to use their boats and their services to help in the clean up process," said Sean Smith, iMedia Graduate Student at Elon University. "That makes a lot of sense, it's an important issue for the fishermen. They're vitally concerned, obviously, and definitely want to put as much effort into the clean up as possible."
Clean up crews are trying to contain the oil in a variety of ways, using powerful hoses, controlled burns, chemicals and most recently a dome being lowered approximately a mile down to the ocean floor.
Hear more from the Elon community:
CNN released a video which describes their latest effort with the containment unit, and the challenges that will be faced over the next couple of days to make this a successful operation.
The Coast Guard has estimated that the well is leaking approximately 6,000 barrels per day and has already leaked over one million gallons of crude oil. BP Chairman Tony Hayward, told members of Congress that the well could potentially reach more than 60,000 barrels per day, 10 times more than the current estimate.
BP was already denied financial assistance from the U.S. government, and said that they would take full responsibility. However, on Tuesday, Hayward said that the clean up would cost more than $75 million, which is the current cap on liability for drilling accidents. Senators Bill Nelson (D - Florida), Frank R. Lautenberg (D - New Jersey) and Robert Menendez (D - New Jersey) are putting forth new legislation to raise the cap to $10 billion, and apply it to BP's current situation.
The recent spill prompts a push for electric cars, as seen in an article by the Oakland Press.
Photos courtesy of the Associated Press and Getty Images, respectfully. More pictures of the Gulf Coast here.
So when was the last time you saw a news story about sound science or environmental issues?
Okay, now might not be a good time to ask that question, considering we are in the midst of trying to figure out how to contain the thousands of gallons of oil that are spewing into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's rented oil rig, Deepwater Horizon.
In case you've been in a coma for the past two weeks or finishing up your graduate degree, here's what happened. On April 20th., 2010 the oil rig, which is on lease from Transocean caught on fire and eventually collapsed and sank into the gulf.
Video courtesy of AlJazeera
Apparently a safeguard called a "blowout preventer" failed to controlled the natural gas bubble or "kick" that can occur when capping these wells with cement and sent these unfortunate affects into motion. The reason for the failure is unknown at this time until the companies responsible can do a more thorough investigation into the disaster.
Most of the stories you are probably finding in the news is more about politics and economics of the spill that the environmental effects. Bloomberg reported that BP has lost $30 million dollars as a result of the spill as of today and will lose more as the days go on.
BP had asked the U.S. government for assistance in the clean up but were initially rejected by President Obama. Yet, the Obama Administration did sign off on expanding offshore drilling this past March in the hopes of pushing forward energy and climate legislation that would lead the country beyond our reliance on petroleum. And of course, the federal government is now spending money to oversee the cleanup. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
Economics and politics should be put on the backburner of this situation for the time being. The main concern for both the companies involved and the government should be on protecting the surround habitats from the effects this spill will have on their ecosystems.
I can assure you that the fishermen who are volunteering their ships and services to aid in the cleanup have these ecosystems as the forefront of their concern. Their livelihoods are dependent on it. AP Photo/The Times Picayune, Ted Jackson
It seems the only time the biological science are mentioned in the news are when catastrophes such as this occur. The one scientific story that has developed from all this, and was reported in the May 5th issue of the New York Times is the use of chemical dispersants that have been thrown onto the spill in order to help contain it, with seemingly little forethought to the adverse affects.
Very little is known about these dispersants and what chemicals go into the manufacturing of them as the companies that produce them say there a "proprietary" ingredients that they want to guard for commercial reasons. What should be propriety are these companies responsibility to be sure that they aren't doing more harm than good to the ecosystems they insist they are helping to protect.
Why is the public so misinformed about topics such as this? With the amount of oil drilling that is done on daily basis it must be assumed that spills such as the one April 20th are bound to happen and the possible solutions such as chemical dispersants should be understood by the general public so they can help shape policy to handle these situations in ways that best suit them and the environments they live in.
This is the problem with scientific journalism in today's age. The public is poorly informed. These are issues that affect citizens everyday lives. You don't think they do? Ask the fishermen on the gulf coast if this concerns them.
Dr. Janet MacFall, associate professor of Elon University's Environmental Studies department feels that the public relies on the news for such information when she says that, " the majority of citizens don't read scientific journals for news about science", their primary resource for scientific information is going to be news organizations.
Because the gulf coast fishermen live hand in hand with their environments, they understand what is and isn't best for the ecology of the areas live. They have even suggested using hay instead of chemical dispersants because it is cheap, would effectively absorb the oil, environmentally friendly, and sustainable. An ideal solution for all parties involved. They've been doing their own research for decades and even centuries by living within these ecosystems.
Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images
Instead of building the $365 million rig, and spending BP spending $500,000 a day to rent it (Bloomberg), they could be putting that money into research and development of alternative and sustainable energy sources, as I'm sure President Obama and the citizens he is suppose to serve hoped they would. Besides the continuous "empty talk" commercials these oil companies air on TV, saying they are working on developing these alternatives, they need to be showing the public what they are coming up with and beginning to implementing it, not just talking about it.
Where are we, as citizens going to get sound science news in the near future. Perhaps it will be from citizens themselves. Dr. Jeffrey Coker of Elon's Biology department feels that, "citizens are capable of conducting sound research andsharing with the public their findings.
By putting science in their own hands, citizens will be more informed of issues that are important to them and more likely to take action, much like the fisherman offering their assistance in the gulf coast oil spill.
The more we talk about this spill in the news, perhaps we can persuade these oil companies to take more proactive actions and responsibility for what they are doing to harm ecosystems and our livelihoods. It is clear that with efforts such as those mentioned above, the horizon of the deepwater won't be so murky.
Below is an ongoing ticker of the amount of oil being released into the Gulf of Mexico as well a live video steam of the leak.
Newsweek’s recent announcement to go on the market raises even more questions about the future of news. However, despite lackluster sales for traditional outlets, citizen news organizations are skyrocketing.
Allvoices is a citizen news site that allows any visitor to submit newsworthy stories, videos and images from any perspective or geological location. The site also encourages discussion by enabling contributions to existing news events. It calls itself the “first true people’s media," empowering every citizen to take responsibility for the future of the news industry.
And people are definitely doing their part. Allvoices grew by more than 400 percent in the last year, growing to 337,000 contributors in 180 countries with 4 million unique visits per month. This week, the newswire service announced it would soon expand into more than 30 countries that it feels are not being thoroughly covered by traditional media. Its areas of concentration include Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt and China.
Aki Hashmi of allvoices, a former Knight-Ridder and Reuters executive, says the news service plans to spread into 30 more countries once this expansion is completed. Its goal is to create more virtual news desks that both citizen and professional journalists will call home.
With traditional international news coverage facing budget cuts and shrinking staffs, there is an obvious void that can be filled by citizen journalists and organizations like allvoices that are eager to contribute in-depth global news coverage.
News rEvolution is produced by six Elon University Interactive Media master's students. Through original hyperlocal stories, expert interviews, issue essays and best practices examples, it explores how citizen contributions are reshaping news.
We're going very old media on you and cutting to a test pattern until our successors arrive next school year. Thanks for reading, viewing, listening and interacting over the past three months. This concludes our blogcast year. Beeepppppp.
Jaqueta Abbey is planning to keep her eye on the horizon, watching for the next big participatory trend. She will be taking an indefinite hiatus from the world following graduation, during which she will recoup this year's lost sleep. Upon waking, Jaqueta will continue to explore the issue of digital inclusion in the United States, an issue that prevents citizens from being able to contribute.
Marc DeRoberts intends to seek out both freelance and full-time employment in newspapers as a multimedia journalist upon graduation. Looking long term, he hopes to use these experiences to seize consulting opportunities with media and non-profits in order to help them make the most of the digital age.
Steve Earley is planning to collaborate on a Posterous blog with iMedia classmate David Kennedy showcasing top, boundary-pushing
Cathy Freeman will continue to research ways in which small businesses and non-profit organizations can benefit from participatory culture. She will present her findings on her blog, Twitter feed and in her forthcoming book, "Marketing Your Business in an Interactive Age," set for release this summer.
Sean H. Smith will be educating the general public about ecology, the environment and conservation on his EcoActive website. He hopes to conduct his own field research, interview biologists, ecologists and environmental experts and present that information in engaging and interactive ways. 
Brynne Tuggle will continue to research participation online as it relates to the journalistic process. She will continue to do research about how citizen participation can be used in the new media landscape and how legacy media organizations can use and benefit from participation by citizen journalists. Look for more blogs and tweets from her about this subject.
