Chapter 7 focused on citizen journalism in the form of blogs. To introduce the topic, Gillmor talked about a blogger in Iraq named Zeyad. Zeyad’s blog, Healing Iraq site, had become a main source for people who wanted to understand and keep up to date on what was going on in occupied Baghdad. Zeyad, however, was not the only one reporting on what was going on. Blogging has emerged as a major force of journalism because sometimes the big corporate newspapers just don’t get the memo and miss what is really going on. Citizen journalism allows regular people to have a voice and to tell stories from all different perspectives. Professional journalists are now being outnumbered by citizen journalists. Also, citizen journalists are starting to have more influence than their professional counterparts. Professional journalists, in my opinion, are seen as parts of a corporate machine and only write about what they are told to by their superiors.
Chapter 8 focused on the “laws” of blogging. These are not laws that are passed by a congress but rather trends that every blogger follows and does not stray far from. The first “law” is named for Gordon Moore. Moore was a cofounder of the computer chip maker Intel and his law is the Key to Understanding today’s reality and tomorrow’s possibilities. Something that seems impossible today will be a reality within a year and a half to 2 years. Technology is improving at a lightning speed rate. The second “law” is named for Bob Metcalfe, who invented the Ethernet networking standard. His law states that the value of a communication network is the square of the number of nodes, also known as end-point connections. Gillmor uses fax machines as an example of this. One fax machine is sort of useless, but when you add another in a different location, the system is started and ready to put to use. The third “law” is named for David Reed. Reed made the observation that whenever someone is online, they are not just doing one thing and communicating with one person through one media. Networks are the nodes of communication.
Chapter 9 focused on how while it is amazing that anyone can be published online, it is not always a good thing. Gillmor used the example of the year 2001 when it was discovered that movie studios in Hollywood had been setting up phony websites set up by fans to create more buzz about upcoming projects. However, it isn’t all bad stuff. Some people just don’t know the magnitude of what they are doing sometimes. Also, the chapter covered how something that is emailed around, in a chain letter sort of fashion, can be misinterpreted and sometimes someone along the way will manipulate the literature to make it look like it is something else. It is the “cut and paste” method. Also, he spoke on pictures being doctored and then passed around as legitimate, using the doctored photo of Senator John Kerry and Jane Fonda at a protest in the 1970’s. This photo did not really exist.
Overall, I agree with most of Gilmor’s thoughts. The technological world we life in today is a wonderful one, but only if you use it with honesty. Unfortunately there are others out there who do not.
Mass Comm 63.3 Blog 