Showing papers by "Jane B. Singer published in 2008"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors make conceptual sense of the phenomenon of participatory journalism in the framework of journalism research, and determine the forms that it is taking in eight European countries and the United States.
Abstract: This article is a contribution to the debate on audience participation in online media with a twofold aim: (1) making conceptual sense of the phenomenon of participatory journalism in the framework of journalism research, and (2) determining the forms that it is taking in eight European countries and the United States. First, participatory journalism is considered in the context of the historical evolution of public communication. A methodological strategy for systematically analysing citizen participation opportunities in the media is then proposed and applied. A sample of 16 online newspapers offers preliminary data that suggest news organisations are interpreting online user participation mainly as an opportunity for their readers to debate current events, while other stages of the news production process are closed to citizen involvement or controlled by professional journalists when participation is allowed. However, different strategies exist among the studied sample, and contextual factors should b...
635 citations
TL;DR: This paper used a framework familiar to journalists and journalism educators, the traditional "five Ws and an H" of who, what, when, where, why, and how, to address some of the significant issues facing corporate and newsroom managers, as well as journalists themselves.
Abstract: It is no news to anyone involved with the media, from the newsroom to the boardroom to the classroom, that journalism is at a crossroads as an occupation, a business, a content form, and a public good. This is perhaps particularly true of journalism in the traditional news medium of record, the newspaper, where enormous uncertainty surrounds virtually every facet of the enterprise as it adjusts to being part of a digital network. This essay uses a framework familiar to journalists and journalism educators -- the traditional “five Ws and an H” of who, what, when, where, why, and how -- to address some of the significant issues facing corporate and newsroom managers, as well as journalists themselves.
49 citations
TL;DR: This article examined student use of the format in relation to theories of social and blended learning and found that although students tend to approach blogging as yet another assignment, the blogs do facilitate their engagement with the material and one another.
Abstract: Despite the spread of blogs in the media and in academia, little scholarly work has explored their use within the journalism and mass communication curriculum. This study, based on incorporation of blogs in 10 classes over five semesters -- undergraduate and graduate, skills and conceptual – examines student use of the format in relation to theories of social and blended learning. The findings suggest that although students tend to approach blogging as yet another assignment, the blogs do facilitate their engagement with the material and one another.
17 citations
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: In contrast to traditional media, blogs and other community-driven media are characterised by a fundamental convergence of the roles of content producers and consumers because every user has the opportunity to both consume and create content as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: With the continuing diffusion of the Internet, with the changing media-consumption patterns and with the impact of the Web 2.0 phenomenon, there seems to be widespread optimism regarding democratic participation and active citizenship through online media. Authors such as Bowman and Willis (2003) and Dan Gillmor (2004) describe how, on the Internet, the people themselves have become the media. In contrast to traditional media, blogs and other community-driven media are characterised by a fundamental convergence of the roles of content producers and consumers because every user has the opportunity to both consume and create content. Axel Bruns (2005) has coined the term ‘produsage’ to refer to this blurring line, while Gillmor (2004: 136) and Rosen (2006) speak of the “former audience” to stress that the public should no longer be regarded as a passive group of receivers. Some authors regard this as being part of a larger societal development toward a participatory culture, something that Hartley also has called a “redactional society” (Hartley, 2000). There are some doubts about the foundations of such a development though. Some authors question the idea of a “hyperactive audience” (Schonbach, 1997; see also Hanitzsch, 2006). They claim that only institutionalized forms of journalism guarantee quality through organizational structures and professional work routines and that they offer society a shared meaning in the form of content that reaches mass audiences.
16 citations
01 Jan 2008
7 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that there can be new metrics for how to value content based on user-generated authority, such as a jury of peers or a readership.
Abstract: The following essays were presented at an Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference panel entitled: “New Media, New Scholarship: the Internet's Potential in the World of Ideas.” Panelist Mitch Stephens challenges the academic world's worshipfulness of the printed word by arguing for new understandings through the use of new technologies. Stephens posits that we should move away from our devotion to print to achieve new spatial and temporal meanings derived from the Internet. Panelist Jane Singer debates the authority of peer-reviewed print journals over what academic communities value. With the Internet, there can be new metrics for how to value content based on user-generated authority. In addition to a jury of peers, she argues for the importance of a jury of readers. She suggests that in the academy “getting published counts, but getting read should count too.”
1 citations
01 Jan 2008
1 citations