Citizen Journalism

The concept of citizen journalism has formed upon the basis of the public “playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information”. And, now in the age of mobile phones and smartphones that have photographic capabilities, citizen journalism can be taken to a whole other level.

Reporter Paul Lewis, in his TED Talk “Crowdsourcing the News”, claims that everyone can be a potential news source. A man on the street now has the ability to film or record, edit, and launch a story at any given moment. In fact, this happens everyday when people talk about events on Twitter or post photos with captions to Instagram.

The public has the responsibility and ability to ensure justice. One way to do this is using the technology we have to give us the power we need to ensure that justice and exercise the right. We have the responsibility to rightly use technology to regulate journalism.

The public is both the subject and source of news. The public is responsible for how they react to an event or situation. News and media outlets pick up on this. The news draws upon people’s interests, opinions, and issues and creates stories and finds relatable information that the public would want to consume. If the public changes their opinion about something you can be sure how the news covers the subject will also change.

Facebook vs. Twitter: News

Twitter is an online social network that enables users to send 140-character messages known as “tweets” to friends and followers. Facebook is a social networking service used to post, share, comment, and like personal and impersonal news and events for friends to see.

With the recent events in Ferguson, which led to protests and civil disorder after the shooting and death of an unarmed black teen, Michael Brown, the question has been raised about where and how people were receiving information and news.

Mathew Ingram, in his article “Twitter vs. Facebook as a news source: Ferguson shows the downsides of an algorithmic filter”, comments that Twitter was breaking news in Ferguson with pictures of the protests and live tweets. On the other hand, at the same time, Facebook was showing information and videos about the Ice Bucket Challenge. It is because Twitter is much more news focused and rapid-fire than Facebook, which targets longer, more detailed updates, it would seem that it is more of an online new source than Facebook – which, for the events of Ferguson, it is.

However, Facebook filters what people see on their news feed, which can greatly impact how people receive and share news. In her article, “What Happens to #Ferguson Affects Ferguson: Net Neutrality, Algorithmic Filtering and Ferguson”, Zeynep Tufekci asserts that the power of algorithms has serious social implications. Through Twitter, Zeynep Tufekci argues, the events of Ferguson became national news that spiraled out of control. Twitter drew attention to the shootings and racism presented, which called for action that escalated through the use of social media.

With Twitter people expect live tweets, documentation, and real-time videos. But when it comes to Facebook people don’t expect someone to live post events (that’s what Twitter is for). Rather, Facebook users expect in-depth news articles to be shared, links to stories and documentation that was filtered and edited after the fact. This allows for people to see more than just a 140-character blurb that could be misinterpreted or lacking crucial details.

However, in terms of strengths, weaknesses, goals, and users, Facebook and Twitter cannot compete with one another. They are two different platforms with different prerogatives and uses.

We “Like” Facebook

Data mining is a subfield of computer science that uses a computational process of discovering patterns in large data sets, involving methods at the intersection of artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics, and database systems. The overall goal of data mining is to extract information from a data set and transform it into an understandable structure for further use.

Facebook is computer scientists main source of data mining information on the Internet. Facebook “likes” can reveal personality, gender, and sexual orientation solely based on pages, organizations, or people someone might “like” on Facebook. In fact, in 2012, Facebook bought data from 70 million households. This information was used to track user’s behavior to better advertise to them.

*(If you’re curious, you can visit youarewhatyoulike.com and see exactly how much your Facebook “likes” can predict about you.)

In her TED Talk, “The Curly Fry Conundrum: why social media ‘likes’ says more than you might think”, Jennifer Golbeck informs Internet users that scientists can predict A LOT about a person through what they like and share on the Internet. Mechanisms have been developed to accurately predict a user’s political preference, personality score, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, intelligence, and more! (This is a prime example of data mining.)

One example Jennifer Golbeck mentions in her TED Talk is a Forbes article, “How Target Figured Out a Teen Girl was Pregnant Before Her Father Did”. Essentially, what happened was, Target sent a flyer to a 15-year-old girl featuring coupons and advertisements for baby products. As it turns out, Target has the purchase history of hundreds of thousands of customers that is used to data mine. Target can then used this mined data and determine whether someone is pregnant or not (and even the due date). The important thing to note is that Target did not data mine obvious purchases, like cribs or baby clothes, but rather looked for when someone would buy extra vitamins or a handbag that could hold diapers. While these items do not seem too important by themselves, when they are bought together in the context of thousands of other people, it starts to reveal a pattern: pregnancy.

Some creepier ways companies can data mine information from you can include:

• Companies using retina trackers to see how your eyes move in the store
• Advertisers watching your tweets to better market to you.
• Department stores tracking your smartphone to determine how long someone stayed in each section of the store.
• Amazon using cookie tracking to analyze where you’re browsing and what you’re looking at.

Just to name a few.

Flash Mobs

A flash mob is an organized group of people who assemble in a public place to create a large scale, spontaneous performance to entertain the general public. Flash mob performances can include song, dance, acting, and making/breaking records.

Flash mobs are a type of performing art. While they started as an apolitical act to poke fun at societal conformity, they have now taken a life of their own.

Bill Wasik is credited with using the term ‘flash mob’ in 2003. Wasik attributes the origins of flash mobs with a “playful social experiment meant to encourage spontaneity and big gatherings to temporarily take over commercial and public areas simply to show that they could”.

The term ‘flash mob’ was added to the 11^th edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary in 2004. It was defined as an “unusual and pointless act”. This definition separated it from different forms of smart mobs like public performances, protests, and public gatherings. It was later added to Webster’s New Millennium Dictionary of English as “a group of people who organize on the Internet and then quickly assemble in a public place, do something bizarre, and disperse.” The media, however, continued to use ‘flash mob’ as a way to describe all smart mobs (including political protests), DOS attacks, collaborative demonstrations, and promotional appearances. But now the term ‘flash mob’ is used mostly in reference to public performance art.

Organizing a lot of people on a large scale can be difficult. Some flash mobs have been very successful, and there have been some that you never heard about because they tanked. You want to organize a rewarding performance for both those participating and observing.

How to organize a flash mob:

1. Understand the purpose of the flash mob
2. Decide what you are going to be doing for your flash mob occasion
3. Watch pervious flash mobs on YouTube
4. Organize your flash mob
5. Provide clear instructions for all participants
6. Arrange props or costumes as needed
7. Know the limitations of your location
8. Organize quality videography of your flash mob
9. Perform
10. Finish as if nothing ever happened

A flash mob is about the performance and its entertainment value. While there might be harmless confusion in the beginning it should give way to something the audience can immediately understand, follow along with, and response to.

A flash mob is NOT a:

• publicity stunt
• marketing venture
• political act
• riot/crime spree
• guerrilla advertising

It’s all about spontaneity with an element of entertainment/satire for all those involved. No strings attached! The motive should not need to be explained to the observers. [A flash mob is NOT violent or damaging in anyway.

Some tips about flash mobs:

• Try to keep it a surprise!
• Beware of local laws about public space/gatherings.
• Not all people have to be doing the same action.
• Flash mobs don’t need to be precise.
• Have fun!

Some warnings about flash mobs:

• Some people don’t have a sense of humor and will be offended with anything you do.
• If you are in a crowded/well-trafficked area be aware of your surroundings; keep it safe!
• Be wise in your choice of location.
• You might get stopped by officials or police so be prepared to follow directions and disband; don’t be argumentative or confrontations.
• Know local laws about large gatherings in your performance space.

A wonderful example of successful, harmless flash mobs is the comedic performance art group, Improv Everywhere. Formed in 2001 by Charlie Todd, the group carries out “missions” in public places to cause “chaos and joy” in New York City. The group events sometimes just a few actors while others use hundreds or thousands of “undercover agents”. While the group does not identify their work with the term ‘flash mob’ (since they were created two years before the trend), their performances can be labeled as such and greatly mimic the definition of flash mobs.

Some great examples of Improv Everywhere’s work includes: “The Mute Button”, “Suicide Jumper”, “Where’s Rob?”, and “No Pants Subway Ride 2014”.

Viral Videos

Everyone wants to famous. And in our current culture of YouTube, blogs, reality shows, viral videos, and the power of the Internet it is increasing easy to do so.

In his TED Talk, aptly named “Why Videos Go Viral”, Kevin Allocca, a YouTube trend manager, discusses the characteristics of new media. New media is a new kind of culture where anyone has access to it and the audience defines the popularity of the media.

The three components of a viral video:

1. Tastemakers
2. Participation
3. Unexpectedness

A tastemaker is someone who judges what is good, fashionable, funny, et cetera; the judgments are accepted and followed by other people. For example, the viral video “Double Rainbow” only became extremely popular months after it was uploaded because Jimmy Kimmel tweeted about it. This boosted the video because tastemakers like Jimmy Kimmel are mediators who filter new and interesting things before bringing the “best” to a larger audience, accelerating the popularity process.

Community participation is a fundamental element of viral videos. When people make parodies, critiques, reviews, reactions, and links they are spreading the original video by doing so. For example, “Nyan Cat” has been changed, adapted, remixed, et cetera. People can enjoy media more through participate.

Unexpectedness is important to creating popular videos. Only the unique and unexpected stand out among the millions of hours of videos floating around on the Internet. For example, in the video “Bike Lanes by Casey Neistat” a NYC cyclist was ticketed for not riding in the bike lanes. He told the ticketing officer that the bike lanes are not always the safest place to bike. To respond the lack of safety and unsafe obstacles in the bike lanes, he created a video of him riding in the bike lanes but hitting everything that stood in his way, including: cars, construction cones, people, and trashcans. The video is surprising, humorous, and, above all, unexpected. As such, the video was well received, passed around, and became viral.

In today’s age of the Internet, it’s important for everyone to remember that the audience is the publisher. People deicide what articles they like or don’t like, which picture they emotionally respond to, who’s going to make it or break it, which info-graphics are informative, and videos quizzes are entertaining.

Crowdsourcing (its not like ‘crowd surfing’)

Crowdsourcing – the process of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by seeking donations from a large group of people – is an online activity that governments have been attempting to facilitate to gain a growth in public participation from a nation’s citizens.

There are three main types of crowdsourcing:

1. Crowdfunding: projects are funded by a large group of people, like Kickstarter.
2. Crowdsourced design: projects are funded for a large group of people to design something, for example, a website.
3. Crowdwisdom: users ask questions in front of a large pool of people willing to answer, like Yahoo! Answers.

Daren C. Barbham conducted a study, entitled “The Effectiveness of Crowdsourcing Public Participation in a Planning Context”, to conclude if crowdsourcing is an effective online method of increasing public participation that complements offline methods. Barbham asserts that governments have turned to the Internet as a solution to the decline in transparency, accountability, and citizen involvement in decision–making.

The Internet is an ideal place for crowdsourcing because individuals tend to be more open minded in web-based projects when they are not being physically judged, criticized, or scrutinized. Thus they feel more comfortable sharing their opinions. Daren C. Barbham tested these ideas in 2009 when he launched the Next Stop Design project. Using a crowdsourcing model, Barbham examined whether or not online public participation could work together to design a bus stop shelter. Twenty-three participants were interviewed about the project to gather their thoughts as to if the project was an effective public participation activity. It was concluded that crowdsourcing is an effective method for some public participating projects, not others. Thus it was determined that crowdsourcing is best suited for simple tasks.

PROS:

• Crowdsourcing is affordable; cheaper than hiring a professional consultant
• With more people, you can finish a project is a shorter amount of time for less money
• A high number of people are ready to work and at any given time
• Immediate and useable feedback

CONS:

• Cheap labor can result in a less credible result, compared to a professional product
• Some tasks are too risky for crowdsourcing
• Communication and collaboration can be difficult
• Processionals are hired for their expertise and experience, while laborers are used for simple tasks
• Lager groups of participants are harder to manage
• There is no contract or confidentiality agreement; workers can leave at any time and possibly steal or reuse the ideas

Taking these pros and cons of crowdsourcing into account, you should not immediately shy away from it. In the end, it all comes down to two things: what your problem is, and how much you are willing to pay for the solution. Here are some tips to keep in mind when outsourcing jobs:

• be specific
• don’t be too cheap
• have a way to verify your results
• weigh your options

Crowdsourcing can bring your ideas to new heights. So celebrate and collaborate!