Comments on: Blogging, the next chapter

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Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:25:41 +0000

[...] Thought Leader » Arthur Goldstuck » Blogging, the next chapter http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/amablogoblogo/2008/09/11/blogging-the-next-chapter – view page – cached The annual Highway Africa conference at Rhodes U in Grahamstown does not so much set the agenda as tap into the agenda of where new media is going. Case in point is the contribution of Dan Gillmor, author of We the Media and global thought leader in citizen journalism. Back in 2003, we both participated in a panel discussion on whether blogging was a viable medium for journalists. With Gillmor, that’s like asking George Bush whether warfare is a viable alternative to leadership. All the panelists urged journalists to get blogging. One of them, Rudy Nadler-Nir, introduced the audience to anthroblogs – a concept that has since been refined, yet is no less obscure today, but indicating how deep the understanding went already back then. — From the page [...]

By: Rod MacKenzie

Rod MacKenzie — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 04:13:00 +0000

Lyndall , I really agree with you on this one; there has been an appalling drop in journalistic integrity and literacy over the last decade or twelve. The problem with information is that it entropies from “source” to “end reader” and becomes virtually meaningless, like W.M.D which end up being a disprin factory or so we are told

By: Art2

Art2 — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:58:38 +0000

Hey, africanaspects, that is precisely the argument that I buy into at the moment: “the future of blogging is also tied to the advancement of technologies that navigate through the blogosphere”. But it goes beyond blogging: mapping of information is going to have to be at the heart of online content.

By: Art2

Art2 — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:56:48 +0000

Agreed Lyndall. Many a citizen journalist can teach many a “professional” a thing or two about journalistic ethics. Most of the arguments against citizen journalism are really about journalists’ own exaggerated sense of their own importance.

By: Lyndall Beddy

Lyndall Beddy — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:47:13 +0000

I heard all the experts speaking on SAFM from the conference. The concept that annoyed me was the superior “citizens can’t be professional journalists because they don’t have the professional skills and don’t know the ethics”. Junk!

Our media houses are packed with junior, inexperienced, youngsters who don’t have any general knowledge, don’t research properly, and spew out drivel!

By: africanaspects

africanaspects — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:32:34 +0000

Certainly a valid conversation. I like the bit where Dan Gillmor says:

“Apart from volume, the difference is that blogging five years ago was the predominant form of conversational media on the Web. Now it’s one of many and evolving with other media.”

So true. The shear volume of information out there actually stifles many blogs and makes many of them virtually redundant. The dilemma for readers relates to sifting through all the information out there to get to what is relevant to one’s needs. It would seem to me the future of blogging is also tied to the advancement of technologies that navigate through the blogosphere – i.e. pinpointing readers to blogs most relevant to them.

http://www.africanaspects.com