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An NDN Research Report We Media How audiences are shaping the future of news and information By Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis Edited by JD Lasica Foreword by Dan Gillmor This PDF includes: • Chapter 3: How participatory journalism is taking form Published online in PDF format on www.ndn.org, July 2003 Also published online in HTML on www.hypergene.net, July 2003 Copyright © 2003, NDN. We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information CHAPTER 3 How participatory journalism is taking form articipation has been a fundamental com- Chat rooms, on the other hand, are synchro- ponent of the Internet since its inception. nous, where all participants must be online at the PNewsgroups, mailing lists and bulletin same time to communicate. This has the benefit boards were the early cousins to the forums, we- of providing immediacy and can be used effec- blogs and collaborative communities flourishing tively for business services such as customer sup- today. Those early forms are still thriving, a testa- port. But for the most part, chat rooms are more ment to our need to stay connected to our social like virtual cafes or hangouts, with live, unfiltered networks. discussion. Participatory journalism flourishes in social Forum discussions are probably the most media — the interpersonal communication that familiar discussion group form to the average takes place through email, chat, message boards, Internet user. Forums are typically arranged forums — and in collaborative media — hybrid into threads in which an initial message or post forms of news, discussion and community. appears at the beginnging of a discussion and This section categorizes the forms in which responses are attached in a branching manner. participatory journalism takes shape. Some of When forums are viewed in threads, it’s easy to these forms continue to evolve and merge and to recognize the branching of conversation that thus overlap. The list, while generalized, is meant occurs, some of which might not be entirely re- to describe the outlines of that participation and lated to the original post. Some forums permit the communities where it resides. the audience to sort messages by various means Considering the “publish, then filter” model1 — popularity, date, ranking. Many forums are that most of these forms follow, we define each archived, turning them into a searchable knowl- form’s self-correcting or filtering mechanism. edge base of community conversation. The end goal of filtering is the same in all — to Here’s a look at the strengths and weaknesses amplify the signal-to-noise ratio, separating the of various forms of online participation, together meaningful information from the chatter. with a description of how they work. Self-correcting process: In a discussion Discussion groups group, moderators police the content and actions Online discussion groups are the oldest and of participants, sometimes removing and editing still the most popular forms for participation. parts of the conversations that violate the stan- Discussion groups run the gamut from bulletin dards of the community. These moderators are boards and forums to mailing lists and chat sometimes appointed by the community; in other rooms. cases they are appointed by the host or owner of Participants might engage a discussion group the forums. However, in many discussion com- to answer tech support questions, to trade stock- munities, the participants police each other, trading tips, to argue about a favorite sports sharing their views of when particular behaviors team, to share experiences about a health care or actions are inappropriate. issue, or to join a collaborative work project. Strengths: Most discussion forms have a Mailing lists, newsgroups, bulletin boards, and relatively low barrier to entry (just create an user forums are methods of asynchronous communi- account), with an especially low level of commit- cation, meaning that all participants do not have ment. For example, a participant can engage a to be online at the same time to communicate. forum only once, or few times, and still have a Sometimes this leads to more thoughtful contri- meaningful experience. butions, because participants have more time to Weaknesses: Sometimes forums are too refine their responses. open, easily garnering flip, reactive comments. How participatory journalism is taking form | 18 We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information Figure 3.1: Discussion forums (top) Lawrence Journal, (bottom) About.com How participatory journalism is taking form | 19 We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information Active, large forums can get noisy, with so many a low level of commitment. A participant can posts from so many members, it’s hard to deter- submit (usually on topics that meet a special mine what information is meaningful or useful. interest) only once, or few times, and still have a In addition, some moderated forums require meaningful experience. Those who post repeat- each post to be pre-approved before it appears edly may build up over time a reputation among online, slowing down and smothering the con- their peers as an expert on the subject. versation. Weaknesses: The quality of user-generated Many online media outlets have abandoned content can be uneven, with participants who discussion forums in the past few years, citing are not trained writers or fact-checkers. As a re- legal problems as well as lack of sufficient staff to sult, some content can require extensive editing. moderate and maintain forums. Ultimately, some Generally, this type of content relies on the good media outlets think forums provide little value to will of the audience to not exploit the system. the audience and to the bottom line (ROI).2 One It’s easy, in some cases, to skew polls and other barrier to effective advertising on these pages is feedback systems, by voting mutliple times. Also, the lack of content control by either the adver- a low volume of participation can limit the value tiser or publisher. of feedback systems. See Figure 3.1 for examples. See Figure 3.2 for examples. User-generated content Weblogs Many news sites provide a vehicle – through Among the newest forms of participatory journal- Web-based forms or email – designed to col- ism to gain popularity is the weblog. A weblog is lect content from the audience and redistribute a web page made up of usually short, frequently it. This vehicle can collect full-length articles, updated text blocks or entries that are arranged advice/tips, journals, reviews, calendar events, in reverse chronological order (most recent to useful links, photos and more. The content is oldest). The content and purpose of weblogs vary usually text-based, but increasingly we are seeing greatly, ranging from personal diary to journal- the contribution of audio, video and photographs. istic community news to collaborative discussion After submission, the content appears online groups in a corporate setting. with or without editorial review, depending on Weblogs can provide links and commentary the nature of content and the host policy. about content on other Web sites. They can be a Ranking is another popular and easy way for form of “latest news” page. Or they can consist of the audience to participate. Examples include project diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, proj- rating a story, a reporter and other users. Ranking ect updates, even fiction. The quick, short posts systems typically provide the best benefit when a on weblogs have been likened to “instant mes- sufficient number of users have participated, for sages to the Web.” On other weblogs, the content example, “4,202 readers give this movie 4 out of can be longer, such as excerpts from a research 5 stars.” paper in progress, with the author seeking com- Internet users also provide content through ment from peers. feedback systems, such as polls or mini-forums Weblogs fall into the one-to-many (individual attached to story pages. Polls sometimes also blogs) or many-to-many (group blogs) model of support comment submissions. media, with some allowing no or little discussion Self-correcting process: Usually, audience by users and others generating robust reader re- submissions go to a traditional editor at the host sponses. Either way, weblogs inevitably become site, undergo an editing or approval process, and part of what is now called the “blogosphere.” then are posted to the Web. Ranking and feed- This is the name given to the intercast of weblogs back mechanisms, however, are typically posted – the linking to and discussion of what others live immediately. Communities often police the have written or linked to, in essence a distributed submissions, and strong agreement or disagree- discussion. ment with a submission may prompt members The blogosphere is facilitated by several tech- to submit their own comments. This commonly nologies. First, it is supported by Trackback3 occurs with reviews of products, movies and res- – a mechanism that automatically finds other taurants. comments about a blog post on a weblog, and Strengths: Like forums, audience submis- provides excerpts and links to the comments sions have a relatively low barrier to entry, with alongside the post. It’s like having an editorial How participatory journalism is taking form | 20 We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information Figure 3.2 User-generated content (Top) Citysearch.com, the leading provider of online city guides in the U.S., enables the audience to write reviews and contribute information about venues and restaurants. (Bottom) BabyCenter.com is a community site for exchanging stories, tips and advice, as well as discussing common problems facing parents. How participatory journalism is taking form | 21 We Media | How audiences are shaping the future of news and information page of commentary on the Web, automatically search engines.

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