Department of Mass Media and Communication Research Department of Informatics Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences University of Fribourg Master’s Thesis Web 2.0 and 3.0: How Online Journalists Find Relevant and Credible Information Submitted by: Livia Hächler Baumackerstrasse 9 8050 Zurich [email protected] Matriculation number: 04-450-458 Advised by: Edy Portmann Supervised by: Prof. Dr. Louis Bosshart Prof. Dr. Andreas Meier Submitted on: August 31st 2010 Web 2.0 and 3.0: How Online Journalists Find Relevant and Credible Information Abstract The Internet has influenced the nature of public communication, thus it is directly influencing (online) journalism. As a medium overcoming the barriers of time and space, the Web is a mixed blessing. On the one hand it facilitates fast information exchange, at the same time it erodes the traditional means of existence, leading to sparse resources and drastically increased time pressure. Especially online journalists are confronted with enormous time constraints for two different reasons. Firstly, online news publishing is a matter of minutes. Secondly, the Web has changed the readers’ behavior causing a 24 hour news cycle that is constantly consumed in small bits. In such an environment it has become difficult to meet the professional standards expected of a journalist. Achieving the professional objective concerning research and uncovering the truth requires time, and time has become very limited in an online setting. Consequently, to do research quickly the Web has become to be an important tool, simply because it is fast. This thesis tries to reveal the potential of the Internet for research that meets professional journalistic standards. As a point of reference, the momentary situation of the use of the Web for research purposes among online journalists in Swiss online news outlets has been examined. Swiss online journalists seem to vary in how they use the Web depending on their own IT-knowledge or on the media organization they are working for. Taking a deeper look into the nature of the Web 2.0 and its tools as well as that of the Web 3.0, it can be concluded that the main problem in using online sources is their trustworthiness. The advantage of the Web, namely its openness and participative nature, is at the same time its drawback because the information is never completely trustworthy in regard to today’s ways of ascribing trust. The Web is a communication platform flattening hierarchies and forming public communication in previously unknown ways. To use the Web to its fullest the author concludes that these developments might entail some fundamental paradigm shifts in society as well as in the field of journalism. Keywords: journalism, research, professionalism, Internet, Web 2.0, Web 3.0, semantic Web, social media, blogs, twitter, social networks, folksonomies, search engines Web 2.0 and 3.0: How Online Journalists Find Relevant and Credible Information List of Contents 1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................1 2. The Function of Journalism in Society...........................................................................4 2.1. The Meaning of Public Communication in Society................................................. 4 2.2. The Debate on Journalistic Professionalism............................................................ 6 2.3. The Meaning of Research within the Journalistic Process .................................... 10 3. The Internet as a New Mass Medium...........................................................................15 3.1. Structural Changes in the Media System Caused by the Internet.......................... 15 3.2. The Role of the Online Journalist.......................................................................... 20 3.3. The Meaning of Research in the Online Environment .......................................... 23 4. The Use of the Internet as a Research Tool in Swiss Online Editorial Offices........26 4.1. The Research Questions......................................................................................... 26 4.2. The Method............................................................................................................ 27 4.3. The Results ............................................................................................................ 30 4.3.1. Where Online Journalists Search.................................................................................30 4.3.2. The Art of Using Google .............................................................................................32 4.3.3. Searching Through the Web 2.0 ..................................................................................34 4.3.3.1. Social Networks.....................................................................................................34 4.3.3.2. Microblogs .............................................................................................................35 4.3.3.3. Blogs ......................................................................................................................36 4.3.3.4. Wikis......................................................................................................................37 4.3.3.5. Tagging ..................................................................................................................38 4.3.4. Investigating Credibility and Trustworthiness Online.................................................39 4.3.5. Giving Machines the Power of Decision .....................................................................41 4.3.6. Visualizing the Future..................................................................................................41 4.4. Short summary....................................................................................................... 43 5. The Characteristics of the Web 2.0 and 3.0.................................................................46 5.1. The Web 2.0........................................................................................................... 46 5.1.1. The Users’ Web ...........................................................................................................48 5.1.2. A Web of Interactions..................................................................................................50 5.1.3. Limits to the Web 2.0 ..................................................................................................55 5.2. The Web 3.0........................................................................................................... 56 5.2.1. The Web of Data..........................................................................................................57 5.2.1.1. Exploring Meanings through Machine-Generated Languages ..............................58 5.2.2. Enhancing Personalization...........................................................................................60 5.2.3. The Importance of Trust ..............................................................................................62 Web 2.0 and 3.0: How Online Journalists Find Relevant and Credible Information 6. The Research Possibilities on the Internet...................................................................64 6.1. Blogs – Start Discussing!....................................................................................... 64 6.2. Microblogging – Start Contributing! ..................................................................... 69 6.3. Social Networks – Start Connecting!..................................................................... 72 6.4. Wikis – Start Editing! ............................................................................................ 76 6.5. Folksonomies – Start Organizing! ......................................................................... 79 6.6. Search Engines – Start Finding! ............................................................................ 83 7. The Responsible and Desirable Use of the Internet for Journalistic Research .......87 7.1. The Requirements of Professional Journalistic Research...................................... 87 7.2. The Momentary Use of the Internet in Swiss Online Editorial Offices................. 88 7.3. The Internet’s Possibilities for Credible and Efficient Research........................... 88 7.3.1. Answering the Wh-questions.......................................................................................90 7.3.2. The Problem of Trust...................................................................................................93 8. Conclusion and Outlook.................................................................................................97 9. Bibliography ..................................................................................................................101 Appendix ...............................................................................................................................110 Appendix 1: Interview Questions for Online Journalists....................................................I Appendix 2: Interview Questions for Media Coaches...................................................... II Web 2.0 and 3.0: How Online Journalists Find Relevant and Credible Information List of Figures Figure 1: “The Long Tail” (source: Anderson [2005]) ...........................................................21 Figure 2: The evolution of the Web (source: