Welcome/Overview – Citizen Media: Fad or Future of News?

"Citizens who have a passion for their community are bringing
a can-do spirit to the development of new media sites. These sites
foster a sense of place in towns where many believe quality media
coverage is lacking. Citizen-generated content is leading to new
definitions of news."
 

J-Lab's Executive Director Jan Schaffer gave a quick tour through the ever-expanding world of citizen media and summarized the findings of her recent report Citizen Media:  Fad or the Future of News?  Schaffer defined cit-media as a "bridge media," sites that fuse news with civic participation, news and schmooze. Schaffer explained that the metrics for this bridge media are also different:  site producers care more about community impact than audience share, page views or profits.
 

"What do we mean by impact?" asked Schaffer. "Since The Forum launched in New Hampshire, they've seen a huge increase in voter turnout. Their site now has over 200 hundred contributors posting 37 stories a week. The MSM is waking up."
 

Schaffer called citizen media "high-touch initiatives" that require lots of community recruitment, training and support. Many of these projects have very democratic governance structures, local sponsors and make use of guerrilla marketing tactics.
 
 

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About J-Lab

J-Lab helps journalists and citizens use digital technologies to develop new ways for people to participate in public life with projects on innovations in journalism, citizen media, interactive stories, entrepreneurship, research, training, and publications.

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J-Lab is a center of American University's School of Communication in Washington, D.C.

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