I give our local main stream media some blogging tips at Philly Future, more important, I introduce a new section of particpation on the site – Breaking the Cycle.
Anil Dash: “Web 2.0 is pretty much made of white people. I’m not used to any event in a cosmopolitan area being such a monoculture.”. I’d bet by far mostly men as well. That has to change.
Speaking of that, OJR gives an overview of various citizen journalism efforts in “Grassroots journalism: Actual content vs. shining ideal” (via Craig Newmark).
Speaking of that list, Philly Future was overlooked again. I am starting to feel that this talk of a grassroots participatory movement by some is a ruse. Whenever I see one of these lists – like the one above – they are comprised of funded efforts, or efforts comprised of folks that earn a living doing this, or efforts backed by a larger media concern. I hope I’m proven wrong.
I left a comment at Anil’s. I doubt it will show up.
I said that he is part of the insiders, he pushes the agenda. He mentions those making the fight who he ‘approves’ of, but completely ignores those he doesn’t, because they speak of things outside of his agenda.
For all his talk, he is part of that which he condemns.
It is fascinating that he spoke about diversity in the context of conference goers and did not mention you since it is one of the topics that you’ve spoken about more passionately then anyone else I know.
It would be interesting to see if he mentions women and you in a followup.
I actually don’t follow Anil all that much to comment on his motivations – but we’re all part of this one way or another I think.
I too have been wondering about this for some time now. It sounds good to hear all the talk of “citizen journalism”, especially from the established media — except that the projects that get the most attention aren’t citizen-driven at all; they’re usually the ones connected in some way to old-model journalism.
I was actually wondering if in some way this publicity is a covert way of traditional media patting itself on the back, as if it discovered the latest trend. And then a step further, perhaps the intention is to strip real citizen journalists of their steam by co-opting the movement and culling it into a more palatable version of the same old, same old…
My head’s been in the clouds for far too long I think Howard. I’m starting to come back to earth. The good thing is it means the mission of PF is very spot on – the bad thing is it means among many of the leaders are folks dragging old models right back into it. You kinda said that though.
BTW – Howard – read Shelley’s blog for lots more related discussion.