New citizen journalism project, 'I, Reporter,' coming soon

Amy Gahran, author of Contentious, announces plans for "I, Reporter," a project that will include a weblog about citizen journalism and deployment of a citizen journalism team to cover a Boulder, Colo., development proposal.

Gahran, a regular contributor to the E-Media Tidbits column on Poynter Online, says "I, Reporter," will include a training component for citizens and for news organizations.

Some of the most effective journalism of the future could come from direct and indirect collaboration between citizen and pro journalists. Efforts such as "I, Reporter" can show how each role can complement the other, making collaboration possible.

Gahran is right on target with some comments about the state of citizen journalism today:

"Some traditional news organizations are involved with citJ projects and sites. That can help – as long as they don’t try to ghettoize or undermine it. The more passively managed efforts rarely attract many postings or traffic. ... Beyond infrastructure, news orgs usually offer little or no guidance, mentoring, or training for citizen journalists. Nor do they typically highlight citJ efforts, online or via print or broadcast. This is probably why citizen-generated content is typically minimal on such sites. ...

"Perhaps the thorniest issue is how closely citJ should emulate the objectives, format, and style of traditional journalism. For instance, in the citJ realm transparency is usually considered more crucial than objectivity. Many news professionals who’ve labored for years in traditional journalism have a particularly hard time with this."

The goals Gahran has set for  "I, Reporter" and the citizen journalism team make this effort worth watching.

Comments

[Amy Gahran]

Thanks very much for your support and enthusiasm, Ari. I hope I, Reporter lives up to your expectations.

- Amy Gahran
Editor, CONTENTIOUS and I, Reporter

[Amy Gahran]

Oh, I forgot to mention: I've explained I, Reporter more fully in these two blog entries:

I, Reporter: My New Citizen Journalism Project:
http://blog.contentious.com/archives/2005/06/18/i-reporter-my-new-citizen-journalism-project

I’m in the Lead of a Monitor Article:
http://blog.contentious.com/archives/2005/06/19/im-in-the-lead-of-a-monitor-article

...And I'm furiously getting the inital version of the I, Reporter site ready to debut later tonight. I'll announce it on CONTENTIOUS.

I welcome any input from you and your readers.

- Thanks,
Amy Gahran