Artisan Journalism & Marketing Project Link Blog

International Cohesion and Compassion: Benefits of the Information Age

From Meredith Danton, editor, Miami Magazine (I'm an alum of University of Miami), Spring 2005:

When the amateur videos of the 30-foot wall of water that engulfed Phuket, Thailand, began flooding the airwaves, much of the world outside of Southeast Asia gained a tangible sense of what it would be like to be caught at the threshold of a tsunami. In the age of omnipresent camcorders and fits-in-your-pocket digital cameras, the documentation of random events in human history seems unfailing and remarkably detailed.

The breadth of destruction, the inconceivable loss of more than 160,000 lives, the stories of missing children and of remarkable acts of heroism - all of this becomes more real and provokes a greater call to action when witnessed in raw footage. Americans have donated hundreds of millions of dollars in  disaster relief since the December 26 tragedy, a nod to the strength of the connection we have with our brethen half a world away. In this issue you'll read about David Douglas Duncan, a University of Miami alumnus who dedicated his career to building photographic archives of rare moments and landmarks in 20th-century life. [They also call Duncan a 'photo nomad']. His work evokes the kind of emotional response that transports the viewer in time and place. This perspective encourages us to learn from  global events and take ownership of our roles in the human experience.

Similarly,  School of Communication Associate Professor Sanjeev Chatterejee is helping to deepen our understanding of the global scarcity of clean water and the need for greater conservation and restoration endeavors. As part of The Water Project, he traveled to India a few weeks after the tsunami to investigate efforts to restore potable water and stop the spread of waterborne diseases. His firsthand account is published online at www.onewater.org.

Whether captured by vacationers or professional journalists, the images emblazoned on our television screens, magazines, and computer monitors serve both to inform us and strengthen our international compassion and cohesiveness. It may well be one of the greatest benefits of the information age.

[My two cents: Some of the most important stories happen after a tragedy. How do people continue on and rebuild and grow? And why stop at storytelling  from vacationers and professional journalists - I'd love to hear from locals themselves.]

Grassroots Journalism at BBC

Excellent interview with the director of BBC Global News division, Richard Sambrook, over at Hypergene Media Blog. The whole thing is a MUST READ for this project. I've only pulled and highlighted two questions below:

2. At "Whose News?", a symposium by The Media Center at the American Press Institute and The Nieman Foundation at Harvard in March, you mentioned that the BBC's role is shifting from a broadcaster and mediator to a facilitator, enabler and teacher. Can you elaborate on this further? What do you hope to facilitate, enable and teach?
The BBC's mission, when it was established in the 1920's was to "Inform, Educate and Entertain." In most respects that still holds good. However we also have to "connect" — both with our audiences and to facilitate our audiences "connecting" with each other. Interactive media, and the changes it is leading in media consumption and culture, means facilitation and "enabling"" of the audience to take part in programmes, to express a view and to contribute are increasingly important. Those are also characteristics entirely aligned with the BBC's public service role.

The value the British public get from the BBC should go beyond what we broadcast. Teaching media literacy as well as supporting other forms of adult education, and facilitiating what our audiences want to do is going to become increasingly important as the conventional passive relationship between broadcaster and audience breaks down. We believe the BBC, as a strong global broadcaster reaching some 180 million people each week, is uniquely placed to facilitate connection and interaction in a trusted way between different audiences, cultures and countries.

4. Briefly explain what types of user-generated content (UGC) tools you have on the BBC sites (submit photos, forums, etc). How successful have they been?
We are very keen to encourage users to submit content to our websites, and in particular encourage users to contribute photos and messages when they are at the centre of breaking news stories. At times we also actively solicit images from users on particular topics, such as Islam in the 21st century

We have a number of examples of how we are actively using UGC from across our news sites:

[I'VE LIMITED ANSWER BELOW TO ONLY A FEW, MUCH MORE IN ORIGINAL....]

• Asian Tsunamis: The BBC News Have Your Say website received 25,000 emails within the first week of the tsunamis. These included reactions from those affected by the tsunamis and those concerned at the well-being of people known to them. Some users also sent in photos and videos of tsunami-affected areas. Here are some links to user-generated content: Asia quake disaster: Gallery 1, Gallery 2, Eyewitness: Survivor's tale in Thailand.

Special pages on people missing in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and Maldives were set up and were successful in reuniting several families.

• Iraq Logs: This ten-part log reflected the daily lives of eight Baghdad residents – including a U.S. army official and a UK citizen. The panel was put together by online and BBC Arabic teams and presented life beyond the statistics of the conflict.

• Chechen Anniversary: On the 10th anniversary of the Chechen campaign, BBC Russian organised an interesting Q&A on their website. The readers sent in their questions and these were responded to by people living in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. The event was organised with the support of a local newspaper. Part of this effort was a discussion between the prominent politicians and public figures associated with the Chechen conflict.

• Universal Children's Day: On Universal Children's Day (Saturday 20 November 2004), BBC's language sites spoke to a number of homeless or underprivileged children. Part of this effort was a picture-gallery of an Afghan refugee boy in Pakistan, who had cataract in one eye. The picture-gallery prompted many offers of help from our users. Also see: In pictures: Tehran's street children