Citizens of the world untie
27 July 2005. Inspired by a sense of perspective.
Back in London, and it's raining. In Spain, I'd find this cheering after a very, very dry year. Here it's just a little depressing. I think I'm catching a cold. And yet still people ask: "So when are you moving back to London?" to which I continue to reply, "Why, pray tell, would I want to?"
Anyway, my return means I'm rather busy right now, and still watching with interest as the mechanic fiddles under the bonnet of my blog (with me occasionally prodding something and asking 'so what does that do then?', and then nodding sagely at the unintelligable answer). So only a brief linking to wise words, where I could really have gone into a full 3000-word rant:
Let's forget about citizen journalism
Robert Scoble, meet happy slapping.
I'd be glad to introduce Robert Scoble to a... but I digress. Key excerpts: "It’s not journalism; it’s not bearing witness, except in the most anti-empathic way." "Could [we] also concede that other attempts to get Ordinary People to behave like journalists - Ohmynews I'm looking at you - are also unforgivably lame? Student newspapers, only without the brevity? Let's, instead, alight on a model of citizen storytelling." "[Let's] get on with the business of training professional journalists who know how to tap into the web's emerging storytelling culture to get new stories, and improve on the ones they've always written."
Next week: why pretty much all podcasting is truly dull waffle, and so could we all shut up about it please. Actually, maybe it is the new blogging after all.
Anyone else coming to the Zembla event at Borders on Charing Cross Road tonight?