Qotw9: STOMP it like you just don't care (cause i sure don't)

As every one gets more and more versed in the ways of the Internet, it can be seen that whatever practices are carried out in the ‘real world’ can also be translated into the virtual world, including but not limited to news/information broadcasts and discussions on interesting current affairs. One upside about having such activities going on online as opposed to in reality is the drastic amount of freedom given – say or suggest anything you want with the least bit of judgment being passed on you or the subject matter. A result of this impeccable freedom is what we know today as ‘citizen journalism’.

Known also as ‘participatory journalism’, citizen journalism is the act of citizens ‘playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information’ (Citizen journalism, 2007). It’s sort of an opportunity for kids with weird fetishes about the journalism world to play ‘pretend journalist’ and not be gawked at for. According to Gillmor (2004), this is only possible ‘because of new publishing tools available on the Internet’. With technology at our fingertips these days, all we need for citizen journalism to take place is some form of a discussion avenue where the sharing of information/news can occur. In essence, every one can participate in citizen journalism with the emergence of the Internet and more social networking sites such as web logs, message boards, chat rooms, mobile computing, and Wikis. It is so easy that’ Every Citizen is a Reporter’ (Oh, 2000).

STOMP is an example of such an online community in Singapore, which clearly shows that “[t]he Internet has enabled citizens to contribute to journalism, without professional training” (Citizen journalism, 2007). It’s basically a 3-in-1 centre (chatroom, forum and announcement board), catering to locals with various interests and helping them find the right ‘clique’ to join or be a part of. With what we have learnt in online communities, people can then report on anything at all and and have others responding or adding on to their reports or comments.

A key feature seen in such articles published by citizen journalists is that the reported news appears to be written in a more informal and personal manner – such as that of a blog – and often biased. Although not as accurate as proper news reports and articles, it does often give the reader a fresh and different perspective of the issue – the citizen journalist’s point of view.

Even though STOMP might seem to not be a total waste of time and even a decent avenue for citizen journalism to take place, I do believe it’s got room for growth (a lot, actually) and development. The ‘reporters’ can sometimes write on totally irrelevant issues such as shopping or how they feel suicidal and that smoking is bad or some poppycock like that. It’s becoming a dumpsite of random news that no one would ever care about, not even their own parents which is probably what drove them to write about their sad lives anyway (just like people who blog which I apparently am but only because it’s required and it justifies me having a computer). I feel that moderators should monitor the news posts to determine whether they’re worthy of people’s time.


References:
“Citizen Journalism” (March 29, 2006) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism

STOMP (2006) From Singapore Press Holdings
Retrieved March 29, 2007 from
http://www.stomp.com.sg/

Bowman, S., Willis, C. (2005). Nieman Reports: The Future Is Here, But Do News Media Companies See It?. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from Hypergene Media Blog Web site: http://www.hypergene.net/blog/comments.php?id=327_0_1_0_C

Bowman, S. & Willis, C. (2003). We Media. Retrieved March 31, 2007, from http://www.hypergene.net/wemedia/download/we_media.pdf