citizen journalism, UGC, digital Renaissance

Citizen journalism and UGC (user-generated content)

...2.) examples

• divergence and surveillance to real objective evidence
• consumers having an influence in news presentation
• 26th December 2004 Tsunami
• London Bombings July 5th 2005
• Late November 2008 Mumbai bombings
• Benefits to institutions : see the real and unbiased side that the media may not always show, and UGC enables this

3.) A 'citizen journalist' is a person that generates objective sources for news, or as the article states they're known as 'accidental' and 'grassroots' journalists. However they do not present it; the media do, and this may have a negative effect in the sense that what is presented may be twisted and untruthful, purely for reasons such as making headline hits. These citizen journalists are then responsible for how the news pans out, seeing that they're the ones holding concrete evidence from video, audio, etc.

4.) The first examples of news being generated were only a year after the rise of technology in 1991, and this says something about the impact it has on news on a universal level. A reported riot clash in 1992 where "There were six days of riots, 53 people died, and around 4000 people were injured."

5.) As with online news, there are these formats that it is presented in:

• Glanced at headlines
• Read story
• Video clips
• Live video
• TV news programme 
• Live radio
• Podcast
• Live news page
• Read blog

6.) As a media student to say, one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and UGC is that there is a clear distinction of how consumers can make out the information presented. For example, UGC may be shot with a bad camera, and this has an effect in certain situations such as identifying an object (license plates, etc) that is hard to see. On the other hand, if it was professionally recorded, then there would be such problems. However, professionally shot footage may still be subject to bias, in the sense that only footage for their support but not of their opposition.

7.) The formal definition of a gatekeeper is that "Gatekeeping is the process through which information is filtered for dissemination, whether for publication, broadcasting, the Internet, or some other mode of communication."

8.) Gatekeepers are being changed as a result now due to the constant change in news dynamics from consumers themselves having a strong influence on insitutions.

9.) The primary concerns for journalists from the rise of UGC are:

• Jobs for journalism are being declined in the competitive industry
• Irrelevant/obsolete news having to be presented

10.) What impact is new/digital media having on:

• news stories : news can now be shared, consumed, and presented in different formats for people's convenience, and is sometimes free. Also in correlation to the rise of new digital media, there is also a rise in UGC, therefore news being presented is also influenced by consumers themselves as they're the people that supply information and evidence.
• the news agenda (the choice of stories that make up the news) : Similar to news stories, UGC being submitted to companies may be obsolete and irrelevant, and is more influenced by people's trivial interests rather than the grand picture of world affairs for example.
• the role of professionals in news : As stated before with news stories, there is sort of a bias influence in the sense that consumers are the ones supplying information.

Hyper-reality and the digital renaissance

...2.) 

• Positive aspects of new technology : Internet convenience - free
• Internet access and right to information
• Negative aspects of new technology : Too much information being presented, whether they confidential regarding greater risks i.e. politic related
• Bauldrillard : defined "hyperreality" as "the generation by models of a real without origin or reality;" hyperreality is a representation, a sign, without an original referent.

3.) Instagram, also owned by Facebook, has a unique leading social network that is used to share pictures, and this is a digital renaissance in the sense that there has been no other more successful picture sharing network like Instagram itself. 
Twitter also has a unique usability that makes it a digital renaissance. Users can for example retweet to highlight something that interests them, and this creates a ciruclation on any issues that makes them feel like it is worth being acknolwedged. 
And finally there is Periscope, a live streaming app that is able to present information in real time without any preventions like censorship.

4.) Social networks such as the live streaming Periscope and Facebook LIVE apps have sort of pioneered UGC being streamed without consent and without censorship, and purely displays what there is without any restrictions, e.g. news companies refining information that they want/don't want to present due to several legal reasons i.e. censorship. 

5.) 'Digital renaissance' can be linked to our case study on news in the sense that there is a pivotal point and a new pioneering in the new digital media that impacts the news industry, whether it is causing a decline or a benefit