This page featured the draft versions of the chapters of the book by the New Media, Old News: Journalism and Democracy in a Digital Age. The book is the first major publication arising from the Leverhulme funded research project 'Spaces of the News', designed to investigate the nature of news production in a digital age

When the people formerly known as the audience employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another, that's citizen journalism.

In Flat Earth News, award-winning journalist Nick Davies takes the lid off newspapers and broadcasters, exposing the mechanics of falsehood, distortion and propaganda; naming names and telling the stories behind stories. This website is intended to be a focal point for exposing past, current and future media abuse.

Award-winning Demotix - true to its name - blurs the boundaries between publication, agency and political actor

Web 2.0 and citizen media have taken root as significant elements in the news of the future. And they have become a true competitor to traditional media. In 2006, citizens made it clear that they wanted a voice. In 2007, more ways of doing that began to emerge and that voice became stronger. Now, 2008 looks to be the year the mainstream press tries to lure citizens toward creating the content within their own outlets. As with much of the Web, though, the growth in citizen-based content brings with it questions about the future. And, as with much of the Web, the answer to one fundamental question - financial viability - remains uncertain.

Now the traditional definition of Citizen Journalism is that it should be 'amateur' and , well, that's about it really. The rest is up to you. The survey found incredible diversity but it also found that Citizen Journalism can be even less accessible to the public than mainstream media. Now Citizen Journalism tends to see itself as a force for democracy, which I think it is. But it is not a particularly interactive form

Pro-Ams - people pursuing amateur activities to professional standards - are an increasingly important part of our society and economy. For Pro-Ams, leisure is not passive consumerism but active and participatory, it involves the deployment of publicly accredited knowledge and skills, often built up over a long career, which has involved sacrifices and frustrations. The 20th century witnessed the rise of professionals in medicine, science, education, and politics. In one field after another, amateurs and their ramshackle organisations were driven out by people who knew what they were doing and had certificates to prove it. The Pro-Am Revolution argues this historic shift is reversing. We're witnessing the flowering of Pro-Am, bottom-up self-organisation and the crude, all or nothing, categories of professional or amateur will need to be rethought. Based on in-depth interviews with a diverse range of Pro-Ams and containing new data about the extent of Pro-Am activity in the UK, this report proposes new policies to support and encourage valuable Pro-Am activity.

some great info for pro photographers on licensing and the internet

...is proposed: (1) traditional journalism, (2) public journalism, (3) interactive journalism, (4) participatory journalism, and (5) citizen journalism. ...

"We the Media, has become something of a bible for those who believe the online medium will change journalism

This paper outlines the concept of produsage as a model of describing today's emerging user-led content creation environments. Produsage overcomes some of the systemic problems associated with translating industrial-age ideas of content production into an informational-age, social software, Web 2.0 environment. Instead, it offers new ways of understanding the collaborative content creation and development practices found in contemporary informational environments.