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Beware of impostors: Research has shown that 'citizen journalism' is no replacement for the real thing. Photo: Michael Fitzjames "Citizen journalism is an oxymoron," says Rakhal Ebeli, managing director of Melbourne-based news bureau Newsmodo. "I mean, how can someone who is not a journalist be a journalist?" I am adding this not that I am in agreement but its an example of negativity towards this area.

I think that this article does a good job of discussing some of the "darker" aspects of citizen journalism. It distinguishes how citizen journalism often deals with trying to change public opinion, whereas traditional journalism, in theory at least, aims to be objective and truth-based. While it is a large stretch to call traditional journalism "truth-based," there are typically certain measures in place to promote accuracy, such as fact checking, review, etc. I like how this article supports the professional integrity and need for trained, educated journalist, comparing "citizen journalism" to "citizen-pharmacy and crowd-sourced obstetrics." While there is certainly value in IndyMedia and citizen journalism, the flip side is that information distributed in this manner is not by any means guaranteed to be accurate or fair.

I am a professional journalist (Bachelor and master degree in Journalism) and I can tell you that a journalist that works for a media is not truth-based, accurated or with professional integrity. A professional journalist is an employee in a company with economical, policital and social interests supported by the content that is being published. I have the content of my articles changed from my managers in order to "match" the diary interests. And what was finally published was far from being truth (then I denied to put my name in the article, but it was still published). So citizen journalism might include emotions, prejudices and non contrasted impressions from citizens, but are still free and natural. I am totally towards citizen journalism.

Citizen journalism refers to a wide range of activities in which everyday people contribute information or commentary about news events. People behind the citizen journalism can range from News Company to a normal citizen writing about anything they wish to share with the world. How they wish share it is up to them. They may use blogs, videos, among other social medias. The significance of citizen journalism is that they may share things that people may not know about or may share things that other "professional" sources are not willing to talk about. However, there are downsides to citizen journalism, such as reliability and validity. This site has everything you need to know about Citizen Journalism.

The resource is good. Citizen journalism is a resource that everyone can join and contribute to. However, not everyone can and is willing to join it. This is a pity of citizen journalism. on the other hand, like what is above, there are problems about reliability and validity

"Citizen science in seconds" will take you through the best project examples, the history and present-day importance of citizen science. Quick & inspiring!

This is a really short, yet informative introductory video about citizen science - a really good resource to give to someone who has never heard of it, or does not have a clear idea of what citizen science really is. In two minutes it covers everything - from the idea behind it, to project examples and how to make citizen science work for you, and even historical background of the movement. It is definitely a good place to start if you are interested in learning more about any of these aspects of citizen science. As a fan of citizen science AND public understanding of science, I would definitely recommend to watch this video TO ANYONE. (For this particular reason I have also published it here: http://www.technology.org/2014/09/25/science-seconds-citizen-science/)

With the development of technology, more and more people can join the media and become reporters. However, the rise of citizen journalism also has revolutionary effect on different kinds of careers, such as publishers and other aspects of news and sociey.

Dated from 2012 but an interesting read that really puts the importance and significance of citizen journalism into perspective

Citizen journalism is especially powerful when it disagrees with the popular paradigm of the mass media platforms. This article specifically talks about occupy, Syria, and other movements where the media was not necessarily on the side of the protesters. This is particularly powerful because it disinter mediates the mass media and shows a balanced perspective - something that history prior to the internet lacked all too often. Citizen Journalism, although often biased and unfiltered, gives a raw perspective on events which helps people form more informed opinions.

Using the citizen science model for science education.

Good connection between citizen science and learning, that I did not find so evident in the course content. Thanks!

Interesting lecture on citizen science given at UBC. Professor Jennifer Preece gives several interesting examples of recent citizen science projects, and the research being done on citizen science. She also presents some of the roles computer scientists and librarians can have in citizen science projects.

New Visions in Citizen Science by Anne Bowser and Lea Shanley: * different models that support public contribution, potential challenges, and positive impacts that projects can have on scientific literacy, research, management, and public policy. * Illustrate how citizen science functions at its best demonstrating how open innovation can address agency-specific challenges in new and compelling ways.

Interesting article that combines the idea of citizen journalism with a video game While we've been living in the "citizen journalist" era for a while now, the recent events and controversies in Ferguson, Missouri, have reminded us yet again how everyday people with smartphones have redefined the way we take in breaking news - particularly with the images they use those phones to make and distribute across social media.

2012 was a huge year for citizen science. From microbes to Zombie Flies, from sea to space, there was no shortage of opportunities for everyday people to contribute to real scientific discovery. Each year at SciStarter, we analyze our glorious website metrics to identify the most popular projects of the year.

Citizen Cyberlab's repository of online resources on citizen science: a collection of over 500 references concerning education, crowdsourcing, participation and much more!

It is a pity that most of these papers are not open, not free...

Interesting paper on utilizing citizen science for digitizing natural history collection data. It is nice to get the perspective of how these programs are constructed.

Socientize Project is funded by EU 7th framework program, and hosts several citizen science projects, including SavingEnergy@home (collecting global thermal data), Cell spotting (looking at images of treated cancer cells), Collective Music Experiment (creating music from audio samples), Urban Bees and others. The page also includes links to useful citizen science resources (e.g. Pybossa, EpiCollect, BOINC), policy pecommendations & news regarding citizen science.

It explores why people-powered media matters and why we need them

Very good article. He makes good point about journalism being a stronger tool as more people participate.

Yes. Very good point about journalism being stronger as more people participate. But, an inherent part of citizen journalism is the consumer's ability to sift through what is news and what is opinion. Who checks the facts with "citizen journalists"?

This is a great follow-up reading to the core reading for module5 from J. Willinksky (2006). I thought it was timely now though written 12 years ago, due to the surge in citizen video journalism and ease of access to government websites now for public policy information, voting and campaigning.

Here's a good primer about citizen journalism.

Thank you for sharing this resource. It is useful to understand citizen journalism.

A list of Citizen Science projects. Do you want to get involved?

I'd totally love to do the SETI@home one! WOW!

Useful resources for Citizen Scientists who wish to publish, so sharing valuable data which otherwise may have been lost. Of course, caution should be taken to ensure that all data recorded is done scientifically and is reliable.

Very useful; thank you very much. You can find useful the list made by Prof. Andy Miah on academia and social networks: http://www.andymiah.net/2012/12/30/the-a-to-z-of-social-media-for-academics/

Thanks for sharing both lists of resources. Very useful!

A brief but concise overview of the advantages and disadvantages of citizen journalism

We rely on your support to further our mission to understand birds and other wildlife, to involve the public in scientific discovery, and to use our knowledge to protect our planet. Each day, bird watchers report tens of thousands of bird observations to citizen-science projects at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, contributing to the world's most dynamic and powerful source of information on birds.

Birding has been at the forefront of citizen science projects. In South Africa there are similar projects to the ones Cornell is doing. they are being run through the Avian Demographic Unit at UCT and strongly supported by Birdlife South Africa. Birdwatching is one of the areas where an ornithologist is often on an equal footing with amateurs, and sometimes behind professional guides, when it comes to field identification. It is therefore a suitable field in which citizen science can play an important role.