Since the marriage of webcams and broadband, moblogging--a term for mobile blogging coined by Adam Greenfield in 2002--has become increasingly widespread (Rutledge 2003). Technology has advanced to the level where individuals can tailor and personalise their videos before sending it out to their friends, all on their mobile phones (Simmons 2008). Live broadcasting has also become possible.
With this development comes the increase in citizen journalism. When Saddam Hussein was executed, the official video distributed by the Iraqi government was censored to be without audio. But there was also a video shot with a cell phone that included taunting by Shi'ite politicians in the room (Glaser 2007). The viral spread of this unofficial video on Google Video and YouTube was seen by millions and exposed the reality of the situation in Iraq to the world. This clearly demonstrates the power of citizen journalism through Vlogs and moblogging.
Current Problems
Current Problems
However, according to John Dickson, photo editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the quality of pictures and videos contributed by citizens is still too low (Rutledge 2003) for citizen journalism to become mainstream. Besides, Web 2.0 consultant Kathy Johnson (Simmons 2008) also points out that the biggest problem with video blogging is that the bulk of user-generated content fails to attract users due to its boring and mundane nature.
I believe as technology continues to improve, however, the average citizen will have an increasingly significant role to play in bringing reality to the masses.
(Refer to an older post, New Media Publishing for more)
References:
1. Glaser 2007, Saddam Execution another First for Citizen Media, viewed 3 June 2009, <http://www.online-publishers.org/newsletter.php?newsId=15>
2. Rutledge, B 2003, 'Conference Panelists See Bright Future for Mobile Publishing', USC Annenberg, viewed 2 June 2009,
<http://www.ojr.org/ojr/technology/1058998393.php>.
3. Simmons, D 2008, 'Rise of the Mobile Video Blog', BBC Click, viewed 1 June 2009,
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/programmes/click_online/7392594.stm>.
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