January 13, 2003
It’s All About We, We, We
Technology columnist Dan Gilmorr, in an essay in the Columbia Journalism Review, writes about what he calls "we media" and issues this warning to the static world of newspaper publishing:
"In an emerging era of multidirectional, digital communications, the audience can be an integral part of the process. Call it 'We Media.' Journalism is evolving away from its lecture mode - here's the news, and you buy it or you don't - to include a conversation."Interactive technology - and the mostly young readers and viewers who use and understand it - are the catalysts. We Media augments traditional methods with new and yet-to-be invented collaboration tools ranging from e-mail to Web logs to digital video to peer-to-peer systems. But it boils down to something simple: our readers collectively know more than we do, and they don't have to settle for half-baked coverage when they can come into the kitchen themselves. This is not a threat. It is an opportunity. And the evolution of We Media will oblige us all to adapt."
As I wrote last week in this entry -- "Blog Flogging and A.J. Liebling" -- Gilmorr's "we media" are "new channels in the flow of information that bypass 'mainstream' media - old and new."
Gilmorr's column is another wake-up call in the incessantly ringing alarm clock that newspapers continue to ignore.
Links
Dan Gilmorr eJournal on SiliconValley.com
Gilmorr's CJR essay Here Comes 'We Media'