QotW9: STOMPing = Singapore's outlet for Citizen Journalism?

Citizen Journalism is also known as "participatory journalism," and is the act of citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news". (Wikipedia, 2007, Citizen Journalism). What is so special about it, is that information does not come from professional journalists, but people like you and me.

We are witnessing a new phenomenon - again, where power is passed down to the common people. We are part of the "future of news". And why is that so? These days, anyone armed with a handphone equipped with a good camera and videocamcorder can report on what they see around them. You no longer need to be a professional journalist to report the news. According to Gillmore (2004), "[t]his time, the first draft of history was being written, in part, by the former audience. It was possible—it was inevitable—because of new publishing tools available on the Internet."



STOMP is a relatively new outlet for Singaporeans to connect and communicate with other fellow Singapore netizens. According to STOMP, this website offers an avenue which "integrates content and activities in the three platforms of print, online and mobile." (STOMP, 2007, About us). I commend SPH's efforts in promoting citizen journalism and encouraging their readers to be part of the news collection process. However, I do not believe that STOMP is an ideal form of citizen journalism for Singapore.

Firstly, when surfing around STOMP, I find myself asking, so which are the advertisements and which are the links I am supposed to click if I want to get information? The layout of the site is a little too cluttered to be considered a serious avenue for citizen journalism in Singapore. Instead, it strikes me as a platform for the local media to connect to the Singaporean on the streets.

On STOMP, you have podcasts, foodies club for your inner foodie, digital club for the tech whiz, EPL stomping ground for the soccer lovers, and of course forums to cater to various needs of the average Singaporean out there. There are many categories, some creatively named "the gym" for the gym rats out there, "vain pots" for... the vain pots, "let's play play" for the avid gamers etc. They also have their star bloggers, where they get local celebrities to blog about topics like, "Why can't we get along with our neighbouts" and "Take out your crystal ball. What kind of world would you envisage in the year 2050". Granted, it does make for occasional entertainment and interesting insights on how your average Singaporean thinks. It is a platform for Singaporeans to express themselves and to allow themselves to be heard, but citizen journalism is not promoted well enough to allow STOMP to be considered an ideal form of citizen journalism for Singapore.

There is not much to improve really, as STOMP does seem to be popular with a certain demographic of Singaporeans. However, if STOMP wants to be considered an ideal form of citizen journalism in the local blogosphere, some work is needed. Firstly, if STOMP ever wants to be considered a serious citizen journalism platform, that should be their main focal point, instead of branching out to forums, star blogs.. etc. Perhaps, the moderators of STOMP could consider allowing the voice of your average Singaporean be heard, like allowing your everdayman's insight on local issues to be published on the site more frequently. More can be done, but that is only if STOMP wants itself to be taken seriously as an avenue for citizen journalism. To me, that is not their focus.


References

"About Us". (2007). The Straits Times, STOMP. Retrieved March 29, 2007 from http://www.stomp.com.sg/about/about.html

Gillmor, D. (2004).“We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People”. Retrieved March 29, 2007 from http://download.nowis.com/index.cfm?phile=WeTheMedia.html&tipe=text/html

Wikipedia. “Citizen journalism”. (2007). Retrieved March 29, 2007 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism

QotW8: Blogs and Politics

Blogger's pseudonym: Mr. Wang
Blog: http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com/
Occupation: Citizen Blogger
Blog's Date of Birth: Dec 22,2006. However, his old blog ( http://commentarysingapore.blogspot.com/) show posts that date back to as far as 28 January 2000.
Technorati Rank: 26,774 (332 links from 143 blogs)

Mr. Wang's Tone

Surfing around the Internet, netizens should be able to note that there are more citizen journalism blogs popping up around the net, especially related to politics or what is going on around the world. Mr. Wang is a famous blogger who has a strong online presence, and like most citizen journalism blogs, he takes a very commentative approach towards current affairs in his blog. Take for instance a statement in his recent post titled "What we Believe" posted on March 16, 2007:

I learned ... that the National Council of Churches of Singapore is seeking to criminalise lesbianism. I find this disturbing. I sense a potential threat to the freedom of religion in Singapore.

Mutual respect and tolerance is the basic principle on which an inter-religious society like Singapore can hold itself together, in relative harmony.

This quote above encompasses how he feels about this current issue, and like the way he has written above, the rest of his blog posts are about his opinions on the happenings in Singapore, and he takes a rather no-holds-barred approach towards his dissection of issues.

The fans and readers of his blog show good thinking capacity and great mental sophistication towards the issues he blogs about or highlights too. Regarding this issue about freedom of religion in Singapore, a reader Boon had his take on this issue, and his main point is phrased out rather succinctly:

Religion is a personal issue. But when it encroaches on the public domain, people must be allowed to speak up despite "religious sensitivities".

He is not the only reader who has added input into this issue that Mr. Wang has highlighted, and many of the comments posted by other readers also show great insight, and very well thought out opinions. Like blogger, like readers.

Blogs = More Democracy?

We live in an era of knowledge and empowerment. With the Internet at our fingertips, we are afforded a great deal of information with the mere click of a mouse. The Singapore government heavily regulates our local media, but it is near impossible to do that online. Citizen Journalism blogs have sprouted up all over the Internet, and there is no way they can stop people from airing their opinions on politics or any other issue, as long as it is not something slanderous.

According to Thornton, the Chicago communcation school "viewed communication as more than information circulation ... [it was] the process in which people create a culture and maintain it." In the case of blogs and politics, it is true. In this process, people do not just feed each other with information.With this new phenomenon of citizen journalism blogs, there is a gathering place for people to discuss politics, and a culture will sprout out of it.

In short, I believe that democracy will come out of blogs discussing politics and current affairs. I do not think it will affect government policy to a great deal just yet, but it affords netizens the knowledge about what is going on, and knowledge is really power.

These blogs allow for people to have their own take on current issues, and it acts as a voice for the common people. With these blogs, they are allowed to have a platform to air what they think, and this can be cathartic. People can bond with the need to protect their own rights, and I forsee that this will be powerful enough one day to influence government regulation. That itself, is democracy.


References

Giam, G. (2006). “The politics of Singapore’s new media in 2006.” Retrieved on March 24, 2007 from
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2006/12/31/review-the-politics-of-singapores-new-media-in-2006/

Thornton, A. (2002). Does Internet Create Democracy? Retrieved on March 24, 2007 from
http://www.zip.com.au/~athornto/

QotW7: Tweet-er!

Would you Consider Twitter an Online Community?

An online community is one that comprises of a group of people that communicate or interact via the Internet. Different communities advocate different levels of participation. According to Amy Jo Kim, there are 2 different kinds of online communities - the traditional structure online communities, and the more individual-centric, bottom-up sort of interaction (Wikipedia, 2007).

The traditional structure online communites include online discussion boards and chat rooms. Participation in these mediums are more difficult than they seem, as they require mechanisms like gift-giving and reciprocity to establish reputation. For individual-centric, bottom-up sort of interaction like blogging, participation could entail something as simple as leaving comments or tags on someone's blog.

What is great about an online community is that it is able to connect people "without regard to race, creed, gender or geography." (Wellman & Guila, 1996) Even though an online community can transcend beyond the physical and geographical location of a person, there must also be at least one common factor to bind people of a community together. In the case of Twitter, all of us joined as it was part of our assignment ;) That's what binds us, at least in the Twitter community!

Thus, to answer the question - Is Twitter an Online Community? Definitely! Twitter is an online form of social networking that is more popular in the US and UK, but barely known here in Singapore! Well, thanks to this blog assignment, all of us got to experience what it was like interacting with each other through this hybrid of a tag box and a chat room, and it proved to be quite additctive and interesting!

Well then, why is it an Online Community? An online community is one that comprises of a group of people who interact via the Internet. Yes, without a doubt, we can do that with Twitter! However, in a way, I believe that Twitter is a fusion of both types of Online Community. It is a traditional structure online community simply because it operates like a chat room where you and your friends can interact with each other via your live updates. However, it is also an individual-centric, bottom-up sort of interaction because you can import Twitter as a widget onto your own blog, and your blog readers will get to know your live updates even if they do not have a Twitter account, or do not know what Twitter is. They can then respond to the live updates (from your Twitter) on your blog via your comments or your tagboard!

Undoubtedly, Twitter is an online community, and I hope that I have substantiated my argument sufficiently to prove that it is :)


References

Butler, B., Sproull, L., Kiesler, S. & Kraut, R. (2002). "Community Effort in Online Groups: Who Does the Work and Why?" Retrieved March 14, 2007 from http://pascal.case.unibz.it/retrieve/3248/butler.pdf

Fernback, J. & Thompson, B. (1995). "Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?" Retrieved March 13, 2007 from http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html

Wellman, B. & Gulia, M. (1996). "Net Surfers Don't Ride Alone: Virtual Communities as Communities." Retrieved March 13, 2007 from http://www.acm.org/%7Eccp/references/wellman/wellman.html

Wikipedia (2007). Virtual Community. Retrieved March 15, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_communities