Citizen Journalism and Media Vs Professional Digital Broadcasting

The idea of Citizen Journalism and Professional Broadcasting are seen as two seperate entities but in fact are one in the same. The Professional Broadcasting is site of the Citizen Journalism is dwarfed by the incredible amounts of information that the public gathers and can output.

The BBC use public information for their news articles and people can phone in but this was never more prevelant until the bombing attacks on the London underground on July 7th. According to Nieman.com the BBC news team has four people that handle the information sent in from the public. However, on the day of the bombings the four designated people were overwhelmed with the amount of information being sent their way.

Within the time space of six hours they received over 20,000, 4,000 text messages, 1,000 photos and 20 pieces of amatuer video footage. The sher volume of information and expediency of it is proof that with the inception of the internet and the world of Web 2.0 the 'News' is no longer attributed to 6 O'Clock and scheduled times of the day and just the T.V. and the newspapers.

According to an article written by Dr P Vyasamoorthy it states the statistics with regards to Citizen Journalism and figures surrounding the internet and its number of users for certain areas. The likes of blogs has over 133 million blogs on the internet with 900,000 blog posts a day. There are over 1.7 billion internet users worldwide, there are 12.7 billion videos watched by Americans in a month. With these huge figures and amounts of people across the globe interacting and talking and spreading news amongst each other across Facebook, email, Twitter, blogs and forums it is no wonder that Professional Broadcasting's relevancy has lessened in recent years. With the internet becoming more and more accessable from anywhere the need or want for Professional journalism in my opinion is dying.

The onslaught between Citizen Journalism and Professional Broadcasting will continue to war but the over all winner I find is that of Citizen Journalism. The public are closer to the stories than those sitting in the news rooms. They have the stories first, they have the first footage, they have the on site perspective that can be broadcast immediately.

Web 2.0, Cloud and Social Media and the Music Industry

The use of Web 2.0 applications and Social Media with regards to the music industry has had a profound effect. With the likes of iTunes having an online store where people can purchase music immediately and for a lower cost than in the shops allows for great potential for the music industry and danger.

The increased use and persistence of music downloading has caused controversy with the record labels and musicians alike. The ease in which people are downloading and taking music for free is seen as a detrimental problem to the industry. Some people believe some artists are simply being greedy when its seen that they already have vast amounts of money. However, the real issue arises when smaller artists who struggle t release albums due to costs are losing money and find it difficult to continue in the music business.

With the bad there is always the good. The music industry has taken a hit with music downloading but it has taken a significant boost from Web 2.0 applications and social media sites. The likes of Twitter and Facebook can create huge amounts of hype for a musician or artist. An example is the Irish band Crystal Swing being mentioned on Ellen Degeneras Twitter profile. Her profile has, which has over four million followers, created incredible opportunities for the Irish band which had until then been relatively unknown their entire career. Their YouTube music videos views rocketed into the thousands a short time after Ellen posted something about them.

Also, the industry has benefited from Web 2.0 technology in the form of Pandora and Last.fm that streams music from artists and also recommends music of the same genre or style that you may like. This links popular music with music that wouldn't be in the mainstream and increases an artist’s reputation.

Web 2.0 and Social Media has had an interesting effect on the Music Industry that can only be seen as a immensely profitable.

Web 2.0 Collaboration / Communication Applications

The influx of new ways in which to communicate opens the doors to creative integration between businesses and the public. The use of social media, blogging and online documentation enables a greater connection between the ones looking in and those showing off.

With the likes of Twitter it can be seen that a company or business can instantly update followers on any new information available. Twitter operates with the premise that each user can only post up to 140 characters in each message. This limits the information and so keeps it simple and easy to use. Also, with new ways in which to use Twitter and view Twitter it is mobile and can be accessed from people's phones on the go and can learn of more updates when not near a computer.

Talking about collaboration there is the use of Google Docs. This is an online multi-user tool that has multiple capabilities. For working in a group there can be a shared document that each person can edit. When the next person to log in views the document they can see what has previously been edited. This allows for people to work together on projects or assignments and to share their work or help improve another's efforts.

With the use of iPhones and other next generation mobile phones it has become easier and easier to utilise internet tools with one’s own phone. Programs have been created so people can use their Twitter, Facebook and even blog whilst on the go.

The use of blogs is a key tool for communications in the arts as it can be edited easily and stated above used via mobile phone to check updates and even post new news.

Finally, for the collaboration Google Wave is a mover in the use of collaborate tools. It, like Google Docs, allows users to edit each other’s work and combine efforts together. However, Google Wave integrates the attraction of 'next gen' mobile's apps in the form of 'bots' that can be attached to a post like adding a friend into a mailing list. These bots can be the likes of a Twitter Bot or a Facebook Bot.

All these tools allow for greater development of collaboration and communications amongst those in the Arts Business.

Blogging as a Business Tool

With the new age of technology growing faster and faster and developing better and more efficient programs and tools it can all be a bit confusing. When you try to look up a business or an arts organisation to learn of new updates or of new performances for example, it can sometimes be arduous as most websites for such places are updated quite slowly. This is due to the website being maintained by an off premises partner.

So, when new information is available it’s difficult to organise someone to change the data. However, Blogs have become a tool for businesses and the everyday average Joe too. With such websites as weblog.com or blogspot.com it has become easier to quickly create and easily maintain a Blog. For those that don't know what a blog is it is simply a "web-log". An online journal of sorts.

With the likes of Blogspot it is very easy to understand and begin blogging. The website is nicely laid out and makes blogging an easy tool to utilise.

With blogs it can be for the solitary person posting their ideas or thoughts but for a business it can be a connection between them and the public. A way to tell them of new updates and to communicate with them. This is done through the comments section of each blog post. This gives each post its own questions and allows for easy responding from the one running the blog. It gives order to the multitude of some blogs.

Another great reason blogs are a handy tool is the way in which it can be organised. From Blogspot each post can be tagged and categorised. This allows the viewer to select the category they are looking for instead of trawling through a multitude of posts that are irrelevant.