Web 2.0 and You

One of my favorite sites to browse is LostRemote.com. Their tagline is “Where TV finds the future,” so naturally the topic of Web 2.0 comes up every once and a while.  To kick off this post, I refer to two LostRemote postings:

#1- The humerous- And I quote: “Web 2.0 logos: Just add reflection & BETA tag”

#2- Serious reference for Web 2.0- which links us to: http://www.go2web20.net/

Go2Web2.0 is one of the most comprehensive listing of Web 2.0 sites. 

Before going on, I’m also going to add a very insightful article on the history of Web 2.0 from O’Reilly.

Go2Web2.0 got me thinking…what on this list have I heard of?  What do I use on a regular basis?  What has the potential for me to use it?

The list of sites I use on a regular basis is fairly short from the Go2Web2.0 list:

-Facebook

-YouTube, and

-Blog sites (as a generality, like the one you’re now reading)

 Not a very expansive list, I’ll say, but surely a starting point for our little conversation here.  For the purpose of this, let’s ignore, shall we, some of the privacy and copyright issues several of the above inherently have.  (Even Mark Cuban, blogger extraordinaire, insists the end of YouTube is in the cards.) 

 Let’s instead focus on their viability as vehicles that could some day equally hold the future of mass media just as much as large media firms, to paraphrase Stevens.

 It’s true, SOME media can be produced just as easily by a young girl as a media professional.  It’s also true the phenomenon is gaining recognition and legitimacy.  The White House has bloggers in the press corps.  Just read a linked story on FrontBurner a few weeks ago that, for the first time, bloggers at some fashion thing somewhere were given credentials for the first time ever.  (Though we could surely dive into the legitimacy of covering some runway event in the first place.)

 Here’s what remains to be seen… Will media giants, or mainstream media as a whole, begin to use Web 2.0 technologies?  I think yes.  It’s inevitable and would add great depth and texture to highly-trafficked media sites.  Many have already. 

There are numerous blogs on media sites, look at CNN's iReport, etc. But, will individual media producers gain control or even be on an equal level of “large media firms”? I don’t think so. We all saw the power of individuals ("citizen journalists") doing spot news during the hurricane season of 2005 and even, more recently, the Thai coup. All of this citizen journalist coverage has been used not to replace large media firm coverage, but rather to supplement it. The power of getting the images and videos out to a mass, we're talking very large audience, still lies with large media companies. Sure, people could have published them to their blog or personal site, but the audience would be much smaller.

 That’s not to say that it isn’t becoming easier for Joe Shmoe to have the same (or kinda equal) media production power of a large firm, but Joe’s audience is smaller and there’s a much more skeptical eye to his work.  Many individual producers can have impact on media, however.  Rather/TexANG was all started by some quibbling bloggers. 

 The idea of numerous individual media producers does in fact hold large media firms a lot more accountable for what happens on the airwaves. (Once again, referring back to the Bush example above.)  Even in a more realistic sense, no one, whether it’s on-air nationally or locally, can screw up during a show without it appearing on YouTube the next day.  (Just take Kyra Phillps audio problems or the myriad of other news bloopers that pop up on a daily basis.)

 So, in short, it’s great that anybody can produce content, but it means that everyone needs to have a watchful eye on where information is coming from.  Journalists also must not underestimate the power of Web 2.0, because it’s even easier to hold us accountable for what we do.

News o' the Day

John Mark Karr, the new suspect in the decade-old murder case of young JonBenet Ramsey, is on his way back to the United States today. He’s scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles this evenG, and when he finally arrives back in the US, it sure will be interesting to see if the momentum of the situation changes, and where he’s taken first.

While the JonBenet case may have the biggest headlines, I don’t think many people realize that Karr has been sought out by more than just authorities in Colorado. While child pornography charges Karr faces in California may be put on hold until the resolution of the Ramsey case, the international primer to his arrest is likely one of the most publicized confessions in recent years.

Had Karr been apprehended domestically, for starters, there wouldn’t have been a messy presser with Karr where he admits being with JonBenet at her time of death. He even responds he's not innocent, walking the fine line of saying he actually killed her. Now unless there’s some Law & Order-esque objection to use of that video, that’s a pretty strong piece of video (while I claim no legal expertise whatsoever). Even if it doesn’t ever see the light of a courtroom, you’d have to find someone who lives in a hole who might believe at this point that Karr is innocent. Furthermore, why is it people like this find jobs so easily around children?

Those sorts of soundbytes just aren’t the norm when you apprehend someone here in the U.S. The press usually doesn’t just get the chance to interview someone in a murder case, at least not that I can recall. However, it wouldn't be the first time for a fake confession.

On one hand, I think there’s a part of everyone who wants to believe he’s just mentally unstable and has fabricated parts of his story. On the other hand, it’s hard to refute the fact that Karr addressed facets of the case that had not ever been made public.

Moving to another aspect of the case…Michael Tracey , the journalism professor who received many a note from Karr. It appears that Karr sought out Tracey after watching one of Tracey’s documentaries on the case. Proves the point that, as a journalist, you never know where information will come from.

Anyway…Karr is U.S. bound as we speak. Turns out not many people knew Karr would be on the plane . Hmmmmm…overseas flight to Los Angeles, person escorted by authorities in business class…that sounds eerily familiar. Gosh, I sure hope there aren’t snakes on the plane.

On a related note, this song has been stuck in my head since Friday.