Public Journalism in the Digital Age: January 2010

Friday, January 29, 2010

Thomas Raines

I reviewed Sloashdot and OhmyNews for comparison. Slashdot is a more technology oriented blog. It contains user generated content, but content submissions are reviewed by editors before posted. OhmyNews is similar in that there it is user generated content, but with a much more strict submission requirement. Specific rules are laid out, and checked for by professional editors. The top stories are chosen chosen by hired professionals for the site.

Both sites rely on users for their content, but each go about gathering said content differently.

Megan Morrow - In-Class Writing January 28, 2010

I chose Kuro5hin.org and OhMyNews (english.ohmynews.com) to evaluate. While these websites are both forums for public journalism, they have two different ways of editing and choosing material to publish.
The key difference between the two news sites are the way articles are chosen to be published. On Kuro5hin, registered members are able to contribute stories, provide suggestions for edits, and vote on which stories make the "front cover", or the front page. It is a very user-driven portal for information, one which the "masses" decide which information is important.
On OhMyNews, registered members submit stories, which are then chosen by professional editors. Although the news stories are provided by users, professional editors regulate information, which allows fewer people input on the news and what is featured.
The two are both sources for news stories submitted by "amateur" writers. The main difference is that OhMyNews is more regulated by professionals.

Jillian Baylor

OhmyNews focuses on international news and manages to cover a little bit of everything from all the regions of the world. It has international news within all the categories of news, for example in the sports section they have stories from Brazil and Australia. This website's editor, Oh Yeon-ho, has a team who chooses what articles will appear on the site. They also feature different writers from around the world every week.

Kuro5hin.org focuses on personal stories that are submitted from the readers. The website then organizes all of the submissions by subject and features "the best stories of the day" on the main page. This site doesn't have an editor, unlike most news sites.

In comparison, OhmyNews seems like a more organized website because they have editors who filter the content, only selecting well written and organized stories. However, with Kuro5hin, the quality of the work isn't really the main focus but the idea/motive of the story is what's important.

Megan Byerly

The two sites I chose to compare were slashdot.org and English.ohmynews.com.

Ohmynews.com is a website that mainly contains international posts. This makes it different than Slashdot.org because Slashdot.org only pertains to technology. There are many different topics from all around the world on ohmynews.com. This website appears to be very organized and is very appealing to the eye with all of the pictures on the site. In order to make additions or changes to posts on this site the reader must become a user and be logged in.

Slashdot.org is different because this website appears to appeal to people interested in technology type stories. This website is for users that are interested in the latest and greatest technology advances. It appears that with this site they have made it very user friendly because you are able to link similar things together. In order to post stories on this site you are able to remain anonymous but all stories that are submitted are reviewed by the editors of the website.

William Viola

The idea behind Indymedia is to produce accurate news not governed by corporate control. Indymedia allows people to publish their news as they wish. People can freely post stories on what they think is important for people to know. The site is set up for international use and has the option to focus on specific locations. Slashdot is a website that defines itself as "News for Nerds". The news on Slashdot focuses on technological advancements. Unlike Indymedia Slashdot does not allow just anything to be posted on their site. You must submit a story to the Slashdot editors to look over and decide if it is news worthy. To get your story on Slashdot it helps to provide some proof such as relevant links. Slashdot is a great website and their editorial process keeps the news on the site quite reliable.

Diandra Simmons

I chose the Slashdot and Ohmynews blogs. Oh my news seems more like an international blog that discusses things from all over (ex: Korea). They don’t focus on just one topic they all vary. Slashdot seems more of an educational site with more to do with science, technology, and advancements.

Personally I think Ohmynews is an easier site to look at and you can find things easily. They have more pictures and the links are right there if you want to click on something. And with a name like ‘news for nerds’ or ‘news catering to nerds’, Slashdot, just doesn’t seem appealing to me.

Katy Townsley

The Slashdot blog encourages bloggers to focus on scientific and technological issues, or as they say "stuff that matters." They do a lot of linking and "tagging" so that readers can easily find similar subjects and topics throughout the site. When submitting stories they emphasize the importance of writing a clear, simple subject links. They allow authors to remain anonymous but regulate and filter what stories will be accepted or rejected.

OhmyNews focuses on international issues. They focus on a broad range of topics such as art, entertainment, sports, etc.

The difference in these blogs is that OhmyNews as a larger variety of topics which makes it easier to everyone to find something interesting. OhmyNews uses more pictures and is more appealing to the eye. They have more user-friendly features such as feedback and FAQs. They also have a more organized website with subjects separated into categories. Each website requires the reader to be a user and have a login to reply to posts.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

M. Owens Simpson

Indymedia.org, which stands for Independent Media Center, is basically an online melting pot of information, written and posted by any and everyone willing to relay their news to the world via the internet. Just simply go to the link, currently located on the left-hand side of the page, and "post your news." Seemingly, there is no editorial system running the website, it is basically a free for all.

OhmyNews International, found at english.ohmynews.com, is an online based news organization accumulating news from all around the world. Citizen journalists have to join the site in order to upload their own news articles, "enjoy[ing] full control over" their work posted on the site. However, differing from Indymedia.org, there does exist an editing process. The editors for the web site overlook postings, which includes "fact checking," examining sources, and determine the over all quality of the articles as well.

Mike Galoppa

www.indymedia.org is an independent news publisher that allows the public to publish their news. I found the site very helpful because it adds in multi-language formats so your news is accessible and understandable around the world.

Slashdot.org is news catered to nerds. It focuses on issues of technology and advancements in modern science. I thought the site was very cool for people intrested in those topics, but its not for me.

Indymedia seems like it would be more useful for me

Victoria Croffie

Slashdot is an online news site which proudly bears the tagline "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters". This website publishes user produced content which is also reviewed by said users as well as submitted by them. Each story is forum based so that users can comment and discuss each story in forum based style which over runs the internet. The summaries and links to submitted stories are topics in threads in the forums. Their articles are more centered on technology and science. Slashdot lets you post anonymously and many articles of the same nature link up if related. Slashdot only publishes your story if it is deemed newsworthy in their eyes.

Indymedia on the flipside has articles that focus on political and social issues of news reporting. Their editorial policy is varying for each branch as no two are entirely the same. In general their editorial is fairly loosely based as anyone can post their stories. Indymedia isn't as strict as slashdot as anybody can publish their story as long as it's not a rehashing of what is out on the internet.

I prefer Slashdot over Indymedia because of the forum based content which is moderated and how only relevant articles are reviewed in accepted, allowing lest trash and hate mail to come through as it readily does with Indymedia.

NIcole Meraviglia

OhmyNews is an online newspaper originating in South Korea. The main focus of this website is that the public can contribute writings about topics of interest. The editors of this website will read and edit the articles they receive before posting them on the actual website.

Slashdot is also an online website, that allows the public to vocalize their opinions through their website. Each article that is submitted to the website can put commented on, allowing for people to further post their opinions on the topic. Slashdot is more focused on important news such as technology and science.

I find I like OhmyNews better because it's a more laid back website and more user friendly. It seems easier to use and would have more topics that I would be intrested in. Slashdot is also a good website, but it just seemed more advanced and more difficult to use.

Brandon Wallace

www.indymedia.org is short for Independent Media Center. It is a network of media outlets for the creation of accurate, but passionate tellings of the truth. It works out of a love and inspiration for people who continue to work for a better world. They think the corporate media's distorts and is unwilling to cover the efforts to free humanity.

www.kuro5hin.org relies on its readers. It is a collaborative site about technology and culture. It is also a community of people who like to think and laugh every now and then. It is a site for people who want to discuss the world they live in.

Cindy Sadutto

The two sites that I chose to compare are OhmyNews ( english.ohmynews.com)
and Slashdot (slashdot.org)

Based on the headline of slashdot "News For Nerds. Stuff That Matters" and after glancing at the conversations taking place it seems like the website is specifically a discussion forum for people who follow the different technological advances taking place.
It does not look like there are any ways to edit or supervise who makes any contributions. You just click the link to post and volia!

For the second site OhmyNews, it looks like the majority of the site or the home page is dedicated to Korean news and events taking place in Korea. But if you start clicking the links on the left hand side you'll start seeing world news, sports events, etc.
Unlike the other website you have to join the page first before you can post anything. Once you're a member (your account) your in charge.

Ina Chandler

The Indymedia site focuses mainly on important events in different countries. They focus on some hard news but mostly feature stories. The Kuro5hin site focuses mainly on common people blogging about their experiences or things they think are interesting. There are also articles of opinions about events happening around the world such as Obama in China.

For the editorial policies the Indymedia site is an independent media center where journalist post the lastest information around the world. Journalists also provide photos, audio, and video footage through the website. For the Kuro5hin website anyone can post something, they just have to create an account. They are able to post anything that's interesting to them and their post will either get posted or dumped. If the post gets dumped it will not be on the website, but if the post gets posted and is on the first page it is one of the best posts. So the website determines if your story gets posted or not.

The Indymedia site focuses on events happening around the world, and journalists post pictures, videos, and stories. While on the Kur5hin site normal people post things that are interesting to them. So the news evaluation and editorial policies for the Indymedia site are more professional and formal than the Kur5hin site where anyone can post something.

I like the Kuro5hin site more because there are more interesting topics than the Indymedia site, but the Indymedia sites writing is much better.

Matthew McCracken

Blogging is an easy, efficient way of getting news out to a large variety of audiences around the world. With many blog sites having different ideas and views, it is important to check out all to see which one interests you the most. Although this could take a while, it is worth it to see which site interests you more, and why. Indy Media and English OhmyNews are two well-respected blog sites, but are way different when it comes to lay-out and information derived from them.

To start things off, Indy Media offers an "about me" section that describes what their blog site is all about. In that description, they mention the fact that they created their site to cover the "creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of the truth." English OhmyNews on the other hand covers local news around the world. They cover subjects such as Science, technology, entertainment, sports, art & life, and global watch. Although they are both blogging sites, their messages they are trying to portray are different in the fact that Indy Media is more about race and culture while OhmyNews covers many aspects of news around the world.

Danielle Bevacqua

The two sites I have chosen to view are english.OhMyNews.com and Slashdot.org.

OhMyNews, setup in way reminiscent of CNN for me, focuses on a range of topics all the way from Sports to Technology. There is an option of becoming a 'Citizen Reporter' in which everyday people may post articles, however, they must adhere to a strict code of ethics. To edit the articles, they have an e-mail edit option in which you can send revisions.

Slashdot calls themselves "news for nerds" and this includes things relating to technology and science for the most part. To participate in the moderation of this site, a registration of an account is required. There is an option to evaluate the article's with pluses or minuses. A plus would help bring the article to the top, while a minus sign brings it down in importance. While anyone may post a story - even anonymously, the editors reserve the right to post or not post the story.

As far as appearance goes, I like the setup of OhMyNews. The content on Slashdot is more up my alley, however the overall look of it is very unappealing with a dentist-green and very compacted and busy. On OhMyNews it is more open. As far as editorial processes, I think I prefer OhMyNews as well.

Kenneth Applegate

A blog is rarely one of the first places you'd look for news, but you'd be surprised as to how much they cover, without those 'political' biases. Slashdot and OhmyNews are 2 blogs that inform their readers of whats going on in the world around them, but there are a lot of differences. Slashdot is more technology based with acronyms and numbers that may confuse normal readers. OhmyNews is an international-based news blog that is about current affairs.
Basically what you're looking for decides what one you go on. If it is about science or computers, than slashdot is where it's at. If you're a traditionalist and actually look through the world without a computer screen, than OhmyNews is where it's at. Both are obviously user-generated so what you read is up to you to believe. Although a majority of it is the truth, it can either be more biased or pretty legit.
I love how slashdot is like a forum, with lots of titles to choose from and no images to distract you. OhmyNews is good, too, with more images and a more 'newsy' layout. All in all, both are great, and it's really just a matter of what you are looking for.