Apologies for the sudden splurge of posts in the past few days – but this accidental journalist is stranded, stuck in bonnie Belfast by a lovely plume of volcanic ash.
Ok, so there are benefits of not being able to fly back to London: I’m loving the home-cooked meals, having my own car and my tragic inability to do any work as I didn’t bring the right books back with me. But it’s gone on for quite long enough. Easyjet have failed me. Ryanair have failed me. Even old faithful BMI Baby have failed me. Mr Ulsterbus has promised to get me to England on Thursday morning on the Cross Channel Express, but it’s a 12-hour coach and ferry trip, and I have to get up at 5am. This is definitively un-funny.
When news of the volcanic ash cloud, emanating from Iceland’s most unpronounceable volcano (try saying Eyjafjallajökull in your best Nordic accent), first broke, sensible people thought it was a belated April Fool’s Day hoax. Five days later, and it’s clear it’s not. For those of you who – like me – are not so up there with all the science jargon behind why a volcano can cause so much disruption to Europe’s travel plans, here’s a quick guide (with bootiful picture) to what on earth is going on:
Picture credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/baldvinh/sets/72157623876808932/
Dr Dougal Jerram, an earth scientist at the University of Durham, explained to the BBC that eruptions are caused by the pressure of dissolved gas building up inside the magma, or molten rock, which is located inside a volcano. This dissolved gas starts to froth and expand as it reaches the surface, resulting in explosive eruptions and fine ash being sent up into the atmosphere. If it is ejected high enough, the ash can reach high winds and be dispersed around the globe, for example, from Iceland to Europe. These high winds are exactly where planes cruise.
Lesson #1 on how not to be a citizen journalist.
Take note:
Thanks to Steven Wagers at http://2.bp.blogspot.com for the great cartoon (licensed under Creative Commons)
Over and out.
- Image credit: http://a.images.blip.tv/MobileMediaNow-picture346.jpg
Poynter Online have just set up a great new blog which citizen journalists are going to love. The Mobile Media blog is co-authored by Damon Kiesow, managing editor of NashuaTelegraph.com, and Regina McCombs, a Poynter faculty member, the blog aggregates news stories that reflect the intersection of mobile and media, how it’s affecting journalism and why this news really matters.
The blog includes news, views and some interesting reading for anyone interested in the future of the backpack hack.. check out Kiesow’s daily Mobile Media Reading list - which yesterday included ‘3 reasons why the mobile web will rule by 2015′ - great stuff by Joe Wilcox on Betanews. It’s also updated at least once daily, so Poynter’s new site is up-to-the-minute and informative, as well as giving an insight into the potential of mobile reporting in 2010 and beyond.
Mobile reporting matters for citizen journalists for 3 reasons:
- Cost: for citizen journalists lacking the support and finances of a major media corporation, reporting via mobile phones or other on-the-move devices is cheaper than buying and lugging around hefty video/audio equipment.
- Effiency: mobile reporting mans citizen journalists can often get the news to organisations who will publish it faster than traditional journalists, thus getting the scoop before their professional counterparts.
- Efficacy: as well as being cheaper and faster, mobile reporting has numerous qualitative advantages over traditional forms – it can get the news to viewers as it’s being made, can be used and accessed by a wider audience, and is often more amenable to digital uploading and sharing than specialised camera equipment.
Can citizen journalism make a difference on May 6?
Britain is in the midst of election frenzy (emphasised by my sparkly red word art). Leaders’ debates, ballot papers, day-by-day scandals, egg throwing drama… it’s everywhere, and citizen journalists can’t just stand back and watch the chaos unfold.
Along with talk of who’s going to win (and if you’re not sure how to vote, check out the Telegraph’s great Vote Match – apparently I should vote Green), there’s another huge question mark hanging over the 2010 general election: will this be a new media election? Barack Obama did it – using bloggers, social network users and getting online activists out onto the streets in order to canvass support and crucial votes – and now our politicians are trying to do it too. But will it work? What role do citizen journalists have to play in making everyone’s vote count? And can social media really change the outcome on May 6?
The three big names in the election 2010 (Thanks to Imageshack for the great cartoon)
Right now, it’s anyone’s guess. I’m not going to pretend to offer a definitive answer – citizen journalism itself is an amorphous concept and takes many different forms – but here are this accidental journalist’s thoughts on how citizen journalism could affect how the polls go in a few weeks’ time.