Participatory Journalism and Asia From Web Logs to

ParticipatoryJournalismandAsia:FromWebLogstoWikipedia[e-mail]13thAsianMediaInformation&CommunicationsCentreAnnualConference:ICT&MediaInputs&DevelopmentOutcomesImpactofNew&OldMediaonDevelopmentinAsiaJuly1-3,2004AbstractWithawiderangeofmediaenvironmentsandpressfreedoms,Asiaprovidesarichsettingforstudyingtheemergenceofparticipatoryjournalism.Thispaperdescribestheoriginsandevolutiontowardsone-to-manyandmany-to-manyonlineparticipatoryjournalism,byfocusingontheevolutionofweblogsandthelargestprojecttodate-Wikipedia.Thismultilingual,Internet-basedelectronicencyclopediahasbeencreatedbythousandsofordinaryInternetusers.Ithasachievedthisbypresentingalowbarriertoparticipation,allowinganyonetoeditanypageintheWebsite.Injustthreeyears,ithasgainedalargefollowingandisavailableinover50differentlanguages.ThepaperexaminestheevolutionofparticipatoryjournalismprojectsandtheimplicationsfortheAsiaregion.-2-TableofcontentsAbstract.........................................................................................................................1Tableofcontents............................................................................................................2ParticipatoryJournalism................................................................................................3Personalpublishing–FirstWave..................................................................................5Origins........................................................................................................................5Statistics.....................................................................................................................6OpenContentandWikis–TheSecondWave...............................................................8Introduction................................................................................................................9Keepingitsocialandneutral....................................................................................11WikipediaOperations..............................................................................................13WorkingasHumans.................................................................................................16ForeignLanguageWikipedias.....................................................................................18JapaneseWikipedia..................................................................................................20ChineseWikipedia...................................................................................................21Conclusions..................................................................................................................23AbouttheAuthor.........................................................................................................25Acknowledgements......................................................................................................25-3-ParticipatoryJournalismOverthelastdecade,theWebhasbecomeanessentialtoolforjournalistsandresearchers.WhileinformationcanbefoundquicklyandeasilyusingsearchtoolssuchasGoogleorYahoo,theproblemisoftennotalackofcontent,butratherthelargevolumesofstaleandquestionableinformation.DeterminingtheaccuracyofsearchresultsisachallengeforanyInternetuser.However,theadventofparticipatoryjournalismhasprovidedauniquesolutiontothisproblem–itengagesthenewsaudiencetoparticipateintheprocessofrationalizingWebcontent,craftingthenewsandcontributingknowledgeintothemediaecology.Intheirworkonthesubject,WeMedia,Howaudiencesareshapingthefutureofnewsandinformation,ShayneBowmanandChrisWillisdefineparticipatoryjournalismas1:Theactofacitizen,orgroupofcitizens,playinganactiveroleintheprocessofcollecting,reporting,analyzinganddisseminatingnewsandinformation.Theintentofthisparticipationistoprovideindependent,reliable,accurate,wide-rangingandrelevantinformationthatademocracyrequires.ThistraditionstartedwiththeUSENET2relayeddiscussionboardsoftheearlyInternet,predatingtheWorldWideWeb.TheUSENETsystemallowedusersfromallovertheworldtoengageindiscussiontopicsusingtextmessages,muchliketoday’sbulletinboardsystems.However,italsospawnedaformofpersistentcontent–thefrequentlyaskedquestionsorFAQs,whichwerecollectedandstoredfromamongtheephemeralbulletinboardmessages.TheFAQconceptisnowwellknownincyberspace,andisperhapstheearliestformsofparticipatoryjournalismontheInternet.-4-Weblogsemergedin1998,shortlyaftertheriseoftheInternet,andallowedgreaternumbersofpeopletocreatepersistentInternetcontent.AmericanwriterJornBargeriswidelyconsideredtohavecoinedthetermwebloginDecember1997todescribewebsiteswhichprovidedalocationforindividualstopublishtheirownopinionsandInternetlinks,typicallyusedtoputcurrenteventsincontextortodocumentobservationsindailylife3.Inplaceswithrestrictedpressenvironments,weblogshavebecomeanimportant“realitycheck”tothemainstreamandstatecontrolledmedia,allowingordinaryuserstohelpcraftthenewsandkeeptraditional