Web Journalism Manifesto For Digital Age
I just finished reading an article about a a group of German bloggers who wrote a “Web Journalism Manifesto” describing how they believe journalism functions on the internet. There is a raging battle over content, the new commodity of the 21st century. Who owns it? How does one better utilize it? What can be done with it?
It rings true that due to the way the internet works, accessibility is greater than ever before. Anyone with access to a computer and a connection can add to the vast collection of data that exists in this digital world. There are virtually no rules. Anyone can write anything about any topic. Then it gets added to the online world indefinitely. Even if the submitted deletes the original, it will be cached somewhere. It will still be available even if not in original form. Interestingly though, the dregs of the internet only surface when they are stirred. Eventually the aged information sinks to the bottom of the digital pile as the new is laid down over the top of the old. It never really disappears, just merely forgotten.
So how is this different than the veteran documents of the past? Clearly you can store more information digitally than in it’s predecessor hard copy format of newspaper, magazine, or book. There are other bonuses too. It can be made easily searchable, it’s easier to edit and reuse, and can be made more widely available with less cost. So where is the problem? It seems that information is not as easy to control as it was in the past. Media moguls are not sure how to deal with the “free information” age we are moving into. News companies can no longer control what gets reported. Newspapers and magazines are in a downward spiral while loosing subscription base. All because of the information age we live in.
What these German blogger put forth is how they believe journalism will function on the internet. Nothing precedent setting of course, but more of a statement as to where we are obviously heading. Information is viral in the internet. That is what makes the internet the internet. This is how things work as history shows us. We should embrace it and not fear it. Think about Mr. Ford when he started building his cars during the Industrial Age. He started with little to no competition. Now how many car companies are there in the world? Yet things are still moving along. Media is making the change to the internet whether you like it or not. The difference will be in how soon you adopt and encourage it’s progress.
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