infobong.com

Dan Gillmor is leaving his job as a technology columnist at The San Jose Mercury-News to start a "grassroots journalism" project. I'm intrigued by the notion of a centralized system for ordinary folks reporting on the stories that affect them. On one hand, I'm inclined to say, "Well, there's already IndyMedia," but, although IndyMedia aims to be an open platform for people to share their stories, in reality it tends to be a mouthpiece for a segment of the radical left and, often, a bulletin board for cranks. I think a lot of ordinary people are alienated by the overheated rhetoric that emerges from the communities plugged into IndyMedia. I also suspect that some folks in these want to alienate people who come in with mainstream views; I've heard activists trash academics and persons who espouse traditional media practices, which, as a grad student and former editor, are hard for me to stomach. Because of this situation, I suspect a lot of left-leaning people interested in participatory media self-select out of contributing to IndyMedia. On the other hand, the SiliconBeat item says Gilmor has received "seed funding" for his grassroots media project, so he will be operating it as a business, which introduces its own issues like alienating advertisers. Whatever form this venture takes, I'm looking forward to seeing the results.