Qotw9: STOMP- CItizen Journalism

STOMP (Straits Times Online Mobile Print) is an online portal set up by the Singapore Press Holdings. Here, the online portal makes use of the three platforms consisting of online, mobile and print, to involve the public in the updates of Singapore (Stomp, 2006).

Citizen jounrlaism is also commonly known as 'participatory journalism'(Citizen Journalism,2007). Ordianry people are now able to capture images and videos on thier handheld devices with ease. This technological advancement has given society many more eyes and ears.

STOMP is a platform where people who have news to share, can publish thier stuff online. This was possible before this platform was created, via blogs. However, STOMP is an example of organization and efficiency. Instaead of going to multiple blogs to read about different things, STOMP organizes forums and chatrooms, where people can go and share interests and news. this feeling of involvment is very productive for society and can give rise to Jurger Habermas's concept of the public sphere. STOMP has the resources, and the process of debate would be open for everyone to see and judge. Sites such as STOMP are also a good way of cultivating democracy within Singaporean society.

STOMP has restrictions on what can be published on their site. This can be seen as a hinderence and can also be seen as a neccesity. While, real eye cathing stuff would be great for attracting crowds on the site, alot of people misuse the internet, and would probably post vulgar or become abusive on the forums. While there are restrictions to it, ordianry citizens have a better chance of gettins omething useful posted on STOMP rather than getting it published in Newspapers or Magazines.

The concept behind STOMP is new and very benficial. However, the site tends to deal with very soft and light hearted material. The concept behind citizen journlaism, is to get ordinay people's views on current affairs. An anchorman on CNN telling us somethign about Singapore would not be as interesting as hearing it from a Singaporeans mouth. STOMP should try and keep its lively feel to get people comfortable with the site, but i believe it should center around hard hitting news, so people can get actively involved in what is happening around them .

Refernces:

STOMP (2006) From Singapore Press Holdings Retrieved March 30, 2007 from http://www.stomp.com.sg/

Citizen Journalism. (2007, March 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 30, 2007, fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism

Gillmor, D. (2004). We the People: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People. Retrieved March 30, 2007 from http://download.nowis.com/index.cfm?phile=WeTheMedia.html&tipe=text/html#chap3

The Age of Insecurity

In today’s fast paced world we are constantly bombarded by information. People’s lives are open to the public. Any celebrity’s life is an open book, and can be recorded on a daily basis. Random people can be made famous overnight, and this lightning fast process is because of a lack of privacy. People have forgotten how to do things for themselves, and are more concerned with how others will perceive it. If someone were to do something good, they would hope that someone catches it on camera, and they probably will.

People online are sharing information all the time. Personal details are given without thought for registration purposes. Blogs are filled with personal information. Sites like friendster have pictures, videos and tons of other information regarding the user. People around the globe are willingly uploading information that they wouldn’t disclose to strangers in the physical world. What they are doing online is as good as calling millions to a gathering and telling them about themselves with a slideshow and contact details. While it is true that millions of people will not bother to look at any one individual’s website, but if they wanted to they could do so with a click of a button.

The internet has vastly increased the opportunities for individuals to subject themselves to the demands of the personality market, resulting in ever increasing confusion and anxiety about how much of ourselves to reveal to strangers(Rosen, 2004). Given the nature of the internet people are forced to reveal personal details of themselves to strangers to have a substantial impact on them. This is because such details are hard hitting and get people thinking. This has been described as the best way of attracting attention online (Rosen, 2004).

This attention seeking tactic however comes across as an act of desperation. Apart from desperation, people who try very hard to cultivate an image of themselves in a public space so that they can get noticed would be described as insecure in the real world.

As an individual, I would not and do not disclose personal information about myself online at all. I have a freindster account, but it doesn’t scratch the surface of who I am. While I am very dependent on the internet I like to use it for convenience purposes and not to attract attention. I contribute to an online poker forum, but only when I am faced with a problem and need advice.

Another perspective of looking at the internet and the concept of privacy is to use the internet as a form of expression. This way revealing different aspects of ones personality would be similar to that of an artist working on a blank canvas. However, with artists and their work, coherence with their lifestyles is apparent. Whereas, a person made famous for their blog and the tons of pictures which are posted up there, is different. A lot of the time, People try to be something they’re not, and to deal with their insecurity issues pretend to be something else in the virtual world. Therefore it can be defined as an escape, which helps them out with their own internal issues. By telling the world about oneself and getting recognition for it at the cost of privacy is an inherent problem with this medium and its users.

However, this concept of privacy issues online has become common. People update their Blogs and webpage’s and hope to get as many hits as they can. Privacy is not the issue anymore, recognition is. Becoming famous online is a straight link to stardom. Blogs like www.perezhilton.com have made their owners media icons for reporting and critiquing the lives of celebrities. Dawn Yong, a famous Singaporean blogger is a household name due to her activities online. The list is endless and people are waiting and uploading their lives onto the internet so that maybe someone finds them interesting enough to talk about in larger circles. The way I look at it, is plain and simple insecurity.

References:

Rosen, J. (19th July, 2004). "The Naked Crowd". Retrieved on 8th March, 2007 from http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CA5FF.htm

Sullivan, B. (17th October, 2006). "Privacy Lost: Does Anyone Care?". Retrieved on 9th March, 2007 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/print/1/displaymode/1098/

Privacy (7th March, 2007). In Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 9th March, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Privacy&oldid=113354124