Culture

Citizen journalism on billboards?

by Rob Peters | December 17, 2007 at 12:25 pm

759 views | 2 Recommendations | 10 comments

Media man David Vogt dreams of one day using large digital billboards as venues for citizen journalists. He believes they'll allow communities like the Downtown Eastside to define themselves on their own terms. A fascinating idea.

David Vogt is looking at the billboard-sized TV screen outside Vancouver's Canada Place and thinking about a place where Wizard of Oz technologies meet citizen journalism.

The eight-metre-high screen -- its official name is Canada's Storyboard -- shows touristy views of the country and information about what's happening at Canada Place.

Vogt sees another use for such screens. What would happen, he wonders, if we used giant TV screens to give a voice to people whose stories don't normally get heard?

After all, says Vogt, big screens like the one at Canada Place will soon be all over.

Vogt says he will try to find an answer to the question: "What happens if we allow the Vancouver Downtown Eastside to find a way of voicing what it's about, rather than the external people coming in and telling their story?"

It hasn't been decided yet exactly who will be telling these stories, but Vogt says it will be people who "live there, they work there, they care about that and they want to tell a story. They are storytellers. So I think a lot of them will be artists, but it will probably move beyond that."

Vogt said Mobile Muse hopes to bring about "a real sense of what a community is all about. And that's what we're hoping that Fearless City can create: a unique, collective, real voice about what the Downtown Eastside is about and what its potentials are."

He describes it as "collective citizen journalism."

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cynthia yoo

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 12:48 on December 17th, 2007

Great idea~

bigyaz

at 13:27 on December 17th, 2007

I don't see any chance of abuse here...

jpowaga

at 13:56 on December 17th, 2007

Driving through Lincoln Park - Chicago< IL traffic on Dec. 11, 2007 in the afternoon. The Maker's Mark billboard caught my eye, especially because it looked like a giant cookie in the sky.

Bluecheese has contributed a photo to this story.

THENSKE

at 14:43 on December 17th, 2007

Artists In Dire Straights

THENSKE has contributed a photo to this story.

umarket

at 17:10 on December 17th, 2007

The idea is really interesting and has great potential for sharing important information within a community. I wonder how the editorial controls would work, to ensure that news is from members of the community and up-to-date, but also has been fact checked and accurate. Maybe volunteer community editors?

umarket has contributed a photo to this story.

Breeonne

at 22:20 on December 17th, 2007

I wonder if the proximity of this idea to the 2010 Olympics will help or hinder the initiative... I suppose we'll see in 2011.

lpettinati

at 15:59 on December 18th, 2007

This photo of the Yahoo! Japan billboard was taken in Roppongi Hills are of Tokyo near the Miro Tower.

lpettinati has contributed a photo to this story.

caffeina

at 15:38 on December 19th, 2007

The billboards in my immediate neighborhood are a strange breed. I think graffiti writers and outdoor advertising agencies are in a turf war, seeking to possess public space, attract the most attention from as wide an audience as possible. I think its a natural progression, and people ought to fight to posess their own community public space.

More insight into outdoor ads

caffeina has contributed a photo to this story.

Sitti_Skaters

at 09:26 on December 24th, 2007

this is a shot i had taken for use on an adertising project, we went to london, so i could use the bilboards and super-impose some of my advertising to see how it looked

Sitti_Skaters has contributed a photo to this story.

thedeftguitarist

at 20:27 on December 29th, 2007

Billboards in Ginza, a major shopping district of Tokyo, Japan. While in Tokyo I noticed the amazing influence advertising had on the architecture of the city.

thedeftguitarist has contributed a photo to this story.