2008: A Year in User-Generated News

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2008 witnessed an explosion in the ways we gather, share and consume news and information. No longer the preserve of a few, participatory media formats began to be widely used by anyone – whether protesters or politicians, concerned individuals or mainstream news outlets - wanting to get their message out and connect.

Among the most popular was microblogging service Twitter which showed its potential to distribute raw information almost instantly – whether on a large breaking news event affecting many people, such as the recent Mumbai attacks, or an issue affecting the individual such as the arrest of an American student in Egypt. Previously averse to using unfiltered information, mainstream news outlets took to using Twitter in their news coverage.

The growth of Twitter showed that people are interested in finding original source material on a story, and want to know how to make sense of it. But questions remain about how best to sort through the multitude of voices to find the most important, or the most accurate.

Beyond Twitter, concerned communities used a variety of platforms to share emergency information about natural disasters. And activists used these tools to circumvent – and pre-empt – official information sources, helping to change the direction of protests, or getting information out when authorities were slow to provide it.

These are the trends that are having a wider impact on the world of journalism. As a result it’s becoming less linear, less controlled, sometimes chaotic - and increasingly participatory. 

Fragmented stories

The relationship between producers and consumers of news is changing. What used to be known as “the story” is evolving into something different: fragments of information that don’t come pre-assembled or filtered. With such a rich array of information from so many different sources, it can be confusing without the mechanisms to make sense of it all. We’re in it together to make sense of the story.
 
Put simply, participatory forms of media are now integral to the way we get news and information, and engage with one another.

Chosen by NowPublic staff, these are our 10 most important moments of the year in participatory media.  Click on the links to find out more about each one:

1.    Coordinated attacks in Mumbai
2.    Natural disasters: Sharing emergency information
3.    Olympic torch relay protests in San Francisco
4.    Obama and “Bittergate”
5.    Republican Convention protests change tack
6.    Ushahidi: Crowdsourcing crisis information in Africa
7.    CNN’s news wire plans
8.    Mob rule: Mark Zuckerberg's interview at SXSW
9.    Twitter gets US student out of Egyptian jail
10.  Fake report on Steve Jobs heart attack

This is our choice of the 10 most important moments of 2008, but we know that there are plenty of other examples out there, too. Add your suggestions in the comments and let us know what you think of our selection.