Are you interested in this?
Benjamin Gotts wants your .
"I am a PhD student from the Sociology Department at the University of Aberdeen. I am carrying out a study to find out about the nature of online news work, particularly the social forces that are reshaping the public's relationship to news media and the ways in which news work and news-workers are affected by technological change.
Drawing on previous arguments that weblogs or 'blogs' are a new 'postmodern' form of journalism, I am looking to understand how ordinary citizens, empowered by digital technologies that connect throughout the globe, are contributing to and participating in their own kind of news and the way this is fed back into the presentation of news in the media.
In order to do this, I need to undertake online interviews with bloggers about their motivations for posting items, their expectations of the outcome and their general opinions about the impact of blogging on the democratisation of news programmes. Of course, not all bloggers chose to leave contact details, therefore I am writing to seek your permission to post a message on your website, outlining my study and requesting interested readers to contact me for interview purposes.
The questionnaire includes a variety of questions regarding attitudes towards 'civic journalism,' the relationship between journalists and audiences, and the quality and value of online content and discussion. The purpose of this questionnaire is to further our knowledge of the extent to which journalistic norms and practices are being applied to online media, the extent to which online journalists are adopting non-traditional approaches, and extent to which journalistic practices are used by bloggers who may never have set foot in a newsroom"
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Eddie, Benjamin doesn't seem to have designed his questionnaire to take account of blogs such as yours and the frogger community. As he doesn't have a general comments box in the questionnaire, can I just pass on the following to him: in analysing his results he needs to consider those who contribute to the blogs of others but don't have one themselves. This sort of conversation contributes to the understanding of, and sometimes the dissemination of news (as well as a lot of harmless entertainment!).
Nay thanks!
'Journalistic practices'; is that what I've been engaging with on here! And I thought it was Frogging! :)
Nope, sorry.
Si.
I'm with Anne P. on this - my glance over the questionnaire makes me think that it would be more appropriate for Ernie to fill it in. I do think that it could be worth his time to consider what goes on here though because, whilst it's probably similar to the way other blogs morph into frogs by attracting a regular community, it's clearly different from a lot of others. I don't spend a lot of time reading other blogs, but am usually struck by the nature of the comments they get - each one being a context independent response from one reader to the blogger's post. And usually rather dull. Obviously the last bit is entirely personal opinion.
Just thinking about it for a mo, it's obvious that the frog/blog feeds back into PM in some way - if only because occasionally comments get read out as part of the listeners' comment bit on the programme. But does it in any other way? Are there any stories that are aired here prior to the editorial decision being made about whether they should be included in the programme? That would be an interesting effect - I'm a bit out of the loop at the moment, so can't really say if this happens, or has happened.
Well I missed out a huge chunk coz I'm not a blogger myself ... but I enjoyed thinking about what's left for journalists to do now that those of us who're interested in News can go and find it for ourselves.
Fifi
Oh dear, it all sounds a bit tedious & worthy. I can't be bothered with questionnaires anymore. I frog here because it's silly & a teeny bit anarchic (is that how you spell it?) And I've found other people who seem to have the same sense of humour. And what Eddie writes is even more wacky than the rest of us can think of, most of the time. But I don't want to analyse it with any fancy terms, even supposing they had much meaning. It's fun. Enough said!
"And I've found other people who seem to have the same sense of humour" Anna C
who are you trying to implicate ?!?!?!
(really? oh in that case, I agree!)
nikki
Sorry, I lost interest in the middle of the third paragraph I'm with you Annasee!
Actually I think it's your help he wants most of all Eric! Go on, it'll give you something to do at 4am.
Annasee - you were in Cardiff! I worked and live close to (not that I have a lot to offer) but it's still quite exciting!
My SO plays music (generally folk and rock) and is very keen on every genre. Unfortunately, I don't have a musical bone in my body - I do like live music tho.
I am soooo glad I got involved in this blog - you're all fab.
See you tomorrow.
Annasee (7) There are no rules about how to spell anarchic! :-) By the way, why is the word monosyllabic not monosyllabic?
H.
Humph (12), Same reason there was only one Monopolies Commission...
No no no - deconstruction is evil It leads to sociological models being designed that are then imposed in inapproprioate contexts and results in individuals within groups being made to feel inadequate.
Let organic rock
Sincere thanks to everyone who took time out to help me with my project and to fill in an admittedly flat and tedious questionnaire. Please excuse my first attempt at engaging with an online audience and my hopelessly inefficient questionnaire design.
Anne - the only 'Frogger' I am familiar with is the 80's arcade game, what is the difference between a blog and a frog?!! I guess what I am really getting at is what really inspires you, and others, to comment on this forum, and what are readers general opinions about the impact of blogging/frogging on the democratisation of news media? Have they had any discernible impact on the content and structure of traditional storytelling and what are the benefits and setbacks of participating in this public forum?
Benjamin: I guess you'd need to look at the PM Blog yourself to answer that question.
I couldn't be sure, but I don't think this is a conventional blog, certainly doesn't resemble any others that I've seen. And it also seems to be different from other ´óÏó´«Ã½ blogs (cf Chris Evans, and others). Somehow, a bit like the effect the Goons had upon people of a certain temperament many light years ago, Eddie Mair's offbeat approach has inspired a group of other 'mental dissidents' to be drawn together. The results are what you see.
You may be interested to look into the Beach - something which evolved organically, out of the rather zany mindset of the froggers, but which Eddie has kindly taken on board on our behalf
There is a great deal of interaction on this Blog. It has indeed developed into a virtual community.