Cyberjournalism: a (re-)definition

“Cyberjournalism.”  It’s a term rarely used in journalistic and academic parlance, but one I’d like to promote as the world’s first ever International Cyberjournalism Congress approaches (click the link to go directly to the ICC website; click the image above to read Javier Díaz Noci’s post on the event).

“I don’t get it,” you say.  “What the heck is ‘cyberjournalism’ and how is it distinct from ‘online’ or internet-based reporting?”  The answer isn’t so much that “cyberjournalism” is distinct from online journalism as much as online journalism falls within its rubric.  “Cyberjournalism” is a re-definition, a new category and lens through which we may come to understand the evolution of reporting in computerized mediums.

In other words, all forms of computerized journalism qualify as “cyberjournalism.”  That includes…

• “online” or “digital,” the most famous medium of which is the ubiquitous blog and its many variations (journalistic, contemplative, artistic, literary, and whatever else the heart desires), but also e-zines and online forums, as well as the online wings of “physical” news services (and vice versa, e.g., Slate.com);
• networked forms of reporting, such as e-mail listservs, text message alerts and newsletters, and even many kinds of communications that occur within closed intranet systems like Sega Dreamcast, Microsoft X-Box, or the United States Department of Defense; and,
• alternate or virtual reality, such as Wirtland (e.g., The Times of Wirtland) or Second Life (e.g., New World Notes and the AvaStar).

But what of content?  Like their counterparts in the “old media” of print and broadcast journalism, the varieties of cyberjournalism are reciprocally influenced by the new cybernetic modes of expression.  Cyberjournalists are not constrained to report on matters wholly “RL” (“real life”); they can and do report upon matters wholly “VR,” as well.  For examples of what I mean, click on the various links above.

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“Alright, we’ll accept your fancy schmancy definition,” you say.  ”But what makes ‘cyberjournalism’ philosophically distinct?”  Well, now comes the trippy part…

Think about the interactivity of this blog post.  Rather than just ennumerate examples of “RL” and “VR” subjects, I also instructed you to click on hyperlinks, that is, to interact with a machine.  To fathom the full implications of this interaction, consider the following:

• first, with the old media you (the “reader”) had limited exposure to machinery, and even in the case of broadcast journalism, you didn’t so much interact with the machine (the television or radio set) as sit passively in front of it; that means,
• second, not only are you interacting with a machine, but you are directing it ferryman-like through innumerable intertwining streams of information; and that means,
• third, each time you navigate this web of data, you are generating routes, whether by trailblazing new ones or paving old ones — you are forging links between clusters of information, and by extension, between people.

Cyberjournalism deals with a many-to-many relationship between reader and audience (as opposed to the one-to-many relationship of the old media).  Indeed, in the new media, the lines between reader and audience have been obliterated to the point that we are all content-creators.

The anarchic nature of content-creation at the heart of cyberjournalism is also at the heart of the new phenomenon of citizen-journalism.  This is another humongous topic which I’ve explored elsewhere in this space (also: check out Kevin Lim’s lecture).

Suffice it to say for now, citizen-journalism is a grassroots form of reporting that relies upon informal or semi-formal networks of everyday people who are non-professional reporters (“non-professional” here meaning amateur and/or people whose full-time job is not reporting — check out this graph).  The Central Asian news service for whom I work, neweurasia, is one example of citizen-journalism; so, too, is Indymedia, the electronic hub of the global anticapitalism movement.

For those of you already familiar with new media, the innate pluralism of cyberjournalism is a bit old hat.  So let’s return to the issue of content.  Here we find another interesting facet of cyberjournalism, namely, its potential for self-reflection.  Again, think about this blog post, an act of reporting about reporting.  Cyberjournalism, as a kind of “meta-media,” is thus arguably journalism in its purest ”journaling” sense: the act of observing, reflecting, and explicating to oneself and to others.

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Okay, so you’ve probably had your fill of journalistic navel-gazing by now.  Here are some resources to explore cyberjournalism for yourself, as well as to help friends, colleagues, and students get in the game:

• Cyberjournalist.net, the Web’s premier news and resource site that focuses on “how the Internet, convergence and new technologies are changing the media”;
• the Online News Association, “open to journalists from around the world who produce news on the Internet and other digital platforms, and to others with an interest in online news”;
• an in-depth list of academic and training resources courtesy of Karla Tonella of the University of Iowa; and,
• “Leveling Up” Students with Class Blogs: Engineering Active Learning through Game Mechanics” by Kevin Lim.

For those of you who are members of the LinkedIn network, I recommend joining the following groups:

• Cyberjournalism: “A network for professionals working in all forms of computerized journalism… All topical specialties, be they VR or RL, are welcome!”
• Online Journalism: “A network for professionals and amateurs in online journalism, citizen journalism, and new media.”
• Online reports and editors: a group for “people who create and edit content for news websites, including those interested in media convergence, mobile journalism and news multimedia.”

I run the first two groups, so feel free to drop me a line!  :)