E have probably all become familiar with Open Source software. The Open Source concept has extended its reach to what can only be described as remotely sensible areas of life. Take, for example, Open Source beer, an Open Source Cola drink recipe (PDF warning) and… Open Source journalism.

Inevitably, journalism will go online. Nobody denies this fact. The press as we know it must evolve to take advantage of new informartion delivery systems—those which facilitate collaboration. Yes, with the Internet, collaboration is finally facilitated and feedback can be obtained and made public in real time. Blogs exemplify this whilst their rising popularity (readership) makes traditional publishers nervous.

An article I read on the WSJ over a year ago stated something like “Journalists and newspaper publishers come to realisethat all rivers run dry”. This was said in reference to advertisements, audience, classifieds, etc. The quote to stress here is: “evolve or die”. Open Source journalism is about adaptation to change, which keeps things competitive and gains avid readers. These readers usuaully appreciate the added value of comments and TalkBacks (like the ones you would find in ZDNet and C|Net). There’s a two-way pipe that prevents the reader from being muted.

I have a little announcement to make: I joined NewAssignment.net a couple of weeks ago. This site is committed to leading the way as it explores a new paradigm for journalism. Trailblazer it might not necessarily be, but many eyes are watching the concept of Open Source journalism as it stands in practice. My active (and visible) participation appears imminent and I truly look froward to it. I don’t know yet if I’ll be premitted to dump copies of the material submitted there onto my blog (much like Matt Asay, whose writeups on Open Source I always enjoy, does in InfoWorld. I noticed that he also changes the title for SEO-related advantages).

My heavy involvement in social bookmarking sites such as Digg.com and Netscape.com seems to have paid off. Social bookmarking is one thing that enriched my life tremendously. My participation in Netscape has had people sign up merely to leave a comment on something I had submitted. Mailing lists as a form of communication is another thing which, along with newsgroups, has opened many doors. I recently received a thank-you from Red Hat for defending them in the Microsoft/Novell mess.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 11th, 2006 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.