What We're Working On

The Center for Citizen Media is working on a number of projects, solo and in collaboration with others. They include:

Workshop on Blogging and Citizen Journalism, in collaboration with the International Institute for Journalism, a program of the Berlin-based NGO InWEnt. The workshop will help journalists from developing nations in Africa and Southeast Asia learn the basics of citizen journalism and other conversational media. The week-long workshop, scheduled for July 29 through August 3 in Berkeley, California, will include lectures, hands-on creation of blogs and other media forms and visits to Silicon Valley companies involved in online journalism.

Citizen Media Law Project. We're working with the Berkman Center’s Clinical Program in Cyberlaw and the Center to provide information, education, resources and tools to help address the challenges faced by citizen journalists. The project -- directed by David Ardia, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society -- recently was awarded a $250,000 grant from the Knight Foundation as part of the 21st Century News Challenge. Among the CMLP's initiatives will be a multi-state legal guide for citizen-media creators.

Principles of Citizen Journalsm, aimed at helping budding citizen journalists understand the core principles of journalism in the Digital Age: thoroughness, accuracy, fairness, independence and transparency. (Sponsor: Knight Foundation as part of its Knight Citizen News Network project)

Citizen Journalism "Un-Conference". On August 7, 2006, we held a one-day gathering at Harvard Law School for about 100 people involved in the citizen media sphere, and discussed such things as hyperlocal sites; the technology arena; videoblogging; legal issues; being heard in a noisy world; and bringing citizen media value to all, not just the top demographic groups. (Sponsor: Berkman Center for Internet & Society)

Frontiers of Innovation in Community Engagement, a survey of how some traditional media organizations are bringing their audiences into the journalism process. (Sponsor: Craig Newmark)

Directories. -- a compilation of citizen journalism projects and tools.

Cit Media