Nic Haralambous (Zoopy GM) and Vincent Maher (from Vodacom) think that Geo-tagging is The Next BigThing to step up citizen journalism exposure and dissemination.  In a cool presentation where cellphones were connected to the projector (a first in my apparently sheltered technological life) pics were uploaded right from DCI to a geo-tracking mobile network.

But the main point of the presentation was not to simply show off gadgets, it was rather a space for giving advice on how to be an effective citizen journalist. Some thought from Haralambous on being a good citizen journalist are:

·         use the tools available to you (e-mail, sms, Twitter, Facebook)

·         use the networks you already have

·         use websites that have communities

·         don’t try and compete globally (a somewhat controversial point but it is relevant when considering that citizen journalists have the most relevant stuff to offer about their world and their community… hence the geo-tagging)

·         don’t try to compete with the big players

·         local is where the content is going… citizen journalism

·         don’t just use one platform

·         be a citizen – have an opinion – report your news 

A huge benefit of citizen journalism is the immediacy. And yes, for all the old-school sticklers (of which I am also partly one) the idea of citizen journalism is not to compete with the mainstream journalism.  Citizen journalism doesn’t really have any gatekeeping structures in place but Haralambous explains that when people read blogs etc, they don’t care if it’s factual they want to know what things feel like and what the vibe is at events based stuff.  To see more about what citizen journalism looks like a la Haralamous go check out http://sarocks.co.za