Chapter 7 presents citizen media from a participatory audience perspective. Gillmor focuses his attention to the democratizing effect of the Internet and how grassroots journalism is emerging as a force to be reckoned with. Citizen media has helped shed light on subjects that major media outlets have remained in the dark about. This chapter focuses on two levels of participatory media: traditional “contributors” (i.e. writers) and new “members” of the former audience. A big shift is people’s ability to have a say and actually be heard. For example, Gillmor notes that “blogs can be acts of civic engagement” (p 139). Another idea worth noting is the “many eyeballs power” that developed from technological advancement. Some advantages of citizen media are increased human agency and the expansion of the vast pool of available information. According to Gillmor, another revolutionary example of participatory media via the web is wikis. Gillmor also addresses some “new business models for tomorrow’s personal journalism.” The central idea in chapter 7 is the notion that, as a society, we’re on the verge of some big changes—changes that enable ordinary people to do extraordinary things.
Chapter 8 expands on the arguments from the previous section while predicting some of the “next steps” that will occur in the business world. Technology not only transforms culture, but shapes its laws. Gillmor discusses Moore’s Law, Metcalfe’s Law and Reed’s Law and their widespread effects. Participatory media has taken off as a result of readily available “tools of creation” from technological advancement. However, Gillmor asserts these tools will need to become even simpler in order to include/encourage even the biggest technologically-challenged citizens to join the media revolution. Chapter 8 also revisits RSS in an attempt to further emphasize its vital role in gathering information. The concept of the “world live web” is also introduced and discussed by Gillmor. The matter of honesty and integrity is raised at the close of Chapter 8 and becomes the central focus of Chapter 9.
As previously mentioned Chapter 9 tackles the boundaries of trust. A negative consequence of new technologies is new ways to mislead. From product placement to digitally enhanced or doctored photographs, new media translates to new opportunities for deception. Another major shortcoming of increased advancement is the ability to remain anonymous. While this ability can be advantageous in some life circumstances (i.e. people with AIDS), it is sometimes frowned upon in the online world. Trolls, spinning, and “google bombing” are just a few of the malicious methods used to taint the online experience. However fact-checking is a simple technique used to combat these impurities. Gillmor’s bottom line: People need to take information on the Internet with a proverbial grain of salt.
