At last weekend’s Nexus 2007 conference, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel on Citizen Journalism. From there, I got to know one of the speakers, Ms Jennifer Lewis as the Editor of STOMP. Whether you’re a casual blogger or an aspiring journalist, this guest speaker session should be interesting to you.
Ms. Jennifer has taken time off her busy schedule to share with us on what STOMP is about, as well as to discuss the state of citizen journalism in Singapore. I’ve informed her about your blog posts and your suggestions to improve STOMP, so this is a dialogue you won’t want to miss.
As usual, it will be this Wednesday, 10.30-11.30am at LT4.13.
There will be regular lessons for the 2nd day this week, as I need to share with you a short presentation as well as to check on your progress in Second Life.
Her article now appears alongside other interesting news from around the blogosphere. Though it’s a quick blurb (which appears on the blog’s sidebar), it’s a good start for something I’ve been encouraging all students to do, that is…
To Get Public Recognition For Your Work
Global Voices Online is a non-profit global citizens’ media project, sponsored by and launched from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School. Since Global Voices Online serves an international community of bloggers, it’s a popular blog, so Jiayi should start getting visitors soon.
@Jiayi: Congrats! You have now earned the first ever COM125 “Most Popular” blog award for being linked by a reputable news media. Keep up the great work!
@Everyone: Publicize your work! A tip to get visitors would be to read more blogs and to leave decent comments on them. Most bloggers would naturally be curious about you and return the favor in kind!
The past two weeks has been interesting. There has been signs of Second Life (SL) getting more mainstream in Singapore. As such, I’m ordering everyone start immersing yourselves into SL early, so as to fully experience what it has to offer. SL has a high learning curve so get the hang on it in your free time. Ride the wave now before you get left behind. Even if you’re too cool for school, you can join in from home.
Some of you showed interest in building a virtual SIM campus in SL, so I’ve contacted SIM administrators for permission. Even if we can’t finish this by the end of this semester, it’s be fun and useful to do it as a project outside of class time. I’ve also contacted Alvin Loo to see if he could give us some land in “Lion City”.
Lastly, I’d like to try to organize a virtual meetup in Second Life. Once more of you are ready, we can meet in there and conduct classes, or just explore the world together.
Related Links:
SL Lion City appears in The Straits Times
24th March 2007, on Singapore’s mainstream newspaper, The Straits Times, there was an article on Lion City (SLurl teleporter) talking about what Singaporeans are doing in Second Life.
A newspaper interview, secondlife and of Nexus 2007
Marina finally gets the recognition she deserves. She’s a little shy in real life, and expresses herself best in Second Life. She’s now recognized in the Straits Times as well as in Nexus 2007 as a panel speaker.
Based on the readings below, is STOMP an ideal form of citizen journalism for Singapore?
Regardless of your response, how would you improve it?
Make a concise argument in 500 words or more (proper written English), supported with at least two APA-style citations.
Start the title of your blog post as “QotW9: _____”
Drop a comment here with a permalink to your blog post.
*Selected posts will be shared with Jennifer Lewis, Editor of STOMP.
Here’s the Extra-Credit (BONUS MISSION):
Contribute news to STOMP via SMS or MMS at 75557, or via email 75557@stomp.com.sg
If your contribution appears on the site, publish a link to it in the comments below (mark it “BONUS MISSION”)
Extra-credit will only be given if your news gets accepted.
Deadline
31st March, Saturday, 5pm Warning: Late work will not be graded
Required
• “We the Media” Chapters 1, 3, 9 (Web / PDF) Note: The Web version has the whole book on the same page.
Optional
• We the Media (remaining chapters)
• Nieman Reports: The Future Is Here, But Do News Media Companies See It? (Web summary / PDF report)
• “How Technology is changing the Media” at Berkman Center for Internet and Society (Google Video)
• New York Times: All the World’s a Story (19th March, 2007): Assignment Zero, a new online journalism experiment, combines reporting efforts of readers to tell the world a story (a crowdsourcing example).
Most of you have adopted a local political blogger in your previous assignment. For those who haven’t, you can still find one. We’re going to help the general public access political discussions online by creating a directory of local political bloggers. Here’s what we’re doing in class:
Our admin girl, Ann Sum, has confirmed the change of COM125 classes for Monday and Tuesday to LT4.13 instead of those crummy computer labs. Wednesday and Thursdays classes will be in the usual labs so we can have fun there.
How has the advent of the Internet changed politics? Can the Internet truly create democracy? Why isn’t there Internet election voting? Why does Stephen Colbert get to have his own ice-cream while I don’t?
Here’s the Question of the Week (QotW):
Adopt either a Singapore politician who blogs or a local blogger who discusses politics.
In a cohesive manner, share the following about your adopted blog (where possible):
Blog’s Title and URL
Blogger’s Name (or Pseudonym)
Blogger’s Occupation (politician or citizen blogger)
Discuss the tone of this blog (e.g. highlight key conversations, readers’ comments, etc).
After doing all this, turn to “Does the Internet create Democracy?” (2002) by Alinta Thornton, and ask yourself: Do blogs allow for greater democracy in Singapore?
Make a concise argument in 500 words or more (proper written English), supported with at least two APA-style citations.
Start the title of your blog post as “QotW8: _____”
Drop a comment here with a permalink to your blog post.
*Optional: Drop a comment on your adopted blog so they can learn about your post.
Deadline
24th March, Saturday, 5pm
(Warning: Late work will not be graded)
What is community? Can community emerge from online interaction? What are the implication of the internet for traditional communities? This week, we’ll be discussing the concept of computer-mediated community.
Explore it, setup your profile (pseudonyms if you want privacy), add your classmates (and myself if you wish) as friends, then start some conversations going.
After using Twitter through the web, instant messaging or your phone (SMS), would you consider Twitter an online community? If not, what is it?
As mentioned earlier, Benjamin Koe (Hill & Knowlton Senior Associate & New Media Specialist) will be our guest speaker this Wednesday, from 10.30 to 11.30am, at LT4.13 (Ben will begin at 10.40am).
Ben will be speaking from experience about “Public Relations & Online Communities”, which should appeal to those of you interested in how corporate communication works in online social networks. Do take notes at his talk as online communities will be the topic for next week.
Benjamin Koe works at Hill & Knowlton in Singapore as a PR consultant in the technology practice as well as the company’s new media specialist. This is where he explores the marriage of Public Relations and the social media.
More notably, Ben also co-founded and built Scoopasia.com, a free web resource for the PR and marketing industry in Asia.
Through his blog, The eOK .network, Ben shares a view of the world around him through the lens of a public relations practitioner.
His presentation will be available later for download.
Update: Since this takes up the 2nd COM125 lecture for the week, there won’t be regular COM125 classes this week.
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