I understand what it means to be a citizen journalist. Yesterday and today, I started covering the flooding in Massachusetts with video. My folks had flooding in their basement, so I started with a short clip of my dad using a mixing bowl to get water up into the sink. We couldn’t even drain it out into the back yard because there was a pond out there. The city Sanitation department guy said, “I know you’re not supposed to chuck it into the drains, but what else are you gonna’ do?”
I took more footage when I got home, of the river beside my house. It’s overflowing, shooting over the dam. There were all kinds of people out there taking their own video, gathering around and talking the way we do at fires. Water, like fire, is a primal element and draws something from us, a need to gather, a need to talk, to share in a sudden barrierless conversation.
More and more, I found myself wanting to get outside and take more shots. I did more this morning. I covered the river breaking the banks. I covered some flooded areas in the roads of my town. I thought about skipping work and just driving around getting more flood stories.
The movie camera of my efforts? Just the video feature on my digital camera. I have a camcorder, and I love it to death, but I found myself grabbing the digital camera rig because it’s just so small and portable. I can stuff it in my jacket pocket and pull it out without fear of harming it.
When I get it edited, I’ll share the link.
I think citizen content of any kind will come to be the preferred method of experiencing an event. I find myself searching the net already for people’s coverage of the flood from their own cameras. I don’t care that Channel 4,5,7,9 all sent hapless Beautiful People to stand by the ocean walls, shouting into their mics as waves crash over them. I don’t need to see the 1,000th image of kids swimming in what amounts to raw sewage. I do admit that I still like the “people canoing in non-canoe areas” shots, but I’d rather find home clips of these.
What do you think? Is it just easier to get it from the news feed and that’s why we turn there? Would you find more value in seeing an aggregate video “story” of an event, told by the cameras of average people?
And where’s the hybrid mark? Where is it better to have professional journalists on the scene as well as amateurs? Of course there are values that pros bring to the scenario. How might citizen content work best alongside the professional media’s efforts?
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tag: citizenjournalism, communication, journalism, video, flood, newmedia