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Post Event: Youtube and Beyond by Kevin Lim
Written by Ridzuan Ashim
Wednesday, 20 June 2007
I was attending Kevin Lim’s talk at the National Library today. Aptly titled, “Youtube and Beyond” he touched on how video blogging is evolving and how it’s moving forward before demonstrating the array of tools that are available for us to join the fray.
I’d rather not repeat everything about the event as it’ll probably be available on his blog and also his wiki so I’ll go straight into some questions that popped into my head as I try to digest the contents of the event…
Why is it that Creative Commons does not have jurisdiction here in Singapore unlike China and Malaysia?
For a country that’s proud of being the leader of the region(although that’s quite debatable) it’s interesting to note how come we weren’t the first to adopt the Creative Commons as a form of regulating creative property amongst its people. And because I don’t see how someone who infringes on CC License can actually be prosecuted, it really is a tool that’s enforceable only by the community. Does this mean that Singaporean content creators don’t want to have this because we actually want to rip off from others?
What role does Citizen Journalism play in Singapore?
In a country where news is heavily regulated, where the media doesn’t really have competition and where people are generally apathetic, can citizen journalism be the answer to bringing the things that matter to the people? Could it actually be the tool that could provoke the thoughts of the general public?
I think in general, people have a gripe with how much accuracy citizen journalism is. To me, I think citizen journalism is only useful to those who actually bother to read a wide spectrum of blogs/sites. This is primary because it’s a community driven concept, and by virtue of that, the system checks and balances is not a process that is a lead up to the publishing of the article but rather it is in the functioning of the entire community as a whole. When someone mis-reports, it is corrected and pointed out either by another member of the community or it is simply attacked by another blog/site.
In a way, the responsibility of finding out the truth rests quite a bit on the shoulders of the reader. And on the shoulders of the reporters(or bloggers), is the duty to not only attempt to report accurately, but also to correct the reports of others.
Can a Citizen Journalist actually become an occupation?
As I look at Kevin do all that he does, I really wonder why he’s not a professional citizen journalist…and that led me to ask myself this question. Personally, I’m thinking why wouldn’t it be possible to have it as an occupation? Problems are plenty of course. While professional journalists who work under a news agency get various forms of protection, independent citizens are pretty left on their own. Think of it this way, “if you get into shit, you’d better hope you have enough followers who are willing and able to save you.”
That said, I think there’s a huge chance that this could evolve into an actually profession. Take a look at Adrianna Tan, who’s a photojournalist blogging at Popagandhi.com . What started out as a travel journal of sorts has earned her much following. I’m not sure how far it will take her…but truly, it’s a step in the ‘professional’ direction.
