Reporting of Live Events

The following is a blog post that was part of my coursework for a paper I did at uni, called 'Technoculture and New Media.' It was definitely one of the most interesting papers I did for my degree, and I thought I'd repost them here in my own blog. You can take a look at the class blog here. It's fascinating to take a look at how much has changed in the short time since I've taken that paper in 2009. 
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An aspect of citizen-journalism which wasn't discussed in class, but I find particularly interesting, is that of live-event reporting. Unlike professional reports on events, where editing, polishing and publication can mean a delay of several hours at the very least, reporting on events by average citizens is often able to be found in real time.

This has especially been given rise over the last year with the explosion of Twitter, which allows updates to be sent from a user's mobile phone and viewed in a public search. Hashtags are often used to 'tag' updates, and simplify the search process.

While the restriction of 140 characters may seem to limit the usefulness of Twitter as an event reporter, I think that this frees users from the pressure of having something significant to say, and they can feel comfortable posting a picture of something as mundane as the lines forming outside an event location. Also, the sheer number of users that can contribute to the overall experience of an event gives rise to many viewpoints in real time.

The type of events covered on Twitter range from breaking news (the Hudson River plane crash), to huge scale organised events (San Diego Comic-Con). When someone is unable to experience an event personally, they can perform a search to see what others are seeing, hearing, and reporting back on.

Personally, I've found it very useful for finding out announcements as soon as they happen. Back in July, there was a panel at the Paley Centre for Media that I would have loved to have attended, but not enough to fly overseas for. Using sites such as Twitterfall, I was able to automate the search for several hashtags and discuss the announcements as they happened with others online who were doing the same. People attending the panel were posting pictures of what or who was on stage, quoting key bits of information, and generally providing a way for us to experience what they were, as it was happening.



While definitely not a substitute for professional reporting or experiencing the event yourself (depending on the situation), event reporting by average citizens on Twitter fulfills the need for instant information that we are becoming accustomed to, and even coming to expect.

Originally published here.