For your midterm paper assignment due Oct. 6, I’d like you to focus on a blogger or a website incorporating key elements of digital culture (remember the Deuze reading) and social media (think Web 2.0)—in essence, open-source sort of sensibilities. If you’re looking for ideas, you can find some by digging through these sites:
trade journals like CJR, AJR or OJR
Nieman Reports‘ 2007 issue on hyperlocal news
and a list of the top 100 blogs as ranked by Technorati
or, if you’re still stumped, here are a few exciting sites worth a look: citizen coverage of the presidential campaign via Huffington Post’s OffTheBus, hyperlocal news and info via EveryBlock, “crowdfunded” journalism via Spot.us, or get more ideas via NewAssignment.net.
… And while we’re at it, here are some examples (in terms of writing style) of the kind of case studies I’d like you to write:
For my midterm I’m going to look at http://www.blogher.com/. The focus of the blog is to empower women bloggers by forming a community. Anyone can blog on the blog, give exposure to their own blog, create an account, respond to others. It seems pretty open-source and varied in topics, their niche is women bloggers.