Hi all,

Blogger ALICEN inquired about my status update yesterday that read "jbaldwin is researching citizen journalism web sites."

I thought I'd share my response for all of you. If you have any questions, please ask! I'm happy to answert them.

"Citizen Journalist" is an industry buzzword that describes non-professionals who report news - either by writing blogs or articles, or taking photos, or making videos. The interactivity of the Internet has revolutionized news coverage now that "average citizens" can participate in reporting news as fast as (and even faster than!) professional journalists.

News organizations such as The Bakersfield Californian and Bakersfield.com caught on to this trend early and started offering its Web site users the ability to write their own blogs, and submit their own articles, photos, videos and events to the Web site. You can find all of this content on the People section and the Your Words section. Sometimes we print some of the "user-generated content" (another industry buzzword) in the newspaper.

Another side effect of the Internet is the ability for our Web users to create their own community online, and feel ownership over the site. Our bloggers are a pretty tight-knit group who have done just that. Through our newly launched interest groups and forums, we hope to see even more niche communities form on Bakersfield.com and all of our affiliated Web sites.