EIR Practical 7

Today, we were tasked to read an article which relates to citizen journalism. Personally, this is a very interesting topic as I had came across a lot of netizens posting fascinating stuffs on the internet. All these stuff which they post sometimes are really hilarious, and some actually do make sense.

I came to realise there were things to actually take note to evaluate and consider if this journalism is a good piece of work. We had the chanced to discuss and talk about one of the famous citizen journalism website named as http://www.stomp.com.sg. This is a specific website whereby people can posts anything they see and feel on the website. Netizens will then vote and comment on their own feelings. We were required to read through and discuss about some of the articles on the website. We managed to find a lot of interesting articles and netizens sharing and talking about topics.

I'll choose Accuracy, Presentation and Arrangement. Firstly, accuracy of the source. I know that all of the articles have pictures to prove, and definitely taken from a camera. But do bear in mind that there are some articles that can be edited, for example article on famous ghost and etc. Other than the pictures, comments and reasons for wrongdoings might not be accurate. Ultimately, its up to the reader and netizens to express their feelings and thoughts. Presentation and arrangement, I will look more towards the accessibility of getting information in the website. Stomp has a feature to allow netizens to read the latest update of news just by clicking one button. Upon looking at a news, readers can choose to click to other top news at both the left and right side of the page. I feel that this is a very good way to increase readers in the website for its good access for latest and updated news.

If I were to create my own Stomp to my related topic, I will allow users to add any comments freely throughout my page. Like what I mentioned earlier, citizen journalism is still to express their feelings and thoughts through the net. My topic, discuss on financial crisis related to spending habits and consumer market requires a lot of discussion on 2 sides of a coin, so feedback will be very very important.