Exploring the Changes in Media Through Dan Gillmor's "We the Media"

I am an English major and editing minor, and I am graduating in April. When I tell people I want to be an editor, most people first ask, "like for a news paper?" It always surprises me that people think this is the only place I could edit is a newspaper. But, really how many of us are even getting our news from sources like this anymore?? So, I want to figure out where we are getting our information instead, and possibly start to figure out what this will mean for me as an editor. I am starting Dan Gillmor's We the Media: Grassroots Journalism By the People for the People, and it will hopefully be able to answer some of these questions. 

Preview

After looking over Gillmor's book, examining the table to contents and skimming through a few pages, it seems as though it will focus on how media has transformed, what effects this has had on people (specifically journalists), and how this will continue to effect people (specifically journalists). 

Early Social Proof

Nobody responded to my google+ post about this and I just figured I wouldn't even bother posting on twitter because I don't expect I would get feedback from there either. I tried talking to a couple people about this, but they seemed relatively uninterested.  Thanks everyone. I wish I had thought about this a little earlier so I could have chatted with some of my editing friends to see what they think about it. But, alas, procrastination is kinda my thing. 

Similar Books

The Elements  of Journalism: What Newspeople should Know and the Public Should Expect

Bill Kovach & Tom Rosenstiel 

     An overview of media history, practice, ethics.

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organization

Clay Shirky

    How the spread of technology is changing social interations and the way that people form groups and 

    interact with them

Journalism Next: A Practical Guide to Digital Reporting and Publishing

Mark Briggs

Mediactive

Dan Gillmor

    What is the future of journalism, and how should people get around in today's flood of information online?

Who Cares?

First of all, I wanted to see if the author of the book had a media presence (which I was assuming he did). I found him on google+ and added him to one of my circles and also found him on twitter and started following him. I thought this would be good to find out what the author is thinking now with all the changes in digital media since the book was written a few years ago and a lot has changed. I then did a twitter search looking for both the author and the title of the book. It would seem that a lot of people like bloggers, journalists, social media supports, etc. are reading the book and are interested in what he has to say about the state and progress of journalism in the digital age. 

Formal Review

I found a review posted on The Guardian in 2004 when the book came out. One thing that I thought was really interesting was that the review claimed that the thesis of the book was in no way new, but really had been a thought for many years now. But, with the advancement of digital culture and the developments leading up to this book, it can finally be proven how the internet and technology is changing how we produce and consume the news. What is remarkable is that he is the first one to gather all of this evidence together to prove that the media is moving into the digital age. 

Informal Review

I found a blog review of We the Media on a blog called Masters of Media. They seemed impressed by the book and the way that Gillmor not only looks at what is happening now, but why it is happening now. He uses specific examples that illuminate what is happening with the media in the digital age and how it has reshaped media over time. The blogger also applauded Gillmor for making his book free to the public using Creative Commons Licensing. 

Educational Courses

I'm not entirely sure that I did this search right, but I did not see any search results for courses using this book. I did however see a review of the book from a Harvard Law website and Ohio website. 

Multimedia

I found a video of Dan Gillmor giving a lecture on his book We The Media at UNC Chapel Hill. It's mostly him talking about the ideas from his book and the thought process behind everything. I didn't watch the whole thing because it is an hour long, and well that's really long. 

First Impressions of the Book

This will be updates by tonight. I promise.