9/28/2004
THE BLOGOSPHERE AS “OPEN SOURCE MEDIA”
Is “Major” Media on the wane? Will competition with cable news, radio and the Internet, force network news shows into oblivion or, at the very least, obscurity? Is this post already sounding too much like the closing seconds of a 1970’s episode of Batman?
Personally, I think the answer to all of the above is a resounding “NO!” It can be argued that the media as a whole in America is more powerful and vigorous than ever. And the Blogosphere? It is nothing more or less than a new and powerful facet of the modern media world.
Some may disagree, but there is no doubt in my mind that the Blogosphere has become a new media force in the world. But, with that said, I don’t like the idea of calling the Blogosphere the “new media,” or even the “alternate media.”
Those titles just don’t describe what we are well enough. In reality the Blogosphere is something never before seen in the world; it’s a form of “Open Source” media.
What do I mean when I call the Blogosphere the “Open Source Media?” Let me explain.
“OPEN SOURCE” EXPLAINED
Ever heard of Linux? If you are part of the IT world, as I am, you almost certainly have. Linux is an “Open Source” operating system, built by thousands of independent software developers who, at one point or another, voluntarily donated their time and their talents to the design and construction of a new operating system which, over the years. has become very popular.
With the rise of the Internet, open source software development communities have become legion. Most open source software is free of charge, and easily found on websites such as the Free Software Foundation. The general rule of thumb is that the original creator of an application should always be credited for their work.
In the Open Source development world, software is easy to find and available to fit the numerous needs of consumers. Unfortunately, the quality of the software you find there may also be very low, even detrimental to your computer’s performance, and consumers must be on their guard when downloading and using some of the available software they find.
Regardless of the risks, open source development has begun to transform the software industry. That hundred, thousands, even tens of thousands of talented developers can loosely collaborate to rapidly create and enhance thousands of different software applications, then distribute them freely on the Internet is a new paradigm in the development world with implications that we have only just begun to realize.
QUEUE THE WESTERN THEME MUSIC
And now there is a new open source community in town… Open Source Media; A.K.A, the Blogosphere!
In using the word “media,” I do not mean to imply, as others have, that I am referring to audio, video, or other such types of “mass communication” tools. I mean, “the Media” as defined on Dictionary.com:
media (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The group of journalists and others who constitute the communications industry and profession.
In other words, we have the traditional media, the new media, and now, the Open Source Media. And the open source media community, AKA, the Blogosphere, has become a force to be reckoned with.
BLOGOSPHERE=OPEN SOURCE MEDIA (OSM)
So, what leads me to believe that the Blogosphere is the open source media community that I’m claiming it to be? Here are two pieces of evidence:
- Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of journalists and radio and/or TV personalities have their own blogs. For them, blogging is fun. They can write what they want, when they want to, and the way they want to write it. They are a one-person newsroom. A good example of this is with Hugh Hewitt, a popular radio personality whose Blog has become quite popular and whose articles and comments are often cited and published on various news sites. Another blog I enjoy reading is Michelle Malkin’s personal blog. Michelle is an author and a regular commentator for Fox News.
- Both traditional and new media is increasingly aware of and willing to draw on content gleaned from the Blogosphere. For example, James Taranto’s “Best Of The Web Today” column, which is posted weekdays on Opinionjournal.com, the Wall Street Journal’s online opinion column. Taranto uses a network of bloggers for many of his stories. Inversely, bloggers use his material constantly when posting information to their sites.
Ultimately, there is a continual flow of information from mainstream and alternate media into the OSM community, and then, in some select cases, back again into the mainstream and alternate media. I predict that as the Blogosphere continues to grow in both content and in respectability, the flow of OSM content to mainstream and alternate media will grow as well.
So, why is this new “Open Source” media community worthy of respect?
What are some strengths and weaknesses of the open source media community? If you read through the lists below, you’ll see that this community possesses some of the same advantages and disadvantages as the open source .
It means that the media world has expanded its boarders yet again. It’s the new media frontier perhaps, and the long-term implications of the OSM is anyone’s guess.
Personally, I think the OSM is one of the most democratic forms of the media ever to appear. The blog is the early 21st century’s version of the printing press, and the implications, socially, politically, and economically, are just now being felt.
Don’t believe me? Just ask Dan Rather how HE feels!
But, finally, let me focus for a minute or two on the political implications of the OSM community…
POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE OSM COMMUNITY
Bloggers don’t pretend to be free of bias. Quite the opposite. We bloggers live and breathe our biases. First of all, it’s more fun and, secondly, it tends to generate more readers and greater overall traffic.
Which is why the Blogosphere is a powerful political tool already, and destined to become far more powerful still. It’s the new campaign frontier.
So what should political parties do to take advantage of this new frontier?
First of all, they should seek to strengthen their network of bloggers, offering blogging tools, features and even space on the Internet for active supporters. From there, mining these sites, and opposition sites as well, for ideas and data on a daily basis becomes paramount.
What stories are popular among bloggers? What are common themes? What opinions are being expressed? What input can be given to the community to help spread commentary and news favorable to one campaign and detrimental to the other? How can the OSM community reach out to help shape some of the content in the traditional and alternate media communities? These are just a few of the questions a campaign should ask when reviewing OSM content.
In addition, Political parties should NOT assume that keeping their own blog, mining the Blogosphere for content and ideas, and connecting to supporters via the Internet is enough. Face-to-face activities are still necessary, only, now it is an opportunity for junior campaign members from each party to go on tour as well in order to reach out to bloggers.
They can maintain online campaign resources, schedule events, send message, mine the OSM world for new ideas and information, and get out on the trail themselves to help turn virtual campaign support into real votes on election day. It’s a fun new challenge for partisans, one that will help bring younger supporters to prominence in their respective parties and create real and strong relationships with the movers and shakers of the OSM world.
Parties should identify some of their strongest supporters from the OSM community in each state, arrange special events, and then SPECIFICALLY INVITE bloggers to those events. Corporations have learned that you can add tremendous value to virtual activities, such as meetings and training sessions, simply by using the tried and true method of identifying and inviting employees to virtual events in a selective manner rather than en masse, and then augmenting virtual events with live events.
Political parties and campaigns should learn from corporate America and do the same. Political parties and campaigns should also treat members of this community as both traditional campaign supporters AND members of the media.
Bloggers literally do live in both worlds, therefore, it makes sense to interact with the Blogosphere on both levels. In terms of cost, these efforts are likely to cost very little. In terms of garnering enthusiastic support, these efforts are likely to yield huge benefits.
So, don’t just feed news to the Blogosphere, or passively watch and mine datea from this community. Instead, treat them as a new type of media and partner with those in the community who want to actively support a party, a candidate, and/or a campaign.
Will this kind of active solicitation of and partnering with the open source media community become a central feature of future campaigns? Time will tell.
One thing that political parties of the future cannot afford to do, however, is to allow their rivals to get a head start. The 2006 mid-term campaigns may not see a huge increase in campaign activity via the Internet, but the party that underestimates our value in 2008 may well be plowed under by the opposition.
Okay, yes, I am a pajama-wearing partisan blogger. What can I say, PJs are just more comfortable for blogging. Maybe I should put a bumper sticker on my car: “Bloggers do it in their pajamas!” What do you think?
Seriously, though, this is a warning that ALL parties should heed. The open source media community is here to stay and pajamas or no pajamas, we continue to grow in influence and effectiveness.
Ignore us at your own peril… And stop asking me what I’m wearing.
David Flanagan
Viewpointjournal.com
5 Comments
keep strokin’ it dude
yawn
Comment by effe ewe — 9/28/2004 @ 3:31 am
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Comment by casino games — 12/12/2004 @ 2:18 pm
Bloglust?
Was “Easongate” all about scoring another “Dan Rather”?
Trackback by Blogcritics — 2/14/2005 @ 1:58 pm
[…] Pajamasmedia.com is a great name. At the same time, I liked their adoption of OSM Media because I originally coined the term back in September of 2004 in a post entitled, “The Rise of The Open Source Media (AKA, the Blogosphere).” In this article, I argued that the Blogosphere was actually a type of Open Source Media community similar to the Open Source software development community. […]
Pingback by Viewpoint Journal » OSM.org to Reassume Old Name… — 11/22/2005 @ 6:06 am