Borasky Research Journal Google+ Page As I was following the unfolding of the story of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Twitter, I followed a link to a BBC News article. There I learned that the alleged attacker had been charged with attempting to destroy the aircraft, and that the alleged explosive device used the explosive PETN.
So, being my curious self, I looked up PETN on Wikipedia. And I discovered that the page for PETN, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentaerythritol_tetranitrate, had been updated with links to a page for the “current event”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Airlines_Flight_253. And once I got there, I discovered a link to another page for the suspected attacker, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umar_Farouk_Abdulmuttalab! I should add that the page for Abdulmuttalab “is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedia’s deletion policy.”
So there you have it. A story is unfolding in real time in real life, in the “more traditional media” like the BBC News, real-time social media like Twitter, and now, as a current event on Wikipedia. So I ask, “Is citizen journalism becoming citizen historianship?” I’ve opened up comments on this blog for the moment to allow discussion of this subject. Spammers will, of course, be dealt with.
[...] topics of wider interest than Shostakovich and musique concrète, the process works much faster. We are now seeing history and journalism merging on the Internet in real time, and Twitter and Wikip…. It’s a great time to be alive, and we are all curators! Share/Bookmark April 4th, 2010 | [...]
RT @TopsyRT: Is Citizen Journalism Becoming Citizen Historianship? http://ow.ly/1n8rcO (via @znmeb)
RT @TopsyRT: Is Citizen Journalism Becoming Citizen Historianship? http://ow.ly/1n8rcO
RT @tweetmeme Is Citizen Journalism Becoming Citizen Historianship? http://ow.ly/1n8rcO
Current History used to be a monthly magazine I looked for in the library; now as you say, it’s being published in real time in Wikipedia. A few years back I ‘watched’ a Canadian Federal election on Wikipedia. I could see real time results, both federal and local, with out having to switch channels or wait for the talking heads brilliance to wain enough that they had to go to the tote board – which was after all – the whole point.
So, what is blogging now? I like Modules of Reputation that are building the new interactive Networks.
Michael Holloway
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by znmeb: Is Citizen Journalism Becoming Citizen Historianship? http://bit.ly/6B7FLn #nwa253…