A new study reviewed and evaluated citizen journalism articles and research since the inception of the Internet and its associated web technologies since 1994.

The findings by Seungahn Nah, Dianne Snedaker Chair in Media Trust and research director for the Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC), and his co-authors were featured in “Revisiting Citizen Journalism Scholarship in Web Era (1994-2023): Past, Present, and Prospect” published in the journal Journalism on June 6.

According to the authors, “The study assesses the landscape of citizen journalism scholarship over the past 30 years by employing a variety of mixed methods, including topic modeling, bibliometric analysis, and manual content analysis. This study provides an exploratory examination of the realm of citizen journalism within the context of journalism and democracy and further discusses the past, present, and prospects for future directions of this field.”

They add, “Against the backdrop of the burst of digital technologies and social media platforms, citizen journalism scholarship has faced a decline. This phenomenon is associated with the larger change in news consumption. In the meantime, this phenomenon also presents a growing number of opportunities with the newly emerging technologies, such as generative AI (ChatGPT, in particular). Therefore, it will be intriguing to examine how AI can further invigorate citizen journalism scholarship for community building and participatory democracy.”

Posted: June 10, 2024
Category: AI at CJC News, College News
Tagged as: Citizen Journalism, Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology, Seunghan Nah