blogs

I listened to all of the Blogging, Journalism & Credibility Conference this past weekend, and here are some topics that I plan on fleshing out in future posts:

* Limitations of Wiki News' Neutral Point of View Policy
* Open Source Documentary: Centralized vs. Decentralized?
* Tagging Keywords = Taxonomy for the Noosphere
* Brief Survey of Grassroots Journalism
* Using Theories to Organize Large Raw Data Sets
* Desired Toolset for Open Source Media
* Catching the Wave of Interest for Citizen Journalism
* Building an Ecology

I wrote down a list of useful ideas and concepts that were mentioned at the Harvard Blogging & Journalism Conference today.

I would like to implement as many of the following ideas as I can:

Transparency Issues

* Write a FAQ
* Start using Correction Marks for incorrect information
* Link to Biographical information & Resume
* Publish mission statement, linking policy, e-mail policy, corrections policy, and a set of ethical principles.
* Disclose any and all conflicts of interest

One of the big themes of the Blogging, Journalism & Credibility conference was Transparency and Full Disclosure.

As a documentary filmmaker and an independent journalist, one issue that I deal with is balancing being as transparent as I can while also maintaining a certain level of confidentiality with the people that I am corresponding with.

For example, I was speaking with a consultant last week concerning whether or not I needed him to do any consulting work for this project before he takes off for Sundance. Would a paid consultant not be completely honest with me if all of his advise was on-the-record and published for the world to see? Should his consulting advice be treated as intellectual property that should remain confidential to sustain his livelihood?

I've been listening to the live webcast of the Blogging, Journalism & Credibility conference at Harvard.

I'm actually trying to implement some of the theories that the participants are talking about by combining independent investigative documentary filmmaking with open source techniques of content development.

It is really exciting to listen to it because I think that The Echo Chamber addresses many of the hot topics that came up during the conference -- issues that I've been writing about a lot of them over the last couple of months such as:

There's a big "Blogging, Journalism & Credibility" conference at Harvard that starts tomorrow. A lot of bloggers and journalists with institutional affiliations are going to be talking about a lot of concepts that I'm trying to implement for The Echo Chamber documentary.

For example, this post from BuzzMachine's Jeff Jarvis talks about open sourcing interviews.

In age of transparency, how do we become fully transparent to regain our credibility and trust? Let's reveal our full interviews (see Jay Rosen's and my posts). Let's reveal our process, our news judgment, the backgrounds and perspectives (and voting records) of reporters and editors.

I've been conducting an experiment over the last week to test how blogging can supplement a mini-marketing blitz directed at a specialized target audience.

Within 4 working days, I was able to contact the moderator of a Sundance Docs & Blogs panel discussion, contact and receive a response from all of the panelists, and receive an e-mail response from the editor-in-chief of indieWIRE who had just commented on his blog that "there is so much going on that the competition for attention is fierce."

The Sundance Film Festival starts tomorrow, and there is an interesting panel discussion that is happening on Saturday called "Docs, Blogs, & the Changing Politics of America."

From what I've been able to see online so far, Sundance hasn't published the list of panelists anywhere. I've been able to contact panel's moderator and determine the following list and makeup of the panelists:

* 4 Documentary Directors (Robert Greenwald, Heater Rae, Alex Gibney & Aaron Raskin)
* 1 Blogger (Jason McCabe Calacanis)

WINTERPORT, ME, Jan.18 -- Independent documentary filmmaker Kent Bye is combining the filmmaking and Internet mediums by using the principles of open source content development. Working out of the basement of a log cabin in Maine, Bye has recruited volunteers from all over the world to help transcribe his documentary interviews. He is publishing these interviews on his website and collaborating with academic advisors from across the country in creating The Echo Chamber documentary.

Atrios had an insightful post yesterday into the psychology of blog linking called "You Link It, You Own It."

the less something you link to has the stamp of official authority, the more you've taken responsibility for it. That is, if I link to the paper of record, then I own the responsibility for it 10% and they own it 90%. But, if I link to "some person on the internets somewhere" who has no established institutional credibility (or lack of) then I own it 95%.

Echo Chamber Project blog is still in the incubation phase without any established institutional authority from any larger community. Outside certain filmmaking circles and a cover story in a weekly alternative, I'm a relatively unknown independent filmmaker and rogue journalist.

The Gothamist asked indieWIRE senior editor Eugene Hernandez to make some predictions for what to look out in the independent film world in the upcoming year.

The first thing Hernandez said was:

There is a panel at Sundance this year looking at the intersection of blogs and documentaries. I am curious to see what that is all about. Technology remains an important factor right now.