Credibility

This David Weinberger post directed me to ZDNet's executive editor David Berlind's Media Transparency Channel.

Berlind is attempting make the process of journalism more transparent by posting the complete audio of his interviews. A few weeks ago, I e-mailed Berlind a blog press release containing details of this open source documentary project. He responded to my e-mail this weekend, and I replied with a short e-mail pitch and suggested that he give me a call so that we can talk more about The Echo Chamber. He just called and we talked for about 90 minutes about challenges of transparency and the future of journalism.

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 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."

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.