J-scribe

I’m celebrating my first bloggerversary – it’s exactly one year today since I uploaded my first post to J-scribe. So, it’s time to take stock and look to the future of this little Web 2.0 journalistic enterprise.

It began with a bang – well, more of an explosion of anger in text, really, in response to 11 years of Howard Government socio-cultural ‘retroform’ - and politics has proved an enduring theme here. Racism, xenophobia, issues of social justice (see also 'Begging for a Future'), national identity and culture, journalism(see also 'The ABC of Comedy' and 'Jihad Sheilas or Media Victims?'), sexism (see also 'The Shrew who Won't Be Tamed'), academia and social media have also regularly propelled my fingers to keyboard.

But J-scribe's also emerged as a repository for my musings on life, love (see also 'I do, I do'), loss (see also 'Over the Rainbow') and laughter (see also 'Spa-in Partners'). It’s part diary, part political column, part observational reporting and part academic reflection. And it’s 100% me…a sort of ‘me media’ platform that reflects the complex life, thoughts, ideas, passions, experiences, travels, adventures, domestic doings and observations of one woman.

J-Scribe was conceived with a prod from a fellow journalism academic; birthed in collaboration with my talented web-designing partner; cheered on by my network of friends, colleagues and former students on Facebook and it entered mainstream journalism through a story on web 2.0 political advertising during the Federal Election campaign.

This week I’ve spent a few hours looking back at some of my posts – tracking my life and the issues that pressed my buttons over the past year – and I’m proud of this flawed (but surprisingly entertaining - even if I do say so myself!) archive of my life. It’s personal, reflective, human, passionate, informed and, frankly, quite funny at times :) It demonstrates, through flurries and wanes in posting, the ebbs and flows of time and the lack of time I’ve had to devote to this project in recent months. It’s my attempt to engage – with issues, debates and ideas; with friends, colleagues, students and random visitors to my site who talk back and sometimes back-chat; with my desire for creative expression and with new models of journalism.

I was afraid of starting a blog for a number of reasons 1) I'm essentially a technophobe who needs to be pushed past her fears 2) I'd been influenced by the "blogging isn't journalism" brigade and my inner journo worried about issues of credibility and professionalism 3) Outside of the traditional publication and delivery mode of news, I figured I wouldn't find an audience and what's the point of talking to yourself?

But, in starting a blog I 1) discovered blogging and social media tools are a great vehicle for conquering a creative soul's technological trepidations, 2) quickly realised that journalists and academics can and should blog and that blogging can be a legitimate form of journalistic output 3) have not only found an audience (albeit a small one) but one that talks back! And that engagement (brief periods of vilification aside) has proved enriching - personally and journalistically.

My most recent Web 2.0 foray is into the world of Twitter - a micro-blogging platform that shares the frenetic pace, reactive tone and shrill pitch of birdsong. I resisted the temptation to Tweet (yep, it's a whole other lingo you need to get down with, folks!) until my (hollow) protests made me look like a twit (get it? :) and I feared my reluctance would lead me to be judged a twat (yep, hilarious with the puns aren't I?) So, for those of you with short attention spans, I'm now disseminating status-updates on steroids (limited to 140 characters) via Twitter whenever I feel the urge to share, and sharing there in other people's observations on news, life politics and society. Believe it or not, Barrack Obama started following my Tweets (don't get too excited, I suspect anyone with a Twitter profile that references both politics and journalism was a prime target!) and he's among the 50-odd fellow Twitterers I'm now following. These include micro-news posts from the New York Times, the ABC, PBS and the observations of a host of journalists, cartoonists, social media addicts and academics.

Blogging, Web 2.0, social media, Twitter, Facebook, citizen journalism…all these terms have one common theme – engagement and connectivity with citizenry. Traditionalists, fear-mongers and curmudgeons declare these modern communication tools and modes of journalistic practice hostile to quality, independent journalism - a threat that must be contained. But, rather than being viewed as the death knell for professional journalism, they need to be appreciated as an opportunity for journalists to connect with one another, with sources and with their audiences, in a way which has has the potential to broaden their reach, increase their status with audiences and empower communities. They are also essential tools for journalism educators seeking to connect with their students in a relevant, stimulating way.

I'd like to engage more deeply with these debates here and share some insights I've recently gleaned via experts in the field, but my life calls - so I need to sign off for now.

Before I go, though, here's my 'new bloggers-year' resolution: aim to enrich my posts with more audio-visual content and upgrade from plain old blogger to podcaster/vodcaster/vlogger. And your job is to keep feeding back. You can start by offering your assessment of a year in the life of J-scribe and bidding for the sort of content you desire.

Tweet ya later!    [read more]