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"The only real way to maintain privacy is to be uninteresting. It may be that privacy is a passing fad."
- Larry Niven
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| Citizen Journalism | ||
| The notion that ordinary people can make use of technological tools like cellphone cameras and the Internet to provide information. |
Can an ordinary individual influence a country?
| "But what can a single person do to influence events of such magnitude and momentum?" One answer might surprise you. We'll shortly hand over these channels, on loan, to the Federation of Amateur Observation Special Interest Groups...
It may surprise many of you how much science relies on amateur observers, from bird-watchers, to meteor counters, to hobbyists with private weather stations. But now, with so many weird phenomena taking place worldwide, these amateur networks are truly coming into their own. It's privatte citizens, with sharp eyes and ready cameras, who are even now tracing patterns the big boys think they can keep secret from us.. We'll show them whose planet this is! |
| Technovelgy from Earth,
by David Brin. Published by Bantam in 1990 Additional resources -
|
This is a very early reference to this idea; when this novel was published, ordinary people had very little chance of having their individual two cents noticed outside of their usual social circle.
Today, of course, anyone can place their work and their thoughts before a global audience. You are viewing an example of citizen journalism; twenty years ago, someone without a professional organization behind him could scarcely have expected that fifty thousand people a day would come to read what he had to say.
See this related article - amateur innovators - this is your century!.
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Additional
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and Technology from Earth
More Ideas
and Technology by David Brin
Tech news articles related to Earth
Tech news articles related to works by David Brin
Citizen Journalism-related
news articles:
- Instant Journalists: Ordinary People With Cell Phones
| Harrison Bergeron, Illustrated And Practiced |
| Buy A Galaxy? Maybe Start Smaller |
| Is There A Global Problem With Who Is Having Children? |
| Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine |
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Science Fiction
Timeline
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'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
'...I saw a nice black heavy-looking cloud sailing by just now, and I can get the electrical machine out in five minutes to draw it down.'
'From a distance it could resolve the cosmic rays reflected from various substances.'
'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...'
'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
