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"I was driving a dynamite truck when I was 14 years old in North Carolina."
- Harlan Ellison
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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! |
| 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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Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
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'The autonomic TV interviewer, camera in its hand, blocked his path.'
It's time we started to get rid of that distinction between metal and flesh, and IC and neuron, don't you think?
'...a wide sheet of clear material suddenly flared with light and swirling color.'
'Transmitting to its manipulator, far away now, all that it heard through its ear microphones...'
