Mark Glaser, of Online Journalism Review, writes:
Whether blogs are journalism or not, journalists are paying attention to them more than ever, writing about bloggers in Iraq or new blogging services offered by AOL.But 2003 offered up much more than just an unhealthy fascination with blogs. We also obsessed over the proliferation of people with camera phones breaking spot news stories; the rise of Google and Google News; the soap opera at (AOL) Time Warner; the continued inroads of paid content; RSS feeds; massive online coverage of the war in Iraq; viruses, worms and spam overwhelming newsrooms; the struggle for independent news in Zimbabwe, China, Iran and Iraq; and political rhetoric and election coverage.
"A Look Back at 2003, and What's on the Horizon for the Online News Universe"
As I look back on students' parting comments in my journalism course, most really enjoyed weblogging. A few only blogged the bare minimum of forced assignments, and some waited until the day before the porfolios are due and slapped up a couple of entries online. Others didn't even do that. But still others said they wished the blogs were an even more integral part of the coursework; some said they would have spent more time blogging if blogging had been worth more points; others who blogged sporadically felt that their best work didn't attract many comments. I've absorbed everybody's comments about academic blogging, and in fact next term will give a presentation on academic blogging at a conference, so everyone's contributions to this site will continue to bear fruit. Happy holidays -- and happy bloggging, too.
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