Open publishing

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Open publishing is a term used by Matthew Arnison in March 2001 to describe the online process of creating text, audio and video news by methods that are fully transparent to the readers. [1] In the early 2000s, the term was widely associated with the online Indymedia network. [1]

Contents

History

The aim of open publishing described by Matthew Arnison was that anybody could contribute a story and see it instantly appear in the pool of stories publicly available. [1] Those stories are filtered as little as possible to help the readers find the stories they want. Readers can see editorial decisions being made by others. They can see how to get involved and help make editorial decisions. If they can think of a better way for the software to help shape editorial decisions, they can copy the software because it is free and open source to change it and start their own site. If they want to redistribute the news, they can, preferably on an open publishing site.

Internet sites run on open publishing software allow anyone with Internet access to visit the site and upload content directly without having to penetrate the filters of traditional media. Several fundamental principles tend to inform the organizations and sites dedicated to open publishing, though they do so to varying degrees. These principles include non-hierarchy, public participation, minimal editorial control, and transparency.

Arnison's idea of open publishing [1] can be compared to Eric S. Raymond's point of view in the open source software versus free software debate. Given a large enough audience of peers, readers and/or commentators, supporters of open publishing hope or expect that almost all problematic content will quickly be noticed, highlighted and fixed. Linus's law could in this be context be described as Arnison's Law, reworded as, "Given enough eyeballs, problematic content is shallow".

The term "open publishing" is intended to be much more open than the more restricted idea of open access publishing, in which the publishing of material organized in such a way that there is no financial or other barrier to the reader, but there is no claim for transparency in the methods and procedures of publishing. In other words, open publishing is open access, but open access publishing is only sometimes "open publishing".

Examples

Online historical and existing networks typically associated with open publishing include the Independent Media Center network, Kuro5hin, Slashdot, Wikipedia and Wikinews.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Citizen journalism Journalism genre

Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism or street journalism, is based upon public citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information." Similarly, Courtney C. Radsch defines citizen journalism "as an alternative and activist form of news gathering and reporting that functions outside mainstream media institutions, often as a response to shortcomings in the professional journalistic field, that uses similar journalistic practices but is driven by different objectives and ideals and relies on alternative sources of legitimacy than traditional or mainstream journalism". Jay Rosen offers a simpler definition: "When the people formerly known as the audience employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another." The underlying principle of citizen journalism is that ordinary people, not professional journalists, can be the main creators and distributors or news. Citizen journalism should not be confused with: community journalism or civic journalism, both of which are practiced by professional journalists; collaborative journalism, which is the practice of professional and non-professional journalists working together; and social journalism, which denotes a digital publication with a hybrid of professional and non-professional journalism.

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Citizen media

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Produsage

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Open collaboration is "any system of innovation or production that relies on goal-oriented yet loosely coordinated participants who interact to create a product of economic value, which they make available to contributors and noncontributors alike." It is prominently observed in open source software, but can also be found in many other instances, such as in Internet forums, mailing lists and online communities. Open collaboration is also thought to be the operating principle underlining a gamut of diverse ventures, including bitcoin, TEDx, and Wikipedia.

Media independence absence of external control on a media institution

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Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized software development model that encourages open collaboration. A main principle of open-source software development is peer production, with products such as source code, blueprints, and documentation freely available to the public. The open-source movement in software began as a response to the limitations of proprietary code. The model is used for projects such as in open-source appropriate technology, and open-source drug discovery.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Arnison, Matthew (2003-06-09). "Open publishing is the same as free software". Purple Bark. Archived from the original on 2017-12-25.