Kitsilano.ca got a great mention across the nation today on Canada.com in an article regarding the new movement in citizen journalism. Cassandra Szklarski interviewed UBC journalism professor Alfred Hermida and he named Kitsilano.ca as an excellent, yet modest example of citizen journalism. Thanks Alfred! And thanks to Rich for starting the debate on Japanese restaurants on Yew.
At the heart of citizen journalism is a grassroots philosophy in which the news is produced from the bottom up, rather than top down, says Hermida, who considers the modest blog Kitsilano.ca as among the more useful news sites he frequents.
The Vancouver Sun is not going to report on a shop closing down in Kitsilano being replaced by another Japanese restaurant, says Hermida, an assistant journalism professor at the University of British Columbia. But if I live in Kitsilano, I might be interested that OK, that shop I used to go to is now closed down and we’re going to have yet another Japanese restaurant. Then it also allows a way for people to engage in debate on, well, do we need another Japanese restaurant on that block?
Last modified: December 9, 2008
Great job Rich!
And thank goodness for kitsilano.ca for being the voice of the community.