The ‘public beta’ without the ‘right spirits’

 

In 2005, the L.A. Times decided to try something revolutionary for an elite news outlet: they created a wikitorial, posting questions and comments from Times op/ed writers regarding the Iraq war, and let the readers write the commentary, with each person logging in next having the opportunity to change it however they seem fit. This is the model by now famous (or infamous) wikipedia, and needless to say, the blogosphere was excited to have an elite, paternal newspaper delve itself into the bowels of the everyday person and allow this type of interaction.

 

Journalism came first, blogging came second, third came…blogalism?

I wonder if the natural outcome of Shirky’s article about the mass amateurization of publishing is to now wonder what’s going to happen when blogs and Webzines become the scribes of the 1400s or the journalists of today. Will blogs themselves allow for their adaptation to the future?