When Editors meet Bloggers, it’s on www.editorsweblog.org

Posted by Bertrand Pecquerie on May 20, 2005 at 9:40 AM

Be part of the 1st EDITORS BLOGCONF, a discussion between 300 editors from around the world, some of the most well-known “new media” pundits and the international community of bloggers. With citizen media expanding in the U.S., including more than 9 million bloggers, editors-in-chief and newsrooms need to know how they can incorporate citizen journalists into the news process. For live reports of the latest ideas and analyses from the 12th World Editors Forum being held in Seoul, South Korea from 29 May to 1 June 2005, stay tuned to www.editorsweblog.org

The WEF BlogConf objectives are: - cross-fertilisation between editors, professional journalists and citizen journalists - dialogue between the main speakers of the 12th World Editors Forum (Dan Gillmor; Krishna Bharat, Google News; Rich Skrenta, Topix.net; Joi Ito, Technorati and Six Apart; Simon Waldman, Guardian Digital Publishing; Barry Sussman, Nieman Watchdog Project; Andrew Nachison, The Media Center, Susan Mernit, 5ive, Robb Montgomery, Visual Editors) and the community of bloggers. - determining best practices for both sides - building a network of mainstream media editors and bloggers to establish guidelines for the new news process

Most non-American newspapers ignore or are not aware of bloggers. On the other hand, bloggers regularly criticize the mainstream media, their accuracy and their bias. But both parties agree that the democratic process has to be improved and that new digital technologies make this process easier. The time has come to start a real dialogue between editors and the blogging community.
. The list of the 300 editors attending the Forum and the 58th World Newspaper Congress is available here:

WEF is organising the BlogConf through www.editorsweblog.org
The Editors Weblog (www.editorsweblog.org) has now frequent and fruitful communication with bloggers and we debate with bloggers & media analysts like those attending the 12th World Editors Forum.

The Forum will include two sessions dedicated to the digital revolution (Is anybody a journalist? / RSS and aggregators: threats or opportunities?): 300 editors from around the world will participate in these debates.
See the whole programme here.

How the World Editors Blogconf will work from 25 May to 15 June?

1) On 25 may, the goals of the Editors BlogConf will be unveiled on the Editors Weblog. Design of the blog will be changed and bloggers can begin to send comments and questions about the first speakers? presentations.

2) On www.editorsweblog.org, live reports will be posted every 20 minutes from the sessions of the 12th World Editors Forum dedicated to citizen media on 30 and 31 May 2005 (6 journalists and moderators participating to the BlogConf).

3) During the Forum, the blogging community will play an active role in the debate, with the support of our moderators based in Seoul. Bloggers can send comments and questions, not only to the speakers but to the 300 editors attending the Seoul conference.

4) Every day, answers from the speakers and the editors will be summarized in postings

5) From 1 to 10 June, the sessions will continue online as a ?conversation? between speakers, editors and bloggers.

6) The last posting of the Editors BlogConf, published on 15 June 2005, will be the best practice guidelines taken from the dialogue between editors and bloggers.

Editors BlogConf Schedule:
23 May = promotion of the event through the internet. During three weeks, the Editors Weblog becomes the Editors BlogConf (same URL address: www.editorsweblog.org)
25 May = publication of excerpts of speakers? presentations + beginning of questions and comments
29 May = first dialog between bloggers and participants (D. Gillmor, A. Nachison, S. Mernit?)
30 May = live report of the session with D. Gillmor, K. Bharat, J. Ito, B. Sussman?+ interaction with bloggers during the conference
31 May = live report of the session with R. Skrenta, S. Waldman, M. Takemura?+ interaction with bloggers during the conference
1 June ? 10 June = continuation of the ?conversation? between speakers, editors and bloggers
15 June = end of the ?conversation? and conclusion sent to all registered people. Return to the Editors Weblog on www.editorsweblog.org