Dan Gilmor Throws In The Towell On Bayosphere
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Dan Gilmor Shuts Down Bayosphere, His Citizen Media Experiment
Dan Gilmor, a former technology writer and columnist for the Mercury News, has announced that he is closing down Bayosphere, his ambitious project to create a platform for citizen journalism in the San Francisco Bay Area. Gilmor launched Bayosphere in May 2005 with the vision of empowering ordinary people to report and comment on local news and issues. He hoped to build a community of engaged and informed citizens who would contribute to the public discourse and hold the powerful accountable.
However, in a candid post on his blog, Gilmor admitted that he had failed to achieve his goals and that Bayosphere had not lived up to his expectations. He cited several reasons for his decision to shut down the site, including:
The difficulty of attracting and retaining quality contributors who would adhere to journalistic standards and ethics.
The lack of a viable business model that would sustain the site financially.
The challenge of competing with other established and emerging media outlets in the Bay Area.
The realization that he was not cut out to be an entrepreneur or a manager.
Gilmor expressed his gratitude to his supporters, partners, investors, and staff who had helped him along the way. He also apologized to his readers and contributors for letting them down. He said he had learned valuable lessons from his experience and that he would continue to explore new ways of fostering citizen media. He also encouraged others to pursue their own experiments in this field.
Gilmor's announcement came as a surprise and a disappointment to many who had followed his work and admired his vision. Some praised him for his honesty and courage, while others criticized him for giving up too soon or for making mistakes. Many also wondered what would happen to the content and community that had been created on Bayosphere.
Gilmor said he was looking for a new home for the site's archives and that he would try to find ways to keep the conversation going among the Bayosphere members. He also said he was open to suggestions and feedback from anyone who had an interest in citizen media.
Bayosphere was one of the earliest and most prominent examples of citizen media, a term that refers to content produced by private citizens who are not professional journalists. Citizen media aims to empower ordinary people to report and comment on news and issues that matter to them, using various resources and technologies, especially the Internet. Citizen media is seen as a response to the neglect of public interest and the partisan portrayal of news and world events by traditional mass media. [^2^]
Citizen media has grown rapidly in recent years, with the emergence of various platforms and initiatives that enable people to create, share and distribute their own media. Some of these include blogs, podcasts, wikis, social media, online video, citizen journalism networks, participatory mapping, community radio and TV, and digital storytelling. Citizen media has also been used for various purposes, such as advocacy, activism, education, entertainment, cultural expression, community building and civic engagement. [^3^] [^4^]
However, citizen media also faces many challenges and limitations, such as lack of resources, credibility, sustainability, diversity, quality control, legal protection and ethical standards. Citizen media also has to contend with the co-optation and reverse co-optation by corporate and political interests, as well as the censorship and surveillance by state authorities. Moreover, citizen media has to deal with the complexities and contradictions of its own identity and role in relation to the public sphere, the nation-state, the global community and the mainstream media. [^2^] [^3^] [^4^] ec8f644aee