WEEK 8 – USER GENERATED CONTENT

First of all:

WHAT IS UGC?

What is UGC

It can can be produced in any medium:

• text (comments, blog post, tweet, Facebookupdate, etc)

• pictures (Instagram, Twitpic, Facebook, Tumblror blog post, etc)

• audio (podcast)

• video (video podcast, blog post, YouTube, etc).

Some iconic examples of UGC

2004 tsunami

2005LondonBombing

2007 Virginia Tech shooting

Iconic examples of UGCThe « Green Revolution » in Iran

The Syrian uprising today

The Russian meteorFebruary 2013

The death of Nelson Mandela

UGC is here to stay

UGC has become integrated into almost all mainstream newsrooms, all media

included.

It has become part of the journalism toolbox, as much a part of a newroom’s

resources as agency pictures, fieldreporters, background interviews.

Why has UGC become soindispensable?

What is its added value?

What’s the added value of UGC?

• Seeing and hearing about a story that otherwise would go unseen or untold

• Provide instant accounts and photographs and videos of incidents as and when events happen

• Multiplies sources of information about any one event

• Citizen reporters tend to be people who really care about the story because it impacts their lives directly

• Getting the voices and views that are actually closest to a story

The real point of UGC:

Credibility in

story-telling

User Generated Content isn’t just a tool for telling better stories.

It’s value can extend beyondjournalism and have a potentially

greater impact.

How so?

More added value

Potentially more powerful content:

• More accountability: videos/pictures of events that might not have been filmed otherwise because no journalists would have been present

• Puts constraints on governments and authorities who might be tempted to use violence, if they know they will be filmed/photographed and these images will be distributed

Change is made possible when transgressions and abuses are made visible

Example:

The Arab spring.

It didn’t put UGC on the map (itwas there before), but it made it

indispensable.

What do I mean?

Tunisia

Egypt

Syria

But how do you know that theseimages correspond to the places

or the events that I claim?

Verifying UG video

• Find the original source• Look for landmarks, cross-check with Google

maps• To find out what is being said about the video,

take the unique identity code in the url of the video and search for it on Twitter

• The first person who shared it on Twitter mayalso well be the original owner of the video

• Seek direct contact with the uploader askingthem about their content

Verifying UG video

• check the source as much as the information

• people who are genuine witnesses to eventsare usually eager to talk

• Do other images on social media corroboratewhat you’re seeing?

• cross-check the news on social media: are other sources/feeds telling the same story?

http://storyful.com/

Checklist from Storyful

• Can we geo-locate this footage? Are there anylandmarks that allow us to verify the location via Google Maps or Wikimapia?

• Are streetscapes similar to geo-located photos on Panoramio or Google Street View?

Storyful: Checking the light

• Do weather conditions correspond withreports on that day

• Are shadows consistent with the reportedtime of day?

Storyful: using all the information

• Do vehicle registration plates or traffic signsindicate the country or state?

• Do accents or dialects heard in a video tell us the location?

Storyful: cross-referencing

• Does it jibe with other imagery people are uploading from this location?

• Does the video reflect events as reported on Storyful's curated Twitter lists or by local news sources?

Even more detailed Storyful checklist(part 1):

• Where is this account registered and where is the uploader based, judging by his or her history?

• Are there other accounts—Twitter, Facebook, a blog, or website—affiliated with this uploader?

• How can they help us identify location, activity, reliability, bias and agenda?

• How long have these accounts been in existence?• How active are they?• Does the uploader write in slang or dialect that is

identifiable in the video's narration?

Even more detailed Storyful checklist(part 2):

• Can we find WHOIS (domain registration) information for an affiliated website?

• Is the person listed in local directories? • Does the person's online social circles indicate a

proximity to the story/location?• Does the uploader "scrape" videos from news

organizations and YouTube accounts?• Are video descriptions dated? • Are you familiar with this account? Has the

content and reportage been reliable?

Getting permission

• Anyone who has taken photos or video needsto be contacted to request their permission, as the copyright holder, to use it

• If it is already uploaded to Flickr or YouTube or other social platforms, the conditions for use may already be cited

• When possible, credit the producer

• When possible, link back to the original source

When is it relevant to use UGC?

Is it ever irrelevant?

So how do you find and use UGC?

Where do you start

To every event, its community:

Every news event in the age of social media creates a community. When news breaks, a network gathers to talk about the story. Itsmade up of:

• Witnesses

• Amplifiers

• Trusted filters

The key is locating the community, identifyingthe actors, and using them as sources.

Case study: Syria

• Follow YouTube channels• Clearing houses (Syria: Ugarit news and SNN)• See what’s trending on Twitter• Create twitter lists of people you can get to know

and trust• If they don’t have content, they are contacts who

could potentially help you verify content (especially if it’s in Arabic or a language you don’t speak)

• Tap into Facebook news communities

Risks of UGC?

What are the risks of UGC?

Risks of UGC?

Information that is false, unverified, biased or

manufactured

Fakes abound and are easy to produce

An agenda or biased point of viewcan potentially hide behind the

anonymity of the internet

Risks of UGC?

• Dilutes the standards of quality and reliability inherent to what was traditionally called journalism

• because of convenience and lower costs, less fact-checking, less reliability

• that it will come at the cost of serious (costly) investigative journalism

Risks of UGC

• It is about taking risks and engaging with online communities

• There is no more traditional information gatekeeper: all sources are viable, you are the gatekeeper.

ULTIMATELY

IT IS NOW ABOUT THE CONTENT AND NOT THE SOURCE.

Conclusion

“Social” journalism and offline journalism complement each other, but can’t replace each

other.

Good UGC hygiene In Brief

Get as much information as possible about the source, the context, the landmarks, the events

Practice triangulation with other social media sources

Make an informed decision