Sarah Dean

Is Moblogging the future of reporting?

Since the power of blogging was first recognised journalists have aimed to use the new media to publish uncensored news and opinions. Now with further advances in new technology journalists do not even need a computer to report, a mobile phone will suffice.

The term 'Moblogging' relates to mobile blogging and was first coined by Adam Greenfiled in 2002. At the First International Moblogging Conference held in Tokyo in 2003 he said: "All the barriers to publishing that even exist in desktop publishing vanish with Moblogging, and that's amazing."

Of course the fact that mobile phones are now advanced enough to be able to log onto the Internet and upload stories and images means that not only journalists publish news. Now the average citizen can witness an event and upload an image and a comment to the net within minutes. This holds the opportunity for raw uncensored news to be published, something that i believe is much needed.

Moblogging particularly holds advantages for undercover or investigative journalists working in places such as Zimbabwe, Burma or the Middle East. When a low profile is required it is no use having a camera man and technicians following you around.


Early on in Moblogging users sent their media to a Moblog server via MMS or email. Recently software has become available which allows people to have the same rich experience they had while blogging from their PC. Some countries are even using Moblogs for pedagogical purposes. The Singapore Government organizes annual Campus Moblogging competitions between its primary and secondary schools

One example of Moblogging at its most original is the words of Anousheh Ansari, the first woman space tourist. Ever since boarding her shuttle flight for the ISS in near Earth orbit, Anousheh has been sharing her thoughts and her Space Explorer Flickr photo stream with the world. Describing everything from the initial take off to making fun of "space fashion".

Critics of Moblogging may argue that it will eventually change the working role and practises of professional journalists, whose livelihood depends on finding and reporting on scoops, because citizen journalists may happen to be in the right place at the right time instead. At the Moblogging Conference Takashi Totuska, President of Sonys Contents and Application Lab, said: "I think Moblogging is very powerful, this small but interesting media will present a business opportunity.... Moblogging-based journalism meets the criteria (of a disruptive technology), and maybe you can be the next Bill Gates."

Masaharu Goto, a TV and documentary producer attending the conference said: "Now everyone uses digital. Amateurs are becoming the media. If you look at the history of TV cameras, you can see where moblogging is going."

A student at Berkeley School of Journalism has set up a site describing the highs and lows of Moblogging, they illustrate that: "Moblogging is suitable for breaking news or events with good visual images. It is not good for in-depth stories, because then you are limited by the time it takes to type in a story and the built-in word limit on these messages. You have to dictate longer stories, which takes more time and resembles more the regular print news operation, or a wire service."

So it seems that although the latest mobile phone technology offers journalists and the public many new opportunities for reporting news quickly and from anywhere, it is has not yet replaced the role of the laptop and news room which make up the finely tuned quality news we receive. However, perhaps it is about time our news became less edited and more raw, Moblogging certainly has the power to do this.

posted by Sarah Dean @ 08:13