Question

Within the first minute of this TED Talk, Shirky uses the term citizen observation. Do you believe the way that he uses this term is similar to journalist observation? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Answer:

Explanation:

Not really, because the way he uses it is in a sense of observation by the citizens, but also their active participation in the process. With their observations, as he says himself, citizens are helping to ensure fairness of the voting.

Journalistic observation (unless we talk about investigative journalism specifically) is more about simply truthfully observing the process and reporting on it. If we see there is the fault in process, we just report about it without actively looking for it or having the agenda to change it.

Here, it had the purpose of involvement - actively looking for irregularities and documenting them in order to change the fairness of the process. Shirky talks about civil action, and how it can be connected, and benefit from the omnipresence of social media in everyday life.