The act of publishing no longer is a privilege for the few. With the widespread availability of the Internet, publishing has become a right for the many.
This radical change has raised many issues and challenges for journalism.
Clay Shirky in Here Comes Everybody said, “If anyone can be a publisher, then anyone can be a journalist.”
Dr. Deborah Serani, according to her blogspot profile, is “a psychologist specializing in trauma and depression.”
She, like many others, has started a blog. Titled “Dr. Deb Psychological Perspectives,” her blog seeks to inform her readers about what is happening in her profession.
Unlike many others, however, her blog does not read like a diary. Serani’s blog talks about current research, links to psychology-related information, and discusses many psychological disorders.
Serani, in essence, has unwittingly made herself a journalist. She synthesizes information in an attempt to relay the truth about psychological disorders to her readers. It is that quest for truth that is central to journalism.
On the opposite side of the blogosphere, there are those who use the Internet as a daily journal.
Later in his book, Shirky adds, “Most of what gets created on any given day is just the ordinary stuff of life. . .”
Disjointed Thoughts provides an example of this. This blog chronicles the ordinary stuff in Anonymous Drifter‘s life in the same medium that allows Dr. Deb to post content.
Drifter, according to his user profile, suffers from depression and recently was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and the blog serves primarily as a diary of Drifter’s daily dealings with the disorder.
While Disjointed Thoughts is not directly an act of journalism, it is still a consciencious act to relay the truth. That truth leads others to read it and use it as a source.
To those suffering from bipolar disorder, the diary helps them better understand their disorder. The blog also gives them a connection to someone who has gone through what they have gone through.
To psychologists and psychiatrists like Dr. Deb, Disjointed Thoughts provides additional insight into what theur patients might be suffering.
The most important thing about these two blogs, however, does not involve acts of journalism. Rather, it involves acts of connection.
Yes, the Internet has provided the world with a way to publish at no cost. But, it also has given the world the ability to connect with people that 10 years ago would have never been able to meet. That connection, for some, is worth millions.