“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” That question grew from a thought experiment conducted by George Berkeley in 1710. Berkeley argued that if no one was around to perceive the trees, then the trees didn’t exist. Citizen journalism seems to affirm Berkeley’s conclusion that…

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We would not be talking about the shooting of Walter Scott except for the smartphone video taken by an anonymous passer-by. This example of citizen journalism  is not easy to watch. Still, it quickly evoked close to  4000 comments at the New York Times. Most of the posts discussed justice in America. But a few commenters remarked on the courage…

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Citizen journalism is coming of age around the world. Nowhere has this development been more dramatic than in Syria, where smartphones and other mobile devices have been used to capture the uprising and the devastating war. Earlier this year, the Syria Mobile Festival began honoring the daring and memorable work of smartphone documentarians. Films include “A Physiotherapist Diary,”…

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