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Where 2.0: Where are the Journalists?

I’m at the Where 2.0 conference in San Jose, California, seeing a bunch of amazing new geographic tools. I find myself wondering whether certain journalists are present.

I don’t mean reporters who may be covering the conference. No, I’m talking about “database journalists” who use technology to help tell stories better. They should be here because some of the technology being shown here could easily be the basis for some extraordinary community information — if journalists have the common sense to use it.

Mapping and data that can be geo-coded — put into databases that can populate or link to maps — are an enormously powerful tool. It’s mind-boggling to me that more news organizations aren’t taking advantage of the possibilities, or, in most cases, even bothering to learn what’s possible.

I’ll be talking more about this in the next day or so. Stay tuned.

(Note: I’m involved with a Web service that’s being demonstrated here, and O’Reilly Media, the company that’s putting this conference together, also published my book, We the Media.)

5 Comments on “Where 2.0: Where are the Journalists?”

  1. #1 Rick Burnes
    on May 29th, 2007 at 3:59 am

    I think there are many who would like to be there, but found the conference prohibitively expensive.

  2. #2 Dan Gillmor
    on May 29th, 2007 at 10:21 am

    Good observation, Rick.

  3. #3 Jon Garfunkel
    on May 29th, 2007 at 8:18 pm

    Indeed. OJR ran an excellent piece last week on infographics, which included, for want of a better word, geo-graphics.

  4. #4 SkyMapping by Puffbox: map mashup mechanism for journalists « I’m Simon Dickson.
    on May 31st, 2007 at 4:51 am

    […] Dan Gillmor blogged earlier this week: ‘It’s mind-boggling to me that more news organizations aren’t taking advantage of the possibilities, or, in most cases, even bothering to learn what’s possible.’ I like to think that our SkyMapping app may open some eyes in Osterley. Particular thanks to Hugh and Simon over at Sky; and my boy Gareth, who did most of the hard work. We’re great. […]

  5. #5 Citizen Media Watch » Gillmor at Where2.0: Where are the journalists?
    on Jun 2nd, 2007 at 1:20 am

    […] just read Dan Gillmor’s comment on the Where2.0 conference in San Jose, which was all about location, geotagging, mashups etc. […]